r/CRMSoftware

I’m trying to decide between Capsule CRM vs HubSpot and would love to hear from people who’ve actually used one or both.

From what I’ve seen, Capsule CRM looks like a simple, lightweight option for managing contacts and sales pipelines, while HubSpot offers a much broader set of features with marketing automation, reporting, and integrations.

My main priorities are ease of use, lead management, automation, reporting, and choosing a CRM that won’t become overly complicated or expensive as the business grows.

If you’ve used either platform, which one did you end up sticking with and why?

Did HubSpot’s extra features make a noticeable difference, or did Capsule CRM provide everything you needed without the added complexity and cost?

I’d really appreciate any honest experiences, including any pros, cons, or things you wish you knew before making your decision.

I know of some 'recovering' ghl users that have moved to a new CRM called [leadstack.dev](http://leadstack.dev)

[Leadstack.dev](http://Leadstack.dev) is a $0/mth self hosted one time payment only alternative to ghl, hubspot, pipedrive,

Includes all core features without the price tag.

Anyone here used it?

I just need a way to keep my interactions and reminders in one place, and attached to the unique client ID/info from our site database.

Just using the site database and a call log spreadsheet hasn’t worked well because I can only put one new client into the site at a time, and cannot add any new fields (like notes, contact reminders, tags for grouping customer types, etc). My activity is a mix of existing clients , inbound leads from our website, and massive cold contact lists for potential customers like new political candidates, franchise locations, etc.

I do like the current call sheet because I can export info from the site as a csv, and using concatenate can link directly to each profile/account history on the sit.

I don’t plan on having additional users, or needing to sync data between the site and the new CRM. Our official budget is $0, but I’m open to spending a little myself to make my life easier. Appreciate any advice or suggestions for this!

I’m trying to understand the difference between Salesforce CRM vs Salesforce Platform, and the more I read, the more confused I get.

At first, they sounded like the same thing, but it seems like Salesforce CRM is focused on managing sales, customers, and service, while Salesforce Platform is more about building custom business applications and workflows.

Fo r anyone who’s worked with Salesforce, when would you choose one over the other?

If your goal is managing leads, customer relationships, automation, and reporting, is the standard CRM enough, or does the Platform offer advantages that justify the extra complexity?

I’d also love to hear from anyone who started with one and later switched or expanded to the other.

Would really appreciate any real-world experiences, including what surprised you most and anything you wish you knew before making your decision.

I recently started working as an independent business development consultant, helping several growing companies generate new partnerships and sales opportunities. Since I spend most of my day networking, reaching out to prospects, and nurturing relationships, I've realized that my current system of spreadsheets and email folders is no longer enough.

At the moment, I work with several clients simultaneously, so having separate pipelines or reports for each company would be a huge advantage.

For those who work in business development, consulting, or sales, which CRM has worked best for you? I'm interested in solutions that are easy to use, scalable, and don't require a large sales team to manage.

Mods: I'm not trying to spam. This is the only post regarding the topic. If you consider it spam, I apologize, it won't happen again. I'm simply trying to give someone an opportunity to make $.

I'm looking for someone who's hungry to sell and wants to earn based on performance.

I own a few SaaS companies and we develop business management software (CRM/field service software) for service businesses such as HVAC, plumbing, electrical, auto repair, landscaping, and similar industries.

I'm looking for a commission-only sales representative to help bring on new customers.

What I'm looking for:

• Comfortable cold calling and following up with leads
• Self-motivated and doesn't need to be micromanaged
• Strong communication skills
• Experience with B2B or software sales is a plus, but not required if you're motivated

Compensation:

• Commission only
• Up to 50% commission on every sale
• No cap on earnings

One of our most popular plans is $499/year. At 50% commission, that's about $250 in your pocket from a single sale. Close four annual subscriptions, and you've made roughly $1,000. There are also monthly subscription options that provide additional opportunities.

This is a great opportunity for someone who wants flexible hours and unlimited earning potential.

If you're interested, send me a DM with:

• A little about your sales experience
• Any industries you've sold to
• Why you'd be a good fit

Happy to answer any questions. CRM experience a +

Pricing Advice Needed for an AI-Powered CRM with WhatsApp Integration (targeting US mid-size companies)

Me and my partner built a CRM that's basically fully AI driven — lead scoring, auto summaries, AI replies — and it connects to WhatsApp Business directly, plus the normal CRM stuff. Trying to sell to US companies in the 50-500 employee range first.

