Can Free version give us all we need? (small, new organisation)
SOLVE
We're setting up a new organisation from scratch (it's an umbrella collective representing groups involved in community-led retrofit and building improvement in Edinburgh).
We have 0.3FTE of Project Officer (from a reasonably technically proficient background, but previous CRM experience) to support a lot of things going on, including setting up the online presence and comms etc.
We want a fairly simple website that looks good, we want to be able to manage contacts and send out emails, newsletters etc. We have the domain, we have a Google account, we have a small amount of funding for IT. Thinking about how to proceed we've considered WordPress + Mailchimp, or possibly Squarespace + Mailchimp (for an easier DIY site creation experience I believe) and now also HubSpot has been mentioned by a couple of contacts.
It looks to me like Hubspot overall offers way more than we need right now, but there is the Free version, which looks to include a CMS for website creation (with good reports on its quality and ease of use), as well as lots of CRM for contacts and established integrations to things like GMail.
Can it really all be done through HubSpot Free for a small organisation?Or is it so limited that you rapidly need to consider subscribing? (Other messages above talk about needing to do that, and the off-putting cost - but they may be bigger and more established than we are). Are there any gotchas we should know about, with Hubspot or in general? What have turned out to be the limits that trigger a need to subscribe? How locked in to HS are you if you've used it for Web/CRM etc - are there porting tools to move out to other solutions?
Any comments on the pros and cons between Hubspot Free and the WordPress or Squarespace based approaches? (Incidentally, we have the option of free hosting on a maintained site with Wordpress and security updates taken care of, and a little bit of technical hand-holding for WP).
Your advice from experience would be appreciated. Thanks!
Obviously we shouldn't steer your away from Hubspot in this forum. However, I have an insight about what you posted. You seem to be looking predominately for a website. If that is your main goal, I have to say that WP and the free hosting option would probably be your better option if you must choose between the two.
That being said, there's nothing stopping you from doing both at this time. Use your free hosting offer for the website and hook it up to Free Hubspot for the CRM tools. If you don't like what Hubspot has to offer, unbuckle it and you're website continues on. OR if you do like Hubspot, then rebuild your website on Hubspot and xfer your domain.
Personally, using both is what I would suggest if I was your Project Officer. It would give you the most broad experience so you make an informed decision about how to move forward. Hope that helps.
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Obviously we shouldn't steer your away from Hubspot in this forum. However, I have an insight about what you posted. You seem to be looking predominately for a website. If that is your main goal, I have to say that WP and the free hosting option would probably be your better option if you must choose between the two.
That being said, there's nothing stopping you from doing both at this time. Use your free hosting offer for the website and hook it up to Free Hubspot for the CRM tools. If you don't like what Hubspot has to offer, unbuckle it and you're website continues on. OR if you do like Hubspot, then rebuild your website on Hubspot and xfer your domain.
Personally, using both is what I would suggest if I was your Project Officer. It would give you the most broad experience so you make an informed decision about how to move forward. Hope that helps.
*************************** Did my post solve the questions or challenge? Please mark it as a solution for others to find.
