CRM 2025: HubSpot or Pipedrive, which deserves a place in your stack?
Choosing the right CRM software can turn a sales team into a closing machine. But how do you choose between HubSpot and Pipedrive, two well-established CRM platforms? One relies on a complete experience and a strong marketing dimension, while the other focuses on simplicity, sales process automation and ultra-fluid pipeline management.
Whether you're a sales manager, an entrepreneur or a marketing manager, you need a tool that meets your real needs, not a gas factory or a pretty but hollow gadget. The differences between customer relations, lead management, customer service, integrated features, integrations and pricing are sometimes subtle... but decisive.
So, does HubSpot really offer the best solution to support your growth? Or is Pipedrive the intuitive choice for aligning your sales teams with a solid sales pipeline?
We've tested, compared and analysed. Here's our verdict. 👇
What is HubSpot?
Overview of HubSpot
HubSpot was originally designed for marketing teams, but over the years it has established itself as a complete CRM platform, capable of covering the entire sales process, from lead capture to post-sales customer relations.
What HubSpot offers is not just a sales management tool, but a modular ecosystem with several 'hubs': Sales, Marketing, Service, CMS and Operations. Everything is designed to align the marketing team, sales team and customer service team around a single centralised customer database.
🎯 Its users include fast-growing start-ups and ambitious SMEs , as well as major corporations. HubSpot boasts more than 238,000 customers in over 135 countries, with a strong presence in Europe and North America.
This solution is particularly popular for :
- its ease of use, despite its rich functionality ;
- its intuitive interface (especially for non-techies);
- and its inbound approach, which allows you to bring customers to you rather than cold calling them.
HubSpot's main features
HubSpot is so appealing because it goes far beyond being a simple CRM for prospecting. Here are the key features that make it a complete solution for managing your growth:
- visual, customisable sales pipeline management to follow each lead through the sales process, with ultra-clear drag-and-drop columns;
- task automation: follow-up emails, status changes, notifications to the sales team... everything can be automated according to your rules;
- email and call tracking to open the door to proactive customer follow-up with real-time notifications;
- integrated marketing tools: landing pages, e-mail campaigns, forms, workflows, lead scoring and more;
- personalised reporting and dashboards to view your performance by channel, by sales rep, by period... in just a few clicks;
- integrated customer service and support via the Service Hub to centralise your tickets and monitor customer satisfaction;
- an extensive integration library with over 1,000 possible integrations (Slack, Gmail, Zoom, Stripe, Shopify, etc.).
HubSpot CRM
Advantages and disadvantages of HubSpot
HubSpot is a dream come true for teams looking for an all-in-one CRM. But this wealth of functionality also comes at a price, and not all profiles will find what they're looking for.
✅ Let's start with its key strengths:
- a simple, modern interface, accessible even to CRM non-specialists;
- advanced workflow automation, ideal for saving precious time;
- a 360° view of the customer, thanks to the centralisation of data between the Hubs (sales, marketing, support, etc.);
- powerful, customisable reporting for sales teams of all sizes;
- a robust free version, perfect for testing the platform without commitment;
- a rich ecosystem of integrations, making it easy to connect with your existing tools.
❌ But before you dive in headlong, here's what may be holding some companies back:
- prices that rise rapidly as soon as you want to go beyond the basic functionalities ;
- a learning curve that gets longer if you activate several Hubs at once;
- its limitations in terms of advanced customisation for very specific structures;
- a 'marketing-first' approach that may seem too inbound-oriented for purely sales teams.
What is Pipedrive?
Pipedrive overview
Pipedrive is the CRM designed by and for salespeople. Created by salespeople frustrated by overly marketing-oriented gas plants, it focuses on the efficiency of the sales process. There's no blah, blah, blah here, and every click is used to advance the pipeline, convert a prospect or improve customer management.
Pipedrive stands out in the CRM market thanks to its intuitive interface, rapid configuration and, above all, its clear focus on sales team productivity. It's not a marketing CRM, nor a customer service platform, it's a sales tool pure and simple.
Pipedrive currently equips more than 100,000 companies in 175 countries, the vast majority of them SMEs and start-ups. It will appeal to teams who want :
- a visual, actionable sales pipeline;
- simple but effective automation
- a solution that gets straight to the point, without unnecessary complexity.
