When businesses aim to boost revenue through marketing automation, they often consider leading tools like HubSpot and SharpSpring. As providers of robust marketing solutions, these platforms are engineered to enhance long-term business growth. Understanding the unique features and benefits of each can guide decision-makers in choosing the right solution for their company. Here's a comparative overview of HubSpot versus SharpSpring to help illustrate what each offers.
HubSpot: A Comprehensive Marketing Suite
HubSpot is renowned for its extensive integrations and user-friendly interface. It’s an all-in-one platform that not only supports automation but also assists in CRM, sales, and customer service needs, making it a versatile choice for many businesses. Key features include:
- Lead Management: Advanced tools to track and nurture leads effectively.
- Content Marketing: Robust options for blog and content creation.
- Analytics: Detailed reporting features for measuring performance across channels.
SharpSpring: A Flexible, Cost-Effective Alternative
SharpSpring provides a competitive alternative with strong automation capabilities at a lower cost point. It’s particularly favored by small to medium-sized enterprises. Highlights of SharpSpring include:
- Behavior-based Email Automation: Tailors messages based on user behavior.
- Dynamic Forms: Enhances lead generation through customizable forms.
- Integrated CRM: Facilitates smoother sales alignment and efficiency.
Comparing HubSpot and SharpSpring
Choosing between HubSpot and SharpSpring often comes down to specific business needs:
- Pricing: SharpSpring often appeals to those with stricter budgets.
- Scalability: HubSpot’s comprehensive features might be better suited for larger businesses planning to scale.
- Ease of Use: HubSpot offers a more intuitive user experience with extensive customer support.
Both platforms offer significant advantages, but the right choice depends on your company’s size, budget, and specific marketing goals. By evaluating each tool’s features against your business needs, you can make an informed decision that aligns with your strategic objectives.
Customer relationship management (CRM) software is essential for managing how you engage with your customers. The right CRM software can shorten the sales cycle and save you considerable time, work, and money on your sales and marketing campaigns.
While there are dozens of CRM solutions, two stand out for their popularity: SharpSpring and HubSpot. This article compares SharpSpring vs. HubSpot, including their varying features, pros, and cons.
What is SharpSpring?
SharpSpring is a CRM and marketing automation platform. The platform's overall goal is to help you optimize your inbound marketing campaigns, thereby increasing leads and sales. The platform was launched in 2014 and currently serves more than 2,000 agencies and 10,000 businesses with a 98 percent satisfaction rating.
What is HubSpot?
HubSpot is also a marketing automation solutions provider and CRM platform. It was launched in 2006 and is credited with articulating the concept of inbound marketing. It has been touted as the best enterprise CRM platform for its long list of features. Surprisingly, the HubSpot CRM platform is free to use with unlimited contacts, despite the quality of its features and solutions; however, users can upgrade to premium features by paying an annual subscription fee.
What are the main features and functionalities offered by Hubspot and Sharpspring for managing marketing campaigns and growing revenue?
In the competitive landscape of marketing software, both HubSpot and SharpSpring offer robust platforms that consolidate all functions and activities on one central platform, giving users optimal control over their campaigns. Each platform tracks and records your customers' activities on your website and other online platforms. They allow users to automate emails and repetitive tasks, saving their teams considerable time and money. Furthermore, both platforms provide excellent customer support via various channels, including in-app help, support tickets, and phone calls. They also furnish users with tools to compose emails and build landing pages.
SharpSpring stands out with its extensive array of social media management tools that cater to most social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. It offers monthly subscriptions, which provide the flexibility to discontinue the service as needed. Additionally, SharpSpring enables companies to white-label the platform, a significant advantage for agencies reselling the service to their clients. The platform’s mobile app is intuitive, enhancing the ability to manage marketing efforts 'on the go' from any smartphone or tablet.
On the other hand, HubSpot distinguishes itself with a free plan that includes basic CRM features, allowing an unlimited number of users and contacts in your marketing campaigns. This platform also offers a free live-chat feature, enabling real-time communication with contacts. Users can create contact forms instantly while leads browse your platforms, boosting conversion rates. Integration with Gmail and Outlook is seamless, and personalized bulk emails can be sent to an unlimited number of contacts without incurring extra costs. Email tracking within HubSpot allows users to see when a contact opens or reads emails, providing crucial engagement data.
