CRM systems have become an integral part of modern businesses. Customer Relationship Management systems are all about pushing the envelope when it comes to growing a business and streamlining it to become more efficient and more productive, no matter what industry it’s in.
Some of the biggest businesses in the world such as Apple, Amazon, and even the United States Air Force are benefiting from the CRM systems that they have in place. However, most of the CRMs used by these giant organisations are far too expensive for small to medium-sized businesses.
Many smaller businesses will be looking into free CRMs instead, but these are especially difficult to find. One of the best affordable CRMs that you can use is free Hubspot. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about the free version of HubSpot, and why it’s such a great option for any business.
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Is There a Truly Free CRM?
If you’ve ever ventured into the world of CRMs, you’ll know that they’re all riddled with hidden fees and limited time demos (also known as “free trials”). This can be incredibly frustrating for every business owner that’s looking for a good CRM to use.
Finding the right CRM is crucial because it becomes challenging to switch to a new CRM once you’ve committed to one. Even implementing a CRM and integrating it with your existing business system can be difficult. It’s important to get this process right, so you need to make sure that you don’t take any shortcuts here!
Believe it or not, there are a few CRMs out there that do not hit you with hidden fees and demo accounts. They’re rare, and difficult to find, but the one that stands head and shoulders above all the others is HubSpot. HubSpot is a premium CRM that can be used for free. But, you might be asking yourself: “what’s the catch?”
Limitations of the Free Version of Hubspot
You might think it’s not possible to get a fully functional CRM for free, but that’s where HubSpot will prove you wrong. Of course, there are some limitations to the free version of HubSpot. But, the free version is completely usable, especially for small and medium-sized businesses.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the limitations that you’ll get from the free version of HubSpot:
- Number of contacts – 1,000,000
- Number of API calls – 40,000 per day
- Form submissions per contact- 1,000
- Custom properties – 1,000
- Values per picklist property – 1,000
- Associated contacts per company – 10,000
- Associated deals per contact or company – 10,000
- Associated activities (engagements) per contact, company or deal – 10,000
- Only 1 sales pipeline
- HubSpot branding on emails
- Only 15 minutes of calling per user per month
- Hubspot branding across all emails, landing pages, and chatbots
- Two social media accounts can be connected for ad management
- Five active email lists
- 2,000 marketing email sends per month
- Landing pages are limited to a few simple templates
While the list might look long, you’ll notice that HubSpot doesn’t take any CRM features away from you — they simply limit them based on the package you are on. But, this is where HubSpot takes it a step further and offers their customers flexibility.
HubSpot’s CRM is divided into three separate branches — Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, and Service Hub. Each of these branches can be upgraded to the paid version independently of the others. In other words, if your business would benefit most from upgrading to a paid marketing package, you can upgrade just your Marketing Hub, while sticking with the free versions of the Sales Hub and the Service Hub.
This means that you won’t have to pay for features that you don’t need, and instead, you can pay for the features that you know you’ll use. This is where HubSpot truly stands out from other CRMs on the market!
Why HubSpot Stands Out From the Crowd
HubSpot is a great CRM overall, and it’s even trusted by the United States Air Force. So, you might be surprised to hear that you could be using HubSpot’s CRM for free. The flexibility of growing HubSpot CRM with your business is one of the biggest attractions of this CRM.
But, aside from being free and flexible, HubSpot is unique for another reason. The company was founded in 2005, and they became the pioneer of inbound marketing. This makes HubSpot the perfect platform for your business if inbound marketing and generating leads is your goal.
Using HubSpot, you can make the most of email marketing and get the best out of your website. Converting leads becomes much easier, especially when you go through the training resources provided by the HubSpot Academy!
