HubSpot

This is best used for all-in-one CRM combining sales, marketing, and service under one roof. HubSpot dominates when teams want everything connected—forms, landing pages, email, CRM—without heavy development resources. The platform's strength is quick implementation and intuitive UX compared to Salesforce's complexity.

Key tactical use cases: Full inbound marketing funnel management with automated lead nurturing sequences, sales pipeline visualization with meeting booking/email tracking/deal stages integrated, content management with built-in SEO tools, customer service ticketing and knowledge base, and marketing contact segmentation.

Pricing tiers unlock critical features: Free tier provides basic CRM with up to 1M contacts. Starter ($50/mo) removes branding and adds simple automation. Professional ($450-800/mo) unlocks A/B testing, sequences, and custom reporting. Enterprise ($1,200-3,600/mo) adds predictive lead scoring and hierarchical teams.

Key lock-ins: Sequences/sales automation require Sales Hub Pro ($500/mo). Advanced marketing automation is locked to Marketing Pro. Reddit consensus: HubSpot is "all-round better than Salesforce for smaller teams" due to integrated forms, documents, and meeting bookings.

Recent AI additions (2024-2025): Generative AI tools across all tiers including free (content generation, email drafting, conversation summaries), enhanced prospecting hub, AI-powered forecasting.