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Can’t decide between HubSpot and EngageBay? 

We get it. It’s a touch decision! Picking the wrong software can potentially lead to lost productivity, time, and yes..money. 

I’ve AJ—here to help. I scaled my business (over ten years) to a successful seven-figure exit, using all kinds of tools in the process. 

My goal with Small Business Bonfire (SBB) is to help you gain the freedom, flexibility, and financial success you need to help you achieve your goals (in half the time it took me).

So, let’s compare two platforms on our list of the best CRMs on the market: HubSpot CRM and EngageBay.  

Bonfire Rating: 4.8/5

HubSpot CRM has everything you need to help manage customer relationships. Seriously, it’s got it all.

Bonfire Rating: 4.7/5

EngageBay offers a suite of awesome tools to help you scale your business and stay organized in the process!

How Did We Evaluate HubSpot CRM and EngageBay?

The SBB team and I evaluated HubSpot CRM and EngageBay by thoroughly reviewing each software.

We compare the two using the following categories:

Pricing & Free VersionTop FeaturesCustomer ServiceIntegrationsEase of UseBest Mobile AppKnowledge and Learning CenterLimitationsWhich One We Think is Best for Small Businesses

EngageBay Vs. HubSpot CRM Comparison Chart

Let’s see how EngageBay CRM stacks up against HubSpot overall. 

EngageBay Vs. HubSpot CRM: Pricing

So, how does HubSpot compare to EngageBay when it comes to pricing? Let’s take a look. 

HubSpot CRM Pricing​

HubSpot CRM offers a free plan in addition to three paid plans:

Free Plan – Free ForeverStarter CRM Suite – $50/monthProfessional CRM Suite – $1,781/monthEnterprise CRM Suite – $5,000/month

EngageBay Pricing

EngageBay Sales Bay offers a free forever plan and three paid plans.

They are as follows:

Free – Free foreverBasic – $12.99/month Growth – $49.99/month Pro – $79.99/month 

HubSpot CRM Vs. EngageBay Pricing Winner: EngageBay

AJ’s Take: EngageBay is FAR cheaper than HubSpot. It’s hard to compare pricing between these two with such a large gap. EngageBay takes the cake here. 


HubSpot CRM Vs. EngageBay: Top Features

Let’s see how HubSpot CRM stacks up against EngageBay in terms of features.

EngageBay Top Features

In this section, we’ll walk you through some of EngageBay’s best features. 

Excellent customer data management is crucial to the success of your business

Keep track of relevant information, communications, and interactions with your leads and customers in one place using EngageBay to manage contacts.

We started testing this feature (over three months) by adding in some of our affiliate marketing B2B contacts at Small Business Bonfire. 

Here’s a contact card (to give you a preview of how it looks).

Within each card, it’s easy to add and edit the following info:

Contact infoRoleTagsCompanyCustom fields

We especially loved how easy it was to add custom fields for almost anything we needed!

This makes EngageBay perfect for SMBs needing more customization for their contacts.

Once our contacts were put in, here’s how our dashboard looked. 

Overall, when it comes to contact management, EngageBay keeps it simple (while still offering a ton of utility and customization). They offer some of the best contact management in the game

Managing your sales process is critical to closing more deals and making money. The best way to do that is with great sales tools (like pipeline management).

Luckily, we found EngageBay’s sales pipeline management to be intuitive and easy to use.

It was easy to add stages, move contacts through the pipeline, and view where our leads were in the sales process at a glance.

We could also easily switch between table and list views with just a click, giving us a better understanding of our sales pipeline (from multiple angles). 

Here’s an example of our table view, which lets us see each milestone in a clear, color-coded layout.

With this view, we could easily see a ton of helpful info. 

However, it is worth shouting out the excellent grid view (shown below) that allowed us to easily move around cards (using the drag-and-drop functionality).

Add onto that the powerful sales automation that eliminates tedious tasks for your sales team, and you’ve got a powerful feature in EngageBay. 

