My first experience with HubSpot—8 years ago now—was a fiasco To be fair, the company was in its initial growth phase, the sales team was figuring out their processes, and the sales consultant thought his job was to make sure I knew how smart he was. At the time it seemed like I could do better, and I promptly went off in search of alternatives to HubSpot
A few years later, when the company had worked out some of the kinks, I gave HubSpot another shot. This time, everything fell into place. Now, my team talks a lot about HubSpot, and for good reason—we’ve had great results using HubSpot both for ourselves and our customers.
HubSpot has a lot of advantages; for many companies, it’s a great tool to help reduce multi-platform fatigue, centralize your data, and enable non-technical people to succeed with web marketing, sales, and service. That said, it’s not for everyone.
With that in mind, I put together this list of seven HubSpot competitors:
- Marketo
- Pardot
- Keap (formerly Infusionsoft)
- LeadSquared
- Oracle Eloqua
- Act-On
- Ontraport
While all seven are similar, there are some key differences to consider if you’re trying to choose, including things like pricing and the ideal user.
Personas, Pricing, & Capabilities Of HubSpot Alternatives
First, we’ll identify these seven HubSpot competitors according to their buyer personas (as identified by the companies themselves or by me, which means my best assessment of their personas based on examination of their websites). The pricing and capabilities information comes straight from the company sites themselves.
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Competitor |
Persona |
Pricing |
Features |
|---|---|---|---|
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Enterprise companies—particularly those in health care, manufacturing, higher education, financial services, and technology industries—who need help with all their digital marketing needs. |
There are no numbers on the pricing page. (Even their PDF pricing sheet is just a really long list of all the available add-ons and upgrades.) You know what that means: You have to call the sales team to get a quote. There’ll be a moderately involved process to actually get a quote. Then, prepare to interact with a sales person until they’ve closed the deal or you’ve chosen another path. From what I can tell the main drivers of pricing seem to be the number of users and the number of contacts in your database. (I personally feel that Adobe, which acquired Marketo, creates pricing and contracts that are onerous for the user. Its Creative Suite has one of the most difficult processes I’ve ever encountered to reduce or cancel a contract. I don’t know if that’s the same experience for Marketo, but be sure to ask about their cancellation process should you need to make a switch.) |
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For B2B Salesforce users. If you use (and like) Salesforce, you’ll probably like using Pardot as well. If your company is fully integrated with Salesforce CRM and you want to connect a marketing platform, this is the best option. HubSpot does have the ability to integrate between the two, but it won’t feel as seamless. |
The pricing page is clear and easy to understand. They also offer a detailed price list as a PDF. I love that their pricing is clear. The cost seems high, but maybe that’s just because they’ve established large steps between plans. |
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Keap (Formerly Infusionsoft) |
Keap appears to be targeting small to midsize companies who need to send invoices and receive payments as a part of their marketing/sales platform, or are integrating with Shopify. (It’s either that or they’re targeting companies that use non-standard spellings of common words in their company name, like the ones in their testimonials!) |
The company’s pricing page is clear and interactive (very cool!). They have several options to choose from with the potential to customize. Cost ranges from $79–$499 monthly for one user; additional users are $30/mo. |
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Small to midsize businesses, specifically:
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Marketing automation services range from the basic package at $400/mo to $2,500/mo. There are many different options and add-ons available. |
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Mature companies that also use traditional marketing and need a way to integrate all efforts into a single platform.
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It looks like they’re using the classic If-you-have-to-know-before-we-talk-you-can’t-afford-it approach to pricing. In all seriousness, most likely the price tag is high, so if you’re budget-conscious, skip this one. But if your budget is as big as your marketing dreams, dive in. |
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Small to midsize companies as well as enterprises. |
Pricing ranges from $900/mo for the professional version to $2,000/mo for the enterprise version. |
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Small businesses and entrepreneurs, especially those focused on invoices, payments, and customer loyalty. |
Monthly prices range from the basic package at $79/mo for single users to $497/mo for up to 5 users (team pricing). |
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Reviews, Support, & Demos
For this part of the HubSpot competitors comparison, I read through reviews on G2 to get a sense of what users like and don’t like. I also read each company’s support/customer service page to get first impressions based on the websites alone. The demo column simply identifies if the company has a demo and where you can find it.
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Reviews (on G2) |
Support |
Demo |
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|---|---|---|---|
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4.1 stars (2,000+ reviews) |
My first response to their support page: I was overwhelmed. Marketo has a four-page “overview” PDF outlining who to call for what (and when). On one hand I appreciate that it’s thorough, but on the other, I don’t want to read through a ton of pages—just give me some encouragement that your company can help me no matter what my dilemma. |
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3.9 stars (1,800+ reviews) |
Pardot’s support seems comprehensive based on its customer experience page. |
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Keap (Formerly Infusionsoft) |
4.2 stars (1,200+ reviews) |
Keap’s HelpCenter page has links to manuals as well as company contact information. |
Yes; at the bottom of the page here. |
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4.5 stars (70 reviews) |
LeadSquared’s Help Portal has options for finding solutions to customer questions as well as a few numbers for sales and support. |
Yes; here. |
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3.8 stars (500+ reviews) |
The site doesn’t offer an easy way to find support. Most likely there will be a contract for support as a part of the sales process. |
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4.1 stars (900+ reviews) |
I was impressed with Act-On’s support page. |
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4.3 stars (100+ reviews) |
Ontraport has an excellent support site. |
HubSpot Alternatives: Final Thoughts
While it’s relatively easy to look at HubSpot alternatives (and HubSpot itself) and identify which company offers the most tools, is the best value, offers the best support, etc., it’s not as easy to say which is best suited for your specific needs.
Our suggestion? Take a look at HubSpot and these competitors yourself. Compare your list of wants and needs to these options, and see which one might be right for you.
If you still need help (or want a second opinion about what would work best for your company’s goals) ask us here at Nectafy.
Even though we’re a HubSpot partner, we have clients who successfully use CRMs other than HubSpot, and we can give you a recommendation based solely on your goals and needs. If that’s something you’re interested in, let’s talk.
