Read this review with features, pricing, pros, cons, and comparison to compare and select among the best HubSpot Competitors and Alternatives:
When it comes to marketing automation platforms of the last decade, HubSpot has to be one of the most popular and widely used of them all. Let us just be honest, we are huge fans of HubSpot over here. Its free plan is arguably one of the best we’ve experienced, and the platform itself is easy to use.
However, there are still things about it that we believe could be improved. For instance, although we like its free CRM plan, the price of its paid versions can seem a bit too excessive, especially when you take a peek at the features being offered. Small and medium-sized enterprises mostly used HubSpot because of its spectacular free plan.
Most of these enterprises never upgrade to a paid plan because they feel paying for HubSpot is just not worth it. Aside from price, there are other areas where HubSpot seriously lacks. The absence of proper reporting features and its inadequate collection of email and landing page templates stick out like a sore thumb.
Table of Contents:
HubSpot Competitors and Alternatives
Fortunately, there are alternatives to HubSpot that you can try for a much more satisfying experience. In this article, we will recommend popular HubSpot alternatives, which in our opinion are some of the best marketing automation and CRM platforms being used today.
Expert Advice:
- Remember, HubSpot is very user-friendly. So a better alternative to HubSpot must be easy to use as well.
- Make sure it comes jam-packed with all essential marketing and CRM features that HubSpot lacks.
- Don’t simply compare the platform with HubSpot alone. In fact, assess several tools against each other based on their functionality, usability, user reviews, and price to make an informed decision.
- Make sure the platform offers good technical support.
- The subscriptions plans offered by the platform should be reasonable and affordable.
List of Top HubSpot Competitors
Popular and remarkable HubSpot Alternatives list:
- Brevo
- SMSwords
- ActiveCampaign
- Pardot
- EngageBay
- Agile CRM
- Marketo
- Pipedrive
- Keap
- GetResponse
- Bitrix24
- Insightly
- InfluencerSoft
- Close
- Acoustic
- Ontraport
HubSpot Sales Platform
Name | Best For | Price | Rating |
---|---|---|---|
HubSpot | CRM, Marketing and Sales Automation | Free Plan Available. Starter Plan: $45/month Professional Plan: $800/month Enterprise Plan: $3200/month. |
Comparing Some of the Best HubSpot Alternatives
Name | Best For | Price | Rating |
---|---|---|---|
Brevo | Email and SMS Marketing. | Lite plan: $25/month, Premium: $65/month, Custom enterprise plan is also available. | |
SMSwords | SMS marketing | Starts at $0.042 per SMS. | |
ActiveCampaign | Marketing, Sales, Email and CRM Automation. | Lite: $9/month Plus: $49/month Professional: $149/month Custom Enterprise Plans are Available. | |
Pardot | B2B Marketing Automation | Growth plan: $1250/month for up to 10000 contacts Plus – $2500/month for up to 10000 contacts Advanced – $4000/month for up to 10000 contacts Premium – $15000/month for up to 75000 contacts | |
EngageBay | Full-featured marketing automation software | Free plan available Basic: $11.99 per user per month Growth plan: $39.99 per user per month Pro: $ 63.99 per user per month | |
Agile CRM | All-in-one CRM software for small businesses | Free for up to 10 users tarter – $9.99 Regular: $29.99 Enterprise: $49.99. | |
Marketo | Lead Nurturing and Marketing Automation | Contact sales for a custom quote |
Detailed review:
#1) Brevo
Best for Email and SMS Marketing.
Brevo shines as an email marketing tool as it allows you to build transactional emails and campaigns that convert. Aside from this, the tool is ideal for Facebook Ads, Chat, CRM, retargeting ads, and marketing automation.
Another impressive thing about Brevo is the integrations it offers. The tool integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics, Privy, OptinMonster, and PlugMatter.
Top Features:
- Email and SMS Marketing
- Email API
- Build Transactional Email
- CRM
- Marketing Automation.
Pros:
- Its layout is user-friendly.
- One of the best tools for email marketing.
- The APIs are very easy to implement.
Cons:
- The customer service isn’t as responsive as we’d hoped it would be.
Price: Free plan with limited features, Lite plan: $25/month, Premium – $65/month, Custom enterprise plan is also available.
