Email is the cornerstone of contemporary sales communication; it's the platform where deals progress, follow-ups occur, and relationships flourish.

As teams increasingly depend on automated outreach, multi-channel engagement, and precise tracking, CRMs are differentiating themselves based on the robustness of their native email integrations.

While both HubSpot and Attio provide built-in email workflows, the depth, usability, and impact on daily sales operations vary significantly. For teams prioritizing simplicity and seeking efficient, dependable email execution, folk offers one of the cleanest and most effective email integrations available in any CRM, streamlining the process of sending, tracking, and automating outreach directly from your workspace.

Why Email Integration Matters?

Effective email integration elevates a CRM from being just a simple database to a cohesive communication hub. Instead of flipping between tabs or depending on disjointed tools, sales reps can send messages, automate follow-ups, and monitor engagement all from one location.

• Centralized communication. Automatically sync all emails—both sent and received—to the appropriate contact or deal.
• Smarter follow-ups. Automate reminders and sequences so reps can follow up at optimal times without manual intervention.
• Real-time tracking. Track open rates, clicks, and replies directly in the CRM to inform subsequent steps.
• Cleaner data. Emails instantly enhance contact profiles with context and conversation history.
• Email templates. Reusable, personalized templates enable teams to maintain consistency and save time.
• Outreach automation. Effortlessly send bulk emails, sequences, or triggered messages based on deal stages or contact activities.

When a CRM manages email seamlessly, sales reps can stop juggling multiple tools and concentrate on the conversations that drive revenue. This distinction is what sets a good CRM apart from one that genuinely accelerates sales!

What is HubSpot?

HubSpot is a comprehensive CRM platform that integrates marketing, sales, and customer service through a unified contact database. Its email integration seamlessly connects personal Gmail and Outlook inboxes, enabling representatives to send personalized emails, log replies, and initiate sequences directly from the CRM or their inbox. Features like open and click tracking, templates, and shared timelines enhance visibility of email activities across the entire revenue team.

What is Attio?

Attio is a modern and customizable CRM designed as a shared workspace, allowing teams to consolidate contacts, companies, and deals in a dynamic live database. It connects effortlessly to Gmail and Microsoft 365, automatically syncing emails and calendar events so that all communication appears on the appropriate contact or opportunity timeline. Users can send emails from their connected inboxes within Attio, utilize templates, and monitor engagement—all without leaving the CRM.

Feature comparison of HubSpot and Attio

Integration Capabilities

HubSpot provides seamless two-way email integration for Gmail, Outlook, and any IMAP-compatible provider, enabling you to send one-to-one emails directly from contact records while automatically logging every reply in your CRM timeline. Its native scheduler syncs meeting events with Google Calendar or Office 365, including automatic guest invites and timeline entries for complete visibility.

In contrast, Attio does not feature a built-in inbox or calendar plugin; it leverages Zapier’s Email by Zapier or Pipedream to capture inbound and outbound emails, reflecting them in Attio’s contact timelines. You can easily set up triggers such as “New Email Received” or “Send Email” and map fields like subject, body, and attachments to Attio properties.

Sync Frequency and Reliability

HubSpot’s email synchronization functions in near real-time with Gmail and Outlook, typically reflecting updates within seconds to a minute. Once connected, HubSpot maintains a constant OAuth connection, continuously pushing and pulling message data to ensure your CRM timeline stays current. This reliability is further enhanced by HubSpot’s global cloud infrastructure, which boasts a remarkable 99.99% uptime for its core services.

In contrast, Attio depends on Zapier or Pipedream to capture email and calendar events, making the sync frequency contingent on the plan of your chosen automation platform.

Two-Way Email and Calendar Sync

HubSpot’s Sales Hub Professional and Enterprise offer powerful one-to-one sequences, enabling you to enroll up to 50 contacts at once and send hundreds of personalized emails per user each day. Its intuitive drag-and-drop sequence builder simplifies template creation, incorporates delays, and detects replies. Meanwhile, Marketing Hub can scale to thousands of recipients, providing advanced features like segmentation, A/B testing, and comprehensive analytics on opens, clicks, and bounces. However, as the most potent campaign features reside in Marketing Hub, Sales Hub users who lack this add-on may encounter limits on total sends and experience more basic reporting.

Attio sets itself apart by swiftly integrating your email and calendar data during onboarding: simply connect your Google or Microsoft account, and Attio will instantly pull in email events and calendar appointments as CRM activities in real time.

