hubspot-marketing-hub-vs-sharpspring

HubSpot is an inbound marketing, sales, and customer success platform with marketing automation capabilities at its core. SharpSpring is a sales and marketing platform and offers an agency-specific solution. Both products have a free, built-in CRM and are preferred by small and midsize businesses on TrustRadius. 

Features

Both platforms offer core marketing automation capabilities such as email marketing and campaign management, landing page creation, lead management, lead scoring, and reporting and analytics. Each solution has a few unique features as well. 

HubSpot is an all-in-one solution for marketing, sales, and customer service. Users note that the HubSpot user interface is easy to use and intuitive. Businesses can host their website on HubSpot’s CMS hub and have access to unique features like: 

• SEO optimization
• landing page A/B testing 
• HubSpot Academy
• live chat 
• chatbots 

On the other hand, SharpSpring offers features that are crucial for marketing agencies. These include a month-to-month contract (instead of annual), a dedicated agency support manager, a re-brandable platform, single-sign-on (SSO), and a client account management dashboard. 

Limitations

While both vendors offer a robust marketing automation platform, each product has a few limitations to be aware of: 

When compared with SharpSpring, one limitation of HubSpot is its pricing model. Prices increase steeply as the number of contacts in your list grows. Add-ons like HubSpot’s CMS Hub can also be costly. Users on TrustRadius also note that the number of features available in HubSpot can sometimes be overwhelming, especially for new users. 

Compared to HubSpot, SharpSpring does not have as many features, like SEO recommendations and optimization tools. Certain capabilities like campaign reporting and analytics are also not as strong as HubSpot’s reporting capabilities. SharpSpring customers on TrustRadius also note that some elements of the UI, such as the landing page builder, could be improved. 

Pricing 

Both products have a subscription pricing model based on the number of contacts included. However, HubSpot is billed annually, while SharpSpring customers have the option to pay month-to-month. 

HubSpot has three different plan tiers with varying levels of features included. On its lowest-priced tier, businesses can pay $40 per month for 1,000 contacts. SharpSpring offers one plan level with prices determined by the number of contacts included. All SharpSpring customers have access to an unlimited number of users, unlimited support, and the full set of features. 

Which Is Right For You? 

Because of its pricing model, which starts increasing steeply around 20,000+ contacts, HubSpot is most affordable for businesses with a small contact list. However, HubSpot would also be a good fit for organizations that need a wide range of marketing and sales automation features. 

SharpSpring is best suited for marketing agencies looking for a flexible yet powerful marketing automation platform. While HubSpot has Starter plans that cost less than SharpSpring, all SharpSpring customers have access to the platform’s full range of features and support.