Hubspot x HighLevel: Which CRM excels at WhatsApp integration?

When WhatsApp fuels your sales strategy, choosing the right CRM can be crucial in determining whether a deal is sealed or a lead is lost. With Hubspot vs HighLevel, you'll benefit from instant chat access, effortless message logging, AI-driven follow-ups, and user-friendly drag-and-drop workflows. However, each platform offers distinct approaches to customization, pricing transparency, and pipeline sophistication. Meanwhile, a groundbreaking contender is quietly redefining what true WhatsApp integration should offer.

Why WhatsApp CRM Integration Matters

Integrating WhatsApp directly into your CRM closes the gap between conversations and revenue. Automated contact syncing and message logging eliminate manual data entry and the risk of lost leads—transforming every interaction into an actionable record.

• Accelerate response times by initiating follow-ups and reminders the instant a customer reaches out.
• Enhance engagement with personalized, template-based outreach that feels bespoke.
• Simplify workflows with a unified dashboard that consolidates chats, contacts, and campaign analytics.

With your team able to view every WhatsApp message alongside emails, calls, and deals, they spend less time searching for context and more time closing sales—transforming casual conversations into reliable conversions.

What is Hubspot?

HubSpot offers a free CRM that consolidates all your contacts, deals, and tasks into a sleek interface—no credit card needed. It comes equipped with features like live chat, email tracking, meeting scheduling, and ticketing tools right out of the box. With strong integrations with Marketing Hub and Service Hub, you can seamlessly automate team handoffs. Plus, as part of HubSpot's ecosystem, you can easily upgrade to paid plans for advanced automation and reporting features. The native WhatsApp integration allows you to send and receive messages directly in a shared inbox, automate template-based notifications through workflows, and maintain scalable two-way conversations with customers.

What is HighLevel?

HighLevel serves as a comprehensive marketing and sales platform tailored for agencies and growing teams. It allows you to centralize leads, campaigns, and customer data in one location, eliminating the need to juggle multiple tools.

By integrating WhatsApp into its workflow builder, HighLevel automates message sequences based on buyer behavior, such as sending appointment reminders or following up after purchases. Its user-friendly drag-and-drop campaign editor enables you to easily create broadcasts or follow-up funnels without any coding skills.

While HighLevel offers robust triggers and reporting dashboards, customization can sometimes feel limited, and telecom fees may accumulate quickly. Nevertheless, for agencies seeking a unified hub that integrates WhatsApp with email, advertising, and SMS, HighLevel provides an effective turnkey solution.

Feature comparison of Hubspot and HighLevel

Two-Way Messaging

HubSpot’s native WhatsApp integration, available on Professional and Enterprise Service Hub plans, enables two-way messaging right within your shared conversations inbox. This allows agents to respond to customer inquiries using text, images, or videos directly from HubSpot. Incoming messages automatically generate a new thread linked to the appropriate contact, company, deal, or ticket record, while outbound template or free-form messages initiate 24-hour sessions to facilitate ongoing dialogue. You can easily monitor session limits and conversation counts, ensuring you stay within your monthly quotas without any unexpected surprises. Additionally, workflows can trigger business-initiated template messages for re-engagement or reminders and log each interaction as a timeline event.

HighLevel offers a seamless experience for two-way WhatsApp messaging through a unified inbox. With real-time syncing of messages, templates, and replies via a native Twilio integration, your sales team can manage leads without needing to switch tools. Whether addressing inbound inquiries or nurturing outbound communications, all conversations are context-rich and tracked within the CRM, leading to quicker deal cycles.

Template Management

HubSpot’s WhatsApp integration, available for Professional and Enterprise Service Hub users, provides a seamless template manager directly within your CRM. Once you've connected your WhatsApp Business account, all approved templates from Meta will automatically sync to HubSpot's CRM > Templates > WhatsApp tab. Here, you can easily filter templates by status (Ready to use, Needs personalization, Rejected), language, and category (promotional, transactional, OTP).

With HighLevel, you can create and manage reusable WhatsApp templates that incorporate buttons, images, and quick replies. These templates are fully integrated into your automated workflows, enabling teams to maintain consistent messaging for promotions, follow-ups, and transactional updates. The streamlined approval process makes it perfect for scaling outbound communications.

