Hubspot vs Keap

Hubspot and Keap both offer powerful growth platforms, but they target different business stages. Hubspot is a vast, unified system built on a Smart CRM for scaling, mid-market teams. Keap focuses intensely on deep automation for small businesses needing immediate, predictable sales and lead flow. You'll choose one based primarily on your current team size and growth complexity.

Hubspot
Hubspot

AI power, significant user friction.

Ciroapp review
2.5
#8 in Customer Relationship Management

We recognize the expansive feature set and powerful underlying Smart CRM offered by HubSpot, which unifies marketing, sales, and service. However, overwhelming user feedback reports severe issues with customer support responsiveness and problematic, aggressive billing practices, particularly concerning automatic contact tier upgrades. Overall, the platform holds significant potential based on features, but we urge extreme caution regarding contract terms and financial fairness.

Pros

  • Comprehensive AI-powered customer platform built on a powerful Smart CRM.
  • Deeply integrated ecosystem with 1,900+ available apps.
  • Allows businesses to start immediately using robust, free tools.
  • Unifies marketing, sales, and service data effectively for growth teams.

Cons

  • Support is widely reported as unresponsive, slow, and incapable of solving long-standing issues.
  • Users frequently complain about aggressive pricing practices and automatic tier upgrades without clear consent.
  • Contracts are restrictive, featuring difficult cancellation processes and automatic annual renewal terms.
  • Reported functional reliability issues; features promised by sales sometimes fail to work correctly (e.g., email sequences).
Pricing
$0/mo
Free trial
Money-back
Best for
Mid-sized companies needing a unified, all-in-one growth platform., Businesses needing dedicated Service Hub functionality and customer retention tools., Organizations requiring 1,900+ secure custom third-party app integrations.
Keap
Keap

High price, high risk platform.

Ciroapp review
1.5
#10 in Customer Relationship Management

We found that Keap promises powerful automation for faster growth, but current user feedback indicates significant instability and high friction points in essential areas. Overall, the steep starting cost combined with serious, recurring complaints about billing practices and unresponsive client support make this platform a major risk.

Pros

  • Robust core marketing and sales automation capabilities.
  • Access to expert coaching and in-depth training resources.
  • Includes detailed features for lead capture and nurturing.
  • U.S.-based call-in support available during business hours.

Cons

  • High starting price ($299/month) plus a mandatory, separate implementation fee.
  • Unreliable core functionality, leading to mass opt-outs and automation failures.
  • Billing practices are frequently reported as misleading, involving overcharging or hidden fees.
  • Cancellation process is intentionally difficult, requiring multiple steps and often forcing extra payments.
Pricing
$299/mo
Free trialYes
Money-back
Best for
Solo entrepreneurs or micro businesses focused intensely on lead generation., Small teams needing instant, powerful sales and marketing automation workflow depth., Users who prioritize a low operational complexity for core sales activities immediately.
Quick verdict
Choose Hubspot if you are a growing mid-market company (10+ employees) needing a unified platform for marketing, sales, and service with a massive integration ecosystem.
Choose Keap if you are a solo entrepreneur or small team focused purely on automating lead nurturing and sales activity immediately to boost revenue.

AboutHubspot

The HubSpot Customer Platform is a comprehensive system built around the Smart CRM. This Smart CRM acts as your single source of truth for all business data. It helps go-to-market teams—marketing, sales, and customer service—work together seamlessly. Over 268,000 customers across more than 135 countries already use it to scale their operations. The platform offers specialized Hubs that connect to everything you need to create content, find leads, close deals, and grow revenue. 💡

AboutKeap

Keap helps businesses achieve powerful outcomes like faster growth. It focuses on important steps like generating more leads and securing an increase in revenue. Using Keap also results in putting more money directly in your pockets. It's a tool designed for business owners who want measurable results and professional success. 💡

This approach allows businesses to save time per week. By implementing automation, companies can dramatically increase how much work they get done. You can maximize efficiency using the existing team you already have.

Highlights

Quick winners by category at a glance.
Ease of Use
Keap is optimized for simpler small teams and focused sales lead management tasks. Hubspot is described as clunky and overly complex for small businesses.
Feature Set
Hubspot offers a vastly broader product suite including Service, Content, and Commerce Hubs. Keap focuses primarily on sales and lead automation depth only.
Value for Money
Hubspot offers high value with its free tools, but paid tiers face complexity/cost complaints. Keap provides specialized automation, but its pricing structure is highly opaque.
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Integration Options
Hubspot boasts an exceptional ecosystem with 1,900+ app integrations available immediately. Keap's integration scope and quantity are not publicly specified.
Scalability
Hubspot is built for organizations of all sizes, supporting enterprise growth effectively. Keap is explicitly positioned and limited to small businesses and teams' needs.
Customer Support
Both Hubspot and Keap receive highly negative, consistent feedback regarding support response and inability to solve user issues.
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Feature Comparison

