Take the challenge out of finding your CRM. Easily compare leading CRMs HubSpot & Microsoft Dynamics with a review of features, pricing, and pros/cons.
Note: This article has been updated to reflect HubSpot's new 2024 navigation.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platforms are essential tools for managing customer interactions, streamlining sales processes, and driving business growth. Choosing the right CRM platform is crucial to meet the specific needs of your organization and drive success.
As a digital marketing agency, we often get asked, “Which CRM is right for us?” when clients are considering an implementation or migration. The answer is always, “It depends” which we know isn’t always the answer you’re looking for.
So, like last month when we compared HubSpot vs WordPress, in today’s blog post, we will compare two leading CRMs – HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics – to help you gain a better understanding of these two popular CRMs and determine your best fit.
Here's what's covered in this article - just click to jump to the section you're most interested in:
According to Microsoft,
“Dynamics 365 is a portfolio of intelligent business applications that delivers superior operational efficiency and breakthrough customer experiences enabling businesses to become more agile and reduce complexity without increasing costs.”
Dynamics provides organizations with a suite of tools and capabilities to manage various aspects of their business, including sales, marketing, customer service, finance, supply chain, and more. For the purpose of this post, we’ll be focusing on its sales and marketing tools.
Microsoft Dynamics caters to a wide range of industries and businesses of all sizes. It’s particularly well-suited for mid-sized to large enterprises and offers industry-specific solutions and functionalities in:
A key strength for Microsoft Dynamics is that as a Microsoft product, it integrates seamlessly with other MS products, such as Office, SharePoint, and Power BI. This makes it easy for users to leverage data across the full suite of Microsoft tools. It also offers integrations with popular third-party applications, including marketing automation platforms, e-commerce solutions, and productivity tools.
HubSpot is one of the leading providers of inbound marketing, sales, and customer service software. It offers a CRM platform designed to help businesses attract, engage, and delight customers. HubSpot’s CRM is made up of multiple Hubs, or tools – similar to MS Dynamics apps, these can be purchased separately or combined. For the purpose of this post, we’ll be focusing on HubSpot’s Marketing and Sales Hubs.
Why HubSpot? Here's why we choose HubSpot
HubSpot caters to a wide range of businesses, from small startups to large enterprises. Unlike Dynamics, HubSpot doesn’t offer industry-specific solutions, but does a good job of highlighting how it can be successfully leveraged in industries like manufacturing, professional services, education, and more. It is particularly popular among businesses that prioritize inbound marketing strategies and value customer-centric approaches.
HubSpot is well-known for its user-friendly interface and intuitive design. The platform offers a clean and organized layout that simplifies navigation and enhances user experience. Its intuitive drag-and-drop editors and easy-to-use tools make it accessible for users with various levels of technical expertise.
As with Dynamics, HubSpot offers many popular integrations and 3rd party apps.
Both Dynamics and HubSpot are leaders in the CRM pack, therefore they both do a great job at providing the foundational solutions for your CRM. When choosing a CRM, it’s important to consider these features too. But, since they both do them well, in this section we’ll just focus on highlighting these points.
Both solutions are customizable, allowing businesses to tailor the CRM to their specific needs. This flexibility enables users to adapt the software to their unique workflows and processes.
Additionally, both Microsoft Dynamics and HubSpot allow for custom fields, empowering organizations to capture and organize the data that matters most to them.
For example, if you need a custom field to track your customers’ birthdays, both CRMs have everything you need.
Both Dynamics and Hubspot are equipped with the ability to adjust layouts and page views. This feature grants users the freedom to personalize their CRM interface, allowing you to customize your experience to your individual needs and preferences. Whether it’s rearranging fields, creating custom views, or modifying dashboards, both Microsoft Dynamics and HubSpot provide the tools to optimize the CRM’s visual representation.
Both platforms excel in helping businesses track their sales pipeline. Microsoft Dynamics and HubSpot offer robust sales management features, allowing teams to monitor deals, assign tasks, and forecast revenue. With detailed insights into each stage of the sales process, users can make informed decisions and drive revenue growth.
Product storage is another shared offering between Microsoft Dynamics and HubSpot. Both CRMs enable businesses to manage and organize their content, contact records, and more with included product storage.
Now that we have a good foundational understanding of both CRMs, let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons. This is by no means an exhaustive list, however, it will highlight some of the things that we love about both, as well as some things that we don’t.
More Pros and Cons? Here's what Users Think about HubSpot
Microsoft Dynamics typically follows a traditional software licensing model, where users purchase licenses upfront and pay annual maintenance fees. The cost varies based on the specific Dynamics product and the number of users.
On the other hand, HubSpot offers a subscription-based pricing model with tiered plans based on the features and level of usage required.
As with most software, the pricing structure is somewhat complicated and not apples-to-apples. For example, HubSpot offers some “free seats” for team members who need visibility in the CRM for things like reporting, without day-to-day sales functionality. While Microsoft’s pricing model is per user regardless of function.
According to this breakdown (*full disclosure, this is from HubSpot), the estimated total cost for a business with 50 users for 1 year:
HubSpot: $75,000*
Microsoft Dynamics: $98,000*
Be sure to do your pricing homework, but I thought this breakdown from HubSpot provides a clear comparison.
Now that we’ve covered both HubSpot and Dynamics in greater detail and talked about the pros and cons of each, we’re back to our original question – which is right for your business?
Choosing between HubSpot and Microsoft Dynamics depends on the specific needs and priorities of your business. If your organization values a user-friendly interface, quick setup, and cost-effectiveness, HubSpot may be the ideal choice. HubSpot's Free CRM, coupled with the wealth of free education and certifications in the HubSpot Academy, provides an opportunity to explore the CRM without a significant upfront investment.
However, HubSpot may have limitations for corporations with multiple divisions and may not offer the same level of granular sorting options as Microsoft Dynamics. It’s also important to note that HubSpot doesn’t include built-in compliance tools, although compliance can still be achieved through additional measures.
On the other hand, if your business relies heavily on the Microsoft Suite and requires extensive data breakdown and analysis capabilities, Microsoft Dynamics may be the better fit. Its integration with other Microsoft products, such as Office 365 and SharePoint, offers seamless data sharing and collaboration. Dynamics is particularly suited for enterprises with complex hierarchies and reporting requirements. However, it’s worth considering that Dynamics is known for its clunky navigation and less user-friendly UI compared to HubSpot, which may result in a steeper learning curve.
Ultimately, evaluating the pros and cons of each CRM, as well as considering your business’s unique requirements, will guide you toward the CRM platform that aligns best with your goals and strategies. With new software, we always recommend taking advantage of free trials, demos, and consultations to help make your decision.