Skip to content
CRM software · head to head

HubSpot vs Salesforce Sales Cloud

Sebastiaan Smits By Sebastiaan Smits · Published October 8, 2026 · Updated October 8, 2026

HubSpot starts free and grows into a suite that shares one customer record across sales, marketing and service. Salesforce Sales Cloud starts at a higher price and offers a configurable platform for complex sales organizations. Teams that want to be live in weeks choose HubSpot; companies with territories, approvals and a revenue operations function choose Salesforce.

Side by side

HubSpotSalesforce Sales Cloud
What it isFree-to-start CRM with marketing and service alongsideThe configurable ceiling few small teams need to hit
Best forTeams wanting sales and marketing togetherScaling sales orgs with a revops function
HeadquartersUnited StatesUnited States
Pricing modelPer seat / monthPer user / month
PricingFree CRM for up to two users, then Sales Hub Starter, Professional and Enterprise priced per seat, with steep jumps between editions and a required one-time onboarding fee on Professional and Enterprise.Per-user editions from Starter Suite and Pro Suite up to Core, Advanced and Max, with Agentforce AI added to Core and above or bundled in Max, and usually a paid implementation partner.
Free optionFree planFree trial
List price
as listed on October 8, 2026		$20 per seat per month billed monthly, or $7 billed annually (Starter); Professional $100 monthly or $90 annually plus a $1,500 onboarding fee$195 per user per month billed annually (Core); Advanced $395 and Max $550
Place in our CRM software ranking#4 of 18#5 of 18
Websitehubspot.comsalesforce.com

Both are reviewed in full in Best CRM Software in 2026. Position in that ranking can be paid for; the wording of a review or of this comparison cannot. Placement disclosure.

Which one to choose

Choose HubSpot if

you want a clean CRM that reps adopt quickly, marketing and sales will share one database, and nobody on staff is a dedicated Salesforce administrator.

HubSpot, #4 in the ranking · Visit HubSpot →

Choose Salesforce Sales Cloud if

your sales process has multiple business units, territory forecasting or approval rules, and you can pay for an administrator or implementation partner.

Salesforce Sales Cloud, #5 in the ranking · Visit Salesforce Sales Cloud →

Where they differ

Time to a working pipeline

HubSpot has a free CRM for up to two users, and its Sales Hub interface is simple enough that reps are productive with little training. Salesforce offers a free trial but expects configuration of fields, flows and page layouts before the product fits a real process, and most companies bring in a partner. For a team that needs a usable pipeline this quarter, HubSpot is the faster route.

Edge: HubSpot

Ceiling for complex sales processes

Salesforce can model several business units, complex quoting, partner channels and approval rules that finance signs off, and the AppExchange covers most integrations. HubSpot allows custom objects and permissions, but the flexibility is lower, and the customization we see in large deployments is easier to build in Salesforce. For a company past fifty reps, Salesforce has the higher ceiling.

Edge: Salesforce Sales Cloud

Marketing and service on the same record

HubSpot's strongest argument is the shared database with Marketing Hub and Service Hub: marketing sees which campaigns produced revenue and support sees deal history. Salesforce reaches the same goal through separate clouds and integration work. We could not verify the current price of the other HubSpot hubs on this check, so the saving from consolidating is a question to put to a rep.

Edge: HubSpot

What the list prices include

HubSpot Sales Hub lists Starter at $7 per seat per month billed annually ($20 monthly), Professional at $90 annually ($100 monthly) and Enterprise at $150 annually. Professional and Enterprise carry one-time onboarding fees of $1,500 and $3,500, and forecasting and custom reporting begin on Professional. Salesforce lists Core at $195 per user per month billed annually, Advanced at $395 and Max at $550, with AI available to Core and above. Neither is cheap at the level where the useful features begin.

Edge: even

Tally: HubSpot 2, Salesforce Sales Cloud 1, even 1.

When neither fits

Neither fits a team of five to fifteen sellers that wants a pipeline and little else. Pipedrive and Zoho CRM are cheaper and quicker to set up, and a team that lives in its inbox may prefer Close.

See Pipedrive, Zoho CRM and Close among the 18 products in Best CRM Software in 2026.

Questions and answers

Does HubSpot or Salesforce have a free plan?

HubSpot has a free CRM plan for up to two users, no credit card required. Salesforce Sales Cloud lists a free trial on its Core and Advanced editions and requires contacting sales for a trial of Max, but we found no permanent free plan on the pricing page. Only HubSpot can be used long term without paying.

How much does Salesforce Sales Cloud cost compared with HubSpot Sales Hub?

The Salesforce pricing page lists Core at $195, Advanced at $395 and Max at $550 per user per month billed annually. HubSpot lists Starter at $7, Professional at $90 and Enterprise at $150 per seat per month billed annually. We could not verify Salesforce's lower Starter Suite and Pro Suite prices on this check, so compare those with a rep.

Does HubSpot charge onboarding fees?

Yes on the two upper editions. The Sales Hub pricing page lists a one-time onboarding fee of $1,500 for Professional and $3,500 for Enterprise. Starter has none. Salesforce does not list an onboarding fee on its pricing page, but most customers pay an implementation partner, and that cost is not published.

Which is better for forecasting?

HubSpot's forecasting starts on Professional and is not in Starter or the free plan. Salesforce can forecast by territory and role, which suits larger organizations. We have not compared the forecast accuracy of the two, and neither vendor publishes a figure that would let us.

Sources

Prices, plan limits and product facts on this page were checked against the vendors' own pages on October 8, 2026. Vendors change both without notice, so treat the figures as of that date.