Our takeaway: When it comes to pipeline management, EngageBay makes it effortless. There’s virtually no learning curve to streamlining your pipeline and scaling your business with EngageBay.

Setting and managing tasks within your CRM is essential to keeping your business organized and on track.

EngageBay’s task management feature allows you to assign tasks to specific team members, set due dates, and view all tasks in one place. 

We tested this feature by setting up a few day-to-day tasks at Small Business Bonfire.

Here’s a new task card to give you a better idea of what we were dealing with. 

With each card, we could easily assign the following info:

NameTypePriorityDue dateReminder dateNotes

We thought the notification system was a nice touch, making sure we never missed a task assigned to us. 

Check out our task dashboard grid view, which displays all our tasks in a clean, easy-to-read layout.

The bottom line:  Task management in EngageBay has all the functionality you need in a CRM (without being overwhelming). 

Let’s be real—if you’re sleeping on the importance of email marketing, you’re leaving money on the table. 

Thankfully, EngageBay’s CRM offers a robust email marketing campaign feature with customization and powerful automation capabilities.

Setting up an email campaign was relatively straightforward (and surprisingly beginner-friendly). We set up an email drip campaign for our newsletter (the Bonfire Field Guide).

We could select from a ton of helpful templates (screenshot below) that helped us get started with ease. 

Here’s an example showing us setting up a new broadcast (which just involved a few clicks).

From there, we created our campaign by designing email templates for each stage in the rollout process.

For example, here’s an introduction email we set up (and sent out) within just a few minutes

At the end of the day, if you’re serious about ramping up your marketing efforts, EngageBay’s email marketing feature is a must-have

The ability to create powerful web forms (for free) whenever you need them is a game-changer for SMBs

We utilized this tool quite a bit throughout our testing, creating both inline and popup web forms.

Check out an inline web form that we were able to create (in a matter of minutes).

We were able to easily custom the following elements of our web form:

ColorsLogoFieldsSize 

EngageBay makes creating web forms so easy that just about anyone can do it with just a few clicks

So, if you want to amplify your marketing efforts (or are just looking for that next growth hack), give EngageBay’s web form creation feature a try. You can thank us later.

Landing pages allow you to capture leads and drive conversions from your website. 

We found EngageBay’s landing page creation tool to be user-friendly and customizable, with plenty of templates to choose from (shown below).

The templates eliminate any entry barrier or learning curve preventing you from creating effective landing pages for your business. 

Here’s a sneak peek into the landing page creation process (about halfway through).

Here are some of the features we could easily customize on our landing page:

Background imageText and font stylesForm fields and customizationsCall-to-action buttons

One feature we particularly appreciated was the ability to set up automation for what happens after a contact fills out the form on our landing page. 

This allowed us to easily set up automated email campaigns or tasks (based on a contact’s actions).

All in all, EngageBay’s landing page creation tool makes it easy to capture leads and increase conversions on your website

Customers expect quick and convenient communication with businesses in today’s fast-paced world.

That’s where EngageBay’s live chat software comes in, courtesy of HubSpot Service Hub. 

With just a few clicks, you can add a live chat widget to your website and engage with visitors in real time.

Not only does this allow for improved customer engagement, but it also allows you to capture more leads by providing instant support and assistance.

We tested this feature by setting up a live chat widget on our website and were impressed with how easy it was to use

We could easily customize the chat box design, set up automated greetings, and assign specific team members to handle incoming chats. 

Here’s how our chat widget customization looked for our Bonfire Support chat.

Our two cents: If you want to provide excellent customer service and increase lead generation, EngageBay’s live chat software should be one of the service tools in your belt

EngageBay allows you to track and manage customer inquiries and issues with ease.

With EngageBay’s ticket management, we were able to easily accomplish the following:

Create custom ticket categories and statusesAssign tickets to support team members for resolutionSet automated responses for customer queriesTrack the progress of each ticket through the system 

This made it easier for us to manage our support efforts and provided a more organized and efficient experience for our customers

Here’s how a new ticket looked from our perspective.

