HubSpot CRM Review (2023) – Small Business Bonfire

Selecting the right CRM immediately is critical because switching programs is time-consuming and expensive.

As someone who has installed and educated others about numerous CRMs on the market, I understand the features you must look for in software.

Therefore, the Small Business Bonfire team and I thoroughly test the top CRMs yearly so you do not risk picking the wrong program.

Instead, you will have all the information you need from this article without scrolling through endless online HubSpot CRM reviews.

Let’s find out if HubSpot is the CRM platform for you and your team!

HubSpot Review Summary

HubSpot offers many excellent tools, including free CRM, ideal for small businesses expanding their marketing sales.

The free version of CRM often does not come with many features, but HubSpot’s CRM platform is different.

Also, the paid plans are incredibly advanced, providing growing companies with one platform that organizes all contact information.

Although the higher-tiered plans are more expensive than other CRM companies, the advanced features make the price worth it.

HubSpot CRM is one of the best CRMs because the interface is easy for beginners yet offers enough customization options to make web developers happy.

You should purchase HubSpot if you are running a growing company and need help with contact management, sales and marketing, and automation.

What is HubSpot?

At its core, HubSpot is a CRM system.

HubSpot’s easy-to-use interface allows you to do the following:

• Manage customer data
• Segment customers into different lists
• Track conversations and interactions with your customers
• Create automated workflows for sales and marketing activities

The cloud-based platform has desirable features for all companies, including real estate, marketing, and retail.

HubSpot Pricing & Packages

Individuals & Small Teams

HubSpot CRM has several tools for individuals and small teams.

HubSpot CRM offers free tools for growing freelancers and businesses, helping them analyze business metrics and save time performing routine tasks.

The free HubSpot CRM includes contact management, reporting, email tracking, and website activity.

CRM Suite

Free Tools 

Free CRM is hard to come by, and customers often think the features won’t be advanced enough for their needs.

However, HubSpot CRM lets you accomplish popular tasks faster with the free plan, including the following:

• Reporting dashboard
• Company insights
• Deal tracking
• Sales pipeline management
• Tracking customer relationships
• Meeting scheduler
• Live chat

Starter 

With the company’s Starter plan, HubSpot’s CRM starts at $30 a month.

This plan is a little more advanced than the free plan and includes features such as:

• Custom reports
• One universal inbox
• AI-powered live chat
• Mobile CRM software
• Facebook Messanger integration
• Email tracking
• Lead management

The Starter package has essential tools for sales, marketing, CMS, and operations, making it perfect for growing small businesses.

Professional

The Professional plan has more sales features than the Starter package and is designed for rapidly growing midsize businesses or large-scale companies.

When you commit annually, the Professional plan is $1,600 per month and includes the following features:

• Marketing hub professional (2,000 contacts)
• Landing pages
• SEO recommendations
• Standard SSL certificate
• Website visitors tracking
• Secure payments
• One-on-one customer support
• Numerous marketing features
• Social media integration

Businesses & Enterprise

Large sales teams also love HubSpot because the company offers services for larger businesses.

Naturally, these plans are more expensive than the free version built for a small business.

CRM Suite

HubSpot provides advanced marketing features and other helpful tools in its CRM Suite.

The CRM tools vary based on your chosen plan. More extensive sales and marketing teams can be more efficient with HubSpot.

Some of the tools HubSpot offers include:

• Email health insights
• Multiple currencies
• Google Workspace integration
• Marketing asset comparison reporting
• Ad conversion events
• A/B testing

Professional 

The Professional plan costs $1,781 when you pay monthly. However, users who sign up for the annual payment option receive a monthly discount.

Some of the features included in this plan include the following:

• Ad management
• List segmentation
• Contact management
• Team email
• Email automation
• Blog (up to 100)
• Website traffic analytics
• Data to nurture relationships
• Multi-language content creation

Enterprise 

HubSpot’s Enterprise plan is one of the most advanced customer relationship management programs available.

The software costs $5,000 monthly and is billed at $60,000 annually.