Compare key features side by side
Foundation
Hubspot:Smart CRM Core
Keap:Automation Engine
Tie
Targeted Audience
Hubspot:Scale-up, Mid-Market, Enterprise
Keap:Small Business / Small Teams
Tie
Free Entry Tier Available
Hubspot:
Keap:Not stated
Hubspot
Marketing Automation
Hubspot:True (Marketing Hub)
Keap:
Tie
Sales Pipeline Management
Hubspot:True (Sales Hub)
Keap:True (Predictable Forecasting)
Tie
Customer Service Tools
Hubspot:Dedicated Service Hub
Keap:Limited / Communications Only
Hubspot
Unified Data Platform (Data Hub)
Hubspot:
Keap:
Hubspot
Next-Gen Automation (AI Agents)
Hubspot:Breeze AI: 24/7 Agents
Keap:Traditional Workflows Only
Tie
AI Customer Inquiry Resolution
Hubspot:Resolves 65%+ inquiries
Keap:
Hubspot
Content Management / CMS
Hubspot:True (Content Hub)
Keap:Lead capture only
Tie
Commerce / Payment Processing
Hubspot:True (Commerce Hub)
Keap:
Hubspot
Integration Ecosystem Size
Hubspot:Extensive (1,900+ apps)
Keap:Not explicitly quantified
Hubspot
Complexity / Learning Curve
Hubspot:High (Clunky for SB)
Keap:Moderate (Optimized for SB)
Tie
Known Auto-Upgrade Issues
Hubspot:
Keap:
Hubspot
Known Cancellation Difficulty
Hubspot:
Keap:
Tie
Sales Coaching Included
Hubspot:
Keap:Implied / Community Support
Keap
Feature Comparison Summary
7
Hubspot
8
Ties
1
Keap

Features Overview

We highlight the main differences and pick a winner for each feature.

Core Platform Focus

Hubspot is a unified customer platform built on a central CRM foundation. Keap is a dedicated automation engine for immediate small business revenue growth.

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Hubspot unites marketing, sales, and service onto a single AI-powered platform. The Smart CRM ensures all teams use a single source of truth consistently. This cohesive structure supports complex organizational alignment easily. Keap's entire goal is to boost revenue and help small teams do more with less effort. Keap is optimized specifically to handle lead generation and sales follow-up on autopilot consistently. It saves significant time each week through simple automation. The key difference is scope and internal focus versus external lead focus. Hubspot offers greater departmental alignment across sales and service. Keap offers deeper, specialized automation focused solely on sales acceleration for smaller teams. If your business needs aligned marketing and service, Hubspot is the clear winner for scale. If lead capture and fast follow-up are your main priority, choose Keap.

Next-Gen Automation

Hubspot uses its Breeze AI Agents for constant 24/7 team support and automated tasks. Keap relies on traditional logic-based workflow sequence automation.

Hubspot

Hubspot's Breeze AI Agents act as always-on teammates boosting overall productivity. The Customer Agent resolves over 65% of customer inquiries automatically. This drastically speeds up service delivery and sales response times. Keap’s automation handles repetitive tasks by moving leads through standardized flows. It focuses on turning nurtured leads into revenue via consistent follow-up sequences. The core value is reducing manual admin work for time-crunched small teams. Hubspot integrates true AI capabilities for proactive management across the entire platform. Keap uses established workflow logic effectively for deep sales drip campaigns. Hubspot's AI feature set is significantly more advanced than Keap’s current offering. A mid-sized company will benefit most from Hubspot's AI scalability. A solo business needs Keap's reliable, simple workflow automation.

Data & Integrations

Hubspot provides a massive 1,900+ app integration ecosystem for comprehensive coverage. Keap's integration list is not publicly quantified or highlighted.

Hubspot

Hubspot supports seamless integration with over 1,900 external applications easily. This vast Data Hub platform ensures Hubspot works well with almost any tool. It guarantees flexibility for businesses scaling rapidly across many specialized tools. Keap’s ability to integrate is not detailed in terms of quantity in the public information available. While necessary apps are likely supported, the ecosystem size is opaque. Keap focuses on being a self-contained automation hub for lead flow internally. Hubspot is the clear choice for companies needing complex or varied software stacks instantly. Keap is better only for teams seeking minimum integration maintenance within its core system. Keap's comparative lack of integration transparency is a concern for scaling teams.

Customer Service Tools

Hubspot offers a dedicated Service Hub for full-scale support management and retention modeling. Keap emphasizes optimizing pre-sale activities above post-sale service tools.

