Your CRM is full of contacts, your marketing team is running campaigns, and your sales department is chasing deals. But everything happens in separate systems that don’t talk to each other. HubSpot promises to end this with an all-in-one platform that brings together marketing, sales, and customer service under one roof.
Who is behind Hubspot?
HubSpot was founded in 2006 by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The two had a clear mission: to put an end to intrusive marketing methods like cold calling and spam emails. Instead, they wanted to help businesses attract customers with valuable content. They called this ‘inbound marketing’, a term they introduced themselves and which has since become a standard in the marketing world.
The concept took off. HubSpot raised more than 225 million dollars from investors like General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Google Ventures, and Matrix Partners. In 2014, the company went public and is now traded on the NYSE under the ticker HUBS. Today, more than 247,000 customers worldwide work with the platform, from small startups to large enterprise organizations.
HubSpot grew into more than just a software company. They organize the annual INBOUND event, one of the largest marketing conferences in the world, and offer free training through HubSpot Academy. That educational approach fits perfectly with their original philosophy: deliver value before you sell something.
Who is Hubspot for?
HubSpot primarily targets scale-ups, SMBs, and marketing teams that want to centralize their activities. If you have a growing business where marketing and sales need to work together better, then HubSpot is a logical choice. The platform is also popular with companies that want to take inbound marketing seriously with content, SEO, and lead generation.
But HubSpot is not suitable for everyone. Very small entrepreneurs or hobbyists quickly find the Professional and Enterprise plans too expensive. The free version does offer a lot of functionality, but as soon as you scale up, costs rise exponentially. Companies that need on-premise software for security or compliance reasons also cannot use HubSpot. It is a pure cloud solution.
What can Hubspot do?
HubSpot consists of different modules that you can use separately or combined. The free version already offers a complete CRM, basic email marketing, and forms. For advanced automation, extensive reporting, and enterprise functionality, you need a paid plan. Here are the main capabilities:
- CRM Database: The heart of HubSpot. All contact information, interactions, and deal information are in one place. You can see at a glance which emails someone has opened, which pages they’ve visited, and where they are in the sales funnel. The CRM automatically syncs with your email and tracks everything without manual work.
- Email Marketing and Automation: Send newsletters, follow-up emails, and drip campaigns directly from the platform. You can build workflows that automatically trigger based on behavior, such as downloading a whitepaper or visiting a pricing page. The drag-and-drop editor makes designing emails easy, even without technical knowledge.
- Landing Pages and Forms: Build landing pages without a developer. HubSpot has templates that you customize with a visual editor. You can place forms anywhere on your website and the data automatically flows into your CRM. You immediately see which pages convert best and can run A/B tests to optimize.
- Live Chat and Chatbots: Add a chat widget to your website so visitors can ask questions directly. You can program chatbots that answer frequently asked questions, schedule meetings, or qualify leads before they reach your sales team. All conversations are saved in the CRM.
- Meeting Scheduler: No more endless back-and-forth emailing about availability. You share a link to your calendar and prospects choose a time slot themselves. It syncs with Google Calendar and Outlook, prevents double bookings, and automatically sends reminders.
- Analytics and Dashboards: Track your marketing performance with dashboards that you fully customize yourself. See how much traffic your website gets, which campaigns generate the most leads, and what your ROI is. You can share reports with your team or export them for presentations. Advanced attribution models and custom reports are included in the more expensive plans.
In addition, HubSpot has modules for sales (Sales Hub), customer service (Service Hub), and content management (Content Hub). You can purchase these separately or bundle them in the Customer Platform. The ecosystem integrates with more than 1500 other apps, from Slack and Zapier to Shopify and WordPress.
What does Hubspot cost?
HubSpot has a free plan that remains free forever. You get access to the CRM, basic email marketing (up to 2000 emails per month), forms, and a simple chat feature. The downside is that you get HubSpot branding in your emails and that automation and reporting are limited.
