So you’re running go-to-market for a mid-sized B2B company. Maybe you’re tired of juggling a dozen tools, or your old tech stack is starting to feel like a Rube Goldberg machine. You’ve heard about platforms that promise to do it all—sales, marketing, automation, analytics, and more. But which ones are actually worth your time? And how does Charm really compare to the other so-called “all-in-ones” out there?
If you want a no-nonsense look at how Charm stacks up against other leading B2B GTM platforms, this guide’s for you. Let’s skip the buzzwords and get into what actually matters.
What Counts as a Leading B2B GTM Platform?
First, some quick ground rules. A real B2B GTM (go-to-market) platform for mid-sized businesses should:
- Handle both sales and marketing (think CRM, campaigns, pipeline, reporting)
- Integrate with your email, calendar, and maybe your website or product
- Have automation, but not so much that you need a consultant to use it
- Play nice with your existing stack (Slack, Zoom, G Suite, etc.)
- Not cost as much as a new hire, unless it’s saving you a ton of time
For this comparison, we’re looking at: - Charm - HubSpot - Salesforce Sales Cloud + Marketing Cloud - Outreach - Apollo.io - Freshsales Suite
Of course, there are dozens of others. But these are the ones we see most with mid-sized B2B teams who want “all-in-one” or at least “most-in-one.”
Feature-by-Feature: How They Stack Up
Let’s break down the basics—what you get, what’s missing, and what’s just fluff.
1. CRM & Contact Management
- Charm: Clean, modern interface. Handles contacts, accounts, deals, and custom fields. No 90s-era UI, and you can actually find stuff. But it’s not as deep as Salesforce if you need 100 custom objects.
- HubSpot: Great out-of-the-box CRM, easy for sales and marketing to use together. Gets expensive when you want more than the basics.
- Salesforce: The granddaddy. Totally customizable. Also overwhelming and famously clunky unless you have an admin.
- Outreach/Apollo.io: Sales-focused, with strong lead management and sequencing. CRM features are improving, but not as robust or flexible for marketing needs.
- Freshsales: Solid CRM, more basic than Salesforce or HubSpot but less overwhelming.
Bottom line: If you need CRM to “just work” and not require training, Charm and HubSpot win. If you want to customize everything under the sun, Salesforce is still king (be ready for pain).
2. Sales Automation & Sequences
- Charm: Strong email sequencing, task automation, and reminders. Plays well with Gmail/Outlook. Lacks some advanced “power-dialer” and call tracking features.
- HubSpot: Sequences are good, but can hit paywalls fast. Sales automation is tied up in higher-tier pricing.
- Salesforce: You’ll need to bolt on Sales Engagement or a third-party tool. Not plug-and-play.
- Outreach: Industry leader for outbound sales automation. Granular, powerful, but more sales development (SDR) focused.
- Apollo.io: Great for scrappy outbound teams. Automation is solid, especially for email and LinkedIn. Not as polished for post-sale workflow.
- Freshsales: Has basic sequences and automation, but can feel a bit generic.
Bottom line: For classic sales sequences and reminders, Charm, Apollo, and Outreach are ahead. Salesforce and HubSpot can do it, but it’s either expensive or clunky.
3. Marketing Capabilities
- Charm: Handles basic email campaigns, nurture flows, and lead scoring. Not a full-blown marketing automation suite (no crazy landing page builder or fancy web analytics), but enough for most mid-market B2B.
- HubSpot: The gold standard for integrated marketing+sales. Email, landing pages, forms, lead scoring, and reporting all in one—if you pay for Pro/Enterprise.
- Salesforce: Marketing Cloud is a separate beast. Powerful, but feels disconnected from Sales Cloud unless you spend big on integration.
- Outreach/Apollo.io: Minimal marketing—mainly outbound emails. Not built for nurture campaigns or inbound.
- Freshsales: Has some campaign tools, but basic. Good for newsletters or simple drip campaigns.
Bottom line: If marketing is your main driver and you want everything under one roof, HubSpot is best (if you have the budget). Charm is “enough” for most B2B teams doing targeted outbound and nurture.
4. Reporting & Analytics
- Charm: Focuses on core dashboards—pipeline, conversion rates, campaign results. Custom reports aren’t infinite, but the basics are clear and usable.
- HubSpot: Lots of built-in reports, customizable dashboards, and attribution. Gets complicated (and pricey) at the high end.