Automated Responses & Chatbots

HubSpot’s native WhatsApp integration (available in Service Hub Professional and Enterprise) allows users to send and receive various media attachments—such as images, videos, audio, stickers, and documents up to 15 MB—directly from the conversations inbox or contact record.

When media messages are received, they generate timeline events that include thumbnails and download links, enabling sales and support teams to view or forward assets seamlessly without the need to switch apps.

HighLevel boasts robust native automation features, including WhatsApp chatbots, appointment schedulers, and intelligent auto-replies. You can initiate flows based on keywords (like single-word replies), customer interactions, or time-based triggers, making it an ideal solution for businesses aiming to streamline common sales and support tasks while preserving a personal connection.

Multimedia Support (Images, Videos, Files)

With HubSpot’s native WhatsApp integration available in Service Hub Professional and Enterprise, users can effortlessly send and receive various media attachments—including images, videos, audio, stickers, and documents up to 15 MB—directly from the conversations inbox or contact record.

Incoming media messages generate timeline events that showcase thumbnails and provide download links, enabling sales and support teams to view or forward assets without the need to switch applications.

This integration fully supports multimedia messaging, allowing sales reps to send and receive images, files, videos, and even voice notes via WhatsApp templates or chat. All assets are logged and easily accessible in the conversation history, ensuring that teams can track documents and visual content without any confusion.

Contact & Lead Synchronization

HubSpot’s native WhatsApp integration, available on Professional and Enterprise Service Hub, seamlessly syncs every new WhatsApp conversation with the corresponding contact record in your CRM, either creating or updating the contact based on their phone number.

Once you connect your WhatsApp Business account, only new messages will trigger this synchronization—historical chats will remain in WhatsApp. Each incoming conversation generates a new timeline event linked to the respective contact or associated deal. For channels that necessitate lead capture, such as click-to-WhatsApp ads, you can automate contact creation from form submissions and continue the conversation via WhatsApp, all while keeping track within HubSpot.

Conversations initiated on WhatsApp are automatically logged and associated with the appropriate contact or deal. HighLevel facilitates the automatic creation of new leads or updates to existing records, ensuring your pipeline is always up to date in real time. This eliminates the need for manual entry, streamlining your sales process and reducing friction.

Workflow Triggers & Notifications

HubSpot’s Service Hub seamlessly integrates with WhatsApp through certified partners, allowing it to capture events such as new messages, template sends, or delivery failures directly within its workflow engine. This enables you to trigger downstream automations—like converting high-priority conversations into deals or support tickets, and sending alerts to your team—ensuring that every WhatsApp interaction becomes an actionable insight within your CRM.

Additionally, WhatsApp events such as incoming messages or clicks on template buttons can initiate robust workflow automations in HighLevel. From a single customer interaction, you can send internal notifications, launch campaigns, update deal stages, or schedule follow-ups.

folk CRM: The Ultimate CRM Integrated with WhatsApp

If your sales team uses WhatsApp to connect with leads and finalize deals, folk CRM's WhatsApp integration is a true game-changer.

With folk’s WhatsApp CRM, every conversation is automatically synced and logged—eliminating the need for manual copy-pasting or fear of lost messages. Enjoy complete visibility into your team’s WhatsApp exchanges with leads and customers, ensuring you always grasp the context of every deal. Whether it’s a follow-up or a crucial decision point, the entire picture is readily accessible.

However, folk is not limited to WhatsApp.
It integrates seamlessly with Gmail, Outlook, LinkedIn, Google Meet, Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and more—allowing you to manage emails, meetings, and social interactions all from one platform. Effortlessly import contacts from any channel and manage them within folk.

What truly distinguishes folk is its AI agents, which enhance your sales process by automating workflows, uncovering deal insights, and maximizing productivity—liberating your team from administrative tasks so they can concentrate on closing deals.
Are you ready to revolutionize your sales operations and achieve remarkable results?

Conclusion

In the battle of HubSpot vs HighLevel, HubSpot offers a free CRM with seamless WhatsApp integration and extensive automation features, while HighLevel excels in centralized lead management and marketing automation tailored for agencies. Both are powerful, yet folk presents an outstanding alternative. With its comprehensive WhatsApp integration, along with functionality for Gmail, LinkedIn, and more, folk empowers teams with AI-driven insights and effortless workflows, ensuring no lead is ever lost while enhancing overall productivity.

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