HubSpot's CRM system is notably user-friendly and intuitive. Its payments tool is particularly innovative, allowing you to embed payment links in quotes, forms, meetings, emails, and more, streamlining the sales process. Additionally, the HubSpot meeting scheduler facilitates automatic booking by prospects, enhancing user experience and efficiency.
Each software brings distinct advantages to the table: while SharpSpring offers greater flexibility and specific tools for social media management, HubSpot provides comprehensive free CRM features and advanced tools for real-time engagement and sales facilitation. Understanding
How do the pricing and subscription structures of Hubspot and Sharpspring differ?
1. What is the starting cost for using SharpSpring?
The initial cost for using SharpSpring is $399 per month, which covers up to 1,000 contacts on the dashboard.
2. How does SharpSpring structure its pricing?
SharpSpring's pricing is based on the number of contacts you manage. It scales the cost depending on how many contacts are stored, starting at a lower tier and increasing as the number of contacts grows.
3. Does Hubspot offer a free version, and what are its limitations?
Yes, Hubspot offers a free version which is suitable for businesses at an early stage or those not requiring advanced marketing functionalities. However, this version has limited features compared to paid accounts.
4. What are the specific pricing tiers available for Hubspot?
Hubspot offers four pricing levels for its Marketing Hub: Free @ $0 per month, Starter at $50 per month, Professional at $800 per month, and Enterprise at $3,200 per month.
How is SharpSpring different from HubSpot?
Advantages
Here is an overview of the advantages of SharpSpring and HubSpot. It is worth noting that these platforms offer closely similar benefits.
- Both platforms consolidate all functions and activities on one central platform, giving users optimal control over their campaigns.
- Both track and record your customers' activities on your website and other online platforms.
- Both platforms allow users to automate emails and repetitive tasks, saving their teams considerable time and money.
- Both offer excellent customer support via various channels, including in-app help, support tickets, and phone calls.
- They both also provide tools to compose emails and build landing pages.
Advantages of SharpSpring
- SharpSpring offers many social media management tools applicable to most social media platforms, including Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
- SharpSpring offers monthly subscriptions, making it easy to drop the service whenever you want.
- Sharpspring allows companies to white-label the platform to reflect their brand better. This is a great advantage for agencies that resell the platform to their clients.
- The mobile app is intuitive and allows you to manage more of your marketing “on the go” from any smartphone or tablet.
Advantages of HubSpot
As mentioned above, HubSpot and SharpSpring offer similar benefits, including an intuitive platform, excellent customer support, and tools to aid you in your digital marketing campaigns. To this end, HubSpot offers many of SharpSpring's benefits and more, including:
- HubSpot offers a free plan constituting basic CRM features, including an unlimited capacity for adding users and contacts to your marketing campaigns.
- The platform provides a free live-chat feature for users to communicate with their contacts.
- Users can create contact forms in real time while your leads browse your platforms to increase conversion rates.
- The platform integrates easily with Gmail and Outlook, and users can send personalized bulk emails to unlimited contacts.
- Email tracking lets you see when a contact has opened or read your emails.
- HubSpot tracks and logs website visitors and provides real-time notifications of user activity on the website, email opens, link clicks, etc.
- Personalized bulk email sending is free.
- HubSpot's CRM is very user-friendly and intuitive.
- The payments tool allows you to embed payments links in your quotes, forms, meetings, emails, and more.
- The HubSpot meeting scheduler allows prospects to book a meeting automatically.
Disadvantages
There is a significant upside to both CRM platforms, but no software is without drawbacks. Here is an overview of the shortcomings of both SharpSpring and HubSpot:
Disadvantages of SharpSpring
- Users need technical programming skills to customize the email and page builder templates.
- This platform doesn't offer a free plan (whereas HubSpot offers a free basic CRM).
- SharpSpring doesn’t have a Live Chat feature available.
- This platform is hard to navigate and not user-friendly.
- SharpSpring doesn't offer A/B Testing.
Disadvantages of HubSpot
- The mobile app version has limited features.
- The premium features are priced higher than competing platforms.
- HubSpot offers social media management, but it's limited to only Twitter.
What are the key features and overviews of Hubspot and Sharpspring in terms of marketing solutions?