Within each card, we could easily edit the following information:

SubjectRelated contactAssigneeTicket messages

We also appreciated that we could easily view the status of each ticket, making it easy to prioritize and address urgent issues. 

Here’s our ticket view during our three months of testing. 

Our favorite part of EngageBay’s ticket management is that it’s incredibly easy to use and intuitive. The fact that it’s 100% free doesn’t hurt either!

EngageBay provides fantastic service automation to help you support teams and improve customer engagement.

Not only can you automate ticket responses, but you can also set up workflows to trigger specific actions based on ticket status or other criteria. 

For example, we set up an automation to automatically assign a user when a ticket is submitted (so that it could be addressed promptly). 

Here’s a sneak peek at our service automation setup.

We also accomplished the following with EngageBay’s automation (during our three months of testing):

Sent automated email responses based on ticket statusAssigned tickets to specific team members based on categorySet up reminders for unresolved tickets 

Overall, we were extremely impressed with EngageBay’s service automation capabilities. It helped us improve our response time and provide a better customer support experience—what’s not to love?

HubSpot CRM Top Features

Let’s look at some of HubSpot’s best features.

Without effective pipeline management, it’s difficult for businesses to keep track of leads, deals, and potential revenue. 

But with HubSpot CRM’s pipeline management feature, all the important information is organized in one place.

We found this feature incredibly useful for tracking our sales progress and identifying areas for improvement. 

Here are some of the top features we loved about HubSpot’s pipeline management:

Customizable stages, deal properties, and filtersVisual representation of deals in the pipelineAbility to add notes and attachments to each deal 

HubSpot’s pipeline management made it easy for us to stay organized and on top of our sales process

Plus, the numerous views available (such as a Kanban board or list view) made finding the information we needed at any given time easy.

We especially loved how customizable our pipelines were (pictured below). 

We got our pipeline to look exactly how we wanted, which was incredibly helpful for our sales team.

Here’s how our pipeline looked (with some of our affiliate marketing deals put in). 

With HubSpot’s powerful customization, easy-to-use interface, and fantastic drag-and-drop interface, they easily offer some of the best pipeline management in the biz

As your business scales and your calendar fills up, you’ll need a method to manage the madness.

HubSpot’s CRM has you covered with its intuitive meeting scheduling tool.

We tested this feature by scheduling a quick 15-minute meeting with our team (shown below).

We could easily select a time and date that worked for everyone (without the back-and-forth of multiple emails). 

We could also customize our meeting preferences and add reminders to ensure that the meeting went smoothly and nobody missed it on accident.

Managing tickets has never been easier than with HubSpot’s support ticketing feature. 

We could track and organize customer inquiries in one place, making it easy to provide timely and efficient support.

Here are some of the useful features we found:

Automatic ticket creation from emails or formsCustomizable ticket propertiesEasy assignment and reassignment of ticketsIntegrated chat for real time assistance 

We were able to easily customize our ticket board to suit SBB’s specific needs (screenshot below). 

Once we had everything set up, managing and resolving tickets became a breeze. 

Our takeaway: Managing tickets can be stressful, but with HubSpot, it doesn’t have to be. We tested this feature (over three months) and found HubSpot ticket management to be well worth the price of admission

HubSpot offers the ability to create and send customer feedback surveys, allowing businesses to gather important insights and improve their customer experience. 

We tested this feature by creating several different surveys for our customers to fill out via email.

We were able to create the following survey types:

Customer supportCustomer satisfactionCustomer loyalty

We were impressed by the ease of creating each survey (and the ability to customize it with different question types).

But what really blew us away was HubSpot’s reporting capabilities. 

After collecting responses, we were able to view detailed reports and analyze the data to make informed decisions for our business.

We loved how easy it was to create, distribute, and gather valuable insights from these surveys. It definitely helped us improve our customer experience and make data-driven decisions

If you’re serious about customer service, you need a live chat tool. HubSpot’s live chat feature is one of the best out there.