Pipedrive's key features
Simple on the surface, but formidable in practice, Pipedrive focuses on the essentials: selling more, faster. Here are the features that make it so popular with field teams:
- a visual sales pipeline in which you drag and drop your opportunities from one stage to the next, with perfect visibility of your deals;
- intelligent automation, with automatic reminders, task creation and stage changes - all without the headache;
- activity tracking: calls, meetings, emails, every interaction with a customer or prospect is recorded;
- simplified lead management with a web form, integrated chatbot and automatic capture of incoming contacts;
- customised dashboards and reporting with a focus on sales performance, targets achieved and conversion rates;
- native integration tools with seamless connectivity to Google Workspace, Outlook, Zapier, Slack, Zoom, etc;
- an effective mobile app for managing sales activity on the move, without compromise.
Pipedrive
Advantages and disadvantages of Pipedrive
Pipedrive plays the simplicity card for commercial efficiency. And it has to be said that, for many SMEs, the gamble has paid off: install, configure and sell.
✅ Let's start by looking at what makes it such a popular CRM for sales teams:
- an ultra-intuitive interface, even for profiles unfamiliar with CRM tools;
- a central sales pipeline that's easy to manipulate and adapt to your sales process;
- rapid automation, without the need for an external consultant;
- transparent pricing, with a good features/price ratio from the 1st plan;
- 100% sales orientation, avoiding functional dispersion;
- responsive customer support, even for small accounts.
❌ But there are also a few limitations to bear in mind:
- less suited to marketing or customer service needs without the addition of third-party tools;
- advanced reporting requires superior plans or paid add-ons ;
- less native functionality than HubSpot for content or nurturing;
- a development curve that may hold back fast-growing or highly structured companies.
HubSpot vs Pipedrive: compare features
| Features | HubSpot | Pipedrive |
| Visual sales pipeline | Yes: customisable by product/service | Yes: ultra-intuitive and easy to configure |
| Task automation | Highly advanced (visual workflows, conditions, deadlines) | Yes: easy to set up |
| Lead management | Scoring, segmentation, integrated nurturing | Capture, qualification, contact history |
| Reporting & dashboards | Comprehensive, customisable, multi-team | Solid, more limited in basic plans |
| Native integrations | +1,000 (Slack, Gmail, Stripe, etc.) | 350+ (Google, Outlook, Zapier, etc.) |
| Integrated marketing features | Yes: emailing, landing pages, marketing automation | ❌ No: connect to a third-party tool |
| Customer service functionalities | Yes: via Service Hub (tickets, satisfaction, etc.) | ❌ Not native: possible via integration |
| Mobile app | Yes: complete | Yes: light and efficient |
| Free version | Yes: very functional to start with | ❌ No: 14-day free trial |
Focus on business pipeline management
HubSpot offers a customisable pipeline per team, with :
- filtered views,
- automation at each stage,
- the ability to associate workflows according to a lead's progress.
Ideal for complex or multi-product organisations. The only catch: to make full use of this flexibility, you need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Pipedrive, on the other hand, focuses on immediate readability:
- each stage of the sales process is clear
- the maps can be enriched (value, closing date, upcoming activities),
- everything can be operated from the pipeline.
It's intuitive, fast, efficient... in short, it's designed with field teams in mind. For many, this is its greatest asset.
👉 To sum up: HubSpot for flexibility and segmentation, Pipedrive for speed and clarity.
Focus on task and workflow automation
HubSpot clearly shines in this area. Its visual workflow system is one of the most powerful on the market. Actions (sending emails, creating tasks, updating properties) can be triggered according to an infinite number of criteria:
- behaviour
- status
- score
- date, etc,
- third-party integration, etc.
All in a fluid, intuitive interface, even for non-developers. It's the ideal tool for aligning marketing and sales.
Pipedrive, on the other hand, gets straight to the point:
- automatic reminders
- step changes,
- task creation
- notifications.
It's all easy to set up from its interface, without getting bogged down in details. Less advanced than HubSpot, admittedly, but sufficient to automate the repetitive actions of a sales rep on a daily basis.
👉 Verdict: Hubspot for teams who want to script everything, Pipedrive for those who just want to automate without complexity.
Focus on reporting and performance visualisation
HubSpot offers very comprehensive reporting, especially for the Pro plan. You can :
- create customised dashboards,
- cross-reference CRM, marketing and service data,
- track conversion rates by stage
- analyse the ROI of each channel
- and much more.
