CRM comparison

HubSpot vs Salesforce: two CRM platforms, two ways to grow

HubSpot vs Salesforce is the comparison most growing companies make when they want a CRM platform that will last, not a stopgap. Both span sales, marketing and service, both run large app ecosystems, and both offer a small-business way in alongside tools for big teams. What separates them is how you start, how deals and forecasts are modelled, how far you extend the platform and where your data can sit, which is what this page sets out from each vendor's own pages.

Details for both products checked on 2 October 2026 from each vendor's own website; features change, so confirm with them. Neither vendor is affiliated with us. DigiPix Flow, our product, appears only in the section marked as ours.

HubSpot CRM and Salesforce Sales Cloud and Starter, side by side

HubSpot CRM compared with Salesforce Sales Cloud and Starter, topic by topic
Topic	HubSpot CRM	Salesforce Sales Cloud and Starter
What it is	HubSpot CRM is a customer platform that organises contacts, deals and activity in one place, with Sales Hub adding prospecting, sequences, forecasting and AI assistance.	Salesforce Sales Cloud is an AI-powered CRM platform covering lead management, pipeline tracking, forecasting and automation, while Starter Suite packages sales, service, marketing and Slack into one application for small businesses.
Built for	HubSpot positions its CRM for startups, small businesses and growing companies, and describes Sales Hub as suited to sales teams of all sizes, from individual contributors to enterprises. Source: hubspot.com	Salesforce describes Sales Cloud as serving organisations of all sizes across every industry, while Starter Suite is a turnkey CRM aimed at small businesses. Source: salesforce.com
Lead capture	HubSpot captures leads through form and landing page builders, and syncs lead ad forms from Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and Google Ads accounts, including Google Lead Form Extensions, into the CRM. Source: knowledge.hubspot.com	Sales Cloud captures, qualifies and prioritises leads, its Lead Capture tool imports Facebook and Google lead ad forms into Sales Cloud, and Starter Suite includes forms and automation. Source: help.salesforce.com
WhatsApp	Teams link a WhatsApp Business Account via Meta's setup, so messages create threads in the HubSpot conversations inbox, and coexistence lets one number serve HubSpot and the WhatsApp Business app. Source: knowledge.hubspot.com	Salesforce connects WhatsApp accounts to Service Cloud messaging and Marketing Cloud, supporting template and session messages, and offers Unified Conversations for two-way chats from one WhatsApp number. Source: help.salesforce.com
SMS in India	HubSpot sends automated SMS to opted-in contacts through workflows once a business is registered, and its app marketplace lists many SMS connectors for sending and receiving texts. Source: knowledge.hubspot.com	Salesforce Marketing Cloud Engagement supports DLT templates for SMS sent in India, using an uploaded template file and the Principal Entity ID issued at DLT registration. Source: help.salesforce.com
Calling	HubSpot lets users call from the browser with a HubSpot number, a registered number or a third-party provider, with calls logged to the CRM and a power dialer. Source: hubspot.com	Salesforce Voice lets reps click to dial from records, cadences and work queues, with calls logged automatically and linked to the source record. Source: help.salesforce.com
Pipelines	HubSpot provides customisable deal stages in a drag-and-drop pipeline editor, with multiple deal pipelines, stage approvals, validation steps and guided actions to keep deals on track. Source: hubspot.com	Sales Cloud tracks deals through visual opportunity stages with probabilities, and a sales process is a filtered list of stages, so different sales processes can run side by side. Source: salesforce.com
Automation	Workflows include a rotate-record-to-owner action that distributes leads by round robin, load balanced or random distribution, and sequences run multi-channel follow-up outreach. Source: knowledge.hubspot.com	Salesforce supports lead assignment rules, including round robin set-ups, and Flow automation, while Starter Suite includes lead routing, triggered follow-ups and activity capture. Source: salesforce.com
Reporting	HubSpot offers performance dashboards at team and rep level, revenue forecasting and sales analytics, alongside reporting dashboards in the CRM. Source: hubspot.com	Salesforce offers reports and customisable dashboards, forecasting that maps opportunity stages to forecast categories, and Starter Suite views of pipeline health, deal stages and performance. Source: salesforce.com
Mobile app	The HubSpot mobile app is available on iOS and Android and covers contacts, deals, tasks, calls, email and pipeline updates, with the Breeze Assistant built in. Source: hubspot.com	The Salesforce mobile app runs on iOS and Android, with a Sales Cloud mobile workspace for leads, pipeline, calls and email, dashboards and offline access. Source: salesforce.com
Data hosting	HubSpot hosts customer data on Amazon Web Services in the United States, Canada, Australia and the European Union (Germany), and assigns a data centre at sign-up. Source: hubspot.com	Salesforce lets customers choose the Hyperforce region where applications run, with options that include India, the U.S., the UK, Germany and Japan. Source: salesforce.com
Sign-in and access	HubSpot supports two-factor authentication with configurable approved methods, SAML-based single sign-on that admins can require, and user permission settings managed by Super Admins. Source: knowledge.hubspot.com	Salesforce supports multi-factor authentication for direct and single sign-on logins, and uses profiles and permission sets to control what each user can access. Source: help.salesforce.com
Integrations and API	HubSpot lists more than 2,000 app integrations in its Marketplace and provides REST APIs with OAuth 2.0, plus a webhooks API for apps that subscribe to CRM events. Source: developers.hubspot.com	Salesforce provides a REST API, Pub/Sub API and platform events for integrations, and AppExchange hosts partner apps that extend the CRM. Source: developer.salesforce.com
Getting started	Teams create an account online, choose the tools they need and connect existing apps from the HubSpot Marketplace, with a guided set-up for import and integrations. Source: hubspot.com	Starter Suite is described as a turnkey CRM with guided checklists and interactive demos that help new teams reach value from the first day. Source: salesforce.com

