The difference between HubSpot Starter and HubSpot Pro
HubSpot Starter vs Professional: Which version will propel your growth
Navigating the digital world without HubSpot is a bit like embarking on an expedition without a compass. It is possible to move forward, of course, but it is difficult to move in the right direction. HubSpot, on the contrary, offers a comprehensive ecosystem where every interaction, data, and tool align to optimize growth.
But given the variety of licenses offered, a question often comes up: should you opt for HubSpot Starter or invest in HubSpot Professional? The answer lies not only in the budget, but also on your strategy, your business volume and your growth ambitions.
Understanding the HubSpot Model
HubSpot is above all a complete CRM platform. At the heart of the system is a free core, which allows any organization to centralize its contacts, businesses, transactions, and service tickets. This unique database offers a 360° vision of the customer journey and aligns all teams around the same data.
From this base, businesses can add various modules, called Hubs, according to their needs:
- The Marketing Hub to attract and convert visitors,
- The Sales Hub to manage sales and automate prospecting,
- The Service Hub to centralize customer support,
- The Content Hub to create and host the website,
- The Data Hub to synchronize and clean the data,
- The Commerce Hub to manage payments and billing.
Each Hub is available in three license levels: Starter, Professional, and Enterprise. The level chosen determines the functional depth, the capacity for automation, and the wealth of analyses available.
HubSpot Starter: Simplicity and Efficiency
The Starter version is a great way into the HubSpot universe. It includes the essential functionalities to structure your marketing, sales or customer service operations.
With HubSpot Starter, you can manage your contacts, track your transactions, design email marketing campaigns, create lead capture forms, and measure performance through simple reports. It is the ideal solution for small businesses, startups, and teams that want to centralize their data without complicating their processes.
In terms of pricing, HubSpot Marketing Hub Starter starts at around $65 CAD per month (or $58 CAD/month as an annual payment, or $695 CAD/year). This license includes 1,000 marketing contacts, with the option to add blocks of 1,000 additional contacts for approximately $58 CAD per month.
HubSpot Starter acts as a reliable foundation: accessible, intuitive, and quick to deploy. It lays the foundations for a well-structured CRM and unified communication.
HubSpot Professional: The Power of Automation
The Professional version marks a significant evolution. It doesn't just manage your campaigns: it automates, customizes, and measures them continuously.
HubSpot Professional introduces workflows, a central automation tool for triggering actions based on specific rules. For example, you can automatically create internal tasks, send targeted communications, assign leads intelligently, or set up nurturing campaigns based on user behavior.
Advanced features also include:
- A/B tests to optimize campaigns,
- SEO tools to strengthen organic positioning,
- A thorough segmentation of contacts,
- And personalized reports offering a detailed reading of the return on investment.
This version is aimed at fast-growing companies that want to automate their processes, coordinate their teams and use data as a strategic lever.
Comparison of key features
The difference between HubSpot Starter and HubSpot Professional is not limited to the quantity of tools offered: it reflects two very distinct philosophies of use.
The Starter version provides a solid foundation for getting started with the HubSpot ecosystem. It includes the essential functions: creating emails from simple templates, scheduling mailings, standard lead capture forms, and general performance dashboards. It is an excellent gateway to structure your first processes and centralize your data without complicating your operations.
For its part, the Professional version takes the experience to another level. It allows you to automate your marketing campaigns, conduct A/B tests, personalize content according to the profile of each contact and design fully customizable advanced reports. Forms are becoming intelligent, workflows are synchronized between marketing and sales, and data analysis is becoming a real strategic lever.
In other words, HubSpot Starter helps you get started on the right foot, but HubSpot Professional gives you the means to accelerate without creating short-term limits. It's often better to define your growth goals from the start and go with the version that will support that vision, rather than having to migrate later and waste time (and momentum) along the way.
Pricing: How much does it cost to get started with HubSpot?
When it comes to pricing, we often get asked the question: how much does it cost to get started with HubSpot? It is possible to start with some Hubs in version Starter and others in version Pro. The Marketing Hub works with a base price, plus increments based on the number of marketing contacts. The package Starter starts at $20/month and includes an essential license that ensures the proper functioning of marketing tools.
On the sales side, a Sales Hub Pro license costs $130/month per user. It is also possible to add users with basic functionalities — not advanced sales functionalities. HubSpot calls this type of license Core Seat, and when a license Pro is activated, the Core Seat comes down to $59/month per user.
Consult the HubSpot pricing configurator to estimate the cost according to your needs.
When to upgrade from Starter to Professional
Transitioning to HubSpot Professional is a must when your goals exceed Starter's core capabilities. If your volume of contacts is increasing, if your processes are becoming too complex to be managed manually, or if you are looking to provide a more personalized customer experience, now is a good time to take the plunge.
The switch to Professional is not only a change in subscription, but a real increase in power. It allows you to automate, segment, analyze, and collaborate at a higher level, while maximizing the ROI of your HubSpot strategy.
The verdict
In summary, HubSpot Starter is designed to lay the foundation for a solid marketing and CRM strategy, while HubSpot Professional offers the sophistication needed to accelerate growth through automation and personalization.
Starter organizes and structures your base. Professional orchestrates and optimizes all of your operations.
For a young company, Starter represents an accessible and complete solution. For an organization that is expanding or that wants a data-driven strategy, Professional is quickly becoming indispensable.
With good support, such as that of the Lakhos Group, a HubSpot certified partner, this transition is transformed into a real performance driver, capable of propelling your brand towards total efficiency and consistency.
FAQ - HubSpot Starter vs Professional
- What is the main difference between HubSpot Starter and HubSpot Professional?
The HubSpot Starter version includes the basic features to manage your contacts, sales, and marketing campaigns without complexity. It is ideal for structuring your first processes and centralizing your data.
The Professional version, on the other hand, adds a layer of automation, analytics, and customization. It is aimed at companies that want to go further by orchestrating their campaigns and processes on a large scale.
- Is HubSpot Starter good enough for a small business?
Yes, HubSpot Starter is a great place to start. It allows you to set up the foundations of a solid CRM and to begin to better understand your customers. However, if your growth ambitions are clear and you anticipate a rapid increase in volume, it may make more sense to choose HubSpot Professional from the start, in order to avoid having to migrate your data and processes later.
- What version of HubSpot is best for my sales team?
For a Sales Team that is starting up or wants to centralize its follow-ups, Starter is more than enough. But if your team needs to manage multiple pipelines, automate lead attribution, or get detailed reports on the performance of each representative, Professional will give you greater control and a much more strategic vision.
- Is it possible to combine different versions (Starter and Professional) according to the Hubs?
Yes. HubSpot allows you to combine different license levels according to your needs. For example, you can use Marketing Hub Professional for your campaigns while keeping Sales Hub Starter for your sales team.
It is a flexible approach that allows you to optimize your costs while accessing the functionalities that really matter for your growth.
- Why be supported by a HubSpot partner like Lakhos?
A certified HubSpot partner, like Lakhos, helps you choose the version that really fits your goals, set up the platform effectively, and maximize the return on your CRM investment.
Our role: to avoid false starts, to structure your processes and to support you in the rise of your HubSpot ecosystem.
