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HubSpot CRM vs Jenkins

HubSpot CRM logo

HubSpot CRM

Remote Work

Free CRM for sales and marketing

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Jenkins logo

Jenkins

Technology

A self-hosted automation server that can build almost anything, through a plugin ecosystem that is also its main liability.

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: HubSpot CRM starter plan discount for new customers only, subject to discontinuation at any time without notice; Jenkins the controller is stateful and, in the open source distribution, has no high availability: build history, configuration and plugin state live on one filesystem, so every plugin upgrade and core update is downtime for every team using it, and a controller disk failure is a restore-from-backup event.
  • They diverge on capability: HubSpot CRM covers Contact management, Jenkins covers Plugin ecosystem.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which HubSpot CRM and Jenkins actually diverge.

Attributes where HubSpot CRM and Jenkins differ
AttributeHubSpot CRMJenkins
Pricing modelsubscriptionopen-source
PlatformsWeb, Mobile iOS, Mobile AndroidLinux, Windows, Macos, Docker
CategoryRemote WorkTechnology
Founded20062011

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in HubSpot CRM

  • Contact management
  • Deal tracking
  • Email
  • Reporting
  • Automation
  • Slack
  • GitHub
  • Salesforce

Only in Jenkins

  • Plugin ecosystem
  • Distributed agents
  • Declarative and scripted pipelines
  • Shared libraries
  • Configuration as Code
  • Credentials management
  • Self-hosted anywhere
  • Multibranch and organisation folders

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

HubSpot CRM

  • Contact and deal management for sales teamsnot Jenkins
  • Customer data organization and reportingnot Jenkins
  • Team collaboration with permission controlsnot Jenkins

Jenkins

  • Builds that must touch physical hardware, such as embedded devices, test rigs or signing modules attached to a specific machinenot HubSpot CRM
  • Air-gapped or heavily regulated environments where a hosted CI runner cannot be used at allnot HubSpot CRM
  • Toolchains that hosted CI does not support, including node-locked commercial licences for EDA, CAD or simulation softwarenot HubSpot CRM
  • Organisations with years of existing Jenkins pipelines where the migration cost currently outweighs the operational cost of stayingnot HubSpot CRM

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

HubSpot CRM

  • Starter plan discount for new customers only, subject to discontinuation at any time without notice
  • Free plan limited to 2 users and 1,000 contacts, requiring upgrade for larger teams
  • Per-seat pricing model on all paid tiers, making team expansion costly

Jenkins

  • The controller is stateful and, in the open source distribution, has no high availability: build history, configuration and plugin state live on one filesystem, so every plugin upgrade and core update is downtime for every team using it, and a controller disk failure is a restore-from-backup event.
  • Capability comes from around 1,900 community plugins of very uneven maintenance, and the Jenkins security team regularly publishes advisories for plugins whose maintainer has gone; in some cases the advisory itself states that no fix is available and the only remedy is to stop using it.
  • Plugin upgrades are coupled: one plugin can require a newer core or a newer version of another plugin, so applying a single security fix cascades into a coordinated upgrade of a dozen components on a timetable you did not choose.
  • Pipelines are Groovy running under a sandbox and a continuation-passing-style transformation, so ordinary Groovy constructs sometimes fail in non-obvious ways, and the debugging skill you build transfers to no other CI system.
  • It is free to licence and expensive to run: somebody must own the controller, the agents, the Java version, the credentials store and the plugin upgrade cycle, and that recurring staff cost is the usual reason organisations move to hosted CI even when Jenkins works.
  • Leaving is costly by construction, because shared libraries, plugin-specific pipeline steps and accumulated freestyle jobs have no mechanical translation into GitHub Actions or GitLab CI, so the migration is a rewrite whose price grows every year you defer it.

Pricing, plan by plan

HubSpot CRM

Free
  • Free CRMFree
    • Up to 2 users
    • 1,000 contacts
    • Unlimited customer data
  • Starter$15/month
    • Required fields
    • Permission sets
    • Multiple currencies
  • Professional$50/month
    • AI customer agent
    • Duplicate management
    • Standard contact scoring
  • Enterprise$75/month
    • Custom objects
    • Organize teams
    • Single sign-on

Jenkins

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Unlimited builds
    • 1000+ plugins
    • Self-hosted
  • CloudBees CI$undefined/month
    • Enterprise features
    • High availability
    • Role-based access

Which should you pick?

Choose HubSpot CRM if

  • You need contact management.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Mobile iOS, Mobile Android.
  • You also want deal tracking.
HubSpot CRM review

Choose Jenkins if

  • You need plugin ecosystem.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Macos, Docker.
  • You also want distributed agents.
Jenkins review

Questions people ask

Is HubSpot CRM or Jenkins better?
Neither clearly leads. HubSpot CRM starts at Free and Jenkins at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, HubSpot CRM or Jenkins?
HubSpot CRM starts at Free and Jenkins at Free.
Does HubSpot CRM or Jenkins run on more platforms?
HubSpot CRM runs on Web, Mobile iOS, Mobile Android. Jenkins runs on Linux, Windows, Macos, Docker.
Can I use HubSpot CRM for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is HubSpot CRM best used for?
HubSpot CRM is most often used for contact and deal management for sales teams, customer data organization and reporting, team collaboration with permission controls. Of those, contact and deal management for sales teams and customer data organization and reporting are not what Jenkins is typically brought in for.
What can HubSpot CRM do that Jenkins cannot?
HubSpot CRM covers Contact management, Deal tracking, Email, Reporting. Jenkins covers Plugin ecosystem, Distributed agents, Declarative and scripted pipelines, Shared libraries.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

HubSpot CRM: What is the cost of HubSpot CRM for different company sizes?

Free CRM for up to 2 users at $0/month. Starter at $15/month per seat (new customers only), Professional at $50/month per seat, Enterprise at $75/month per seat.

Source
Jenkins: Why choose Jenkins over GitHub Actions or GitLab CI?

When the build needs something hosted runners cannot give you: physical hardware, an air-gapped network, a node-locked commercial tool licence, or an unusual platform. If none of those apply, hosted CI is usually less work to own.

HubSpot CRM: What are the user and contact limits on the free HubSpot CRM plan?

Free plan supports up to 2 users, 1,000 contacts, and unlimited customer data with no expiration date or credit card required.

Source
Jenkins: Can Jenkins run in high availability?

Not in the open source distribution, which runs a single active controller. High availability and active-active controllers are features of CloudBees' commercial products. Open source deployments mitigate it with fast restores and, sometimes, multiple independent controllers.

HubSpot CRM: Can data migrate from free to paid HubSpot CRM plans without loss?

Users can upgrade from free to premium tiers without data migration required, meaning all contacts and information transfer to the new plan.

Source
Jenkins: How risky are the plugins?

This is the main operational risk. Many plugins have a single volunteer maintainer, and Jenkins publishes security advisories for unmaintained plugins where no fix exists. Auditing which plugins you depend on and who maintains them should be a periodic task, not a one-off.

HubSpot CRM: Is there a discount for HubSpot CRM new customer pricing?

Starter plan offers a new customer discount with no set end date, but HubSpot reserves the right to discontinue this offer at any time.

Source
Jenkins: Do I need to know Groovy?

For declarative pipelines you can go a long way without it. Anything involving shared libraries, conditional logic or custom steps is Groovy, and it runs in a sandboxed, transformed environment where standard Groovy idioms sometimes behave unexpectedly.

Jenkins: What does it cost?

The software is free under the MIT licence. The cost is infrastructure and staff time to run controllers, agents and upgrades, plus a CloudBees subscription if you want high availability, support or centralised management of many controllers.

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