In a detailed exploration of the marketing solutions provided by HubSpot and SharpSpring, it's essential to understand how each platform enhances your marketing strategy through their unique features and capabilities. Here's how they compare:
HubSpot, renowned for its comprehensive inbound marketing tools, amalgamates several functionalities into a single system, making it easier for businesses to implement robust marketing automation. The platform offers a free live-chat feature, allowing for real-time communication with contacts—a vital tool for increasing engagement and conversion rates. Users can create contact forms in real time as leads browse through platforms, further enhancing lead capture efficiency. Integration with Gmail and Outlook, coupled with the ability to send personalized bulk emails to an unlimited number of contacts, simplifies the email marketing process. Moreover, HubSpot's email tracking capabilities ensure that you know when a contact opens or reads your emails, providing valuable insights for follow-up interactions.
Moreover, HubSpot excels with its user-friendly CRM system, which is intuitive and easy to navigate, ensuring that your team can maximize its capabilities without a steep learning curve. The payments tool in HubSpot is also noteworthy; it allows you to embed payment links in quotes, forms, meetings, emails, and more, streamlining the sales process. Additionally, the HubSpot meeting scheduler is a game-changer, enabling prospects to book meetings automatically, which optimizes scheduling and boosts productivity.
On the other side, SharpSpring positions itself as a flexible and multifunctional growth platform that emphasizes revenue generation. It offers a range of social media management tools that are applicable across major platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, which is indispensable for a cohesive social media strategy. SharpSpring's monthly subscriptions offer the flexibility to modify or terminate the service as needed, which can be particularly appealing for businesses testing different marketing solutions. Another significant advantage of SharpSpring is its white-labeling capability, allowing companies to customize the platform to reflect their brand—an essential feature for agencies that resell the service to clients. The intuitive mobile app lets you manage your marketing efforts on the go, enhancing accessibility and responsiveness.
Both platforms provide robust marketing solutions but cater to slightly different needs and preferences. HubSpot offers more in-depth control and reporting on campaign deliverability, a drag and drop interface for building landing pages, and shared inbox features that foster team collaboration. Conversely, SharpSpring focuses on offering flexible subscription options and extensive social media tools, making it ideal for agencies looking to scale and adapt quickly. By understanding the unique offerings of each, businesses can better decide which platform aligns with their strategic goals and operational style.
Features Outlined
A CRM platform's quality comes down to its range of features. Note that, like the advantages listed above, HubSpot and SharpSpring also offer similar features. Here is an overview of what both platforms have to offer:
SharpSpring Features
Some of the most notable features available on the SharpSpring CRM platform include:
- Marketing automation
- CRM
- Social media management
- Analytics and reports
- Blogs
- Landing pages
- Dynamic forms
- Smart email automation
- Visitor ID
- Integrations and integration partners
HubSpot Features
HubSpot offers all of the features available on SharpSpring and more, including:
- HubSpot sales
- Prospect sales funnel
- Full-spectrum automation tools
- Contact website activity tracking
- Contact management marketing
- Custom support form fields
- HubSpot Connect integrations
- Outlook and Gmail integration functionality
- List segmentation
- Conversations inbox
- Ticketing
- Email templates
- Email tracking and notification
- Team email
- Reporting
- Calling
- Task/activity builders for teams
- HubSpot Academy (learning database)
How to Choose the Best Platform for Your Business
Ultimately, the best CRM platform should meet your business's unique needs and limitations. As we've seen, these platforms vary in their range of features and the quality of services they offer. So, you'll need to consider both products and compare their strengths and weaknesses against your business's needs.
Below are some points to consider to help you decide when to use each platform.
When to Use SharpSpring
We'd recommend choosing the SharpSpring marketing automation and CRM platform over HubSpot if you find that you are:
- Working with multiple CMS platforms. SharpSpring is universally compatible with all major CMS platforms.
When to Use HubSpot
The HubSpot marketing automation and CRM platform is potentially the better choice than SharpSpring for businesses experiencing scenarios like:
- First time working with customer relationship management. HubSpot CRM is easy to set up and use, and its tools are designed to solve challenges like small team sizes and limited resources.
- Working with limited technical skills. Users may need programming skills to use some of SharpSpring's tools, but HubSpot automates everything.
- Working primarily from a desktop. As explained, HubSpot's mobile app offers limited features compared to the desktop version.
It's also important to note HubSpot's free tools and services give many other premium CRM platforms a run for their money. HubSpot is also easy to use and offers unskilled users access to a vast database of learning materials, such as how-to articles and video guides.
The Bottom Line
HubSpot's vast user base is proof of its popularity and the quality of its services. Eternal Works is a HubSpot Solutions Partner and a leading marketing services provider in Virginia Beach. We can help you leverage the best of what HubSpot has to offer and teach you how to use HubSpot like a pro to learn more about how we can help.
