Key differences, specifications and fit guidance for HubSpot and Salesforce, compiled from official documentation and the iThub profiles.
HubSpot CRM stores contacts, companies and deals, and connects to Marketing, Sales, Service, Content, Data and Revenue Hubs with free and premium plans.
Salesforce is a cloud CRM platform with Sales Cloud for leads, accounts and opportunities, plus service, marketing, commerce, Slack and Agentforce products.
Choose HubSpot if you want a CRM you can start free, with two users and 1,000 contacts and no expiration, then grow into paid Hubs whose marketing, sales and service tools share one Smart CRM and are billed by seat. Choose Salesforce if you need a fully customizable CRM that spans sales, service, marketing, commerce and industries, with editions from Starter Suite to Max, MuleSoft for harder integrations and per-user pricing, usually on annual contracts. The deciding factor is how much custom process and integration work you need, and who will own it.
Choose HubSpot ifShortlist HubSpot when you want to start on a free CRM, keep marketing, sales and service tools connected out of the box, and add paid seats or Hubs as the team grows.
Choose Salesforce ifShortlist Salesforce when several teams need custom objects, portals or apps on shared customer data, and when integrating on-premises or legacy systems through MuleSoft or partners is part of the plan.
| Aspect | HubSpot | Salesforce |
|---|---|---|
| Product scope | HubSpot Smart CRM is integrated out of the box with HubSpot's marketing, sales, customer service and operations tools, sold as Hubs on one customer platform. | Salesforce connects Sales, Service, Marketing, Commerce and Industries apps around a unified customer view, and sells Sales Cloud as fully customizable sales force automation. |
| Free entry point | HubSpot's free CRM supports up to two users and 1,000 contacts with no expiration date, and you can upgrade later without a data migration. | Salesforce offers a free 30-day trial of all Sales Cloud editions, and its entry Starter Suite costs $25 per user per month. |
| Pricing model | HubSpot sells access through seats. A Core Seat lists at $20, $50 or $75 per month for Starter, Professional or Enterprise, and full Sales Hub Professional or Enterprise needs a Sales Seat. | Sales Cloud is priced per user per month by edition: Starter Suite, Pro Suite, Core, Advanced and Max. Most Salesforce products use annual contracts. |
| Other billing drivers | If you subscribe to Marketing Hub on marketing-contacts pricing, HubSpot charges for marketing contacts as part of that fee, even when they sit in the free contacts database. | Sales Cloud charges a monthly fee for each user who needs access, and Salesforce asks buyers to contact a sales representative for detailed pricing. |
| Integrations | HubSpot's CRM connects to over 2,000 business apps through third-party and HubSpot-built integrations, and its date-versioned APIs keep working until an end-of-life date. | For systems without built-in integration, such as on-premises data sources, Salesforce points buyers to MuleSoft licences, integration partners or apps on AgentExchange. |
| Customization depth | HubSpot leans on ready-made tools: every free CRM account includes essential marketing, sales and service tools, with user permissions for records, content and tools. | The Salesforce Platform lets teams build branded websites, portals and apps on Salesforce data, and Sales Cloud Core adds APIs, advanced forecasting and opportunity scoring. |
| AI and bundled apps | A HubSpot Core Seat grants access to all purchased products, built-in AI with Breeze Assistant, enriched data and Smart CRM. | Salesforce says Agentforce, Slack, Tableau, Data 360 and Premier Success are now included in every edition, and Core replaces the former Enterprise Edition. |
From the iThub profiles. “Not recorded” means the profile does not confirm it. Confirm prices and editions with each vendor.
| Attribute | HubSpot | Salesforce |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | See vendor pricing | See vendor pricing ↗ |
| API | Yes ↗ | Yes ↗ |
| Founded | 2006 | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Boston, Massachusetts, USA | San Francisco, USA |
| GitHub stars | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Documentation | Official docs ↗ | Official docs ↗ |
HubSpotHubSpot was founded in 2006 by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah to help companies grow through inbound marketing. It has since expanded into a customer platform of marketing, sales and customer service software, and its global headquarters is in Boston, Massachusetts.
