HubSpot Pricing: How to Make the Pricing Tiers Work In Your Favor

HubSpot is a huge, powerful piece of software. But the pricing tiers can sometimes be confusing.

The cost of HubSpot alone can seem like a lot, but it all comes down to how you’re planning on executing your goals.

In the long-term, an initial investment in HubSpot really pays off when it comes to running campaigns, keeping sales and marketing in alignment, and reporting on the ROI of your marketing efforts.

Over 18,000 customers trust HubSpot for their marketing and sales needs, and we're one of them. HubSpot is our top choice. So much in fact, if a potential client doesn’t want to invest in HubSpot, we won’t work with them.

That’s how much value it has.

HubSpot Pricing: Figuring Out Which Tier You Need

Many potential HubSpot customers back away because of the initial upfront cost. Even with the long-term value that HubSpot can provide, it doesn't always make sense to adapt the platform. For example, solo users would be fine starting with the free version, and companies with 2-9 employees can try starter. Emerging startups can leverage HubSpot's startup offer.

The HubSpot customer that should invest in robust packages has anywhere from 10 to 50 employees. HubSpot targets organizations that have up to 2,000 employees. For these customers, the cost is likely worthwhile.

To actually break down how much HubSpot is, let’s review what you get with every package. The three plans for HubSpot are called Basic, Professional and Enterprise. Regardless of which one you have, you’ll get access to:

• Content Management System
• Website Analytics
• SEO Optimization Tools
• Blog and Publishing Tools
• Blog Analytics
• Email Marketing Platform
• Social Media Engagement Tools + Analytics
• List Creation and Management
• Lead Tracking + Lead Scoring Tools
• Customer Support
• Access To HubSpot Academy

So, for each pricing tier, you can get started with your inbound and outbound initiatives. When we break it down by tier, you’ll start to think through exactly how you’ll need to utilize HubSpot, and how it fits into achieving your overall marketing goals.

HubSpot Basic - $200 A Month

HubSpot Basic is the first tier, and ideal for smaller teams. You have the ability to run inbound initiatives, and learn about how to align HubSpot with your existing marketing strategy. Your contact database is probably less than 1,000, so you can easily get started with the CRM. Your site traffic is 3,000 or less per month.

Features/Costs:

• One Time, Basic Onboarding Fee - $600
• Option Of Onboarding Add-Ons: Technical Support ($4,200), Tech Support + Custom Campaign Strategy ($7,200), Custom Consulting ($10,000+) , HubSpot Classroom Training ($500 per student)
• All of the initial features listed above
• Three user logins for your admin and marketing team
• A maximum of 100 contacts (can add additional for $100 per 1,000 contacts)

With Basic, you have enough to get established. This is an especially good option if you're having a hard time showing the benefit of the platform to a decision maker, and need to show the value before making a larger investment.

HubSpot Basic comes with it's advantages and disadvantages for smaller teams, including:

Pros:

• A great starting point for smaller companies
• Good for companies first running inbound campaigns
• Gives team members time to get set up before involving more people
• Offers preview of most of HubSpot features
• Additional website, reporting, and ads add-ons available

Cons:

• Limits to site traffic
• Not a lot of opportunities to personalize content
• Must upkeep contact database clean and updated, not to exceed 100
• Surface level analytics about landing page and email performance, crucial components to most inbound campaigns

If these features don't seem like enough, there's the option of HubSpot Pro, for just $400 more a month.

