Can HubSpot replace Mailchimp?

If you have been using Mailchimp to market your business, you may wonder if HubSpot can replace Mailchimp. Both platforms have their pros and cons, so it can be challenging to decide which one is right for you.

Let’s look at each platform’s pros and cons to help you decide which is the best fit for your organization.

Mailchimp Pros

Mailchimp was initially launched as an email marketing service in 2001. It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that its strength lies in those origins. Here are a few pros to Mailchimp.

• In general, Mailchimp is easy to understand and use.
• Mailchimp has a free plan, and even its paid plans are much cheaper than HubSpot.
• Mailchimp can be used as a basic CRM.
• The Mailchimp team has added additional capabilities over time, including using their email builder to create websites.

Mailchimp Cons

• For most business owners, the free plan isn’t sufficient.
• Mailchimp even counts unsubscribed people on your list as part of your overall contacts. That makes sense if using it as a CRM, but not if you’re primarily using it for email marketing.
• While you can use Mailchimp to build a basic website or schedule some social media, its origins as an email platform means its offerings in those other areas are not as robust as other companies that offer similar services.
• Its marketing automation is limited when compared to platforms that started with marketing automation in mind.
• Its CRM capabilities are minimal as well.

HubSpot Pros

HubSpot was started as a more general inbound marketing platform back in 2006. From the beginning, it took a more agnostic approach to marketing and eventually supported other business areas, including sales and customer support.

• It has much more robust marketing automation capabilities than Mailchimp.
• While its CRM wasn’t there initially, it has more standard CRM features than Mailchimp.
• Many HubSpot tools can be used for free, including landing pages, email marketing, forms, live chat, and the basics of the CRM tool.
• You can use HubSpot to foster marketing and sales alignment if your organization has both marketing and sales professionals.
• Compared to other robust marketing automation platforms, HubSpot is much easier to navigate.

HubSpot Cons

• While free plans exist, HubSpot is much more expensive than simple email marketing or social media scheduling tools.
• If your primary goal is to schedule social media or emails to your list, HubSpot is much more than you need.
• HubSpot’s website-building tools are still relatively new. While more robust than Mailchimp, it doesn’t have nearly the capabilities of a platform like WordPress.

Which marketing automation platform should you choose?

As with many decisions, sometimes it’s clear which you should choose and sometimes it isn’t.

If you have a sales team—even if it’s one full-time salesperson—and would benefit from marketing and sales coordinating their effort, and your product or services usually comes with an investment of hundreds or thousands of dollars, HubSpot is the clear winner.

If your most significant need is email marketing, and your product or service is typically well under a hundred dollars, Mailchimp is the clear winner.

If you’re somewhere in between, consider the four elements I talk about in my book, Online Marketing Mindshift:

1. Audience – Will the platform help you reach your target audience?
2. Capabilities – How well do the platform’s capabilities match the capabilities you need?
3. Culture Fit – How well does the platform fit into your company’s culture?
4. Comfort Level – How comfortable are you—or the person that will use it—with the platform?

Ultimately, every organization has different needs. Mailchimp will be best for some, while HubSpot will be best for others. Can HubSpot replace Mailchimp? It can, but that doesn’t mean it should.

If you need help deciding which platform you should use and potentially even need help using it, feel free to contact us. We are both a Mailchimp Partner and a HubSpot Partner, so we can help you decide which is best and help with the setup, training, and management of either platform.