HubSpot vs Nutshell

HubSpot and Nutshell are two CRM platforms designed to support businesses in managing customer relationships and driving growth, each with a distinct approach. HubSpot is an all-in-one platform that offers a wide range of tools for marketing, sales, and customer service, making it ideal for businesses seeking a robust, scalable solution. Nutshell, by contrast, combines CRM with built-in email marketing and sales automation, focusing on simplicity and integration for small to mid-sized teams. In this blog post, we’ll explore their key features to help you choose the best CRM for your business. Or, if folk might be a more flexible alternative with user-friendly contact management and customization options.

What is HubSpot?

HubSpot CRM is a user-friendly, scalable platform offering integrated tools for managing sales, marketing, customer service, and operations efficiently.

Key features of HubSpot

• Marketing hub: Includes email marketing, ad tracking, landing pages, and lead generation tools.
• Sales hub: Provides deal tracking, pipeline management, sales automation, and reporting.
• Service Hub: Offers customer service tools like ticketing, live chat, and knowledge bases.
• Operations hub: Syncs and automates business processes across different systems.
• Lead scoring: Prioritize leads with predictive scoring to improve sales efficiency.
  

What is Nutshell?

Nutshell is an all-in-one CRM specifically designed to help B2B teams close more deals. It combines contact management, pipeline tracking, and email marketing tools to support every stage of the sales process, from lead generation to deal closure. With features like customizable pipelines, activity tracking, and seamless integration options, Nutshell also enables sales teams to stay organized, collaborate, and drive results—all within a user-friendly platform tailored for B2B needs.

Key features of Nutshell

• Contact management: Centralizes customer information and tracks communication history to keep teams organized and informed.
• Pipeline management: Customizable sales pipelines to track leads and deals through every stage of the sales process.
• Email marketing: Built-in email campaign tools that enable targeted outreach and engagement with prospects and customers.
• Activity tracking: Logs all interactions, including calls, emails, and meetings, allowing teams to stay on top of follow-ups and engagement.
• Reporting and analytics: Provides insights into sales performance, forecasting, and team activity, helping to make data-driven decisions.

HubSpot vs. Nutshell: Feature Comparison

1. Sales pipeline management

When choosing between HubSpot and Nutshell for CRM solutions, it's essential to consider their sales pipeline management capabilities. HubSpot's pipeline management feature offers a visual overview of deals, enabling users to track sales opportunities' progress, customize stages, and automate tasks for a more efficient sales process. This visual approach helps in quickly identifying bottlenecks and prioritizing tasks. On the other hand, Nutshell provides a flexible pipeline management system with tools for tracking leads and deals through various stages using board, list, map, and chart views. Its customizable pipeline allows users to organize and prioritize leads according to their workflow needs. Features like hot lead identification and customizable lead cards enhance visibility into deal statuses and priorities. Nutshell's approach is designed to support sales teams in managing and visualizing their sales process without unnecessary complexity. In summary, HubSpot excels in providing a streamlined, automated pipeline experience, while Nutshell offers a more customizable and visually dynamic approach, catering to diverse workflow requirements. Both platforms are robust in their offerings, but the choice ultimately depends on the specific needs and preferences of your sales team.

2. Ease of use

HubSpot is renowned for its user-friendly interface, making it easy for teams to navigate and utilize its extensive features. Nutshell also offers an intuitive design, though some users may find it slightly less streamlined compared to HubSpot.

3. Contact enrichment

HubSpot's new data enrichment feature, Breeze Intelligence, includes enriching features including form shortening to streamline data collection by automatically populating known information. Nutshell’s contact enrichment feature is focused on minimizing manual data entry by allowing users to import contacts, emails, and calendar events from various sources.

4. Outreach

HubSpot has an email marketing tool that allows you to build campaigns using a drag and drop method. You can use it to A/B test subject lines, design and personalize emails. Nutshell’s outreach feature includes built-in email marketing and automation capabilities, enabling teams to manage targeted outreach and follow-up sequences as part of their sales process.

5. Automation

HubSpot offers robust automation capabilities that streamline marketing, sales, and customer service processes by automating tasks such as lead nurturing, follow-ups, and email campaigns. Nutshell’s automation features are focused on streamlining basic sales and marketing tasks, supporting activities like sending follow-up emails and managing task reminders.

6. Integration

HubSpot's App Marketplace offers over 1,500 integrations, providing a wide range of tools that connect seamlessly with its CRM platform. Nutshell offers integrations with a range of popular tools to enhance its functionality and streamline workflows. It connects with major productivity platforms like Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, and Slack, allowing users to manage emails, calendars, and team communication within their existing tools.

7. Artificial Intelligence

HubSpot integrates AI to optimize sales and marketing efforts by automating tasks such as data entry, lead scoring, and email personalization. Nutshell’s AI integration offers timeline summarization, helping users quickly sort through historical records by summarizing past interactions.

Price and plans comparison

Let's take a closer look at the price and plans of both HubSpot and Nutshell.

HubSpot prices

Prices and plans on the CRM suite for an annual subscription are as follows.

• Starter: $15 per user, per month.
• Professional: $450 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: $1,500 per user, per month.

Nutshell prices

Nutshell offers several feature-rich plans tailored to different goals and team sizes.

• Foundation: $16 per user, per month.
• Pro: $42 per user, per month.
• Power AI: $52 per user, per month.
• Enterprise: $67 per user, per month.

Introducing folk CRM: the best alternative to HubSpot and Nutshell

Looking for an affordable alternative? We recommend folk. A multiple award-winning CRM platform loved for its easy-to-use, plug-and-play CRM system. folk can support multiple business functions including sales, marketing, recruitment, investment relations and more. folk adapts to all team sizes from solopreneurs to SMBs and enterprise.

Key features

• Contact management: Bring all your contacts into one place seamlessly, from social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram and X to multiple inboxes including Gmail and Outlook.
• Notes and reminders: Attach notes directly to a contact's profile in folk, and access them on the go. And assign reminders so you know exactly when to follow-up.
• Sales pipeline dashboard: Manage your entire sales cycle and leads with a highly customizable sales pipeline dashboard that can be used in Kanban-board view or listicle.
• Ease of use and customization: Easily customize the pipelines, dashboards, automation, email sequences, so that you can use it across your sales cycle and pipeline management – and other business functions such as recruitment, marketing, and more.
• Social media integration: Import people and companies from LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Instagram, and X within a click thanks to folk’s Google Chrome extension.
• Contact sync from Gmail and Outlook: Full email sync enabling users to manage all communications directly from the CRM.
• Find email addresses in a click: Contact enrichment powered by Apollo, and Dropcontact so you can fill in missing data points with 1-click.
• Email sequences: Send email sequences with reminders if your leads don’t reply to your first emails. It includes an AI integration allowing you to personalize email at scale.

Price and plans

folk has a 14-day free trial. After that, there are affordable monthly or annual subscription plans. The annual subscription plan is as follows.

• Standard: $20 per user, per month.
• Premium: $40 per user, per month.
• Custom: Starts from $80 per user, per month.

HubSpot vs. Nutshell: What's the verdict?

From this in-depth review, it's clear that both HubSpot and Nutshell offer robust features tailored for different business needs. HubSpot stands out with its comprehensive suite of tools ideal for larger enterprises seeking integration across marketing, sales, and customer service. Nutshell, on the other hand, appeals to small to medium-sized businesses with its straightforward interface and cost-effective pricing. However, for companies that need a more personalized approach to relationship management, folk provides a flexible alternative to these traditional CRM options, blending ease of use with customization. Try folk today, free