- Salesforce: The most customizable, but the reporting UI is...not fun. Can get almost anything if you’re willing to dig.
- Outreach/Apollo.io: Good at activity-level reporting (emails sent, calls made, replies), less so at big-picture pipeline or multi-touch attribution.
- Freshsales: Decent dashboards, but limited customization.
Bottom line: If you want sales and marketing data together, HubSpot and Charm keep it simple. Salesforce can do anything—if you have weeks to spare.
5. Integrations & Ecosystem
- Charm: Covers the basics—Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Zoom, some webhooks. Still building out deeper integrations. Not a full app marketplace (yet).
- HubSpot: Huge app marketplace, almost always a way to connect what you need.
- Salesforce: AppExchange is massive, but integrations can be clunky or expensive.
- Outreach/Apollo.io: Integrate with core sales tools (email, calendar, LinkedIn). Not as deep as the bigger suites.
- Freshsales: Decent number of integrations, but not as rich as HubSpot/Salesforce.
Bottom line: HubSpot and Salesforce win on pure breadth. Charm is fine if you’re sticking to the basics and don’t need 20 random plugins.
6. Pricing and Transparency
- Charm: Simple, per-user pricing. No nickel-and-diming every feature. Transparent, but may lack some “enterprise” features you don’t need anyway.
- HubSpot: Infamous for hidden costs and upcharges as you grow. Watch out for the “gotcha” moments.
- Salesforce: Expensive, complex, and pricing pages read like tax codes. Add-ons add up.
- Outreach/Apollo.io: More affordable for small/mid teams, but pricing creeps up with usage.
- Freshsales: Competitive pricing, especially for core features.
Bottom line: Charm and Freshsales are easiest to budget. HubSpot and Salesforce can get ugly fast if you want all the bells and whistles.
The Stuff That Doesn’t Matter (As Much As You Think)
A lot of platforms love to hype features that sound great but rarely move the needle:
- AI Everything: Unless you’re doing massive outreach, most “AI” features are glorified templates or “smart” suggestions. Nice, but not a game-changer.
- Mobile Apps: Handy if your team’s always on the road. For most B2B mid-market teams, it’s desktop 90% of the time.
- Widgets and Chrome Extensions: Sometimes helpful, but rarely the thing that solves your real GTM problems.
If a vendor’s demo is all about their “AI Power Assistant,” take a breath. Focus on what helps your team sell and market better—not the shiny stuff.
Real-World Tradeoffs: What Actually Matters
1. How Much Do You Want to Customize?
If you need to bend your CRM to fit a weird process or integrate with a homegrown tool, Salesforce is pretty much the only game in town. But for most mid-market teams, that’s overkill.
2. Do You Need Deep Marketing Automation?
If your marketing team is running webinars, paid ads, and multi-touch attribution, HubSpot’s worth the headache (and the bill). If most of your pipeline is outbound or simple nurture, Charm and Apollo are plenty.
3. Can Your Team Actually Use It?
This is the killer question. All the features in the world won’t help if your reps hate using the system. Charm and HubSpot stand out for being actually pleasant to use day-to-day. Salesforce, not so much.
4. Will You Outgrow It?
If you plan to double headcount and run super-complex campaigns, you might outgrow Charm or Freshsales in a few years. But most teams switching off Salesforce or HubSpot do it because they’re sick of the bloat—not because they “outgrew” a simple tool.
Quick Reference: When to Pick What
- Pick Charm if: You want a straightforward CRM and GTM tool that covers the basics really well, doesn’t require an admin, and won’t break the bank. Great for product-led or outbound-heavy B2B teams.
- Pick HubSpot if: You need advanced marketing automation, heavy inbound, or all-in-one reporting—and you have budget.
- Pick Salesforce if: Customization and integrations matter more than user happiness or simplicity.
- Pick Outreach or Apollo if: Your sales team is mostly outbound, and you want power-user automation.
- Pick Freshsales if: You want a basic, affordable all-in-one with less learning curve.
Keep It Simple—And Iterate
Switching GTM platforms is a pain. Don’t get distracted by feature lists or sales demos full of buzzwords. Figure out what your team actually needs, start simple, and add complexity only when you absolutely have to. Most mid-sized B2B teams don’t need “enterprise” anything—they need tools their team will actually use.
Try a couple platforms with a real sales or marketing process. See which one your team doesn’t complain about. That’ll tell you more than any comparison grid ever could.