Dynamics 365 Vs. Salesforce & HubSpot
Dynamics 365 is our pick for a CRM system for most businesses – but one size doesn’t fit all. How does Dynamics 365 stack up against the other leading CRM systems, Salesforce and HubSpot? Take a look at our comparison table below, or scroll down for a more in-depth analysis.
| Features | Dynamics 365 | Salesforce | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customisation | Deep & rich | Deep, but complex | Simpler, but easier |
| Sales Management | Strong forecasting | Strong forecasting | Good, but much simpler |
| Marketing Automation | Addons available | Complex but powerful | Bigger focus |
| Analytics | Power BI integration | Advanced but complex | Simple, but good for start-ups and small businesses |
| Integrations | Microsoft 365 built-in, other APIs available | Largest marketplace | Broad range, marketing focused |
| Ease Of Use | Moderate, but familiar for Microsoft 365 users | Steep learning curve, extensive training required | Easy & simple, but with limited features |
| Implementation | Medium commitment & cost to set-up | High & ongoing commitment & cost | Quick & cheap to get up and running, with less customisations |
| Licence Cost* | £50 – £80 per user, per month | £80 – £100 per month | £77 – £130 |
*Prices listed are for Dynamics 365 Sales Professional & Sales Enterprise respectively, Salesforce and HubSpot prices are for the closest comparable licence for each, based on feature-set. Other addons are available for all 3 systems for different departments (e.g. Customer Service), at extra costs.
Our Recommendation:
Dynamics 365
Not every system fits every business, but we believe that Dynamics 365 fits those who meet the following criteria;
- They’re existing Microsoft 365 users (Teams, SharePoint, Outlook, Office)
- They need some bespoke features that vary by department
- They have between 10-100 users
We believe that Dynamics 365 tends to be a better option for SMBs, due to it’s balance of an impressive feature set compared to HubSpot, but a shorter setup cost and commitment compared to Salesforce.
While Salesforce may seem like a feature-rich powerhouse of a system (and we’re not saying that’s incorrect), the steep learning curve combined with the rigid sales-focused feature set, not to mention the high ongoing costs of supporting a Salesforce system, means that we can’t recommend Salesforce for any businesses other than large enterprise organisations who are sales-focused, and aren’t in need of a wealth of features for other departments.
On the other hand, HubSpot might seem like a great little system to set up and use on the cheap, the limited feature set and limited customisation make it a difficult recommendation for companies looking for bespoke features. While the above features make HubSpot ideal for start-ups and very small businesses to get off of the ground, we find Dynamics 365 a more suitable system for companies in their growth phase, who are looking to scale up with a system built for thier business.
Overall, Dynamics 365 offers better variety and ease-of-use than Salesforce, more extensive feature set than a base HubSpot system, and at a lower price than both.
Let us help you come to an informed decision – give us a call or shoot us an email, and let’s talk.
Dynamics 365 Vs. Salesforce
To make things easier for you folks reading this, we’re going to split our comparisons into 3 parts – Target Market, Feature Sets, and a summary of the ideal customer for each. Make sense? Great, lets get down to it.
Target Market
Starting off, Salesforce is aimed primarily at larger conglomerates and enterprise-level businesses – and is priced as such. Coming in at the most expensive licence cost per user, per month, Salesforce is best suited for companies with a lot of money to throw at it, as well as companies who are willing and able to consistently spend to develop and maintain a successful CRM system. Finally, Salesforce is very sales-focused with a sprinkling of marketing features here and there, whereas systems like Dynamics 365 and HubSpot offer great variety of options for other departments – from customer service to field service.
Dynamics 365 on the other hand, is aimed primarily at small-medium sized businesses, who are looking to invest and grow, or already in the process of it. We find the sweet spot for Dynamics 365 to be anywhere from 10 to 200 seats, and ideally a business who’s looking for one system to handle multiple departments, from sales and marketing, to customer service, HR and field service. Lastly, Dynamics 365 is aimed squarely at those already using the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, to which Dynamics 365 fits right in, and feels familiar.
Feature Set
Dynamics 365 and Salesforce have pretty comparable feature sets, for the licence costs mentioned in the table above – maybe closer than you think.
Dynamics 365
- Familiar interface for existing Microsoft 365 users
- Customisable dashboards
- Power BI analytics integration
- Outlook email tracking
- Easily scalable
- Integration with Microsoft 365 (Teams, SharePoint, Outlook)
- Highly customisable & versatile for different departments (Sales, marketing, customer service, field service)
- Moderate cost and commitment to set up
- Price: £50 – £80 per user, per month
Salesforce
- Customisable, albeit complex
- Advanced analytics, but complex set-up
- Advanced forecasting & pipeline management
- Basic email marketing features
- Steep learning curve
- High ongoing cost, long commitment to set up
- Scalable, at a higher cost
- Useful for sales teams, limited for other departments
- Longest time commitment to set up.
- Price: £80 – £100 per user per month, for comparable features to Dynamics 365
Ideal Customer
The ideal customer for a Salesforce system is a large enterprise with a fully-stocked sales team who can take advantage of the sales-first features that the system has to offer. Ideally they’d have a big yearly budget to spend on the implementation, training, and continued development of such a system. If that sounds like you, then great, you can take advantage of the great forecasting and analytics that Salesforce has to offer. If not, then keep reading…
Dynamics 365’s ideal customer is a small-medium sized business, anywhere from 10-200 seats, who are either looking to scale up soon, or are already in the process of it. Dynamics 365 is also best for a business who wants to use one system for all major departments, and would make use of the various HR, Customer Service, Field Service, and Marketing addons that are available for such a system. Ideally, they’d be an existing Microsoft 365 user, who’d be able to make use of the fantastic pre-existing integrations, and would find the interface familiar. Finally, an ideal Dynamics 365 customer would have a moderate budget to spend on the implementation and migration onto a new system, with the door open for further development later on, should they wish to.
