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Endearist vs HubSpot
A fair, specific comparison — written so you'd be comfortable if a HubSpot engineer read it.
Fairness pledge
HubSpot's free CRM is the most generous entry point in B2B software — a real pipeline, email integration, forms, live chat, and a marketplace of over a thousand integrations, all at $0, all backed by one of the best-documented platforms in the industry. For a startup or small business building its first sales and marketing engine, HubSpot is the obvious default and we say so without hesitation. But HubSpot is a revenue platform: contacts carry lifecycle stages and lead scores, the timeline logs deal activity, and the upgrade path is priced for companies, not people. Many solo professionals park their personal network in the free tier because it's free — and then find themselves maintaining a marketing database about their friends. Endearist is built for exactly that gap: no pipelines, no lead scores, just the relationships themselves — stored on your device, not in a funnel.
Where your data lives
HubSpot: cloud-hosted on AWS — US by default, with an EU data center in Frankfurt you can choose at sign-up (some sub-processors may still process data outside the EU). Endearist: your device first — sync optional via your own cloud (Google Drive, iCloud, WebDAV) or Endearist Cloud (EU-hosted).
How AI is accessed
HubSpot ships Breeze, its AI layer — copilot, content drafting, summaries — processed on HubSpot's cloud, with the deeper features gated behind paid hubs. Your contact data feeds those models on their infrastructure. Endearist's AI is opt-in: bring your own key (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini — it stays on your device), or use Pro Cloud Light (~250 EU-routed actions/month, €4.99) or Pro Cloud (~600 actions/month plus voice-note transcription, €9.99). Without AI, the app works fully offline.
3-year total cost
HubSpot Free CRM: $0 — but capped at 1,000 contacts and 2 users, with HubSpot branding on emails and forms. Sales Hub Starter: $20/seat/month — ~€720 over 3 years, and Professional hubs run into four figures per year. Endearist Pro Lifetime: €69 once. Endearist Pro Cloud Light: €4.99/month — ~€180 over 3 years.
What we don't do
We have no deal pipelines, no email sequences, no marketing automation, no reporting dashboards, no team seats, and no integrations marketplace — by design. HubSpot does all of that, much of it for free, and does it well. If your contacts are leads and your goal is revenue, keep HubSpot. Endearist is the layer for the 100-150 people in your life who should never appear in a funnel.
Feature matrix
Side-by-side.
| Feature | Endearist | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|
| Local-first data storage | Yes — your device is the primary store. | No — hosted on HubSpot's cloud (AWS); EU customers can choose the Frankfurt data center. |
| End-to-end encrypted sync | Yes — AES-256-GCM, you hold the key. | Transport TLS + encryption at rest; HubSpot holds the keys. |
| Mobile native apps (iOS / Android) | iOS, Android (native Flutter). | iOS, Android (companion apps to the web CRM). |
| Desktop native apps | macOS, Windows, Linux (native). | No — browser-based web app. |
| AI features | Opt-in: bring your own key (on-device) or Pro Cloud Light (~250 EU-routed actions/mo) or Pro Cloud (~600 actions/mo + voice). | Breeze AI (copilot, drafting, summaries) on HubSpot's cloud; deeper features sit in paid hubs. |
| Self-host option | Not currently — the desktop app is the local store. | No. |
| Pricing | Free up to 25 contacts. Pro Lifetime €69 once, Pro Cloud Light €4.99/mo, or Pro Cloud €9.99/mo. | Free CRM (1,000 contacts, 2 users, HubSpot branding). Starter hubs from $20/seat/mo; Professional hubs cost far more. |
| Open source code | Source-release pledge on shutdown/acquisition. | No — proprietary. |
| Plain-Markdown export | Yes — readable without any app. | CSV / XLSX export of CRM records; no Markdown. |
| Voice-note transcription | Yes — on Pro Cloud (60 min/mo) or your own key. | Sales-call recording and transcription in higher Sales Hub tiers — built for calls, not personal voice notes. |
| Family / multi-vault share | Family share on Pro Cloud (2 seats). Multi-vault on the roadmap. | No — seats are org users, not household members. |
| Journal / reflection | Built-in journal + weekly ritual + appreciation prompts. | No — the contact timeline logs emails, calls, and deal activity, not reflection. |
| Relationship depth (how-we-met, pets) | How-we-met, pets, custom pronouns, life events, debts, attachments. | Sales/marketing-shaped: lifecycle stage, lead score, company, deal value. No pets / how-we-met / life events. |
| Calendar / messenger integrations | Read-only calendar (Google/Apple/Outlook); manual share-sheet capture for messenger context. | Deep Gmail / Outlook email + meetings integration; no personal-messenger capture. |
When to pick HubSpot
When HubSpot is the better fit.
If you're building a business, pick HubSpot — full stop. The free CRM is the most capable $0 sales tool in existence, the upgrade path scales from solo founder to enterprise, and the ecosystem (academy, marketplace, agency network) is unmatched. Pick HubSpot when your contacts are prospects and customers, when you need forms, sequences, and reporting, and when more than one person works the pipeline. Where it strains is precisely where we start: using a lifecycle-stage database to remember your friend's new job or your mentor's daughter's name. Most of our users keep HubSpot for revenue and add Endearist for the people who aren't.
Switching
Coming from HubSpot?
Don't switch — split. Keep HubSpot for anything revenue-shaped and move only the personal contacts out. In HubSpot, go to CRM → Contacts, filter or select the people you actually know (a 'personal' tag or list helps), tick the checkbox → select all, then Export — choose CSV and include all properties. Import into Endearist via Settings → Import → CSV: names, emails, phone numbers, and notes map across; lifecycle stages and lead scores won't (and shouldn't). Endearist's dedup pass catches contacts that exist in both your phone book and the HubSpot export. Afterwards, consider deleting the personal records from HubSpot — they count against your 1,000-contact free-tier cap anyway.
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Prices and positioning verified 2026-06-10.
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