HubSpot Pro - $800 A Month

HubSpot Pro is ideal for companies with 15 - 30 employees, and anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 contacts in their database. Your site traffic is about 3,000 to 15,000 visits per month. The amount of traffic is important, as you now have enough to conduct split testing. In addition to everything you get with Basic, you’ll also gain access to:

Features/Costs:

• One Time, Basic Onboarding Fee - $3,000
• Option Of Onboarding Add-Ons: Technical Support ($4,200), Tech Support + Custom Campaign Strategy ($7,200), Custom Consulting ($10,000+) , HubSpot Classroom Training ($500 per student)
• Unlimited users for your marketing, sales, and admin teams
• A maximum of 1,000 contacts (can add additional for $50 per 1,000 contacts)
• No limits on site traffic
• Access to email marketing automation
• A/B Testing For Landing Pages, Emails, + More
• Salesforce CRM integrations
• Smart Content Tools

This option is perfect to enhance the progress your team has made so far. Using more dynamic tools, such as Smart Content, you can take your pre-existing leads and contacts, and start to learn more about their engagement. So HubSpot Premium is a good option for many, but comes with it's drawbacks as well. Here's how the pros and cons break down.

Pros:

• Build more robust lead nurturing campaigns utilizing email automation + lead scoring
• Entire team can get on the platform and be completely unified
• Enables hyper personalization with dynamic customization on landing pages and calls-to-action
• Can dive deeper into A/B testing and attribution tools, gaining a better understanding of what's working

Cons:

• Limits to the capabilities of lead scoring
• Standard levels of reporting, making it challenging to fully show the entire picture of progress

Premium is perfect for teams that need a little more functionality, but still working through growth challenges.You'll also want to consider the Sales add-on, which can add to your cost.

HubSpot Enterprise - $2,400 A Month

Enterprise is a fit for companies with 10,000+ contacts in their database, and around 15,000+ visits per month. To get the most out of Enterprise, seriously consider the Sales add-on.

With Enterprise, you get everything we’ve listed so far in the article, as well as:

Features/Costs:

• One Time, Basic Onboarding Fee - $5,000
• Option Of Onboarding Add-Ons: Technical Support ($4,200), Tech Support + Custom Campaign Strategy ($7,200), Custom Consulting ($10,000+) , HubSpot Classroom Training ($500 per student)
• 10,000 contacts (Can add more for $10 more per 1,000 contacts)
• Advanced Reporting
• Custom Event-Triggered Lead Scoring

Experienced teams thrive with HubSpot Enterprise because there's a less of a learning curve, and more advanced tactics can be picked up, faster. Here's how Enterprise can work for, or against your team.

Pros:

• Can invest heavily in growth
• Advanced insights and sophisticated tools for lead scoring
• Have a complete picture of how well campaigns are performing
• Gain deep, meaningful customer insights

Cons:

• Need to fully utilize all HubSpot features to make this worth the price, putting extra pressure on the team when they don't utilize it well
• Full adoption needed from marketing and sales teams
• Must consistently deliver reporting to show ROI of platform

When used effectively, Enterprise is the powerhouse that drives insane growth from inbound and outbound campaigns.

Hack the Pricing Tiers and Get to Positive ROI Faster

When considering this significant investment, assess what you need to use HubSpot for. The key is finding the package that will ultimately support your growth.

Choose Your Tier and Start Date Wisely! Consider These Points:

• You don't have a website design yet. If you’re still working on getting a site up, don’t buy HubSpot yet. You won’t be able to use it right away, and will burn through your budget on the monthly subscription with no website.
• You don't have a marketing strategy ready to go. You don't need HubSpot to build a strategy. Before buying, do the ground work for a solid inbound marketing strategy, so when you do buy, you can hit the ground running.
• Don't overbuy. While we encourage the investment in HubSpot, don’t go too far. If you invest in Enterprise too early, or upgrade tiers too quickly, you could overpay with no added benefit. Do you need every feature of Premium right now? If not, don't pay extra for it.

By evaluating where you’re at, and assessing realistic objectives, you can be savvy about investing in HubSpot. For the first year, you’ll have a much greater opportunity to gain a positive ROI from the platform investment.

While HubSpot is expensive, in the long-term, you'll benefit from the initial investment. To help explain the costs about HubSpot, and how you can save on the expenses, we put together a HubSpot savings strategy. In our guide, see how you can save up to 60% during your first year on the platform.