#2) SMSwords
Best for SMS marketing.
SMSwords is a platform I would recommend to anyone who wishes to boost SMS marketing campaign’s efficacy. The tool can help you launch location-based SMS campaigns. The campaigns can be configured based on city, area, or country.
You also get access to over 130 million registered cell phone users across the world. Add to that, you have built-in reports to assist you. These reports arm you crucial real-time insight on how well your SMS campaigns are doing.
Features:
- Deliver SMS via Tier-1 Enterprise Level Direct Routes
- Location based SMS campaign configuration
- Ready to use customer base
- Built-in reports
Pros:
- Affordable pricing
- Multi-lingual customer support
- Easy to use and configure campaigns
Cons:
- The customer supports could be more responsive.
Price: Starts at $0.042 per SMS.
#3) ActiveCampaign
Best for Marketing, Sales, Email, and CRM Automation.
ActiveCampaign is by far one of the best B2C, B2B, and eCommerce automation software we’ve used. The software arms you with an intuitive drag-and-drop automation builder that allows you to automate several business functions in just a few clicks.
ActiveCampaign facilitates the creation of dynamic content and email marketing campaigns that are capable of generating and converting leads. You also get a plethora of tools to segment contacts, track customer activity and automate entire workflows in a bid to make sales and marketing simpler.
Furthermore, ActiveCampaign truly prospers with its CRM feature as you get to organize all your customer data in one place. The software simplifies lead scoring, pipeline management and so much more.
Top Features:
- Visual Automation Builder
- Site Tracking
- CRM App
- Email Segmentation
- Advanced Reporting
Pros:
- Easy-to-setup Workflow Automation
- Tons of templates to create email campaigns
- Get 1-on-1 training and support
- Segment contacts according to location, age, gender, etc.
Cons:
- Basic dashboard
Price: Lite Plan for $9 per month, Plus Plan will cost $49 per month, Professional plan will cost $149 per month. All the plans are billed annually. A custom enterprise plan is also available. You can use ActiveCampaign for free for 14 days.
#4) Pardot
Best for B2B marketing automation
Kicking off our list is none other than Pardot – one of our favorite B2B marketing automation software. This is a great platform for nurturing leads, maximizing your returns, or for simply closing more deals. We find Pardot’s lead management feature impressive as you get multiple useful features like email marketing, lead scoring, CRM integration, etc.
All of these features work together effortlessly to help your marketing and sales teams generate quality leads. Marketing automation is another area where Pardot again shines. You can accelerate pipeline, align both marketing and sales, and boost revenue, thanks to Pardot’s intuitive marketing automation tools.
Top Features:
- Smart Lead Generation and Management
- Insightful ROI Reporting
- Account-based marketing
- Email Marketing
- B2B Marketing analytics
Pros:
- Allows you to track all prospect interactions on site. This includes everything from page views to download.
- The automated sales lead nurturing alongside real-time sales alerts is great for time-saving.
- Your sales teams can use Pardot’s prospect tracking and analytics feature to qualify promising sales leads.
- The social selling feature that allows you to disseminate information on social media channels is great for marketing and sales.
Cons:
- Nothing significant
Price: Growth plan: $1250/month for up to 10000 contacts, Plus – $2500/month for up to 10000 contacts, Advanced – $4000/month for up to 10000 contacts, Premium – $15000/month for up to 75000 contacts.
#5) EngageBay
Best for full-featured marketing automation software.
EngageBay makes it to the top of our list because of its jam-packed suite of features. This is a true all-in-one marketing software that comes loaded with all essential features like marketing automation, CRM, lead generation, etc. EngageBay is phenomenal when creating email campaigns or automating sales funnels and marketing processes.
EngageBay features an in-built CRM that can be used to manage customer relationships. You can also use EngageBay to automate the distribution of content pertaining to email marketing. You get pre-designed email templates that can be used to create, launch, and manage custom-made email marketing campaigns.
Top Features:
- Customizable Email Marketing
- CRM
- Marketing automation
- Lead generation
- 360-degree customer view
- Create landing pages
Pros:
- You can automate entire marketing and sales processes using EngageBay within minutes.