We started creating our Bonfire Chat by navigating to the “chatflows” tab.

From there, we selected whether to add live chat to our website or Facebook page.

For the purposes of this test, we chose our website.

Next, we customized the chat widget (shown below) by adding our logo, colors, and a personalized message. 

After that, we were given the code to embed on our website, and the chat was live! 

The bottom line: We could easily manage conversations, assign chats to team members, and even set up automated messages based on different criteria. 

HubSpot is a fantastic option if you’re looking for a powerful live chat platform. 

HubSpot’s CMS Hub is a standalone content management platform designed to help businesses create and manage the following:

WebsiteLanding pagesBlogs

We were impressed by the intuitive drag-and-drop editor and the ability to easily publish content across multiple channels.

Plus, with built-in SEO optimization tools and web analytics, HubSpot makes it easy for businesses to create high-performing content that drives traffic and conversions

Let’s walk you through our web page creation process (during our testing). 

First, we navigated to their gorgeous themes and templates (shown below).

There are many fantastic options here, and most of them are completely free (which is awesome).

Once we had our template, we were able to customize the following:

Color schemeFontStyleLogo

Next, we were given full control over the page’s layout and content, making it easy to create a professional-looking webpage in no time

Here’s our webpage (midway through the creation process) to give you some context. 

With HubSpot’s CMS Hub, we were able to easily design and launch our website (without any technical knowledge or coding required). 

One of the key features of HubSpot’s Marketing Hub is its robust email marketing capabilities, which are chock-full of advanced marketing automation capabilities

This makes it easy to create and send professional, targeted emails that align with your company’s brand and objectives. 

Moreover, HubSpot offers a collection of helpful templates (shown below). 

These templates are a great starting point for crafting your emails, allowing for quick customization and saving significant time.

We were particularly impressed by the drag-and-drop email template creator, which allowed us to easily customize our communications by adding images, text, video, and links. 

Here’s how it looked from our perspective.

This intuitive visual editor made it simple to design engaging emails that resonate with our audience.

The marketing automation capabilities of HubSpot’s email tools cannot be overstated. 

We could automate our email campaigns based on specific triggers or actions taken by our customers, ensuring timely and relevant communication

This feature was not only a huge time-saver but also contributed to our email marketing efforts’ overall effectiveness and efficiency.

In conclusion, if you’re searching for a platform that offers powerful email marketing tools and comprehensive marketing automation features, HubSpot is an excellent choice. 

It provides everything you need to create, automate, and track the performance of your email campaigns.

At Small Business Bonfire, we believe in working smarter, not harder. 

That’s why we’re happy to say HubSpot lets you do just that with workflow automation. 

HubSpot takes this one step further by providing pre-made automation templates that anyone can use. 

Here are some examples. 

This essentially demystifies the process, making it easy for beginners to set up and use automation. 

Some of the automation we created during our testing includes:

Correcting capitalizing inconsistencies in contact namesSending a welcome email when someone signs up for our newsletterUpdating a contact’s lifecycle stage after they’ve made a purchase through our website

We also were able to create custom sales and marketing automation based on specific triggers and actions, giving us full control over the customer journey.

Check out our automation creation screen during our testing period. 

As you can see, creating custom automation is a bit trickier (with a bit of a learning curve), but HubSpot takes a complicated process and simplifies it a great deal.

So, if you want to create powerful automation (with none of the headaches), we recommend you try HubSpot!

EngageBay Vs. HubSpot CRM Features Winner: HubSpot

AJ’s Take: HubSpot might be more expensive, but the pricing reflects the robust nature of its features. HubSpot has got this one. 


EngageBay Vs. HubSpot CRM: Customer Service

Let’s see how the popular CRM platforms stack up in terms of customer service.

