Email is the backbone of modern sales communication: it's where deals progress, follow-ups occur, and relationships strengthen.

As teams increasingly depend on automated outreach, multi-channel engagement, and precise tracking, CRMs are competing more on the effectiveness of their native email integrations.

While HubSpot and Streak provide built-in email workflows, their usability, depth, and impact on daily sales operations vary significantly. For teams prioritizing simplicity over complexity and seeking fast, reliable email execution, folk offers one of the cleanest and most powerful email integrations found in any CRM—simplifying the process of sending, tracking, and automating outreach directly from your workspace.

Why Email Integration Matters?

Effective email integration converts a CRM from a basic database into a cohesive communication hub. Instead of toggling between tabs or using disjointed tools, sales reps can send messages, automate follow-ups, and monitor engagement all in one place.

• Centralized communication. All sent and received emails automatically sync with the corresponding contact or deal.
• Smarter follow-ups. Automated reminders and sequences enable reps to follow up at the ideal moment without manual intervention.
• Real-time tracking. Open rates, clicks, and replies feed directly into the CRM, guiding the next steps.
• Cleaner data. Emails instantly enrich contact profiles with context and conversation history.
• Email templates. Reusable, personalized templates help teams maintain consistency and save time.
• Outreach automation. Send bulk emails, sequences, or triggered messages based on deal stage or contact activity.

When a CRM manages email seamlessly, reps can stop juggling multiple tools and focus on meaningful conversations that boost revenue. This distinction is what elevates a good CRM to one that truly accelerates sales!

What is HubSpot?

HubSpot is a comprehensive CRM platform that integrates marketing, sales, and customer service within a single contact database. Its email integration allows representatives to connect personal Gmail and Outlook inboxes, enabling them to send one-to-one emails, log responses, and initiate sequences directly from the CRM or their inbox. Features like open and click tracking, templates, and shared timelines enhance visibility into email activities across the entire revenue team.

What is Streak?

Streak is a streamlined CRM embedded directly within Gmail, transforming your inbox into a collaborative pipeline for sales, support, and account management. Users can manage deals, track progress, and collaborate on discussions without needing to switch tabs, facilitating a seamless experience right from the familiar Gmail interface. Email is central to the platform, featuring real-time tracking and pipeline views integrated with your existing Gmail conversations.

Feature comparison of HubSpot and Streak

Integration Capabilities

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

Streak operates entirely within Gmail, transforming your inbox into a comprehensive CRM without the need for additional windows or apps. Every email you send or receive is automatically logged to the appropriate pipeline and shared across your team’s workspace, ensuring you have an up-to-date timeline on each deal without the hassle of manual bcc’ing.

Sync Frequency and Reliability

HubSpot’s email synchronization is designed for near-real-time performance with Gmail and Outlook, typically updating changes within seconds to a minute. After you connect your account, HubSpot maintains a constant OAuth connection, continuously pushing and pulling message data to ensure your CRM timeline remains current. This reliability is further enhanced by HubSpot’s robust global cloud infrastructure, which guarantees 99.99% uptime for its core services.

In contrast, Streak’s email sync operates in real time, residing within Gmail’s own infrastructure. The moment you send or receive a message, Streak logs it immediately into the appropriate pipeline, ensuring your team is always informed of the latest activities without delay. There’s virtually no lag or queuing; messages and thread updates appear instantaneously in both your inbox and Streak’s interface. By integrating directly with Gmail, you also reap the benefits of Google’s exceptional uptime and reliability.

Two-Way Email and Calendar Sync

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

Streak operates entirely within Gmail, merging your inbox with your CRM; every email you send or receive is automatically logged in real-time to the corresponding box, providing seamless two-way email sync without any additional setup. For calendar integration, Streak enables a one-way push of tasks into Google Calendar: when you schedule or complete a task in Streak, it instantly appears on your calendar, but any edits or new entries made in Google Calendar won't sync back to Streak.

Mail Merge and Campaigns

HubSpot’s Sales Hub Professional and Enterprise offer powerful one-to-one sequences, allowing you to enroll up to 50 contacts at once and send hundreds of personalized emails per user each day. With its intuitive drag-and-drop sequence builder, you can easily create templates, set delays, and detect replies. Meanwhile, Marketing Hub extends this capability to thousands of recipients, featuring advanced segmentation, A/B testing, and comprehensive analytics on opens, clicks, and bounces. However, since the most robust campaign features are found in Marketing Hub, Sales Hub users without this add-on may encounter limitations on total sends and only basic reporting options.