Some of the features included in HubSpot’s Enterprise plan include the following:

• Salesforce custom object sync
• WhatsApp integration
• Drag and drop editor
• Mobile Optimization
• Tools to make the entire sales funnel more efficient
• Custom goals
• Recurring revenue tracking

HubSpot CRM Review

Marketing Hub

HubSpot’s Marketing Hub puts all your marketing needs in one spot.

Therefore, customer data is organized, and your team does not spend too much time managing the HubSpot CRM tools.

Further, HubSpot’s Marketing Hub makes for easier content creation that helps get your company recognized.

HubSpot CRM contains more marketing elements than what most other companies provide.

Features 

• Social media management
• Ad tracking and management
• Customer service tools that make administration easier
• Marketing tools (marketing automation)
• ABM
• ROI tracking
• Revenue attribution reporting
• Customization
• Blog creation with calls to action
• SEO tools and optimization
• Video management and editing that you can embed into social media, website pages, and blog posts
• Ability to connect with visitors via live chat

Pricing 

• Free plan
• Starter: $45 per month
• Professional: $800 per month
• Enterprise: $3,600 per month

Pros

• Easier to attract the right audience
• Advanced tools for inbound marketing
• Easy-to-use interface

Cons 

• Significant price jump between plans
• It may not be suitable for a small business
• Other marketing plans are more affordable

Sales Hub

The Sales Hub puts everything sales teams need in one location.

Also, the Sales Hub has easy-to-use tools that make several processes move much faster.

As a result, your sales team can focus more on customers with HubSpot CRM.

The Sales Hub includes everything from email marketing to document tracking.

Everything in the Sales Hub is designed to help your sales team make better decisions and find new leads.

Features 

• Sales features and engagement tools
• Quote and CPQ functionality
• Reporting and analytics to help a business grow
• Over 1,000 integrations
• Email templates and tracking
• Document management and tracking
• Conversation intelligence
• Call tracking
• Sales automation for personalized emails and follow-up tasks

Pricing 

• Free plan
• Starter: $45 per month
• Professional: $450 per month
• Enterprise: $1,200 per month

Pros

• Everything is on one connected platform
• Powerful sales pipeline tools
• Helps close and nurture leads
• Easier to manage the pipeline

Cons 

• Plans get expensive very fast
• It may take some sales reps a lot of time to learn

Service Hub

The Service Hub makes managing customer service easier.

HubSpot CRM ensures all your customer data is in one location instead of being spread across multiple platforms.

Also, this tool helps businesses identify opportunities to deliver customer service with authenticity.

These HubSpot leads help to ensure the customer service and sales team work cohesively.

Features 

• Conversational tools
• Shared inbox
• Help desk automation
• Knowledge base functionality
• Customer feedback
• Custom surveys
• Customer Portal
• Omni-channel messaging
• Inbound calling
• VoIP calling
• Shared inbox
• Conversation intelligence
• Customer feedback surveys
• Playbooks

Pricing 

• Free plan
• Starter: $45 per month
• Professional: $450 per month
• Enterprise: $1,200 per month

Pros

• It gives your team a unified view of each customer interaction
• Powered by a customer relationship management tool
• Trusted by large-scale corporations

Cons 

• The Service Hub is expensive for the Professional and Enterprise plans
• It can take a while to set up
• Features can be too advanced for small companies

CMS Hub

A content management system is another add-on service HubSpot CRM offers.

The tool contains elements that allow marketers and developers to get organized.

Also, this tool makes building a website much easier with the designated Website Builder tool.

24/7 customer support via telephone and live chat is always available for any problems.

Features 

• Hosting
• Flexible themes
• Dynamic content for your sales team
• Drag and drop page editing
• Memberships
• Website themes and templates
• Fully integrated with HubSpot CRM
• Custom domain connection
• Blog maker
• Easier to create SEO-friendly content
• Local website development
• Serverless functions
• Developer docus and community
• Code alerts
• Dynamic content creation

Pricing 

• Free plan
• Starter: $23 per month
• Professional: $360 per month
• Enterprise: $1,200 per month

Pros

• Easy to build a seamless digital experience
• A free demo is available
• 24/7 support team
• Personalized, secure experience

Cons 

• Professional and Enterprise paid plans are expensive
• Not designed for beginners
• More hosting and themes from some competitors

Operations Hub

The Operations Hub is an essential part of any HubSpot CRM review.