Let us help you come to an informed decision – give us a call or shoot us an email, and let’s talk.
Dynamics 365 Vs. HubSpot
To make our jobs easier, our coverage of Dynamics 365 here remains the same as in the above section comparing it to Salesforce – if you’ve read the above, feel free to just read the HubSpot parts here. We’ve also kept the same 3 categories, Target Market, Feature Set, and what we see as the Ideal Customer.
Target Market
HubSpot is a tricky beast to pin down, as it’s focused on a much broader market, all the way down from one-man-bands, all the way up to medium-large businesses who are established and growing. Additionally, HubSpot attempts to be a jack-of-all-trades (and maybe master of none? We’ll leave you to judge that one) with numerous addons for different departments. Startups are a great market for HubSpot as it offers a simple free version for businesses that are trying to get off the ground – but be warned, as HubSpot locks almost all of its useful features, the kind an established business might need, behind paywalls and licencing restrictions.
Dynamics 365 on the other hand, is aimed primarily at small-medium sized businesses, who are looking to invest and grow, or already in the process of it. We find the sweet spot for Dynamics 365 to be anywhere from 10 to 200 seats, and ideally a business who’s looking for one system to handle multiple departments, from sales and marketing, to customer service, HR and field service. Lastly, Dynamics 365 is aimed squarely at those already using the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, to which Dynamics 365 fits right in, and feels familiar.
Feature Set
Dynamics 365 and HubSpot aren’t as comparable as Dynamics and Salesforce are, with HubSpot being more marketing-focused than base Dynamics is, but there’s definitely still some overlap:
Dynamics 365
- Familiar interface for existing Microsoft 365 users
- Customisable dashboards
- Power BI analytics integration
- Outlook email tracking
- Easily scalable
- Integration with Microsoft 365 (Teams, SharePoint, Outlook)
- Highly customisable & versatile for different departments (Sales, marketing, customer service, field service)
- Moderate cost and commitment to set up
- Price: £50 – £80 per user, per month
HubSpot
- Marketing focused
- Additional packages for other departments
- Standard sales features
- Clean, simple UX
- Large ecosystem of integrations, mostly marketing-focused
- Less customisable than Salesforce & D365
- Easy and quick to set up
- Price: £77 – £130 per user, per month, for features most comparable to Dynamics 365
Ideal Customer
HubSpot’s ideal customer is the trickiest to pin down due to it’s broad appeal and variety of options. What we find is that HubSpot is great for businesses that are starting out, but that pretty soon most businesses will outgrow the limited features that HubSpot has to offer compared to Dynamics and Salesforce. Now, this doesn’t mean that every company will outgrow HubSpot, as there are multiple big companies who swear by it, but in our experience, a lot of companies will outgrow what HubSpot has to offer. With that said, regardless of growth state or size of a business, HubSpot works best for companies who aren’t tech savvy, as it has a very simple and easy to user interface. It’s also good for companies who need a system quickly – they’ve got good data, they just need somewhere to put it, and fast. Parallel to this, HubSpot is good for the company that doesn’t care about anything bespoke, due to HubSpot’s lack of customisation options compared to Dynamics, equally they’re a company that are very marketing and sales focused, and could see themselves needing support for other departments (such as customer service) in the future.
Dynamics 365’s ideal customer is a small-medium sized business, anywhere from 10-200 seats, who are either looking to scale up soon, or are already in the process of it. Dynamics 365 is also best for a business who wants to use one system for all major departments, and would make use of the various HR, Customer Service, Field Service, and Marketing addons that are available for such a system. Ideally, they’d be an existing Microsoft 365 user, who’d be able to make use of the fantastic pre-existing integrations, and would find the interface familiar. Finally, an ideal Dynamics 365 customer would have a moderate budget to spend on the implementation and migration onto a new system, with the door open for further development later on, should they wish to.
Let us help you come to an informed decision – give us a call or shoot us an email, and let’s talk.
So What Should You Get?
Truthfully: it depends. On a lot.
Like we’ve said above, we think Dynamics 365 is the best fit for most businesses, especially those who are looking to grow. That being said, it depends very much on what you want from a CRM system.
Do you want something quick and easy to use, that’s maybe not as fully featured? HubSpot’s probably your best bet.
Are you a large enterprise looking for a new system for your sales team, to whom money is no object? Then a fully featured Salesforce system might just work.
Are you a Microsoft 365 user who wants their Outlook emails to sync with their leads and opportunities in CRM? And who wants that data to be displayed in a nice, easy to read chart? Then Dynamics is definitely for you.
Like we said, it depends on what you want from your system. To a business who’s looking for a new system, this will probably seem like an overwhelming choice – and we can’t blame you for feeling that way.
That’s why we’re here to make things easier for you, both in this blog that’s (hopefully) helping you come to a more informed decision, and over the phone, talking you through what each CRM system will mean for your business.
Let us help you come to an informed decision – give us a call or shoot us an email, and let’s talk.