Streak’s Mail Merge tool is conveniently integrated within Gmail, enabling you to send personalized mass emails to hundreds of recipients in under two minutes—without the need for CSV imports or third-party applications. You can effortlessly insert custom variables (such as first name, company, and deal data) directly from your pipelines, schedule automatic follow-up sequences on the same thread, and even conduct A/B tests on subject lines to enhance reply rates. Every sent message and follow-up is seamlessly logged in your Streak timeline, ensuring you never lose track of who has opened, clicked, or replied. However, Streak’s campaign features fall short in terms of advanced analytics dashboards, meaning you won’t receive detailed insights on unsubscribes or bounce handling unless you incorporate another tool.

Open and Click Tracking

HubSpot Sales monitors opens and clicks for every one-to-one email sent from contact records or through the Sales extension, providing real-time desktop notifications and logging each event in the timeline. Note that click tracking is available only with a paid Sales Hub seat—free users can track opens but not clicks. You can easily view the total clicks per link right in the email activity feed. Advanced attribution features, such as multi-variant link analysis across campaigns, are part of the Marketing Hub, meaning pure Sales Hub users will need an add-on for enterprise-level click analytics.

Streak integrates a small tracking pixel and link tracker directly into Gmail, allowing you to see real-time “eye” icons that indicate when an email is opened or a link is clicked within a thread. By hovering over the green eye, you can access timestamps, locations, and click data for each link without leaving your inbox. As Streak is built entirely on Gmail’s API, it offers virtually zero setup and provides instant feedback; however, it lacks aggregated campaign dashboards and multi-link heat mapping beyond individual message views.

In-Inbox CRM Experience

With the HubSpot Sales extension installed, you can seamlessly view and edit HubSpot records—contacts, companies, and deals—directly in Gmail or Outlook. 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 switching apps. It also displays lead scores and deal forecasts inline, ensuring that every action you take in email contributes to your pipeline. The only limitation is that if you don’t have a paid Sales or Service Hub seat, some of these in-inbox features, such as sequences and call logging, are locked behind a paywall.

Streak operates entirely within Gmail, providing full CRM functionality—pipelines, contact details, and email logging—without requiring you to leave your inbox. The sidebar shows deal stages, custom fields, and shared notes alongside every email thread, keeping context readily accessible. You can easily drag and drop emails into different pipelines or update statuses on the go, creating a seamless integration of your inbox and CRM. However, since Streak is exclusive to Gmail, you won’t enjoy the same in-inbox experience if you switch to Outlook or another email client.

folk CRM: The Best Email CRM

folk provides teams with the seamless, interconnected email workflow they've been lacking. It centralizes communication, automates follow-ups, and simplifies sequencing, all within a clean and user-friendly CRM. With a 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 expanding sales teams of 20-50 members, folk ensures that email operations are smooth and manageable.

Extract intel 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 in one click using folk's Recap assistant. This tool extracts information from emails and notes to create a summary, providing context in seconds.
• Follow up at optimal times, as AI analyzes conversations to notify you when to reach out and even drafts responses.

Email Sequencing & Automation

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

Set conditions based on your CRM variables to automatically send emails, such as when a deal closes or a new lead is added.

AI-Powered Follow-Up Reminders

folk’s AI Follow-Up feature guarantees that no conversation slips through the cracks. By assessing your email history, folk notifies you when a contact hasn't replied, highlights cold conversations, and pinpoints the best times to re-engage. It functions like a built-in assistant, ensuring your inbox remains organized and your pipeline active—without the hassle of manual tracking.

folk starts at $20 per user per month, featuring native email integration and sequences, plus a 14-day free trial—no credit card required.

Conclusion

In conclusion, HubSpot excels with its extensive features and comprehensive email functionalities, making it ideal for large teams needing robust integrations. Streak offers a seamless in-inbox experience for Gmail users, focusing on simplicity and real-time tracking. However, for teams that prioritize effective email integration, automation, and streamlined workflows, folk stands out as the best choice. Its user-friendly interface, powerful sequencing, and AI-driven follow-ups ensure that email remains at the heart of sales operations, driving revenue efficiently.

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