- You can create custom web forms and landing pages to convert leads and website visitors.
- Track all communication, exchanged emails, calls, and website activity of customers.
- Allows you to leverage drag-and-drop, WYSIWYG editor to create email campaigns.
- Free plan available.
Cons:
- Very limited landing page templates.
Price: Free plan available, Basic: $11.99 per user per month, Growth plan: $39.99 per user per month, Pro: $ 63.99 per user per month.
#6) Agile CRM
Best for all-in-one CRM.
With Agile CRM, you get a smart all-in-one platform that handles sales, marketing, and other related function on your business’s behalf. You get a single, unified platform that essentially automates your sales and marketing functions and it does so without any data leaks.
The platform is very easy to implement and incredibly affordable, which makes it an ideal option for small enterprises.
It excels regarding its integrating abilities. Agile CRM can integrate seamlessly with over 60 third-party sales, marketing, and CRM platforms. Another thing we really like about Agile CRM is the fact that it centralizes real-time customer data. As such, this customer information is made readily accessible to all teams in your company whenever needed.
Top Features:
- 360-degree contact view
- Gamification
- Lead scoring
- Webform, pop-up, and landing page creation
- Email marketing
Pros:
- Leverages cloud-based SaaS service that is fast and mobile-ready
- Tons of integration options
- Very easy to implement
- Allows you to gamify sales to get better results
Cons:
- Very difficult to configure the automation tools offered.
Price: Free for up to 10 users, Starter – $9.99, Regular: $29.99, Enterprise: $49.99.
#7) Marketo
Best for lead nurturing and marketing automation.
Adobe’s Marketo Engage is another complete marketing platform that simplifies multiple core aspects of marketing and sales. This is a tool that businesses of all sizes can use for marketing automation, email marketing, lead nurturing, and revenue attribution.
It essentially streamlines the entire marketing process by helping sales and marketing teams generate more quality leads, improve sales performance and deliver more campaigns. Email marketing via Marketo is simply phenomenal. You get a plethora of in-built templates to create marketing emails. You can also perform A/B testing to learn which email is more effective.
Top Features:
- Content personalization
- Marketing Automation
- Marketing impact analytics
- Cross Channel engagement
Pros:
- Generate more quality leads with superior marketing automation.
- The A/B testing goes a long way in helping you launch winning email marketing campaigns.
- Track customers’ actions on your website.
- Its mobile companion application is a thing of magnificence, allowing you to communicate with customers on the go.
- The presented analytics are easy to understand and help identify weak links in your marketing strategy.
Cons:
- The inability to customize reports is a missed opportunity in our opinion.
Price: Contact sales for a custom quote
Website: Marketo
#8) Pipedrive
Best for customizable pipelines.
Pipedrive makes it to our list because of how impressive it is with respect to its sales pipeline management and CRM features. The tool is especially ideal for both small and medium-sized enterprises. We also like how Pipedrive spearheads lead management. It organizes the entire process in a manner that gives you better oversight of your sales.
Top Features:
- Customizable Pipeline
- Visualized Sales Pipeline
- AI-powered automation
- Revenue forecasting
- Email integration
Pros:
- You get fully customizable web forms to generate quality leads.
- The reporting on sales is exceptionally detailed.
- There is a mobile app that works on both iOS and Android, allowing you to manage sales and marketing functions on the go.
- Set permissions, get alerts, and manage users.
Cons:
- There have been complaints about its subpar customer service.
Price: Essential plan: $12.50 per user per month, Advanced: $24.90, Professional: $49.90, Enterprise: $99.90.
Website: Pipedrive
#9) Keap
Best for CRM, Sales, and Marketing Automation.
Keap is a user-friendly marketing automation software. The platform provides you with tools that let you capture and organize leads in a single place. You can segment your contacts and send targeted campaigns that are more likely to convert your leads.
With Keap, you get one platform for lead generation, email and SMS campaign management, invoicing, payments, etc. thus greatly simplifying the sales and marketing process.
Top Features:
- Sales Pipeline Management
- Sales and Marketing automation
- CRM
- Email and Text marketing
- Reporting and analytics
Pros:
- Automates and simplifies tasks related to sales.