The CRM is the shared foundation. Contact management stores detailed profiles of every lead, prospect and customer with their complete interaction history, and a deal pipeline lets teams visualize and track sales opportunities through customizable stages from initial contact to closed deal. A free HubSpot CRM is available, and the Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub, Content Hub, Data Hub and Revenue Hub each offer free and premium plans. A mobile app for iOS and Android gives access to CRM tasks and notifications.
SalesforceSalesforce opened in 1999 and pioneered Software as a Service by bringing Customer Relationship Management software to the cloud. Today it sells a family of products on one platform, and what a team receives depends on its chosen products, licenses and configuration.
Sales Cloud automatically captures emails, events and other engagement activity in the CRM and associates it with leads, contacts, accounts and opportunities, which Salesforce calls a single source of truth. It tracks deals across channels, uses AI to prioritize leads, and builds forecasts in real time. Other products cover customer service, marketing, commerce and data, and the Salesforce Platform lets customers build and customize Agentforce and Customer 360. Salesforce also connects its products to Slack.
Salesforce and HubSpot are both cloud CRMs, but they are built for different operating models. Salesforce is a broad platform for sales, service, marketing, commerce and industries, sold per user by edition and customized through its platform and MuleSoft. HubSpot starts with a free CRM and adds Marketing, Sales, Service and other Hubs that share one Smart CRM, billed mainly by seat.
Start with the primary workflow: lead handoff, pipeline management or support. Map the records, ownership rules, lifecycle stages and integrations it depends on, and decide who will administer the CRM after launch. Then ask each vendor to price your exact users, seat types, contacts and add-ons over a three-year term.
Import the same sample of 1,000 contact records with deals and activities into both trials. Rebuild one real pipeline with stages, ownership rules and a lead routing automation, connect your email and one business app, and build a forecast report. Have two sellers and one admin use each for two weeks and log setup time and gaps.
At entry level HubSpot costs less on paper: its CRM is free for up to two users and 1,000 contacts, and a Starter Core Seat lists at $20 per month. Salesforce Starter Suite costs $25 per user per month. At higher tiers, compare HubSpot Sales Seats and contact charges with Salesforce edition prices for your real team size.
HubSpot is a CRM with connected Marketing, Sales, Service and other Hubs that work together out of the box and can start free. Salesforce is a fully customizable platform spanning sales, service, marketing, commerce and industries, with editions up to Max and MuleSoft for complex integrations. The choice usually comes down to how much custom process and integration work you need.
Yes. HubSpot says its free CRM supports up to two users and 1,000 contacts, with no limits on customer data and no expiration date. It includes essential marketing, sales and service tools, and you can upgrade to paid Hubs without a data migration. Salesforce instead offers a free 30-day trial of its Sales Cloud editions.
Yes. HubSpot's Salesforce integration syncs contacts, companies, deals, activities and other supported data between both platforms, so marketing, sales and customer-facing teams share records. It needs a Salesforce edition with API access or Salesforce Professional, and it does not support Group Edition. HubSpot advises planning which records to sync, field mapping and record ownership first.
Sales Cloud is priced per user per month, with editions named Starter Suite, Pro Suite, Core, Advanced and Max. Starter Suite costs $25 per user per month, most Salesforce products use annual contracts, and Salesforce asks buyers to contact sales for detailed pricing. A free 30-day trial covers all Sales Cloud editions.
HubSpot sells paid products mainly through seats that grant individual users access to features. A Core Seat lists at $20, $50 or $75 per month for Starter, Professional or Enterprise, and full Sales Hub Professional or Enterprise features need a Sales Seat. Marketing Hub on marketing-contacts pricing also charges for marketing contacts.
Facts on this page come from these official pages, checked on , and from the iThub profiles. Vendors change plans and features: confirm with them before buying.
