HubSpot is the easiest of the three to start with and the strongest on marketing, but the bill climbs as you move up tiers and add seats. Salesforce is the most configurable and suits larger teams that can fund an administrator or implementation partner. Zoho CRM has the lowest entry price and a huge suite of companion apps, with more of the setup left to you. If you are an Australian small or mid-sized business that wants an all-in-one CRM set up for you and supported locally, consider Sales Intellect as well.
At a glance
| Sales Intellect | HubSpot | Salesforce | Zoho CRM | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best known for | All-in-one, set up with you | Inbound marketing and an easy start | Configurability at enterprise scale | Low cost and a broad app suite |
| Free plan | No - 2-week trial, set up for you | Yes - free CRM tools | No - free trial | Yes - free edition for a few users |
| Pricing model | Per user, in AUD - from $29 | Per seat, Starter to Enterprise tiers | Per user, by edition, plus add-ons | Per user, by edition |
| Typical setup | Our own team, included | Self-serve, or onboarding fees / a partner on higher tiers | Administrator and often an implementation partner | Mostly self-serve, or a Zoho partner |
| Sales pipeline | Yes, with forecast and audit trail | Yes (Sales Hub) | Yes (Sales Cloud) | Yes |
| Email marketing | Built in, from your own domain | Yes (Marketing Hub) | Via separate marketing products | Via Zoho Campaigns / Marketing apps |
| Automation | Yes, drag-and-drop canvas | Yes, mainly on paid tiers | Yes, very powerful | Yes |
| Support and hosting | Melbourne team; hosted in Australia | Global; depends on plan | Global; premium support is an add-on | Global; depends on plan |
| Built for | Australian SMB | SMB to mid-market | Mid-market to enterprise | Small business to mid-market |
Compiled in good faith from publicly available information, October 2026. Product names are the trademarks of their owners. Plans and features change - check current details with each vendor.
Sales Intellect: the Australian alternative
HubSpot, Salesforce and Zoho are global platforms you assemble and configure. Sales Intellect is one system, set up for you by a local team, and working from the first week of your trial.
Set up with you, not left to you
Our consultants build your fields, pipeline, forms and first automations around how you sell. No onboarding fee, no partner agency.
Everything in one system
Contacts, pipeline, automation, forms and email marketing in the base price - no Hubs, Clouds or extra apps to add.
Australian, end to end
Built and supported in Melbourne, hosted in Australia, billed in AUD from $29 per user, per month.
Email that arrives as you
Campaigns sent from your own verified domain (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), with every open and click on the contact.
HubSpot CRM and HubSpot Sales Hub
HubSpot is a family of products ("Hubs") built on a shared CRM: Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub and others. The free CRM tools are where most people start; searches for "hubspot crm" and "hubspot sales" each grew around 30% in Australia over the past year (Google Trends).
Strengths
- A genuinely useful free tier and a friendly interface.
- Excellent marketing tools, content and education.
- A large marketplace of integrations.
Watch-outs
- Automation, advanced reporting and more seats sit on paid tiers, and costs rise with each Hub you add.
- Higher tiers can carry onboarding fees or need a partner agency.
- Check the currency you will be billed in and the support hours for your plan.
Weighing HubSpot up? Read our HubSpot alternative page.
Salesforce (Sales Cloud)
Salesforce - often searched as "sales force" - is the largest CRM vendor in the world. Its sales product is Sales Cloud, and around it sit service, marketing and analytics clouds, the AppExchange marketplace and an AI layer.
Strengths
- Can be configured to model almost any sales process.
- A vast ecosystem of apps, partners and certified professionals.
- Built for large teams, complex territories and approvals.
Watch-outs
- Power comes with complexity: most organisations need an administrator, and many use an implementation partner.
- The edition you need, plus add-ons, can cost far more than the entry price.
- Projects are measured in months, not weeks, for anything beyond the basics.
Smaller team? See our Salesforce alternative page.
Zoho CRM
Zoho CRM is one application in a suite of dozens from Zoho, sold separately or bundled as Zoho One. It is popular with cost-conscious small businesses.
Strengths
- Low entry price and a free edition for very small teams.
