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The Pros and Cons of Hubspot

HubSpot is kind of the Mac Daddy of marketing software. They offer a full range of products for marketing, sales, customer service, CRM software, plus methodology, resources, and support to help businesses streamline and perfect their marketing endeavors. If you want to make it these days, having a marketing automation tool at your fingertips is essential. But is HubSpot all it’s chalked up to be? We discuss in this article.

PRO: Easy to use.

HubSpot’s super simple, clean layout makes it extremely user-friendly. However, it doesn’t compromise on the number of powerful tools at your disposal, it just makes it easier to navigate. Not to mention, HubSpot offers a bunch of detailed tutorials on how to use their many tools via HubSpot Academy.

In fact, HubSpot is so dedicated to perfecting the simplicity of their UX and UI, that they conducted research with a drunken user to put it to the test. Yes, you read that correctly. They had some dude get absolutely smashed and then attempt to navigate HubSpot’s features (and recorded the results, of course). The philosophy behind this was that a UI design should be so straightforward that even a drunk person could use it. 

CON: Extremely pricey.

The highest quality platforms often come with the highest dollar price tag, and HubSpot is no exception. Ringing up at around $50/month for their Starter plan, $800/month for their Professional plan, and $3,200 for their Enterprise plan, HubSpot isn’t exactly easy on the wallet. And for a software that is marketed towards small businesses, the price points are kind of outlandish. On top of all this, you have to pay an onboarding fee to get started, which starts at $250 for the Starter plan and goes all the way to $6,000 for the Enterprise plan. 

The price jump between plans is pretty crazy. From $50 a month to $800 just to access a handful more tools is a lot. But as your business grows, your marketing needs will inevitably grow with it.

PRO: Everything you need, all in one place.

HubSpot quite literally has it all:

Customer Relations Management tools — Everything you need to organize, track, and build better relationships with leads and customers. Get things like contact insights, see deals, tasks, etc.

Marketing software — Marketing software to help you grow traffic, convert more visitors, and run complete inbound marketing campaigns at scale. Features include lead generation, marketing automation, and analytics.

Sales hub — Time-saving sales software that helps you get deeper insights into prospects, automate the tasks you hate and close more deals faster. See email tracking, schedule meetings, automate emails, etc.

CON: Year-long contract required.

Unfortunately, HubSpot also requires you to lock into a 12-month contract. This is fine for those who plan on being in business for a long time (which is likely most companies), but for those who are unsure of the direction they are going in or are relatively new to the marketing world, it can be daunting to sign on that dotted line. 

PRO: Task management system included.

A lot of software comparable to HubSpot does not offer a task management system. This often requires users to seek a separate tool for task management, which can get pricey and irritating. HubSpot allows you to create tasks and associate them with Contacts and Deals. It also gives you the ability to automatically set up follow-up tasks following certain actions to streamline the flow of projects.

CON: Doesn’t integrate well with other programs.

A downside of HubSpot’s “all-inclusive” nature is that in the event that you do want to use outside programs and apps, you’re going to have a hell of a time integrating those with HubSpot. Most companies use multiple systems in managing their business or their marketing, and it isn’t exactly realistic to expect that you’ll run 100% of all your marketing as well as your business operations through one platform. If you’re using Salesforce, ConnectWise, Autotask or some other CRM/PSA software, then you will need to integrate these into HubSpot, which they actually charge an exorbitant amount for. Integrating a CRM software could cost upwards of $10,000 to $20,000 dollars for one software alone.

PRO: Excellent educational content and resources.

Aside from HubSpot Academy, the platform offers an incredible, vast collection of resources with a library chock-full of helpful courses, certifications, live training, quick answers, and video lessons/tutorials on anything imaginable. Resources are constantly being added and updated on a regular basis, so you can be confident that the information is always accurate and up-to-date.  They also have a blog where you can keep up with all things happening in the industry. 

PRO: Templates & reports are highly customizable. 

Finally, HubSpot offers a ton of free templates and paid templates for social media calendars, blog posts, infographics, eBooks, emails, sales training, and much more.

It also comes with a reports tool and add-on to allow you to create standard and custom reports on a single set of data or multiple data sets. 

Is HubSpot right for you?

HubSpot is an amazing tool that has stellar results to back it up. While it does have its downsides, it’s one of the best marketing software offerings out there for a reason. It’s all dependent on what you’re looking for and which tools you will be using most for your business. The good news is, HubSpot offers a 30-day free trial so you can try before you buy.