Brevo CRM vs HubSpot: Which One Is Best for Small Businesses in 2025?
When it comes to choosing the right CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool in 2025, two names consistently rise to the top for small businesses: Brevo and HubSpot.
Both platforms offer powerful features, free plans, automation tools, and scalable options. But the question remains: Which CRM is better for YOUR small business in 2025—Brevo or HubSpot?
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll compare Brevo and HubSpot in terms of:
- Features
- Pricing
- Ease of use
- Integrations
- Support
- Best use cases
So whether you’re a freelancer, e-commerce store owner, or a local service provider, you’ll walk away with a clear answer tailored to your business needs.
🔍 What Is a CRM and Why Does It Matter?
Before jumping into the comparison, let’s briefly cover what a CRM is and why you need one.
A CRM system helps businesses:
- Store and organize customer data
- Track interactions (emails, calls, forms)
- Automate marketing and sales processes
- Improve customer service and retention
- Analyze business performance
In 2025, having a CRM is not optional—even for small businesses. It’s essential for staying organized, scaling customer relationships, and increasing revenue without burning out.
⚔️ Brevo CRM vs HubSpot: Quick Snapshot
| Feature | Brevo CRM | HubSpot CRM |
|---|---|---|
| Best For | Budget-conscious small businesses & startups | Growing businesses needing advanced marketing/sales |
| Free Plan | Yes (Unlimited contacts, 1 automation) | Yes (Unlimited users & contacts) |
| Automation | Built-in email/SMS workflows | Advanced workflows & pipelines |
| Pricing (2025) | Starts at $0/month, paid plans from $25/month | Starts at $0/month, paid plans from $20–$50+ per tool/month |
| Ease of Use | Simple, beginner-friendly | More powerful but steeper learning curve |
| Email Marketing | Included | Requires Marketing Hub upgrade |
| Support | Email + chat (Free & paid tiers) | Chat, email, and phone (paid tiers) |
| Integrations | 150+ (Shopify, WooCommerce, Zapier) | 1,000+ (Salesforce, Gmail, Zoom, etc.) |
🟦 Brevo CRM Overview (2025)
✅ What Is Brevo?
Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is a simple, all-in-one CRM and marketing automation platform tailored for small businesses. Known for its affordable pricing, powerful email marketing, and integrated SMS tools, Brevo offers a no-nonsense solution to manage customers and automate communications.
✅ Key CRM Features:
- Contact management with unlimited contacts (even on the free plan)
- Email and SMS automation
- Pipeline management with deal stages
- Shared inbox for customer communication
- Task management & collaboration tools
- Custom segmentation & tagging
- Landing page and form builders
- Integrates with Shopify, WordPress, and more
✅ Pros:
- Extremely easy to use
- Robust free plan
- Affordable for startups and solo entrepreneurs
- Built-in email marketing and SMS without extra cost
❌ Cons:
- Fewer integrations than HubSpot
- Less advanced analytics/reporting
- Lacks deep third-party sales tools
🎯 Best For:
- Freelancers, coaches, local service providers
- E-commerce stores looking for basic CRM + marketing
- Small teams who want everything in one place
🟧 HubSpot CRM Overview (2025)
✅ What Is HubSpot?
HubSpot is a leading CRM platform with a massive ecosystem of tools for marketing, sales, customer service, and content management. Its free CRM is generous, and it scales into an enterprise-level suite used by companies like Trello, Doordash, and SurveyMonkey.