EngageBay Customer Service

When it comes to customer service, EngageBay has a lot to offer:

Availability: EngageBay provides 24/5 customer support to all its users, ensuring assistance is available when businesses need it the most.Knowledge base: EngageBay has an extensive, well-organized knowledge base that covers almost every aspect of their CRM. This allows users to easily troubleshoot their issues (or improve their understanding of the platform).Training: EngageBay offers a variety of training resources to help users get the most out of their CRM. This includes webinars, tutorials, and one-on-one training sessions.Responsive Support: EngageBay’s customer support is known for being responsive and helpful. They quickly address any issues or concerns, ensuring businesses can continue operations without disruption.

HubSpot CRM Customer Service

HubSpot’s customer service offers a comprehensive suite of services that align with the key areas highlighted:

Availability: HubSpot provides 24/7 customer service, surpassing EngageBay’s 24/5 support. This means businesses can access assistance at any time, ensuring seamless operations.Knowledge base: HubSpot’s knowledge base is extensive, covering all facets of their CRM. It provides in-depth guides and articles that help users resolve issues independently.Training: HubSpot offers robust training resources, including the HubSpot Academy. This platform provides a vast range of courses, tutorials, and certifications that equip users with the knowledge to leverage the CRM effectively.Responsive Support: HubSpot’s customer support is quick and efficient. They rapidly address concerns, ensuring minimal disruption to business operations. With various communication channels like live chat, email, and phone support, HubSpot ensures queries are resolved promptly and effectively.

Comparing EngageBay and HubSpot regarding customer service reveals that both offer strong support systems.

However, HubSpot stands out with its 24/7 availability, educational HubSpot Academy, and fast, multi-channel support.

HubSpot CRM Vs. EngageBay Customer Service Winner: HubSpot

AJ’s Take: If you go with HubSpot, you’ll have the luxury of 24/7 support. It’s hard to beat that! HubSpot takes the W here. 


HubSpot CRM Vs. EngageBay: Integrations

Let’s see how HubSpot CRM and EngageBay compare when it comes to integrations. 

EngageBay Integrations

EngageBay CRM offers some native integrations and a helpful pairing with Zapier (that introduces thousands more).

Some native integrations include the following:

TrelloZapierShopifyAsanaWhatsApp

While EngageBay certainly gets the job done regarding integrations, HubSpot offers much more variety (in both native and third-party integrations). 

HubSpot CRM Integrations

Regarding powerful integrations, HubSpot is king as far as we’re concerned. 
 
Some of the most popular HubSpot integrations include:

SalesforceWordPressShopifyZoomSlackMailChimpGoogle Analytics

HubSpot’s expansive library of native and third-party integrations allows businesses to connect their CRM with virtually any tool or platform they use

This aspect provides flexibility and convenience that EngageBay just can’t match.

EngageBay Vs. HubSpot CRM Integrations Winner: HubSpot CRM

AJ’s Take: With so many native integrations, it’s no wonder why people love HubSpot’s access. HubSpot wins this one! 


Pro Tip #1: Don’t just look at the price of the CRM. HubSpot might be a bit more than EngageBay, but there are a boatload more features.
– AJ Silber

EngageBay Vs. HubSpot CRM: Ease of Use

Ease of use is incredibly important for a CRM. Let’s see how EngageBay does against HubSpot.

EngageBay Ease of Use

When it comes to ease of use, EngageBay shines in its simplicity. The user interface is clean, intuitive, and straightforward.

Even for those who are not tech-savvy, it’s extremely easy to navigate through the different features and functionalities of the CRM.

HubSpot CRM Ease of Use

HubSpot also excels in terms of ease of use. Its user-friendly interface makes it simple for users to navigate through the CRM, even for those unfamiliar with CRM software.

Additionally, HubSpot offers a comprehensive onboarding process that guides users through setting up their accounts and getting started with the platform.

HubSpot CRM Vs. EngageBay Ease of Use Winner: Tie 

AJ’s Take: Both platforms are super intuitive and easy to use. It’s hard to pick a winner here so we’ll give it to both of them. 