Still not sure on pricing. Right now thinking something like $80-100/user monthly for smaller teams, dropping to maybe $40-60/user once you're past 100 seats. For AI usage I want to give some credits free then charge per use after, don't want the heavy users to kill our margins if we just charge flat. WhatsApp messaging would be billed separately, basically pass the cost plus a bit extra. Also thinking a one time setup fee, $1500-5000ish, for onboarding and getting the AI trained on their data.

Worried this ends up feeling like a million different charges though. Anyone dealt with pricing AI features separately from the base plan? Does that scare off mid-market buyers or is it normal now? Also not sure if the setup fee is even worth charging anymore or if people expect free onboarding.

Would genuinely appreciate any input from people who've actually changed their pricing around AI stuff and seen how customers reacted.

we are paying a massive premium for an enterprise tier, but the reality is my reps basically use the platform as a glorified rolodex. they log a call, move a deal stage, and that's it. all the advanced automation and custom reporting modules we're being heavily charged for are just sitting there collecting dust because the team finds them too clunky.

it feels ridiculous writing a massive check when a basic database or a simpler tool would functionally achieve the same results for our daily workflow. have any of you actually downgraded your tech stack to something much cheaper, or did you find a way to force adoption to get your money's worth?

At a small startup I worked with, we needed a simple way to track leads, sales opportunities, and follow ups without paying for a full CRM. Most of the team was already comfortable using spreadsheets, so instead of introducing another piece of software, we built a lightweight sales CRM in Google Sheets that was easy for everyone to use.

After refining it over time, I decided to share the template with anyone who might find it useful.

If you use Google Sheets, simply open the template and make a copy to start using it immediately. If you prefer Microsoft Excel, you can download the file or upload it to OneDrive to edit it online.

I'd really appreciate any feedback or suggestions for improvements. If there are features you'd like to see added or ways to make it more useful, let me know.

Our sales and billing workflow is a absolute disaster right now. The B2B sales team lives in one tool, our customer success team uses another for renewals, and our finance department uses a completely separate platform to track actual incoming revenue and invoicing.

Looking to build a unified system where sales pipelines and actual revenue collection are natively tied together. For those who managed to fix this, did you find a platform that actually handles the whole revenue lifecycle smoothly, or are you just relying on massive, fragile integrations?

Imagine you're part of a small B2B SaaS company that provides inventory management software. At first, tracking leads in spreadsheets and managing customer conversations through email works just fine. But as your customer base grows, the sales pipeline becomes harder to manage, follow ups start slipping through the cracks, and it's becoming difficult to keep everyone on the same page.

This has me wondering whether now is the right time to invest in a CRM.

What types of companies typically benefit from using a CRM? Is there a certain stage of growth when businesses usually decide to implement one? Are some industries more likely to see a strong return on a CRM than others?

I'm also curious whether it's possible to adopt a CRM too early. Can implementing one before a company truly needs it create unnecessary complexity, or is it generally better to have one in place before growth starts creating operational challenges?

I'd love to hear from founders, sales leaders, and anyone who's gone through this decision. What signs made you realize it was time for a CRM, and looking back, would you have implemented one sooner or waited

​I’m a software engineer pivoting into the HubSpot ecosystem. I recently got my HubSpot certifications, but I'm a builder at heart and I'm looking for real-world projects to build my portfolio. I want to get my hands dirty with everything HubSpot has to offer from setting up marketing workflows and CRM administration to building custom integrations.

​I'm coming from a deep background in Zoho One and GoHighLevel. Because of this, I already have a strong grasp of how to build out customer journeys, marketing automations, and sales pipelines.

​Here is a quick look at the kind of end to end solutions I've been building recently:

​CRM Admin & Marketing Automation: Handled enterprise-level Zoho One migrations from GoHighLevel. In GHL, I built full customer retention and resign campaigns, setting up custom call dispositions that automatically triggered downstream workflows and sped up lead processing by 90%.

​AI Voice & Client Comms: Engineered a custom VoIP network (Asterisk/FreePBX) and connected a local Grandstream PBX with a Vapi AI receptionist for 24/7 automated call answering that routes directly into the CRM. Also heavily experienced with Twilio and the WhatsApp Business API for automated messaging.

