For years, HubSpot and Salesforce have defined the CRM landscape. Salesforce was the original pioneer, the first brand to own the category truly. HubSpot came later, initially focused on marketing automation. But over the last decade, that relationship has changed dramatically.
Here, we down how HubSpot has evolved into a complete CRM platform, why Salesforce’s acquisition-heavy approach may be showing its limits, and how AI and simplicity are reshaping the CRM competition.
In the early days, HubSpot and Salesforce complemented each other. Businesses would often use Salesforce for sales and HubSpot for marketing, with the two systems integrated.
But as HubSpot began building out its own CRM and Salesforce expanded its footprint through acquisitions like Pardot and Slack, the relationship shifted. What started as a partnership turned into “frenemiship” - and now, direct competition.
Salesforce has grown primarily through acquisition. They’ve expanded by buying specialized tools and integrating them into their ecosystem. It’s a smart strategy for dominance, but it can result in complexity and disconnected data.
HubSpot, on the other hand, has grown organically, developing a unified platform from the ground up. Its simplicity - a single, cohesive data model - has become a major advantage in today’s world where businesses value ease of use, integration, and clarity over customization bloat.
The technology arms race of the past decade - when every business stacked up software tools for every function - is winding down. The real premium today is simplifying your tech stack, unifying data, and eliminating friction.
HubSpot’s unified system delivers exactly that. With marketing, sales, service, content, and now data hubs all built on the same core framework, businesses can operate more efficiently and avoid the silos that often plague multi-platform setups.
Both companies are investing heavily in AI - HubSpot with Breeze AI, Salesforce with Agentforce - but the foundation matters.
HubSpot’s AI features are built on a cleaner, more unified dataset, which means faster, more accurate insights. Salesforce’s tools remain powerful, but the fragmented structure from multiple acquisitions could make implementation more complex.
As HubSpot moves upmarket, many expected smaller users to be left behind. The opposite has happened.
HubSpot’s expansion has actually pushed more advanced features downstream - such as automation in Starter tiers, playbooks in Pro, and built-in data enrichment. Combined with a more accessible entry price, even small teams can now punch above their weight class with tools that were once enterprise-only.
If you’re evaluating HubSpot vs Salesforce, focus less on “what can it do” and more on “how fast can we use it.” Implementation speed and data quality often determine long-term ROI more than feature checklists.
We don't see a world where HubSpot “defeats” Salesforce. Both can, and likely will, coexist successfully.
Salesforce will remain the go-to for complex enterprise systems with dedicated admin teams. HubSpot will continue to dominate the SMB and mid-market space, growing upward as companies demand simplicity and AI efficiency.
Ultimately, this competition benefits users. Both companies are innovating faster because of it.
HubSpot may never match Salesforce in size, but its unified approach and rapid AI integration make it the CRM to watch.
For most small to midsize businesses, HubSpot’s combination of power and simplicity is unmatched, and that’s a big reason why it’s growing faster than any other CRM on the market today.
At The Gist Inbound, we help businesses set up HubSpot the right way, from automation like this to complete CRM builds and inbound marketing strategies. If you want to scale your growth without adding more to your plate, let’s talk.