HubSpot CRM Vs. EngageBay: Best Mobile App

Let’s see which platform has the best mobile app in terms of features and ease of use. 

EngageBay Mobile App

EngageBay offers a pretty good mobile app (with not-so-great reviews) on iOS and Android devices. 

To get started, we downloaded the app on iOS.

Some features we liked included:

Landing pagesNotificationsCampaignsDeal managementTask managementContact management

We enjoyed being able to view all of our data on the go, but ultimately, the mobile UI could use a bit of work compared to the desktop version. 

HubSpot CRM Mobile App

HubSpot offers a fantastic mobile app (with fantastic reviews) on iOS and Android.

We downloaded the HubSpot app on iOS to really test it out. 

Some standout features of the app included the following:

Contact managementDeal managementTask managementTicket managementMeeting linksMarketing emailActivity feed

This app has a ton of utility, providing essentially a full CRM in the palm of your hand. Regarding mobile apps, we’ve got to give it to HubSpot

EngageBay Vs. HubSpot CRM Mobile App Winner: HubSpot

AJ’s Take: HubSpot pretty much has the full CRM in the mobile version. No watered-down features here. HubSpot wins. 


Pro Tip #2: Test before you buy. Not all CRMs are easily transferable, and switching can be a big hassle.
– AJ Silber

EngageBay Vs. HubSpot CRM: Knowledge Center

Let’s see which knowledge center reigns supreme between HubSpot and EngageBay.

EngageBay Knowledge Center

EngageBay has a robust knowledge center with helpful guides, articles, and videos to help users familiarize themselves with the platform

The articles are well-written and straightforward, making it easy for users to follow along.

Throughout our three months of testing, any time we had an issue, we were able to solve it with the knowledge base!

HubSpot CRM Knowledge Center

HubSpot’s knowledge center is also comprehensive, offering a vast library of resources that cover all aspects of their CRM.

Just like EngageBay, we were able to find the answers we needed with ease. In terms of knowledge base, it’s a tie between the two.

HubSpot CRM Vs. EngageBay Knowledge Center Winner: Tie

AJ’s Take: Both CRMs have a great learning center with many videos, tutorials, and informational articles. You won’t have trouble finding what you need wth either platform. Tie. 


HubSpot CRM Vs. EngageBay: Limitations

No CRM is perfect, and both HubSpot and EngageBay have their limitations. 

EngageBay Limitations

EngageBay has the following limitations:

The free plan is limited – Despite offering a free plan, EngageBay’s features are limited, making it challenging to use for more than basic functions.
Limited calendar views & customization – If you’re looking for advanced calendar features, you may want to explore other options, as EngageBay falls short in this area.

HubSpot CRM Limitations

HubSpot CRM has the following limitations:

Pricing – Despite the impressive range of free tools, getting the most out of your CRM will eventually necessitate scaling up to a more powerful plan. The costs associated with these premium plans can be a significant limitation for some small businesses.Limited customization in CMS Hub – While HubSpot’s CMS Hub is robust, it could offer more customization options. It doesn’t quite match the functionality of a platform like WordPress, limiting the design and content management options for businesses.

EngageBay Vs. HubSpot CRM Limitations Winner: HubSpot

AJ’s Take: HubSpot just has less limitations (at a higher price point). HubSpot wins this one. 


EngageBay Vs. HubSpot CRM: Which is Best for Small Businesses?

EngageBay and HubSpot CRM are excellent choices for small businesses, each with unique strengths. 

However, if we had to pick one, HubSpot is the superior CRM tool. It’s more powerful, offering a broader range of features and integrations to streamline your business processes. 

Most notably, the value offered by its free plan is second to none, making HubSpot a CRM powerhouse that small businesses can bank on

However, if you don’t quite have the budget for HubSpot (as you can see) EngageBay will make an excellent addition to your software arsenol. 

So what’re you waiting for? Try both out for free today!

The post HubSpot Vs. EngageBay 2023: Honest Comparison for SMBs appeared first on Small Business Bonfire.

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