It's a strategic tool for growing businesses that want to accurately manage their entire customer relationship.
Pipedrive, on the other hand, offers effective, field-focused operational reporting:
- performance by sales rep
- pipeline by value or by stage,
- activities per week.
Simple and actionable, but more limited when it comes to cross-referencing complex data or advanced forecasting. To go further, you need to use add-ons or third-party integrations such as Google Data Studio.
👉 To remember: HubSpot for a multi-team strategic vision, Pipedrive for fast, no-frills on-the-ground management.
HubSpot vs Pipedrive: compare prices
Here's a comparison of the offers in euros (prices up to 2025, excluding promotions, invoiced annually):
| Plan | HubSpot | Pipedrive |
| Free | Yes:
|
❌ 14-day free trial |
| Essential / Basic | Starter: from €9 / month
|
Lite : €14 / month / user
|
| Intermediary | ❌ | Growth: €39 / month / user
|
| Advanced / Premium | Pro: from €1283 / month
|
Premium: €49 / month / user
|
| Full | Enterprise: from €4610 / month
|
Ultimate: €79 / month / user
|
👉 To sum up : HubSpot offers a solid free version, but prices rise quickly as you get more powerful. Pipedrive remains more affordable for small teams with a strictly commercial need.
HubSpot vs Pipedrive: which interface is more intuitive?
You can have the best CRM solution, but if the interface is cumbersome, your teams won't get on board. HubSpot and Pipedrive have understood this, but with different approaches.
| Aspect | HubSpot | Pipedrive |
| Getting started | Fairly quick, but requires a bit of configuration | Immediate, designed for field sales |
| Overall design | Modern, consistent between modules | Minimalist, easy to read |
| Navigation | By hubs and side menus (denser) | By pipeline and customer files, very linear |
| Mobile app | Complete, multifunctional | Fluid, designed for rapid use on the move |
| Customisable views | Very advanced (tables, columns, properties) | Quick and easy (pipeline phases, fields) |
| Learning curve | Average (especially with several Hubs activated) | Very low |
Pipedrive relies on an intuitive and straightforward interface, designed for a sales team that wants to get straight to the point.
HubSpot, which is more comprehensive, takes a little longer to adapt to, but offers a powerful and consistent working environment.
HubSpot vs Pipedrive: compare integrations
The more easily a CRM can be integrated into your existing stack, the more freely your data will flow between your sales, marketing, customer service and reporting tools. And in a SaaS environment, it's often the quality of the integrations that makes (or breaks) the fluidity of the sales process.
👉 Number of integrations available:
- HubSpot: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Over 1,000 native integrations on its marketplace: Slack, Gmail, Google Ads, Stripe, Zoom, Calendly, Zapier, Aircall, Shopify, LinkedIn, WordPress, Salesforce... and a very well documented open API. A central solution for complex, multi-channel stacks. - Pipedrive: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Around 350 native integrations: Google Workspace, Outlook, Slack, Zoom, Zapier, Trello, PandaDoc, WhatsApp, Asana, etc. The essentials are covered for a sales team, with a powerful but slightly more technical REST API to exploit.
👉 Ease of configuration:
- HubSpot: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Integrations are generally "plug & play", with guided configuration from the marketplace. Some advanced connections (particularly ERP or analytics tools) may require a more technical grasp, especially in large accounts. - Pipedrive: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆
Fast connection, clear and well-documented interface. Integrations are designed to be activated in a few clicks, especially via Zapier. On the other hand, the automation interface remains less rich than HubSpot's.
👉 Customisation and automation:
- HubSpot: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Connection of conditional integrations in workflows, bi-directional synchronisation possible with numerous tools, multi-app triggers... This is a central network in any growth-oriented stack. - Pipedrive: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Automations are possible, but more limited in finesse: no complex multi-condition triggers, and some integrations require third-party solutions to go far (Make, Zapier, Integromat...).
💡 The verdict:
HubSpot clearly dominates integrations, thanks to a rich, well-maintained ecosystem and a high level of customisation in workflows. A real hub for marketing, sales and support teams looking for centralised management.
Pipedrive, which is lighter, is perfectly suited to traditional sales needs, but will quickly show its limitations in complex or multi-team environments. Perfect for starting up or maintaining a simple CRM, without sacrificing the essentials.