The differences that matter

How a new team gets going
HubSpot lets teams create an account online, choose the tools they need and connect existing apps, with a guided set-up for imports and integrations. Salesforce offers Starter Suite, a turnkey CRM for small businesses with guided checklists and interactive demos, while larger organisations build on Sales Cloud.
Modelling deals and forecasts
HubSpot uses a drag-and-drop pipeline editor with customisable deal stages, multiple deal pipelines, stage approvals and validation steps, plus revenue forecasting and rep-level dashboards. Sales Cloud tracks opportunities through stages with probabilities, treats each sales process as a filtered list of stages, and maps stages to forecast categories.
Extending the platform
HubSpot lists more than 2,000 Marketplace apps and offers REST APIs with OAuth 2.0 and a webhooks API for apps that subscribe to CRM events. Salesforce provides a REST API, the Pub/Sub API and platform events, with AppExchange hosting partner apps and Flow automation for building processes inside the CRM.
Choosing where data is held
Salesforce lets customers pick the Hyperforce region where applications run, including India, the U.S., the UK, Germany and Japan. HubSpot hosts on Amazon Web Services in the United States, Canada, Australia and the European Union (Germany), and assigns a data centre at sign-up.

Which one to choose

Choose HubSpot CRM if…

Choose HubSpot if you want to sign up, pick the tools you need and have sales, marketing and service working from one record soon after. Form and landing page builders, lead ad syncing from Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok and Google Ads, sequences, a power dialer and a marketplace of more than 2,000 apps suit startups and growing companies that prefer to configure their CRM in-house and add hubs over time.

Choose Salesforce Sales Cloud and Starter if…

Choose Salesforce if you expect your CRM to become a platform that your business builds on, with opportunity stages, forecast categories, Flow automation, a REST and Pub/Sub API and AppExchange partners. Starter Suite gives small businesses a turnkey start, and Sales Cloud scales to organisations of any size. Teams in India that want applications running in an India Hyperforce region, or Marketing Cloud for DLT-registered SMS, will find both offered.

Where DigiPix Flow fits

Our product

DigiPix Flow is our product. It is a lead management CRM for Indian small and mid-sized teams whose deals start as enquiries from Meta Lead Ads, Google Ads, IndiaMART and website forms, and whose follow-up happens over WhatsApp, email and SMS. Leads land in one inbox, assignment rules hand them out, and every conversation stays on the lead's record, with hosting in the Mumbai region. If you want a broad platform to build sales, marketing and service on, with a large app ecosystem and your own admins, HubSpot or Salesforce is the stronger fit.

Talk to an expert Why teams choose DigiPix Flow

Frequently asked questions

Should a small business pick HubSpot or Salesforce?

Both have a small-business entry point. HubSpot's is an online sign-up where you choose the tools you need and follow a guided set-up. Salesforce's is Starter Suite, a turnkey CRM that packages sales, service, marketing and Slack with guided checklists. The deciding factors are usually who will administer it and which ecosystem your other tools already connect to.

When is HubSpot CRM the better choice?

When you want an all-in-one customer platform you can set up yourselves, with forms, landing pages, lead ad syncing, sequences and a power dialer, and a marketplace of more than 2,000 apps to connect as you grow.

When is Salesforce Sales Cloud and Starter the better choice?

When you want a CRM platform that can be extended deeply, with Flow automation, platform events, AppExchange apps and forecast categories, or need applications running in a Hyperforce region you choose, India included.

How do HubSpot and Salesforce handle WhatsApp and SMS in India?

HubSpot links a WhatsApp Business Account through Meta into its conversations inbox and sends automated SMS through workflows once a business is registered. Salesforce connects WhatsApp to Service Cloud messaging and Marketing Cloud, and Marketing Cloud Engagement supports DLT templates with the Principal Entity ID for SMS sent in India.

How were these details checked?

We took every fact about HubSpot and Salesforce from the vendors' own product pages, knowledge bases and developer documentation, and the date at the top of the page shows when we read them. A detail we could not confirm there appears in the table as "Check with vendor". Both platforms release updates several times a year, so confirm the points that matter to you.

Why is there no pricing comparison?

HubSpot and Salesforce each sell many editions and bundles, and the rate you pay depends on region, contract length and what you add. Any table of figures here would soon mislead, so use each vendor's pricing page or sales team for current numbers.