Pipedrive vs HubSpot
Pipedrive is a pipeline tool: deals, stages and little else, which is why salespeople keep it up to date. HubSpot is a sales and marketing suite with a free plan underneath it. Teams that sell by conversation choose Pipedrive; teams that sell by campaign, and want marketing automation alongside the deals, choose HubSpot and accept a rising bill.
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Choose Pipedrive ifyour team of two to twenty sells by conversation, needs the pipeline updated every day, and has no plan to run marketing automation from the same system.
Choose HubSpot ifmarketing and sales must share one system, you want to begin on a free plan, and there is budget for the paid tiers once automation and reporting are needed.
Pipedrive and HubSpot side by side
| Pipedrive | HubSpot | |
|---|---|---|
| Our CRM rank | #1 of 14 | #10 of 14 |
| Established in | Estonia | United States |
| Pricing | Per seat per month, published; 14-day trial, add-ons extra | Free plan; paid tiers per seat per month |
| Free tier | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Built for | A sales team that will actually update the pipeline daily | A sales and marketing team that wants one system and has budget to grow into it |
| Not for | A company that needs marketing automation in the same system | A team that only needs a pipeline and will never touch the marketing side |
Both are reviewed in full in our CRM ranking: Pipedrive and HubSpot.
Where they differ
Pipedrive 2 · HubSpot 2 · open 0- 01
Whether salespeople will update it
Pipedrive arranges everything around moving a deal one stage to the right, and that single-mindedness is why teams keep it current after abandoning heavier systems. HubSpot is easy to start with too, but it is a broader suite answering a bigger question. For a team whose only goal is an accurate pipeline, Pipedrive's narrowness is the advantage.
Edge: Pipedrive
- 02
Marketing alongside the pipeline
This is where the two part ways. HubSpot has marketing built in and is intended for a team that wants sales and marketing together. Pipedrive treats campaigns and web tracking as add-ons rather than a suite, those add-ons price up quickly, and revenue attribution across marketing and sales needs a separate tool.
Edge: HubSpot
- 03
Cost of getting started
HubSpot has a free plan, described in our data as the most generous in the category, and a small sales team can stay on it indefinitely. Pipedrive publishes its prices but charges per seat per month from the start. If the budget for the first year is nil, only one of the two qualifies.
Edge: HubSpot
- 04
How the cost behaves later
Pipedrive's meter is the seat, with add-ons on top, so the bill follows headcount. HubSpot's cost climbs fastest in the category once marketing automation and reporting leave the free tier, and it bills per marketing contact whether or not those contacts ever convert. A sales-only team will find Pipedrive far easier to forecast.
Edge: Pipedrive
When neither fits
A large sales organisation with complex territories has outgrown both. Salesforce can model that kind of process, provided there is an administrator and a partner to build it, and a company already standardised on Microsoft 365 and Azure is better served by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales.
Pipedrive or HubSpot: questions
3 answersIs Pipedrive or HubSpot better for a small sales team?
For a team that only needs a pipeline and will never use the marketing side, Pipedrive fits better and takes about an afternoon to set up.
If the same small team also wants marketing in one place, or needs to start without paying, HubSpot's free plan is the stronger opening.
Does Pipedrive do marketing automation like HubSpot?
Not as a suite. In Pipedrive, marketing and service features are add-ons, and it is lighter on both than HubSpot by design. A company that needs marketing automation in the same system as its deals is the buyer our data says Pipedrive is not for.
Which costs more over time, Pipedrive or HubSpot?
It depends on what you use. Pipedrive charges per seat, plus add-ons that can mount up. HubSpot can cost nothing at first, then climbs steeply when marketing automation is switched on, because pricing is tied to marketing contacts. Audit the contact list before comparing quotes.