The Starter Customer Platform costs 20 euros per month with monthly payment, or 15 euros per month if you pay annually (total 180 euros). This plan removes the branding, increases your email limit, and gives access to more automation options. For small teams just getting started with marketing automation, this is often sufficient.
Want the full Marketing Hub with advanced workflows, A/B testing, and comprehensive reporting? Then you’ll pay 880 euros per month for the Professional version. These prices are based on a certain number of contacts in your database. As soon as you have more contacts, the price increases significantly. That’s a common complaint: costs rise quickly with growth.
HubSpot offers a free 14-day trial for the paid plans. You can then try out all the features before you take out a subscription. Please note: for Enterprise plans, HubSpot often charges mandatory onboarding costs of 3000 dollars or more.
What should you watch out for?
HubSpot’s pricing structure can be confusing. You don’t just pay for the plan itself, but also for additional contacts in your database. If you go from 1000 to 5000 contacts, your monthly bill can double or even triple. Many users experience this as an unpleasant surprise. So plan ahead carefully and calculate what you’ll actually spend with growth.
Another pain point is the mandatory onboarding costs for Enterprise customers. HubSpot charges thousands of dollars for implementation and training, even if you may already have experience with the platform. These costs are not optional and come on top of your subscription price. Small businesses wanting to upgrade to a higher plan are often shocked by this.
The contract terms are complex and automatic renewal is standard. If you don’t cancel in time, you’re stuck with a new annual contract. Some users complain that HubSpot doesn’t handle cancellations smoothly and that support is slow to respond when you have questions about your bill.
Reporting in the Starter plan is limited. You do get basic statistics, but for custom reports and advanced analytics you need to upgrade to Professional. That feels like a missed opportunity for some teams, especially since competitors like ActiveCampaign offer more reporting options in their entry-level plans.
Finally, HubSpot has no native support for SMS marketing. You can use integrations with external tools, but that adds extra costs and complexity again. For businesses that consider SMS important in their marketing strategy, that’s a drawback.
Hubspot alternatives
HubSpot is not the only player in the market. Depending on your needs and budget, there are alternatives that may suit you better:
- Salesforce: Choose this if you’re a very large enterprise with complex custom requirements. Salesforce is more powerful and flexible than HubSpot, but also considerably more complex and often more expensive. It requires more technical knowledge to set up and maintain.
- ActiveCampaign: Choose this if you’re primarily looking for advanced email funnels. ActiveCampaign has a stronger focus on marketing automation and offers more options for complex workflows. However, it lacks the broad CRM functionality that HubSpot does have.
- Pipedrive: Choose this if you only need a sales CRM without marketing tools. Pipedrive is purely focused on managing sales pipelines and deals. It’s simpler and cheaper than HubSpot, but you miss the marketing and service modules.
Frequently asked questions
Below we answer the most frequently asked questions about HubSpot:
Is HubSpot really free?
Yes, HubSpot offers a comprehensive package of free tools that remain free forever. You get access to the CRM, email marketing, forms, and basic chat functionality. There are limitations, such as HubSpot branding in your emails and a limit of 2000 emails per month.
Where is my data stored?
By default, data is stored in data centers in the United States. However, new customers can choose to store in the EU data center in Germany. That’s useful for businesses dealing with strict GDPR requirements or who want to keep data within Europe.
What is the difference between the Hubs?
HubSpot is divided into different modules. Marketing Hub focuses on generating leads through content and campaigns. Sales Hub helps with closing deals and managing your sales pipeline. Service Hub is intended for customer service and support. Content Hub is the CMS part where you build websites. You can buy these modules separately or bundle them.
Conclusion
HubSpot is a powerful all-in-one platform that brings together marketing, sales, and service. The user-friendly interface and free CRM make it attractive for growing companies looking to centralize their processes. But costs quickly add up as you scale, and mandatory onboarding fees and complex contracts are obstacles. For SMBs and scale-ups that want to take inbound marketing seriously, HubSpot is a solid choice. Very small businesses or teams with a tight budget are better off starting with a cheaper alternative and upgrading later.