✅ Key CRM Features:
- Unlimited users and contacts on free plan
- Full-featured contact and deal tracking
- Powerful pipeline and lead scoring
- Custom dashboards and reports
- Email templates, sequences, and tracking
- Live chat, chatbot, and ticketing
- Marketing, Sales, Service, and CMS hubs
✅ Pros:
- Extremely powerful and customizable
- Huge marketplace with 1,000+ integrations
- Deep sales and marketing automation
- Scales easily as your business grows
❌ Cons:
- Free plan lacks key marketing features (like email automation)
- Paid plans can get expensive quickly
- Overwhelming for beginners
🎯 Best For:
- Agencies, B2B companies, SaaS startups
- Teams with dedicated marketers or sales reps
- Businesses ready to scale aggressively
💵 Pricing Comparison (Updated for 2025)
Brevo CRM Pricing:
- Free Plan – Unlimited contacts, 300 emails/day, 1 automation workflow
- Starter Plan – From $9/month (5000 emails, no daily cap)
- Business Plan – From $18/month (advanced automation, A/B testing, heat maps)
- CRM+ Add-On – Included in business plan
✅ Great for: tight budgets, predictable pricing, simple scaling
HubSpot CRM Pricing:
- Free CRM – Unlimited users and contacts, pipeline, email templates
- Marketing Hub Starter – From $20/month
- Sales Hub Starter – From $20/month
- Service Hub Starter – From $20/month
- Professional/Enterprise Plans – $800–$3,600/month
❌ Watch out: advanced email automation, reporting, and sales tools require paid “Hubs,” and costs stack quickly.
💬 Ease of Use & Learning Curve
Brevo:
- Clean, minimal dashboard
- Easy setup with visual automation builder
- Works well even if you’re not tech-savvy
- Email & SMS under one roof = less confusion
HubSpot:
- Professional UI with advanced options
- Requires time to explore full potential
- Powerful but can feel overwhelming for beginners
- Best when used by teams with marketing/sales experience
🔌 Integrations and Ecosystem
Brevo:
- 150+ integrations: WooCommerce, Shopify, WordPress, Zapier, Stripe, PayPal, etc.
- API access for custom setups
- Simpler but sufficient for most small businesses
HubSpot:
- 1,000+ integrations via App Marketplace
- Deep integrations with Salesforce, Gmail, Slack, Zoom, Eventbrite, etc.
- Developer tools and sandbox for custom apps
📊 Reporting & Analytics
- Brevo offers basic email, contact, and automation performance stats (CTR, open rates, etc.). Great for lean operations.
- HubSpot offers powerful, customizable dashboards, funnel reporting, sales forecasting, and attribution tracking—but most are gated behind paid tiers.
🧑💼 Customer Support
- Brevo: Live chat and email (even on the free plan), knowledge base, onboarding guides.
- HubSpot: Help docs, community, chat and phone support (on paid plans only), HubSpot Academy with certified training.
🏆 Final Verdict: Which CRM Should You Choose in 2025?
Here’s a simple way to decide:
👉 Choose Brevo CRM if:
- You’re a small business, solopreneur, or side hustler
- You want affordable automation without complex tools
- You focus on email/SMS campaigns and customer follow-ups
- You want a user-friendly CRM with no expensive add-ons
✅ Best value-for-money CRM for small business owners in 2025
👉 Choose HubSpot CRM if:
- You’re a growing business with multiple team members
- You need powerful marketing, sales, and service tools
- You can afford premium upgrades
- You need advanced reporting, lead scoring, and scalability
✅ Best long-term CRM for scaling and integration-heavy businesses
🔚 Conclusion: Brevo vs HubSpot – A Choice Based on YOUR Needs
Both Brevo and HubSpot are excellent CRMs—but serve different business needs.
- If you’re starting small and want an easy, all-in-one system with built-in email marketing, Brevo is your go-to tool.
- If you’re scaling fast and need a modular platform to build complex workflows and pipelines, HubSpot is worth the investment.
At the end of the day, the best CRM is the one that helps you:
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Is Brevo CRM really free?
Yes, Brevo offers a free plan with unlimited contacts and basic automation. Perfect for small businesses starting out.
2. Is HubSpot too expensive for small businesses?
HubSpot has a great free plan, but to access core tools like automation and advanced analytics, you’ll need to upgrade to paid Hubs.
3. Can I switch from Brevo to HubSpot later?
Absolutely. Both platforms allow data export/import and have integrations to ease migration if your business outgrows one solution.
4. Does Brevo offer better value than HubSpot?
For small teams and solopreneurs, Brevo offers better pricing and simpler tools for day-to-day marketing and CRM.
5. Which CRM is best for ecommerce businesses?
Brevo is often the better choice for ecommerce due to its built-in email marketing, SMS, and direct integrations with platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce.
