HubSpot vs Folk: Which One is The Best CRM in 2025?

Ever feel like managing your contacts is a total mess?

Are you losing track of who’s who, and does your business feel like it’s slipping through your fingers?

You’re not alone. Lots of people struggle with this. 

Well, that’s where CRMs come in.

Today, we’re looking at two big names: HubSpot vs Folk.

Let’s break it down and see which CRM can truly make your life easier.

Overview

We’ve spent weeks digging into both HubSpot and Folk.

Testing their features and seeing how they handle real-world tasks.

This comparison is based on hands-on experience, not just marketing hype, so you get the straight facts.

What is HubSpot?

So, HubSpot. What’s the deal? It’s a big platform. Think of it as an all-in-one tool.

It helps businesses manage sales, marketing, and customer service.

Basically, it’s designed to keep everything in one place.

Also, explore our favorite Hubspot alternatives…

Key Benefits

HubSpot shines with its all-in-one approach and robust free plan. Here’s what makes it stand out:

• Free CRM: Yes, you read that right! HubSpot offers a completely free CRM with unlimited users and up to 1 million contacts.
• Marketing Automation: Automate your marketing tasks, such as email campaigns and social media posting, to save time and boost efficiency.
• Sales Pipeline Management: Visualize and track your sales process, making it easier to identify bottlenecks & close deals faster.
• Extensive Integrations: Connect HubSpot with over 1,000 popular business tools to streamline your workflows.

Pricing

• Free Tools: Free for up to two users.
• Marketing Hub Starter: $15/seat/month.
• Starter Customer Platform: $15/seat/month.
• Marketing Hub Professional + three seats: $800/month, additional seats at                        $45/month.

What is Folk?

Okay, let’s talk about Folk. It’s a different kind of CRM.

It focuses on contact management. Think of it as a smart address book.

It’s built for teams that need to stay organized.

Also, explore our favorite Folk alternatives…

Key Benefits

• Organize up to 5000 contacts in one place.
• Share contact lists with up to 10 team members.
• Send personalized emails to 250 contacts per day.
• Integrate with over 1000 apps via Zapier.
• Create five custom contact fields.

Pricing

All the plans will be billed annually.

• Standard: $20/member/month.
• Premium: $40/member/month.
• Custom: $80/member/month.

Feature Comparison

Let’s get down to brass tacks. We’re comparing the key features of HubSpot and Folk.

This will help you see which CRM platform better fits your needs.

1. Contact Management

• HubSpot:
  • Offers robust contact management within its HubSpot CRM.
  • Custom fields are highly customizable.
  • Integrates with LinkedIn for enriched profiles.
• Folk:
  • Excel in user-friendly contact organization.
  • Simplifies importing and segmenting contacts.
  • Focuses on intuitive contact grouping.

2. Email Marketing

• HubSpot:
  • HubSpot provides extensive email marketing tools.
  • Automate your campaigns with workflows.
  • Detailed analytics on email performance.
• Folk:
  • Allows for personalized email campaigns and sequences.
  • Offers basic tracking and engagement metrics.
  • Streamline outreach with email templates.

3. Automation

• HubSpot:
  • Powerful automation capabilities for marketing, sales, and service.
  • Workflows can automate complex processes.
  • HubSpot offers advanced automation within its paid tiers.
• Folk:
  • Focuses on automating contact-related tasks.
  • Email sequence automation for outreach.
  • Limited workflow automation compared to HubSpot.

4. Integrations

• HubSpot:
  • Extensive integrations with various platforms, including Salesforce and Pipedrive.
  • API access for custom integrations.
  • Chrome extension for easy data capture.
• Folk:
  • Integrates with essential tools like Google Sheets and email providers.
  • Limited third-party integrations compared to HubSpot.
  • API access is available.

