Side-by-side comparison · Marketing & Ads
Buffer vs HubSpot vs Pencil
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Pick it if: Small businesses, solo founders and creators who want to post regularly across several social networks without paying for an enterprise suite.
Pick it if: Service businesses, agencies and B2B teams that need contacts, deals and marketing in one system.
Pick it if: Brand and performance marketing teams that need lots of on-brand ad variations across many platforms.
Overview
| Attribute | Buffer | HubSpot | Pencil |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Schedules posts to every social network from one queue, with an AI writing helper. | A free CRM with AI agents that handle leads, support and content for you. | Makes on-brand image and video ads and launches them to ad platforms. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Paid |
| Starting price | $6/channel/mo | From $800/mo | $14/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Works with Claude Code | Yes | Yes | No |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Buffer | HubSpot | Pencil |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 4.2Winner | 4.1 | 3.7 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 5.0 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
| FeaturesHow completely it covers its own job, and how well the pieces fit together. | 3.5 | 5.0 | 4.0 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Buffer | HubSpot | Pencil |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | No |
| Mobile app | Yes | Yes | No |
| Desktop app | No | No | No |
| Browser extension | Yes | Yes | – |
| API access | Yes | Yes | – |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | – | Yes | Yes |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Understands images | – | – | Yes |
| Makes images | No | Yes | Yes |
| Makes video | No | No | Yes |
| Writes code | No | No | No |
| Runs agents or automations | No | Yes | Yes |
| Learns your brand or style | – | Yes | Yes |
| Works in many languages | Yes | Yes | – |
| Capabilities score | 8/ 17 | 12/ 17 | 9/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Buffer | HubSpot | Pencil |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Free Free A sole trader posting a few times a week. | Free Free Anyone who needs a CRM and basic marketing tools without a budget. | CoreOur pick $14/mo, or $11/mo billed yearly A small team trying AI ads. |
EssentialsOur pick $6/channel/mo, or $5/channel/mo billed yearly One person running a business's social accounts. | Marketing Hub StarterOur pick $20/seat/mo, currently $7/seat/mo for new customers Small teams ready to remove the branding and send more. | Growth $55/mo, or $44/mo billed yearly Teams making ads every week or for several brands. | |
Team $12/channel/mo, or $10/channel/mo billed yearly Small teams who need approvals. | Marketing Hub Professional From $800/mo billed yearly, or $890/mo Marketing teams that need real automation. | Pro Custom Large brands and agencies. | |
Marketing Hub Enterprise From $3,600/mo Large teams with several brands or business units. | |||
| Which plan to pick | Start on Free to see if you will actually post regularly. Move to Essentials once you need more than 10 posts queued per channel; Team is only worth it when someone else needs to approve posts. | Run the free CRM for as long as you can; it covers most small businesses. Starter is the sensible first paid step when you want the branding gone and more sends. Only move to Professional when you have a specific automation in mind that will pay for the jump. | Core is cheap enough to test with real campaigns. Move to Growth when 50 generations a month runs out, which happens fast if you resize into many formats. Pro is for enterprise teams and is sold through a demo. |
Key features
Pros and cons
| Attribute | Buffer | HubSpot | Pencil |
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Buffer | HubSpot | Pencil |
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Questions people ask
Which is better, Buffer, HubSpot or Pencil?
Buffer scores highest overall in our ratings (Buffer 4.2/5, HubSpot 4.1/5 and Pencil 3.7/5). Buffer is best for scheduling posts across many networks and small teams on a tight budget. HubSpot is best for tracking leads and deals and B2B email marketing. Pencil is best for making many ad variations from one brief and resizing ads for every platform.
Which is cheaper, Buffer, HubSpot or Pencil?
Buffer: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at $6/channel/mo. HubSpot: There's a free plan, and paid plans start at From $800/mo. Pencil: There's no free plan. Paid plans start at $14/mo.
Which is easier to use, Buffer, HubSpot or Pencil?
Buffer rates highest for ease of use in our scores. Small businesses, solo founders and creators who want to post regularly across several social networks without paying for an enterprise suite.
How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability.
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