Mail Merge and Campaigns

HubSpot’s Sales Hub Professional and Enterprise offer robust one-to-one sequences, allowing you to enroll up to 50 contacts at once and send hundreds of personalized emails daily per user. The intuitive drag-and-drop sequence builder simplifies template creation, manages delays, and detects replies, while the Marketing Hub accommodates thousands of recipients with features like segmentation, A/B testing, and comprehensive analytics on opens, clicks, and bounces. However, since the most advanced campaign features are exclusive to Marketing Hub, Sales Hub users without this add-on encounter limitations in total sends and basic reporting.

Unfortunately, Attio lacks a native mail-merge or campaign module, meaning you'll need to subscribe to an automation tool like Zapier.

Open and Click Tracking

HubSpot Sales monitors opens and clicks for each one-to-one email sent from contact records or through the Sales extension, providing real-time desktop notifications and logging every event on the timeline. Note that click tracking requires a paid Sales Hub seat; free users can only track opens. You can also see the total clicks per link directly in the email activity feed. For more advanced attribution options, such as multi-variant link analysis across campaigns, you'll need the Marketing Hub, as pure Sales Hub users won't have access to enterprise-level click analytics without an add-on.

On the other hand, Attio lacks built-in open or click tracking. Instead, email events are processed through Zapier or Pipedream triggers, necessitating your own setup of pixel and webhook workflows to capture opens and clicks, which can then be mapped back to contacts. While this approach offers maximum flexibility, it comes at the cost of a user-friendly analytics dashboard; you'll need to create custom reports using your automation platform or BI tool.

In-Inbox CRM Experience

With the HubSpot Sales extension, you can seamlessly view and edit HubSpot records—contacts, companies, deals—right within Gmail or Outlook. You can enroll contacts in sequences and log emails with just one click. A user-friendly CRM sidebar appears next to your inbox, allowing you to create tasks, send template replies, and view recent interactions without the need to switch apps. It even displays lead scores and deal forecasts inline, ensuring that every email action directly contributes to your pipeline. However, keep in mind that if you lack a paid Sales or Service Hub seat, some in-inbox features, such as sequences and call logging, are locked behind a paywall.

In contrast, Attio does not integrate directly into your inbox; instead, it requires using Zapier or Pipedream to log emails and events back to Attio’s timeline. This offers a clean, contact-centric view in Attio, but lacks a sidebar in Gmail or Outlook for on-the-fly record editing. While it provides flexibility, it does not deliver the same seamless in-inbox experience.

folk CRM: The Ultimate Email CRM

folk offers teams the seamless, interconnected email workflow they've longed for. It consolidates communication, automates follow-ups, and simplifies sequencing, all within a user-friendly CRM. With an impressive 4.5/5 rating on G2, folk is recognized as one of the top lightweight CRMs for contemporary sales and partnership teams.

Designed specifically for startups, agencies, and growing sales teams of 20-50, folk streamlines email operations—making them efficient instead of overwhelming.

Extract Insights from Emails

One of folk’s standout features is its ability to centralize communication and convert every email and call into actionable insights. With native email synchronization for Gmail and Outlook, coupled with AI-driven analysis, teams can:

• Easily recap past conversations with a click using folk's Recap assistant, which gathers information from emails and notes to create a summary, allowing you to grasp context in seconds.
• Follow up at the optimal time, as AI scans conversations to alert you when it's time to reach out and even drafts your response.

Email Sequencing & Automation

folk’s built-in sequencing engine simplifies the creation of automated outreach flows directly within the CRM. Easily design multi-step email sequences, personalize messages using CRM fields, and automatically log every interaction. Whether you’re nurturing leads, conducting outbound campaigns, or re-engaging inactive deals, folk provides a robust yet straightforward sequencing workflow that eliminates the need for external tools.

Set conditions based on your CRM variables to automatically trigger emails, such as when a deal is closed or when you acquire a new lead.

AI-Powered Follow-Up Reminders

folk’s AI Follow-Up feature ensures that no conversation slips through the cracks. By assessing your email history, folk notifies you when a contact hasn’t responded, highlights dormant conversations, and pinpoints the ideal moment to re-engage. This feature acts like an internal assistant, keeping your inbox organized and your pipeline active—without requiring any manual oversight.

folk starts at just $20 per user per month, includes native email integration and sequencing, and offers a 14-day free trial—no credit card required.

Conclusion

In summary, HubSpot excels with its comprehensive email integration and robust tracking capabilities, making it ideal for larger teams needing advanced analytics. Attio offers a customizable workspace with seamless email syncing, perfect for teams valuing flexibility. However, for teams that prioritize email integration, automation, and streamlined sequencing, folk stands out as the optimal choice. With its user-friendly design, AI-driven features, and effective automation, folk transforms email into a powerful sales asset, ensuring no opportunity is missed.

Start your 14-day free trial or book a demo today.