We don't recommend either GoHighLevel or HubSpot. GoHighLevel is essentially a MLM (freelancers and agencies selling white-labeled versions of the software). Not to mention, it's extremely buggy and has a very clunky user experience.
HubSpot is targeting enterprises, so unless you don’t mind being asked to spend $30k+ a year on subscriptions after your first year, avoid it. Here are the best CRMs, any of them would put you/your team in a 10x better position.
We believe there are better options available in this category, read below to learn what this software does well, and what they could do better. ⤵
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The CRM space is probably the largest software category in the world, just ahead of project management. That said, there's 2 types of CRM categories:
Okay, let me explain. Most software will eventually get to a point where they need to determine if they should tack on the "CRM" category to their product offering. And because a CRM at the end of the day is really just a database, most software will justify "adding it" to their toolset.
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The marketing automation tool (and CRM) for mid + large teams (200–1,000) who require a robust and all-in-one tool like Salesforce.
If you are considering HubSpot because of price (after hearing things like 50–90% off the first year)—let me stop you right now, you're playing directly into their marketing shtick (you'll see the #1 concern with HubSpot is actually price).
HubSpot was not initially built as a CRM, it was a marketing email automation platform. A powerful (and expensive) one at that—but credit where credit is due. It's just, most companies often need to start with just a CRM to streamline their business operations.
It wasn't until HubSpot realized that acquiring customers for their $20–60k+/yr marketing automation suite was a difficult sell out of the gate, that they decided to built a "free CRM" as a lead magnet (and gateway) to their expensive core product.
So if you're a startup or a team of 20 or less (that will actually be using the CRM day-to-day), we highly recommend looking at a different CRM (we've done a deep-dive on that here). Because after the first year, you will be paying 2-4x more for HubSpot than the competing solutions (even at their proposed "Year 2+ discounts").
Now if your team is quite large and considering Salesforce, we actually do recommend Hubspot in most cases. HubSpot is more user-friendly than Salesforce, and you aren't going to be totally stuck in the expensive enterprise software stack that a tool like Salesforce often requires.
We will also add that we work with HubSpot often, and Copper + Pipedrive have far superior API's to HubSpot (in that we can build the same integration in 1/2 the time), so there is a second-order unseen cost associated to HubSpot.
And finally, there's quite a bit that needs to "go right" in order for emails to automatically log from your team's inbox into HubSpot.
Replies to emails will be logged automatically on the contact's timeline if you have connected your personal email and the following is true:
1. The original email was sent through the CRM or sent from your connected email client with the sales email extension or add-in installed and the Log checkbox selected.
2. The original email was not sent to an email address or domain listed in your Never Log list.
3. The email address is still connected when the reply is received.
4. The reply is sent to an individual's email connected by the user who originally started the thread.
5. The sender of the reply is an existing contact in HubSpot.
(Something that most take for granted when working with a CRM like Copper, where everything just logs automatically with no prerequisites—even if the contact doesn't yet exist in the CRM, it'll go back 1 year through your team's email history and retroactively add those emails)
All-In-One CRM For Sales & Marketing
We'll get right to it: Avoid GoHighLevel at all costs.
GoHighLevel is essentially a software MLM. You have people that are trying to start businesses or agencies looking for an additional revenue stream, so they purchase GoHighLevel and re-sell it to their customers. So you have these layers on top of layers on top of layers that are selling GoHighLevel.
This is further messed up because you are purchasing a sub license to someone else's GoHighLevel account. Which means you're forever tied to the person who sold it to you, that is also charging you a premium for it. What if they decide to cancel their main GoHighLevel subscription? Or their payment lapses? Well that impacts you, since you sit under them in the purchasing pyramid.
Oh, not to mention you don't own any of your data either. If you want to truly run a business who a good software foundation, do not sign up for GoHighLevel.
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