CentriWebFor most small businesses the HubSpot vs Salesforce choice is between two platforms that are bigger than they need. HubSpot is usually easier to start on, with free CRM tools and low-cost Starter seats. Salesforce suits a business that expects a large, structured sales team and is ready to pay for set-up and administration. If neither of those describes you, a simpler CRM may do the job for less.
A short disclosure: CentriWeb builds many client systems on GoHighLevel, which we mention below as a third option, so weigh our view with that in mind. Facts about each product come from its own pricing pages, as at November 2026. Check their pages for current prices, and note that HubSpot’s page showed US dollars and Salesforce’s Australian page showed Australian dollars.
HubSpot vs Salesforce at a glance
| Question | HubSpot | Salesforce |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | CRM platform with sales, marketing and service hubs | CRM platform with sales, service and many add-on clouds |
| How it charges | Free tools for up to two users, then per seat by tier, with onboarding fees at Professional and Enterprise | Free Suite, then per user per month, with most editions billed annually |
| Who maintains it | Often the business itself at Starter; a consultant or in-house admin higher up | Usually an in-house admin or a certified partner |
| Who it suits | Small to mid-sized teams that want sales and marketing in one place | Businesses planning a large sales team with detailed processes |
How HubSpot charges
HubSpot’s free CRM page says the free tools cover up to two users and 1,000 contacts, with deal and task management, email tracking, meeting scheduling, live chat, quotes and reporting dashboards.
Its Sales Hub pricing page, in US dollars and before tax, showed:
- Starter: from $7 a seat a month, shown beside $20, with a note that discounts are for new customers only. Starter allows up to 50 workflows with restricted triggers and actions.
- Professional: from $90 a seat a month, shown beside $100, plus a required one-time onboarding fee of $1,500. Up to 300 workflows.
- Enterprise: from $150 a seat a month, plus a required one-time onboarding fee of $3,500. Up to 1,000 workflows.
Each paid tier includes a number of HubSpot Credits, which are used when AI features and agents take action. Check which price applies to you, monthly or annual and new or existing customer, before you budget.
How Salesforce charges
Salesforce’s Australian pricing page showed prices in Australian dollars per user per month:
- Free Suite: AU$0.
- Starter Suite: AU$35, billed monthly or annually. Lead, account, contact and opportunity management, built-in sales flows and lead routing, and email marketing with analytics.
- Pro Suite: AU$140, billed annually. More customisation and automation, quoting and forecasting.
- Core, Advanced and Max: AU$273, AU$553 and AU$770, billed annually, adding more AI, security, data capacity and connected Salesforce products.
The page notes it is for information and subject to change. It also points customers to Salesforce professional services and certified partners for set-up.
What each does well
HubSpot
- Easy to start. The free tools let two people run a pipeline before paying anything.
- Sales and marketing together. Email, forms, live chat and the CRM share one contact record.
- Steps up in tiers. Workflows, sequences and reporting grow as you move from Starter to Professional.
Suits: a services business with a small sales or marketing team that wants one platform and may grow into it.
Salesforce
- Built for structure. Leads, accounts and opportunities, with routing and sales flows from the Starter Suite.
- Room to grow. The higher editions add forecasting, quoting, security and data capacity for large teams.
- A wide partner network. Certified partners can set up and administer complex processes.
Suits: a business with several sales teams, detailed approval steps, or a parent company already on Salesforce.
A worked example with five users
Take a professional services firm with five people who need CRM access. Using the figures above, before tax:
- HubSpot Starter at the $20 figure: five seats is about US$100 a month.
- HubSpot Professional at the $100 figure: about US$500 a month, plus US$1,500 once for onboarding.
- Salesforce Starter Suite: five users at AU$35 is AU$175 a month.
- Salesforce Pro Suite: five users at AU$140 is AU$700 a month, billed annually.
Double the team to ten and every one of those monthly figures doubles too, because both vendors price by the person. That is the moment to check who actually needs a full seat. A receptionist who only logs calls may not need the same licence as someone running deals, and HubSpot’s pricing page separates Core Seats from Sales Seats, so check what each role needs on either platform. If the price of either is the sticking point, our guide to HubSpot alternatives shows where the cost jumps and what else to try.
The currencies differ, so convert before comparing. The bigger gap is usually not the licence. It is the hours spent setting the system up, training staff and keeping data clean, which our guide on CRM implementation walks through. For a wider view of what a CRM costs in Australia, see CRM costs.
Who will run it day to day
The licence price gets the attention, but the person who runs the CRM decides whether it works. Someone has to add new users, keep pipeline stages tidy, merge duplicate contacts, fix a broken form and build the report the owner asks for on Friday afternoon.
At HubSpot’s free and Starter levels, many small businesses do this themselves, a few hours a month. At HubSpot Professional and Enterprise, and at most Salesforce editions, the work grows with the features: more workflows to check, more fields to keep consistent, more permissions to manage. Larger businesses hire an administrator for it. Smaller ones usually pay a consultant by the hour or let the system drift.
Drift is the expensive outcome. Staff stop trusting the data, go back to their own spreadsheets, and the business ends up paying for seats nobody uses properly. Before choosing either platform, name the person who will own it and agree how many hours a month they will spend.
When neither is the right fit
Both platforms are designed to scale to large sales organisations. Many small businesses pay for that headroom and never use it. Signs you may need something simpler:
- Your sales process has four or five stages and one or two people working it.
- Most enquiries come by phone and text, and replies need to go out the same way.
- Nobody in the business wants to be the CRM administrator.
- You mostly need follow-up, reminders and booking, not forecasting.
For those businesses, a pipeline-first CRM or an all-in-one platform can be enough. GoHighLevel’s pricing page, for example, showed flat monthly plans from $97 with unlimited users and contacts, with usage charges for SMS, email and calls. We compare it with HubSpot in GoHighLevel vs HubSpot, and with a lighter sales CRM in Pipedrive vs HubSpot.
Questions to answer before you choose
- How many people will need a login in two years, and which of them sell?
- Where do your enquiries come from: forms, phone, email or text?
- Who will own the system day to day, and how many hours a week do they have?
- Which tools must it connect to: accounting, job management, calendar, phone?
- What is the first report you want each Monday?
Write the answers down before any demo. Both vendors will show you features you do not need, and the list keeps the conversation on yours.
Where a CRM set up and looked after for you fits, and who it does not suit
A CRM set up around your business and looked after over time fits when the CRM has to connect to your phone, website, calendar and accounts, when follow-up decides whether you win work, and when no one on staff has the time to administer it. Our CRM set-up work starts with your pipeline and enquiries, then picks the platform to suit, which may well be HubSpot or Salesforce.
It does not suit a two-person business that is happy on HubSpot’s free tools, an owner who enjoys configuring software and has the hours, or a team already well served by a standard plan. Start with the free or entry tier and move up only when the work demands it.