I'm breaking up with HubSpot. I found HubSpot in 2009. I worked for a small SaaS company as the Sales/Marketing Manager. It was a very small company, under 10 employees. We were looking to move into new markets, but didn't have the budget to bring on help. Blogging was becoming a big thing, and I wanted to take advantage of it.
I found Inbound and HubSpot. I fell in love. As an introvert (and a person who hated doing Sales), I was fascinated. You mean I could make it easier for new prospects to find me without having to attend conferences every month, and then, when they reach out, they would be better prepared and I would create a shorter sales cycle?!?! Yes, please. SIGN ME UP.
Their CRM was, of course, still free, but they didn't have much of a sales hub; it was more focused on marketing. I needed both. I moved on from the software but not the methodology. I think I ended up going with Sage. A nightmare in itself...
Out on my own
When I started my own business (this one) in 2013, I was again looking for a CRM. I tried several others, but I eventually went with HubSpot. It had grown into a very robust solution. It now had Marketing, Sales, and even a Service Hub.
There were so many things that I loved, especially the Academy and the clean UI. I drank the Kool-Aid, and it was sweet! I think at one time I had about 20 Academy certificates. I loved it so much that I even became a Solutions Provider.
I could only afford the starter bundle (the minimum spend to become a Solutions Provider), but as a white-label HubSpot specialist for the larger marketing agencies I worked for, I helped dozens of larger companies onboard. They almost always went with Pro or Enterprise. As I was doing most of my white-label work for larger agencies or small businesses referred to me by other clients, I had never really used the Starter Marketing Hub. I used mostly the Sales and then the Commerce Hub.
Refocusing
My main goal for 2026 is to refocus on gaining my own small business clients and not rely on agency work. I had always relied on word-of-mouth referrals before, but now I actually need to walk the walk and do for myself what I have been doing for others. I have to market myself! EEEK!
I cracked open my HubSpot and went straight to the Marketing Hub, excited to get started. Let me tell you, I could not have been more disappointed in what was left for the Starter Marketing Hub. Some things had been moved to other Hubs, but a lot of the things I wanted to do had been moved to Pro. The main thing I really wanted to do was set up a newsletter for my new blog posts, which I invested so much time in. Now, you could only do this with a HubSpot Blog; RSS was a Pro feature.
Pro was a minimum of $400/month.
Major no go, but I was a loyal Partner after all. So, I thought I would supplement with Mailchimp. Less convenient, but it would work.
Then, the universe spoke.
The email that broke my heart
I got an email. Almost didn't read it. Opened it up, read it, was confused, and then as it registered, my heart slowly broke. HubSpot is ending the Solutions Provider Program. Unless...I want to upgrade to a minimum spend of $400/month and move to the Solutions Partner Program. They say if I want to sell HubSpot, I should be willing to invest more.
Anywho, this has really made me think about what I actually need. It also made me think about what my ideal client would probably need. My ideal client probably wouldn't be able to afford HubSpot Pro either.
So, join me on this grand adventure for a new CRM. Spoiler alert: I think I might have found one. But, I'll share with you the ones I tried and which one was the winner.
