Salesforce or HubSpot: How to Choose Based on How Your Team Works

Written by Pablo Pascual, co-founder of Vixiees.

Salesforce and HubSpot are CRMs that store contacts, opportunities, and the history of each account. Both can support a strong sales operation, so the choice depends less on the brand and more on how your team works.

The difference between storing data and deciding the next action usually becomes apparent late. A company chooses a CRM, implements it, and months later still doesn't know what each sales rep does between calls or why a lead has gone untouched for weeks. The data exists, but no one is turning it into a task.

This article proposes a set of criteria for choosing without entering into a feature or price comparison battle. It compares what both vendors document regarding administration, stages, tasks, sequences, queues, and integrations, and then describes what a sales execution layer can add alongside the CRM you already have. To see it in a real-world case, start with the Mundimoto video.

Key Takeaways - Salesforce and HubSpot are CRMs that store sales data. Whether the team follows the process depends on how the system is configured and whether they use it daily. - Before choosing, decide who administers the CRM, who uses it daily, and what decision the sales leader needs to make each week. - The gaps worth reviewing first are usually each rep's next task, the follow-up of unresponsive leads, and the daily visibility of the team. - Salesforce Sales Cloud and HubSpot Sales Hub document differently who administers the system and how tasks and alerts are built without code. - A sales execution layer can run on top of or alongside your existing CRM. It does not aim to replace it. - If the problem is process control, review the process before switching tools.

Watch it on video: Watch it on video: Mundimoto and its CRM

What a CRM Records

A CRM is where a company stores its commercial information: accounts, contacts, opportunities, quotes, and the history of each logged conversation. Salesforce and HubSpot fulfill that role with different approaches.

A CRM saves what has happened and sends notifications about it when configured to do so—for example, if a lead has had no activity for several days.

Without extra work, the CRM tends to function as an archive of what has occurred: the information is accurate, but it arrives too late for the call the rep is making right at that moment.

What Daily Execution Needs

Ask yourself these three questions before deciding. If the system cannot answer them without manual work, the gap is in execution, not in record-keeping.

What each rep does during the day. A CRM records the calls made, but it doesn't always show the actual morning agenda: which leads were planned, which were skipped, and which were left half-done.

Who they call next. Follow-up depends on a decision the rep makes in the moment: who to call now and who to leave for later. If that decision isn't turned into a concrete task, each person resolves it their own way. Two people end up calling the same lead, or nobody calls them at all.

Why they don't answer. When a lead doesn't respond, the system saves the date of the last attempt, but it might not record the reason or the next scheduled attempt. Without that context, the sales leader doesn't know if the issue is the timing, the messaging, or the channel.

None of these gaps is a flaw in Salesforce or HubSpot. A record stores facts, while daily execution demands repeated decisions made outside of its fields. What changes is the type of work being asked of each tool.

Salesforce vs. HubSpot: Five Criteria to Decide

The table compares what each tool documents for the rep and for the person administering it. Only rows with verified data on both sides are included, and each cell links to its source. No row declares a winner.

In this review, only HubSpot has verified data for stage configuration and work queues, so those two rows are not included in the table. HubSpot documents that each pipeline assigns a win probability to each stage, and that pipeline rules can limit creation to certain stages or prevent skipping or moving backward. These rules require Super Admin and Professional or Enterprise. Any available rep can take and complete tasks from a queue.

Salesforce Sales Cloud fits when the company can dedicate someone to administering the CRM and is looking to connect applications from its extensive catalog. HubSpot Sales Hub fits when the company can grant the administrator permission to edit pipelines and properties, and wants tasks, queues, and sequences within the same system.

The weight of each criterion shifts depending on who manages the CRM. With a dedicated sales operations team, data structure and integrations carry more weight. In an SMB without that team, the priority shifts to how easy the CRM is to use daily and ensuring the process is documented before setting anything up.

If the company already has a system of record that works, replacing it may not be the priority. Before moving data, it's worth reviewing how to implement a process change without disrupting operations, a topic covered in the article on how to implement a sales process change.

When multiple reps work out of the same pipeline, lead distribution is a common challenge. The article on duplicate leads across sales reps explains how to distribute them so two reps don't call the same lead.

Before deciding, bring together the people who will actually use the tool. Ask a rep to describe how they know who to call today and compare their answer to what the CRM displays on screen. The gap between the two highlights the execution work that the CRM cannot solve on its own.

What Mundimoto Says About the CRMs They Tested

Pepe Talavera, CEO and founder of Mundimoto, shares in his case study video that the company tried several CRMs. This is how he describes the problem:

"We have tried every CRM; we've been with [HubSpot], with Salesforce, but we never had control over the sales reps, over the process they used to sell."

This quote reflects his personal experience, not a technical comparison. It points to a problem of control over the sales process, rather than one of data storage.

Later in the same video, Talavera describes the change they made to their team:

"We took out Salesforce and brought in [our current sales reps], full Vixiees. And that was a turning point for us—now we know what every rep is doing."

With that change, the execution tool became the daily workspace for the reps, and Salesforce was no longer used for that part. The video does not detail what happened to the system of record.

Take this testimonial with a grain of salt: it is a story told by its CEO and does not guarantee the same outcome at another company. What is useful about the case is the question it raises: what is each person on the team doing, and does the company actually know? To see how that work is organized day-to-day, read the article on daily sales team organization.

What a Sales Execution Layer Does

A sales execution layer works on top of or alongside the CRM the company already has. It doesn't replace the system of record: it organizes what the team does each day with their leads and provides visibility to leadership. Vixiees is this type of software, and it does not intend to replace Salesforce or HubSpot.

CRM integration remains the foundation. Customer data, history, and billing can stay right where they are. For the complete approach, read the article on a sales execution layer without switching CRMs.

What Vixiees Does at Each Step

Vixiees is not a CRM. It is used alongside whatever CRM the company already has, running on current operations, without migration or a second CRM. It follows the sales process the company defines, with its steps and cadence.

It automatically assigns leads and presents each rep with their next task, so they know who to call without piecing it together from memory. Outside business hours, AI agents handle incoming leads via WhatsApp and schedule meetings.

In addition, Vixiees offers call insights, live coaching, and a real-time dashboard showing the activity of every rep.

In Mundimoto's case, Talavera explains that the team transitioned to working daily with Vixiees and now knows what each rep is doing. Before changing CRMs, the useful question is whether your company can see that same work using the tool it already has.

Before Changing Tools, Review Your Sales Process

If the gap is in execution rather than record-keeping, review your process before choosing a CRM. If you want to see which tasks currently rely on each rep's memory, you can diagnose your sales process. With the process written down, the comparison between CRMs has a concrete baseline against which to be measured.