This hub allows users in the HubSpot community to organize marketing sales, data, and automated tasks.

By doing so, teams can stay on the same page and get more work done.

Features 

• Programmable automation to speed up customer relations
• Data sync
• Data curation
• Data quality tools
• Data quality automation
• Data quality command center
• Programmable automation
• Workflow extensions
• Team management and permissions
• Datasets
• Snowflake data share
• Custom report builder

Pricing 

• Free plan
• Starter: $45 per month
• Professional: $720 per month
• Enterprise: $2,000 per month

Pros

• Better interactions with paying customers
• Powered by HubSpot’s CRM
• Automate business processes
• Promotes better team interactions
• Powered to adapt to customer needs

Cons 

• The free trial is only 14 days
• More expensive than other platforms
• Free features are somewhat limited

Is HubSpot Right For You?

Yes, if:

• Planning to start customer relationship management for the first time
• You need something easy to set up and use
• You are running a small or medium-sized business
• Your company has unique challenges with sales CRM, automation, etc.
• You want some of the best CRM features for free.
• You want to test a CRM solution for free before purchasing
• You need custom reports and advanced customization options

No, if:

• You cannot afford HubSpot’s paid services
• You need to focus on email marketing
• You like flexible contracts
• You need A/B testing
• You need an all-in-one tool

Alternatives to HubSpot

Monday.com

Monday.com is an excellent HubSpot alternative for businesses looking to simplify their workflow and boost productivity.

This CRM tool features all the powerful HubSpot CRM features, like marketing automation, social media ads, and automation.

Monday.com has an excellent customer service management tool that helps your team manage customer interactions in one place.

Monday.com offers several paid plans, some of which come with unlimited users.

The pricing plans are also much more affordable, starting at just $0 monthly for free CRM.

From there, the plans cost between $8 and $16 per month per user.

Additionally, Monday.com is perfect for businesses of any size, with custom plans tailored to your needs.

HubSpot offers more technically advanced features, but Monday.com has a simple interface perfect for small businesses.

ClickUp

Another HubSpot alternative is ClickUp, a cloud-based collaboration and productivity platform with powerful features that can help you manage your sales process, customer relationships, or business needs.

While HubSpot CRM focuses on CRM software, ClickUp is an all-in-one project management tool.

It has all the HubSpot features, such as lead management, custom fields and forms for data collection, email templates, and marketing tools.

Plus, ClickUp has a more affordable pricing structure, starting at only $5 per month for the basic plan, and includes a free version.

Additionally, ClickUp is designed to be user-friendly for all types of users, whether you are an individual or a large company managing multiple web pages and customers.

Salesforce

Salesforce is an excellent HubSpot alternative because it offers many of the same features HubSpot does.

One of the differences with this CRM software is that Salesforce is built for larger companies looking to organize their sales process, phone calls, customer data, and more.

Salesforce has powerful marketing tools, lead management and tracking capabilities, and social media integration.

Additionally, Salesforce’s pricing plans are much more flexible than HubSpot’s.

For instance, Salesforce customizes pricing based on a company’s needs.

Salesforce is designed to handle unlimited users and is one of the best CRM choices for large companies.

The Bottom Line

HubSpot CRM is an excellent choice for businesses to streamline their sales hub and better manage customer relationships.

However, some smaller companies may be too expensive for HubSpot’s pricing plans.

Overall, HubSpot is great for those who need advanced features like automation, marketing tools, and lead-tracking capabilities.

However, each HubSpot competitor provides excellent features at more affordable prices than Hubspot’s paid plans.

Regardless of your choice, picking the right CRM software that meets your business needs is essential.

Are you seeking CRM software for your small business? Do you have any questions about our HubSpot CRM review? Let us know in the comments below!

Frequently Asked Questions