​Data Pipelines & Dashboards: Used n8n and Google Apps Script to pull CRM data into Looker Studio KPI dashboards for clients, and built real time syncs between Zoho Expense and ERPNext.

​Custom Integrations: Built a custom Node.js/Express API on Google Cloud to completely automate order fulfillment, eliminating hours of manual entry and routing webhook updates straight to Slack.

​Industry Experience: I've built these solutions across a wide range of verticals, including Solar/Renewable Energy, Home Services, Logistics, Ecommerce, and the Peptides industry.

​Whether an agency or team needs someone to help build out marketing hubs, configure sales pipelines, or jump into Operations Hub for some custom code, I'm your guy.

​if you or anyone you know has an opportunity. I would love to connect. Drop a comment or shoot me a DM!

I'm helping streamline operations for a small service-based business, and one of the biggest time drains is creating client contracts manually. Every new client requires the same information, such as their name, ID number, address, phone number, and other details, to be copied into a contract template.

Since we're already using HubSpot to manage our contacts, I thought this would be a perfect task to automate.

I've already created the contact properties in HubSpot and built the contract templates in Google Docs with placeholders for the client information. My goal is to have a team member open a contact record, click a button or trigger a simple action, and automatically generate a completed contract with all of that contact's information filled in.

I experimented with Zapier, but I haven't found a workflow that feels simple enough for the rest of our five-person team to use on a daily basis. It seems like I'm missing a piece of the puzzle.

Is there a native HubSpot feature, workflow, or integration that can generate documents from contact properties with a single click? If you've built a similar process, what tools or setup would you recommend? I'm still learning HubSpot and would love to automate as many repetitive administrative tasks as possible.

I'm building a telephony-first CRM and would love some feedback from people who use CRMs daily.

One thing I've noticed is that many CRMs become increasingly complex over time: more fields, more tabs, more configuration, and more admin work.

My assumption is that a lot of teams would prefer fewer features if it meant less maintenance and less context switching.

For those of you using CRMs today:

• What's the most frustrating part of your current CRM?
• What feature do you use constantly?
• What feature do you think most CRMs could remove without anyone noticing?

I'm building in this space and trying to understand whether simplicity is actually a priority for users or if I'm solving the wrong problem.

Happy to share what we're building if anyone is interested. What feels useful? What feels missing? What would make you actually use it?

Most CRMs now come with the same AI layer: lead scoring, call summaries, next-step suggestions, forecasting, follow-up prompts. Sounds great in theory, but in practice some of it saves time, and some just adds clutter.

For teams using CRM daily, what’s actually been helpful? And what looked good in demos but didn’t hold up in real use?

Just surveying - what CRM are you using ?
Bonus - are you dialing from it ? If not what are you using to dial.

That’s all, thanks!

Curious what everyone’s running their business on. I got frustrated with Jobber pricing and spent 6 months building my own tool (390 businesses use it now), but wanted to hear what’s working or not working for others first.

I’m trying to decide between Pipedrive vs Dubsado and would love to hear from people who’ve actually used one or both.

From what I’ve seen, Pipedrive seems to be more focused on managing sales pipelines and closing deals, while Dubsado looks like it’s built more for service-based businesses with client onboarding, contracts, invoices, and workflow automation.

My main priorities are keeping leads organized, automating follow-ups, managing clients efficiently, and using a system that won’t become difficult to maintain as the business grows.

If you’ve worked with either platform, which one did you end up sticking with and why?

Did Pipedrive’s sales-focused approach work better for you, or did Dubsado’s client management and automation features make it the better long-term option?

I’d really appreciate any honest experiences, including any pros, cons, or things you wish you knew before making your decision.

I've finally convinced my team that we need to let go of HubSpot for something more automated and easy to use. I stupidly started our business on HubSpot thinking we needed something big, only to realize that the more we grow the worse it is. HubSpot has become so expensive as we scale, and I can't justify it anymore, it just feels like overkill at this point.

We've been looking into a few different CRMs, but I'm interested to hear what others are using and loving. Or which CRMs are actually using AI to innovate and make the space more efficient. Any recommendations for something affordable, but with a clean and intuitive UX?