5. Analytics and Reporting

• HubSpot:
  • Detailed analytics dashboards for marketing, sales, and service.
  • Actionable insights to improve performance.
  • HubSpot CRM provides robust reporting features.
• Folk:
  • Basic reporting on contact engagement and email performance.
  • Limited analytics compared to HubSpot.
  • Focus on simple and easy-to-understand reports.

6. Customer Support

• HubSpot:
  • Comprehensive customer support through knowledge base, community, and support tickets.
  • Higher-tier plans include priority support.
• Folk:
  • Offers email and chat support.
  • Growing knowledge base and community.
  • Best for startup and small business support.

7. User Interface and Ease of Use

• HubSpot:
  • Powerful but can be overwhelming for new users.
  • It has a steep learning curve due to its extensive functionality.
  • Once learned, it is very efficient.
• Folk:
  • Known for its ease of use and intuitive interface.
  • Ideal for teams prioritizing simplicity.
  • User-friendly design.

What to Look For When Choosing CRM Software?

• Scalability: Can it grow with your business?
• Integration: Does it connect with your existing tools?
• Customization: Can you tailor it to your specific needs?
• Ease of Use: Is it intuitive for your team?
• Support: What level of customer support is offered?
• Budget: Does it fit within your financial constraints?
• Specific Features: What features, like automation or analytics, are most important to you?
• Mobile Access: Can you access it on the go?
• Data Security: How secure is your data?
• Reporting: Can you get the insights you need?

Final Verdict

So, which one wins? For most businesses, HubSpot takes the lead.

It’s powerful, and it does a lot. Yes, it can be pricey and a bit tricky to learn.

But it’s worth it. We’ve tested both.

We’ve seen how they work in real life.

If you need everything in one place, HubSpot is your best bet. Folk is good for simple contact management.

But, for growth and serious business, HubSpot has more to offer.

We’ve done the work. Now, you can make the smart choice.

More of Hubspot

We’ve explored several alternatives to Hubspot, each offering distinct strengths.

Here’s a brief comparison of Hubspot with these software solutions:

• Hubspot vs Gohighlevel: GoHighLevel is primarily tailored for marketing agencies, offering an all-in-one platform for managing various digital marketing tasks, including appointment scheduling and social media. Hubspot, conversely, caters to businesses of all sizes, excelling in inbound marketing with a broader set of marketing, sales, and service tools.
• Hubspot vs Pipedrive: Pipedrive is a sales-focused CRM known for its visual sales pipeline management and intuitive interface, which makes it ideal for tracking deals. Hubspot provides a more comprehensive, all-in-one platform that encompasses sales, marketing, and customer service.
• Hubspot vs Keap: Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) specializes in CRM and marketing automation, particularly for small businesses looking to streamline sales processes and contact management. Hubspot offers a wider range of marketing, sales, and service features, often with more robust automation and reporting.
• Hubspot vs ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign excels in email marketing and marketing automation, with advanced segmentation and conditional logic. However, Hubspot provides a more extensive all-in-one platform that encompasses lead generation, social media management, and a broader range of automation triggers and actions.
• Hubspot vs Clickfunnels: ClickFunnels is dedicated to creating high-converting sales funnels, focusing on landing pages and sales processes. Hubspot, on the other hand, is a broader marketing and sales automation platform, offering comprehensive tools beyond just funnel building, including CRM, content management, and SEO.
• Hubspot vs Instantly: Instantly specializes in cold email outreach and lead generation automation. Hubspot provides a much broader suite of tools, including a full CRM, comprehensive email marketing with advanced design capabilities, social media integration, and more extensive automation workflows.
• Hubspot vs ClickUp: ClickUp is primarily a project management tool with extensive customization and collaboration features. It allows users to manage tasks, documents, and goals. While it offers some CRM functionalities through custom fields, Hubspot is a dedicated CRM system designed to manage customer relationships and streamline sales processes comprehensively.
• Hubspot vs Monday CRM: Monday.com is a work operating system focused on project management, collaboration, and workflow automation. In contrast, Hubspot is a fully integrated CRM offering deep sales, marketing, and customer service automation. It is designed to drive revenue and scale with businesses.
• Hubspot vs Capsule CRM: Capsule CRM is a simpler, user-friendly contact manager and sales tracker, ideal for small businesses needing organized customer information and clear pipeline views. Hubspot offers a more robust, feature-rich CRM with advanced sales pipelines, comprehensive marketing automation, and extensive integrations.
• Hubspot vs Insightly: Insightly combines CRM with strong project management features, making it versatile for businesses requiring both. Hubspot excels in marketing automation and broader sales features, offering a more comprehensive suite for inbound marketing and lead nurturing.
• Hubspot vs Freshsales CRM: Freshsales CRM is a sales-focused CRM emphasizing AI-powered lead scoring and sales automation for efficient deal management. Hubspot provides a more extensive all-in-one platform with robust marketing automation features integrated alongside sales and service tools, making it suitable for more complex sales cycles.
• Hubspot vs Salesforce: Salesforce is a powerful, highly customizable enterprise-grade CRM with robust reporting and forecasting capabilities, ideal for large organizations with complex needs. Hubspot offers a more user-friendly interface and a well-rounded set of marketing and sales tools, particularly appealing to SMBs, with a more accessible pricing model.
• Hubspot vs Zendesk: Zendesk is a specialized customer service and support platform, excelling in omnichannel support, ticketing, and advanced AI capabilities for issue resolution. Hubspot Service Hub offers integrated customer support tools as part of its broader CRM suite, providing seamless data flow between marketing, sales, and service teams, but with less emphasis on advanced AI than Zendesk.

