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 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:
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:
Choosing between HubSpot and SharpSpring often comes down to specific business needs:
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.
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.
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.
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
The initial cost for using SharpSpring is $399 per month, which covers up to 1,000 contacts on the dashboard.
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.
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.
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.
Here is an overview of the advantages of SharpSpring and HubSpot. It is worth noting that these platforms offer closely similar benefits.
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:
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:
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.
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:
Some of the most notable features available on the SharpSpring CRM platform include:
HubSpot offers all of the features available on SharpSpring and more, including:
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.
We'd recommend choosing the SharpSpring marketing automation and CRM platform over HubSpot if you find that you are:
The HubSpot marketing automation and CRM platform is potentially the better choice than SharpSpring for businesses experiencing scenarios like:
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.
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.