- A huge range of companion apps - finance, desk, campaigns, projects.
- Plenty of customisation for the price.
Watch-outs
- Features are spread across separate apps that you configure and connect.
- Setup is largely self-serve unless you pay a partner.
- The interface and settings can be a lot to learn for a small team.
Comparing? See our Zoho alternative page.
Which one is right for you?
Choose Sales Intellect
If you are an Australian small or mid-sized business that wants contacts, pipeline, automation and email in one system, priced in AUD and set up for you by a local team. Start a 2-week trial.
Choose HubSpot
If marketing leads your growth, you want to start free, and you are comfortable paying more as you scale.
Choose Salesforce
If you are a larger organisation with complex processes and the budget for an administrator or partner.
Choose Zoho CRM
If price is the deciding factor and you are happy to configure and connect the apps yourself.
The Australian angle
All three are global products that work in Australia. The differences show up in the details:
- Support hours - check that your plan includes support in AEST/AEDT business hours.
- Data location - under the Privacy Act you are responsible for customer information; ask where it is hosted.
- Currency and GST - check what you will actually be invoiced, in which currency.
- Spam Act compliance - consent, sender identification and unsubscribes for every marketing email.
Sales Intellect is built, hosted and supported in Australia, and billed in AUD - support in your business hours, by the team that set you up.
Switching CRMs without losing anything
- Export everything - contacts, companies, deals, notes and email history, as CSV.
- Map the fields from the old system to the new one, and decide what to leave behind.
- Rebuild the pipeline with the stages you actually use today.
- Import and check a sample before importing the lot.
- Recreate the automations that mattered, one at a time.
Moving to Sales Intellect? Our team does all five steps with you during your 2-week trial - export, mapping, import and your automations.
Frequently asked questions
Is HubSpot CRM really free?
HubSpot offers free CRM tools for storing contacts, companies and deals. Features such as advanced automation, reporting, more users and removal of HubSpot branding are part of the paid Starter, Professional and Enterprise tiers.
What is HubSpot Sales Hub?
Sales Hub is HubSpot's sales product, built on its CRM. It adds pipeline management, sequences, meeting scheduling, quotes and sales reporting, with more features on each higher tier.
Is Salesforce the same as "sales force"?
Yes. Salesforce is written as one word; "sales force" is a common misspelling when people search for the company or its Sales Cloud CRM. A "sales force" in general English simply means a company's team of salespeople.
Is Salesforce better than HubSpot?
Salesforce is more configurable and better suited to large, complex organisations; HubSpot is easier to start with and stronger on marketing. For most small businesses, ease of use and total cost matter more than maximum configurability.
Is Zoho CRM better than HubSpot?
Zoho CRM usually costs less and offers a wider suite of apps; HubSpot is generally easier to use and has stronger built-in marketing. The better choice depends on whether price or ease of use is your deciding factor.
Which is cheapest: HubSpot, Salesforce or Zoho?
Zoho CRM generally has the lowest entry price, and both Zoho and HubSpot have free options. Compare the plan you will actually need for your team size and features over a year, including add-ons, onboarding and currency, not the entry price.
Which CRM is easiest to use?
HubSpot is widely regarded as the easiest of the three to start with. In practice, any CRM is easiest when it has been set up around your own sales process - which is why Sales Intellect sets it up with you.
Do HubSpot, Salesforce and Zoho have Australian support?
All three sell and operate in Australia, but support hours and channels depend on your plan. Check that your plan includes support in Australian business hours. Sales Intellect is supported by its own team in Melbourne.
Can I move from HubSpot or Salesforce to another CRM?
Yes. Export contacts, companies, deals and notes as CSV, map the fields to the new system, and import a sample first. Automations need to be recreated. Sales Intellect's team handles the move with you during your trial.
What is the best CRM for a small business in Australia?
One that covers contacts, pipeline, automation and email in a single system, is priced clearly in AUD, and is supported in your time zone. HubSpot, Salesforce and Zoho are all strong products; Sales Intellect is built specifically for Australian small and mid-sized businesses and is set up with you. Start a 2-week trial.
Last updated 27 October 2026.