More of Folk

Here’s a brief comparison of Folk with these software solutions:

• Folk vs GoHighLevel: Folk emphasizes collaborative contact organization and ease of use, while GoHighLevel is a comprehensive sales and marketing platform with robust automation and lead generation.
• Folk vs Pipedrive: Folk focuses on user-friendly contact management and customization, whereas Pipedrive excels in visual sales pipeline management for sales-focused teams.
• Folk vs Keap: Folk offers a simple, collaborative interface for contact management, while Keap provides powerful sales and marketing automation with extensive customization.
• Folk vs ActiveCampaign: Folk provides a user-friendly, collaborative contact management system, while ActiveCampaign boasts robust marketing automation, segmentation, and detailed analytics.
• Folk vs Clickfunnels: Folk is a contact management CRM, while ClickFunnels is a sales funnel builder designed for creating landing pages and automating sales processes.
• Folk vs Instantly: Folk focuses on contact management and enrichment; Instantly specializes in automated cold email campaigns and high-volume outbound sales outreach.
• Folk vs ClickUp: Folk is a specialized contact relationship management tool, while ClickUp is an all-in-one workspace that combines project management, task tracking, and CRM features.
• Folk vs Monday: Folk offers a simple, collaborative contact system, while Monday CRM provides highly customizable visual workflows and robust team collaboration.
• Folk vs Capsule: Folk is a modern, customizable CRM for managing contacts; Capsule CRM is a simplified contact manager primarily focused on tracking sales opportunities.
• Folk vs Insightly: Folk is a straightforward collaborative contact management solution; Insightly provides a more robust CRM with advanced sales pipeline and project management features.
• Folk vs Freshsales CRM: Folk focuses on intuitive relationship management and visual pipelines; Freshsales offers a comprehensive CRM with advanced automation and in-depth reporting for sales.
• Folk vs Salesforce: Folk provides a user-friendly CRM for simple relationship management, while Salesforce is a highly customizable, scalable, and complex enterprise-level CRM with extensive features.
• Folk vs Zendesk: Folk prioritizes simple, collaborative contact management for smaller teams, while Zendesk is a comprehensive customer service platform focused on ticketing and support.

Frequently Asked Questions