Hubspot

The Hubspot Service Hub streamlines operations and scales customer support quickly. It provides real-time customer usage data and calculates customer health scores. Agents can proactively manage relationships for strong retention. Keap's primary pitch is generating leads and achieving predictable sales outcomes now. It lacks the dedicated Service Hub features or advanced health scores for retention modeling. Keap is fully optimized for the sales and marketing phases of growth. Hubspot provides comprehensive tools essential for large support teams and long-term customer success. Keap requires integrating a separate tool if robust post-sale service management is needed. Hubspot offers end-to-end management; Keap focuses on the front end.

Pricing Entry Point

Hubspot offers extensive robust free tools where new customers can start immediately at zero cost. Keap does not explicitly state a free tier or publicly available trial.

Hubspot

You can start immediately using Hubspot’s powerful free tools, focusing on core functionality. This $0 entry point lets businesses explore the basic features before committing financially. Hubspot's pricing structure welcomes evaluation and growth. Keap's pricing structure is opaque and exact plan prices are not explicitly stated currently. There is no public mention of a free plan or money-back guarantee in the available data. Users must likely subscribe or contact sales to evaluate Keap. Hubspot is highly accessible for startups and cash-strapped small businesses immediately. Keap appears designed for teams ready to invest immediately in specialized, deep automation tools. Hubspot minimizes initial risk better than Keap.

Reported Billing Practices

Both Hubspot and Keap have significant user complaints regarding aggressive pricing, hidden costs, and contract difficulty. Neither guarantees transparency.

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Hubspot users frequently report aggressive pricing practices and automatic tier upgrades without consent. This process substantially increases costs mid-contract without clear notice. Cancellation processes are also described as restrictive and difficult to navigate. Keap users also cite rising prices, unclear charges, and complicated, required cancellation flows. Trustpilot reviews report difficulties leaving the platform and disputes over billing language. This lack of transparency undermines user trust in Keap. Both platforms require rigorous investigation of contract terms before signing any agreement. Neither Hubspot nor Keap delivers transparent, straightforward billing based on overwhelming user sentiment. Proceed with extreme financial caution using either platform.

Our Verdict

Objective guidance based on features, pricing, and user fit.

This head-to-head decision separates the ambitious scaler from the focused entrepreneur. Hubspot is your pick if you are building an empire needing comprehensive tools. Hubspot offers a massive, free entry point and supports over 1,900 integrations easily. The Hubspot Smart CRM connects sales, service, and marketing data seamlessly. Keap is tailored specifically for the solo or small team that must maximize lead flow and revenue now. Keap gives small teams powerful, deep sales automation workflows that save immediate time. You can do much more with the team you already have using Keap for consistent lead follow-up. The core difference is scope versus specificity. Hubspot is a massive, unified data platform built for scalable complexity. Keap is a specialized tool engineered exclusively for small business sales velocity. If you are prioritizing deep sales automation for small business lead generation, choose Keap for simplicity. Do you need a unified, enterprise-ready platform incorporating AI across all departments? Hubspot wins easily for rapid, large-scale growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better for solo entrepreneurs: Hubspot or Keap?

Keap is explicitly built for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs focused on revenue growth. Hubspot is often described as overly complex and clunky for very small teams. Keap gives you immediate sales automation benefits with less operational overhead.

Which platform has better AI features: Hubspot or Keap?

Hubspot wins here decisively with its advanced Breeze AI Agents capabilities. These helpful agents resolve over 65% of customer inquiries automatically, 24/7. Keap focuses on traditional, logic-based workflow automation for lead nurturing sequences.

Does Keap offer a free entry tier like Hubspot?

No, Keap does not explicitly state a comparable robust free tier or trial period publicly. Hubspot offers extensive free tools to start immediately without financial commitment. This Hubspot feature offers zero-risk evaluation for new users.

Which has the better integration ecosystem: Hubspot or Keap?

Hubspot takes a massive lead, supporting over 1,900 third-party app integrations immediately. Keap’s public information does not specify its integration ecosystem size. Hubspot is essential for organizations with complex, interconnected tech stacks.

Which platform is easier to use for core CRM tasks?

Keap is generally considered more straightforward and easier to master for core sales automation tasks. Hubspot offers a massive feature set that users often describe as complex and restrictive. Keap provides better focused simplicity for small teams.

Are there contract or billing issues reported for Hubspot and Keap?

Yes, both Hubspot and Keap have significant user complaints regarding billing and contracts. Hubspot users report aggressive automatic tier upgrades and price increases. Keap users cite unclear charges and extreme difficulty when attempting to cancel a subscription.

Ready to Choose?

Both tools have their strengths. Choose based on your specific needs.