When to choose HubSpot or Pipedrive?
Examples of HubSpot use cases
HubSpot is the ideal solution if:
- you have an in-house marketing team and are looking to align marketing and sales in a single tool ;
- you need a complete CRM, capable of covering the entire customer relationship: lead generation, nurturing, sales, follow-up and support;
- you work with several channels (SEO, Ads, email, etc.) and are looking for unified reporting;
- you manage an inbound strategy, with content creation, automation, lead scoring, etc. ;
- you are a fast-growing company with several teams (sales, support, marketing) that need to be coordinated on a common basis.
☝️ Example: a B2B SaaS scale-up with 3 salespeople, 2 marketers and a CSM who wants to centralise everything.
🗣️ Customer testimonial:
We have increased our contact with prospective customers, while improving the quality of our CRM database, enabling us to segment our audiences and target our actions more effectively.
Marion Lopez, Directrice Communication et Marketing (Senior Partner).
Examples of Pipedrive use cases
Pipedrive is particularly suitable if :
- you are looking for a quick and easy-to-use sales tool for your sales team;
- you have a straightforward, uncomplicated sales cycle: calls, quotations, follow-up, signature;
- you don 't want to waste time configuring or learning the tool;
- you already have marketing tools on the side (e.g. Mailchimp, Lemlist) and are just looking for a pipeline CRM;
- you're an SME, agency or freelancer who wants a frictionless, no-frills CRM.
☝️ Example: a recruitment agency with 5 sales people who manage their opportunities as they arise.
🗣️ Customer testimonial:
A growing company always struggles to determine what its employees need to know, so silos of information have formed unnecessarily. Someone might know all the details of a partnership, without knowing that someone else needed to know, or I might pick up the phone to call someone, only to realise that I didn't have any notes. The same goes for basic forecasts: what turnover are we going to achieve next month? How many new schools do we have in the pipeline? Pipedrive's dashboard helps us to keep track of all the upcoming partnerships, and to ensure that our students are receiving support in line with school board requirements.
Hunter Shelburne, Directeur des partenariats chez Air Tutors
Our final opinion: HubSpot or Pipedrive, which is right for you?
Pipedrive or HubSpot, it's not a question of the "best CRM", but of the best CRM for your needs.
If you're looking for a simple, effective tool that boosts your sales without complexity, Pipedrive is a safe bet. It gets straight to the point, with an intuitive interface and quick start-up.
But if you're aiming for scalability and sales/marketing alignment, and want a central platform for all your customer relations, then HubSpot offers a more comprehensive solution. It will require a little more time (and investment), but you'll get a 360° view of your leads, customers, campaigns and performance from it.
👉 To sum up:
- Pipedrive for agile sales teams, SMEs and simple processes ;
- HubSpot for growing, multi-service businesses that want to unify sales, marketing and customer service.
And if you're still not sure, try out both. 14 days free with Pipedrive, unlimited free version with HubSpot: at that price, it's your experience in the field that will decide.
FAQ
Hubspot or Pipedrive: which is easier to use?
Pipedrive is generally perceived as being easier to learn, with a direct interface focused on the sales pipeline. Hubspot, which is more comprehensive, requires a little more configuration, especially if you activate several modules (marketing, service, etc.).
Is Hubspot really free?
Yes, Hubspot offers a very robust free version: contact management, pipeline, emails, reporting, forms... perfect for getting started. But some key features (automation, scoring, priority support) require a paid plan.
Does Pipedrive have a free offer?
No, but you can test it for free for 14 days.
Which CRM is best for a small sales team?
Pipedrive is often preferred by small teams for its simplicity, visual clarity and value for money. It's a tool designed for short to medium sales cycles, with no superfluous features.
Can Hubspot or Pipedrive be connected to tools like Slack, Gmail or Zapier?
Yes, both CRMs offer native integrations with the most common tools (Slack, Gmail, Outlook, Zapier, Zoom, etc.). Hubspot goes a step further by offering a much wider ecosystem, suitable for more complex stacks.
Which CRM should you choose for mixed marketing and sales use?
Without hesitation: Hubspot. This is its speciality. It allows you to manage acquisition, nurture, closing and even customer service, all in a single tool.
Article translated from French