- Capture leads with web forms.
- Easily track results with comprehensive reports and analytics.
- Easy payment management, thanks to Keap being fully integrated with InfusionSoft.
- Create an online store with all essential eCommerce elements.
Cons:
- The onboarding cost can be high for some.
Price: Lite plan – $56/month, Pro plan – $119/month, Max – $140/month.
Website: Keap
#10) GetResponse
Best for Lead Management.
GetResponse is another great alternative to HubSpot, thanks to its ability to create email campaigns, web pages and automate marketing.
However, it is its lead management feature where it truly shines. GetResponse makes the job of your sales and marketing team easy by allowing them to compare follow-ups, measure conversions, and segment subscribers with just one click.
Top Features:
- Email Marketing
- Marketing Automation
- Conversion Funnel
- Website builder
Pros:
- Great email creator to help you launch targeted campaigns.
- A plethora of in-built templates to build a website.
- Marketing automation.
- List management.
Cons:
- For remarketing, you have to identify recipients who have clicked on a specific link that could be anywhere in between several sent mails. This can be time-consuming.
Price: Free plan, Basic – $12.3/month, Plus – $40.18, Professional – $81.18/month.
Website: GetResponse
#11) Bitrix24
Best for online collaboration.
Bitrix24 is a great HubSpot alternative solely because of the collaboration feature it offers. It provides you with tons of tools that simplify the sales and marketing process. We are talking about all the essential ones like CRM, project management, time management, etc.
This is a tool integrated with a social-style environment. You feel that with the liking, commenting, user profile incorporation, and content sharing, it facilitates.
Top Features:
- Free online collaboration
- Intuitive CRM
- Task and project management
- Website builder
Pros:
- A great CRM tool can handle sales, companies, marketing, leads, etc.
- Build websites for free that are both mobile and desktop friendly.
- CRM also facilitates inventory management.
Cons:
- The tech support leaves a lot to be desired.
Price: Free for unlimited users but with limited features. The basic plan is for $39 per month, Standard Plan for $75 per month, Professional plan for $159 per month.
Website: Bitrix24
#12) Insightly
Best for CRM for expanding businesses.
If you are a Google or Office 365 user, then this CRM software is tailor-made for you. The platform is ideal for scaling businesses across multiple domains, such as manufacturing, professional services, and technology.
With Insightly by your side, all of your critical business and sales data are well organized and secure. Insightly also integrates well with other email, file management, accounting, and messaging tools.
Top Features:
- Marketing and Sales automation
- CRM
- Impressive personalization tools
- Supports integration with several third-party applications
Pros:
- Good software to grow pipeline and create engaging customer journeys.
- Close more deals and centralize your customer data.
- Great customer support.
- Offers amazing integration capability with several existing business applications.
Cons:
- Chrome extension is a bit clunky and needs work.
Price: Free plan available for up to 2 users, Plus Plan – $29 per user per month, professional plan: $49 per user per month, Enterprise plan – $99 per user per plan.
Website: Insightly
#13) InfluencerSoft
Best for creating sales funnels.
If you need a tool that helps you create sales funnels in a simple and visual manner, then InfluencerSoft is for you. You get a ton of pre-built templates along with a convenient drag-and-drop editor to help you build sales funnels.
The platform also helps automate your marketing and sales processes, which is what makes it one of the best HubSpot alternatives in existence today.
Top Features:
- Visual Funnel Builder
- Email Scheduling
- Marketing automation
- Process Mapping tool
Pros:
- Helps you design landing pages that are optimized for mobile view.
- You get 50 premade templates to create web forms, landing pages, selling and payment pages.
- Helps you create surveys and even automatically segment contacts into specific groups.
- Supports integration with over 200 applications.
Cons:
- The problem with InfluencerSoft also traces back to its subpar customer support.
Price: Contact for a quote
Website: InfluencerSoft
#14) Close
Best for seamless marketing automation for SMBs.
A close is a software that helps small and medium-sized businesses that can help your marketing and sales teams turn leads into revenue. The software is especially great for teams that work remotely. The app also streamlines communication, giving you full oversight of tasks and reminders in a single intuitive system.
