3 min read
Zoho vs HubSpot: The Similarities
One main similarity between Zoho and HubSpot? Both CRMs are popular and help people effectively run their businesses every day! Now for some more technical similarities:
- User-friendly: based on customer feedback, both CRM solutions seem to be very user-friendly. New to the CRM world? No problem! Both are known to have interfaces that are decently simplified and easy to figure out. According to our research, HubSpot seems to be slightly easier to use overall, but Zoho has tons of accessible resources if you can’t figure something out.
- Preferred by certain industries: if you ask other professionals within your business niche, they may very well have the CRM that’s worked best for them. Keep in mind that business owners have probably not tried multiple CRMs to give a fully fair comparison! With that said, Zoho CRM is a pretty clear front runner in the real estate industry (brokerages and mortgage lenders), while HubSpot seems to be favored by the insurance industry (in particular, life insurance—go figure!). With a quick Google search, you may find useful insights about the best CRM for your business vertical!
- Plenty of options: both HubSpot and Zoho have multiple plan options, giving you the ability to choose what best suits your business. They also both offer free trials so you can see if it’s even worth your time in the first place!
- Lead management: manage your sales pipeline. Your sales team will love the visibility of tracking leads through the various stages of the customer journey.
- Contact management: both CRM solutions allow you to manage all your customer contacts in one centralized place.
- Account management: in addition to contacts, you can manage customer accounts (companies) and see all contacts (people) associated with an account. If you’re doing account-based-marketing (ABM), you can track accounts through the sales pipeline and interact with key stakeholders (leads) across an account.
- Marketing automation: both CRMs include marketing automation functionality (such as mass email automation and other marketing features).
- Mobile app: both platforms have mobile apps for Apple and Android.
- Meeting scheduler: both CRMs include a meeting scheduler that makes organizing meetings a breeze.
HubSpot CRM vs Zoho CRM: Differences
Despite their similarities, HubSpot and Zoho CRM have some pretty big differences.
Customization
We love customization! The one-size-fits-all mentality is just not for us; we’d rather be able to pick a good fit versus overpaying for features we’ll never use or items we can’t tailor to our needs.
Zoho CRM seems to be immensely better on the customization front. Sure, you can customize things on HubSpot, but Zoho allows you to customize buttons, user experiences, record designs, and even sales stages. An added benefit? Sandbox—a testing environment that allows you to test out changes without immediately causing all kinds of disruption.
And remember when we mentioned data-backed decisions? This kind of data gets to you and your team through reports, and Zoho allows you to access customized reports on every pricing tier! With HubSpot, you can only do this with the Professional and Enterprise plans.
Integrations
Zoho has an entire product devoted to social media: Zoho Social. This product comes integrated with Zoho CRM and easily connects all social accounts, including your Google profile. Unfortunately, HubSpot lacks most social media analysis and integrations.
Both Zoho and HubSpot come with a whirlwind of third-party integration options. However, you have to seriously consider what applications and software you already use (or plan to use) before making a CRM choice. This is because each CRM has a lengthy list of integrations, but that list might not include what you need. For instance, HubSpot does not integrate with Google Analytics or PayPal (and that could be problematic).
If you’re already using other applications from Zoho Corporation, you’ll love Zoho CRM for its integrations within the Zoho suite.
Automations
Fact: automating processes saves you time and money. Therefore, you’d expect your customer relationship management software to be decently helpful in this area, right? Good news: both Zoho and HubSpot allow you to automate many things, from lead scoring to de-duplicating contact data. However, a lot of these features are only accessible with HubSpot’s top plans, whereas you can access with Zoho for far less money.
ZIA AI is a cool Zoho feature that automates all sorts of things, including identifying patterns, analyzing data, and making workflow suggestions. Although HubSpot gives the ability to automate items like email alerts and triggers, it lacks artificial intelligence and the tremendous contribution it makes to automating tasks.
Pricing
If you take a look at pricing for HubSpot vs Zoho CRM, you’ll initially be shocked at the difference, However, you have to take into consideration that Zoho CRM is priced per user and HubSpot is not.
Zoho CRM’s starting price is $14 per month per user (billed annually), which is pretty cheap and offers a lot of functionality. Zoho gives access to a lot more features at a much lower price point, making it great for smaller businesses on a limited budget.
Zoho’s pricing plan also allows better scalability, given that growing businesses could quickly be priced out of HubSpot. Not to mention, a lack of automation options can make smooth scalability even more difficult.
Sales Forecasting
Both HubSpot and Zoho CRM include sales forecasting functionality in their respective CRMs. However, HubSpot only offers sales forecasting in its higher tiers, while Zoho CRM includes it on all plans. Additionally, Zoho’s artificial intelligence tool, ZIA, helps to build predictive models for more precise sales forecasting.
Education and Customer Success
Both Zoho and HubSpot invest heavily in customer success. Both have good knowledge bases, though the HubSpot ecosystem does offer more educational resources than Zoho through its HubSpot Academy training library. Both companies are responsive to customer support requests.
HubSpot CRM and Zoho CRM: Final Analysis
Both CRM software platforms are solid options. Do some research to see which CRM others in your industry are using, and maybe sample a free trial of each to make sure you get the most out of your hard-earned money!
We think Zoho CRM is the best overall fit for most small and midsize companies. That said, if you can afford HubSpot, you won’t be disappointed in it, as it’s an exceptional CRM with advanced marketing automation capabilities.
Need help with Zoho CRM implementation? We’re world-class Zoho consultants and can help you get squared away with any Zoho app or bundle, from CRM to Zoho One. We also provide free Zoho training and educational resources.
CRM Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Zoho and HubSpot?
Zoho Corporation has a number of business applications, including Zoho CRM. Zoho CRM is a direct competitor to HubSpot.
Is there a better CRM than HubSpot?
There is no single best CRM. HubSpot is a terrific CRM, but for many small businesses, Zoho CRM offers more value for the price.
Which is easier to use: HubSpot or Zoho CRM?
HubSpot may be slightly easier to learn initially than Zoho CRM, with its wealth of training resources and its intuitive interface. Zoho CRM, in contrast, is extremely customizable, which is both a strength and a weakness. Customizability is a good thing because it means you can end up with a CRM configuration that meets your business’s needs precisely. It can also be intimidating because initially there are more options which you may not understand.
What is Zoho CRM best for?
Zoho CRM is ideal for companies that want a CRM configured to their exact needs for contact and lead management, as well as for marketing automation. It’s also perfect for those with a lower budget—it delivers insane value for the price. Lastly, CRM is the best option for organizations already using other products in the Zoho app ecosystem, as it integrates with Zoho’s inventory management software, customer support software, analytics platform, accounting software, and other Zoho solutions.
Does Netflix use Zoho?
Yes, Netflix uses Zoho CRM, proving that Zoho CRM is also ideal for large companies.