Top Features:
- Drag and drop pipelines
- Optimized Sales Workflow
- Task management and collaboration
- Zoom Integration
- Automatic call recording
Pros:
- Email, SMS, and calling in a single platform.
- You get two-way email sync along with calendar sync.
- The platform facilitates high-volume calling, thanks to advanced features.
- Automated email sequencing.
Cons:
- The platform doesn’t function very well with HTML emails.
Price: Starter plan for $29 per month per user, Basic plan for $69 per month per user, Professional plan for $99 per month per user, Business plan for $149 per month per user.
Website: Close
#15) Acoustic
Best for content management.
Acoustic is an open, powerful, and user-friendly marketing platform that is especially ideal for digital marketing professionals and agencies.
The platform lends you a bunch of tools that automate marketing campaigns. It shines because of the personalization features it offers and the analytical tools that decipher the performance of your launched campaigns to help you make informed decisions.
Top Features:
- Marketing automation
- Comprehensive Insight and Analytics
- Tons of tools personalize campaigns
- Content Management
Pros:
- The personalization engine is very easy to use, letting you customize campaigns.
- Provides you with tools that deliver a digital banking experience.
- Great for eCommerce stores.
- The customer support is pretty good.
Cons:
- Needs better instruction and tutorials for guidance.
Price: Contact for a quote
Website: Acoustic
#16) Ontraport
Best for pipeline management.
Ontraport is a cloud-based solution that streamlined customer communication, sales, and marketing. The platform is ideal for all types of businesses. The platform offers a ton of intuitive automation tools that help you design, run, and manage marketing campaigns.
You can send targeted messages, and emails with the help of customizable templates provided to you by Ontraport.
Top Features:
- Smart Pipelines Management
- Lead Scoring
- Email and SMS messaging
- Drag-and-drop editor.
Pros:
- Comes with a mobile application that makes managing launched campaigns on the go possible.
- You can get insights into leads, revenue, customer experience, and campaign performance with the help of comprehensive reporting and analytics provided.
- Supports integration with several popular third-party applications like QuickBooks, Google Calendar, Zapier, etc.
Cons:
- The drag-and-drop editor isn’t that great and can make customization a tad bit difficult.
Price: Basic – $79/month, Plus – $147/month, Pro – $297/month, Enterprise Plan – $497 / month.
Website: Ontraport
Other HubSpot Competitors
#17) Sugar CRM
Sugar CRM exists to make the lives of CRM, sales, and marketing professionals easier. With this platform, you can create, execute and track marketing campaigns across multiple channels. You can use web-to-lead forms to capture leads directly into your CRM. You can also assign leads to your sales reps and keep tabs on the marketing ROI of your programs.
Top Features:
- Sales Automation
- Marketing Automation
- On-Premise CRM
- AI-Driven Performance
Pros:
- The customer service provided by Sugar CRM is frankly one of the best.
- The ability to capture leads directly into the CRM is impressive.
- You can track the activity on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
Cons:
- The user interface isn’t really that compelling.
Price: Professional plan starts at $52 per user per month, Enterprise plan starts at $85 per user per month, Sugar Market plan starts at $1000 per month for 10000 contacts.
Website: Sugar CRM
#18) SharpSpring
We recommend SharpSpring because of its affordable subscriptions plans. At a reasonable price, small businesses get a revenue-boosting marketing platform that can help them nurture leads, improve conversion rates, and deliver high returns on marketing investments.
The platform especially excels because of its innovative, open architecture and superior customer support.
Top Features:
- Campaign tracker
- Sales and Marketing automation
- Email marketing
- Landing page designer
- Social management
Pros:
- Thanks to ShareSpring’s built-in CRM and open API, the platform will integrate seamlessly with CRMs of your choice.
- You get tons of templates and personalization options to design web forms, landing pages, and marketing emails.
- You get a customizable sales pipeline you can mold as per your wish to best fit your sales process.
- It harbors a powerful rules engine, which makes marketing automation really simple.
Cons:
- The reporting is not as good as we wished it would be.
- The billing feature can be difficult to get a hang of.
Price: Contact for a custom quote
Website: ShareSpring
#19) Zoho CRM
Every marketing and sales professional knows about Zoho. After all, it is one of the oldest and most widely used CRM platforms that has thrived despite heavy competition from new competitors. The platform is especially ideal to facilitate smooth communication with your customers. We also like its ability to automate the sales force.
In fact, Zoho can automate almost all aspects of your marketing if used appropriately. Aside from this, Zoho CRM also offers you tools to spearhead project management, lead management, team collaboration and so much more.
Top Features:
- Sales and Marketing Automation
- Process and Project Management
- End-to-end lead management
- Comprehensive business analytics.
Pros:
- Streamlines the entire lead nurturing process.
- Very easy to trigger actions and follow up with the help of set-up workflows.
- You get notified in real-time when customers wish to interact with your business.
- The user interface is simple and straightforward.
Cons:
- Its UI needs a major overhaul.
- The workflows can be clunky to operate.
Price: Free for up to 3 users, standard edition for $14 per user per month, professional edition for $23 per user per month, enterprise edition for $40 per user per month. Ultimate Edition for $52 per user per month.
Website: Zoho CRM
#20) Freshsales
Freshsales is another tool that is ideal for both its CRM and sales simplifying features. The platform gives you a 360-degree view of your customer’s activity. This way, you are aware of your customer’s interactions with your business. The platform automates time-consuming tasks and expedites your selling process. This is one tool we will recommend for its simple automation.
Top Features:
- Deal management
- Email integration
- Cloud telephony
- Contact management
Pros:
- Very easy to use and set up.
- Allows you to offer a much more personalized experience to customers by offering a 360-degree view of customers’ interaction with the business.
- The tool presents conversations had with customers in full context.
- The mobile-friendly application makes CRM and sales management accessible on the move.
Cons:
- Limited in features that most big CRM tools have.
- The reporting isn’t all that impressive.
Frequently Asked Questions
HubSpot is a widely used, popular inbound marketing and sales platform that helps its users manage all aspects of a business’s sales and marketing functions.
The platform is mostly used by marketing professionals and businesses who need help with their sales. It has been used to generate leads, attract visitors to websites, and close customers. The software basically allows marketing and sales departments to manage all their duties from one unified system.
Yes, HubSpot is a Fortune 500 company. In fact, Great Place to Work and Fortune bequeathed HubSpot with the title of one of the best Fortune 100 best companies to work for in 2020. You know you can trust Great Place to Work and Fortune as it collected responses from over 650000 employees from across the country for this occasion.
Both HubSpot and Salesforce are industry giants with their own distinct appeals. As far as the above question is concerned, which option is better will ultimately depend on what features you would prioritize. So if you are seeking free CRM software, then HubSpot is for you.
On the other hand, if you seek a more powerful and customizable CRM software, then Salesforce is something you should try.
Further reading =>> HubSpot or Salesforce – A Comparison
HubSpot has been around since 2006. In that time, it has carved out a respectable reputation for itself. Many huge companies across the world use HubSpot today as a solution to manage their marketing and sales functions.
The most prominent names using HubSpot include:
– Mollie
– Accenture
– Strava
– Trello
– Trustpilot
HubSpot has strong competition from several amazing marketing automation and sales tools. Some of the best in our opinion are the subject of this article as well. We believe the following are top alternatives to HubSpot being used in the industry today:
– Pardot
– EngageBay
– Agile CRM
– Marketo
– ActiveCampaign
Conclusion
No one can deny that HubSpot is a great sales and marketing automation tool. It arguably has one of the best free CRM plans we’ve ever encountered. Its paid plans, on the other hand, leave a lot to be desired. Fortunately, HubSpot isn’t the only platform of its kind on the market and the above powerful tools testify to that fact.
All the above-mentioned tools can fulfill the role HubSpot plays so well, which is to simplify and automate sales, marketing, and CRM-related tasks. In fact, there are tools on this list that far surpass HubSpot with regard to functionality and usability.
As for our recommendation, if you are looking for a full-featured marketing automation tool, we suggest you go with Pardot. For impressive CRM features, you can opt for EngageBay. The final decision is yours.
Research Process:
- We spent 20 hours researching and writing this article so you can have summarized and insightful information on which HubSpot Alternative will best suit you.
- Total tools researched – 41
- Total tools shortlisted – 19