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

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

While both Streak and HubSpot provide integrated email workflows, their levels of depth, usability, and influence on daily sales tasks vary significantly. For teams prioritizing simplicity and seeking efficient email execution, folk offers one of the cleanest and most robust email integrations available in any CRM—facilitating seamless sending, tracking, and automation of your outreach right from your workspace.

Why Is Email Integration Important?

Effective email integration elevates a CRM from a mere database to a comprehensive communication hub. Rather than toggling between tabs or using disparate tools, representatives can send messages, automate follow-ups, and monitor engagement all from one platform.

• Centralized communication. All emails, whether sent or received, sync automatically to the appropriate contact or deal.
• Smarter follow-ups. Automated reminders and sequences enable reps to follow up at optimal times with minimal manual effort.
• Real-time tracking. Metrics like open rates, clicks, and replies feed directly into the CRM, informing the next steps.
• Cleaner data. Emails enhance contact profiles instantly by adding context and conversation history.
• Email templates. Reusable, personalized templates ensure teams maintain consistency and save valuable time.
• Outreach automation. Send bulk emails, set up sequences, or trigger messages based on deal stages or contact activities.

When a CRM manages email seamlessly, reps can shift their focus from juggling tools to engaging in conversations that drive revenue. That's what distinguishes a good CRM from one that truly accelerates sales!

What is Streak?

Streak is a streamlined CRM integrated directly within Gmail, transforming your inbox into a shared pipeline for sales, support, and account management. Users can manage deals, track stages, and collaborate on emails without the hassle of switching tabs, all while enjoying the familiar Gmail interface. At its core, the product focuses on email, offering real-time tracking and pipeline views layered over existing Gmail conversations.

What is HubSpot?

HubSpot is a comprehensive CRM platform that brings together marketing, sales, and customer service around a unified contact database. Its email integration seamlessly connects personal Gmail and Outlook inboxes, allowing representatives to send personalized emails, log responses, and trigger sequences directly from either the CRM or their inbox. Features like open and click tracking, templates, and shared timelines enhance visibility of email activity across the revenue team.

Feature comparison of Streak and HubSpot

Integration Capabilities

Streak is fully integrated 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 recorded in the appropriate pipeline, ensuring your team has an up-to-date timeline on each deal without the hassle of manual bcc’ing.

HubSpot provides seamless two-way email integration with 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 built-in scheduler efficiently adds meeting events to Google Calendar or Office 365, complete with automatic guest invites and timeline entries for enhanced visibility.

Sync Frequency and Reliability

Streak’s email sync operates in real time, seamlessly integrated within Gmail’s infrastructure. The moment you send or receive a message, Streak logs it instantly into the relevant pipeline, ensuring your team is always updated on the latest activity without any delay. There's virtually no lag or queuing—messages and thread updates are displayed immediately in both your inbox and Streak’s interface. With its direct connection to Gmail, you enjoy the benefit of Google’s exceptional uptime and reliability.

In contrast, HubSpot’s email synchronization works on a near-real-time basis with Gmail and Outlook, typically reflecting changes within seconds to a minute. Once your account is connected, HubSpot maintains a persistent OAuth connection, continuously pushing and pulling message data to keep your CRM timeline current. This reliability is further enhanced by HubSpot’s global cloud infrastructure, which boasts an impressive 99.99% uptime for its core services.

Two-Way Email and Calendar Sync

Streak’s Mail Merge tool is integrated directly within Gmail, enabling you to send personalized mass emails to hundreds of recipients in less than two minutes—no CSV imports or third-party applications needed. You can easily incorporate custom variables (such as first name, company, and deal data) from your pipelines, set up automatic follow-up sequences within the same thread, and even conduct A/B tests on subject lines to enhance reply rates. Every sent message and follow-up is automatically logged in your Streak timeline, ensuring you maintain visibility on who has opened, clicked, or replied. However, it’s worth noting that Streak's campaign features lack advanced analytics dashboards, meaning you'll miss out on detailed reporting regarding unsubscribes or bounce management unless you utilize an additional tool.

On the other hand, HubSpot’s CRM connects through OAuth to Gmail, Outlook, or any IMAP-compatible provider, offering true two-way email synchronization—send and receive one-to-one emails from contact records, with every reply logged in seconds to the appropriate timeline event. Regarding calendar functionality, HubSpot’s native integrations with Google Calendar and Outlook Calendar provide bi-directional syncing: meetings created in your external calendar appear on contact, company, or deal timelines, while events scheduled in HubSpot automatically sync back to your calendar, complete with guest invites.

Mail Merge and Campaigns

Streak’s Mail Merge tool is integrated right within Gmail, enabling you to send personalized mass emails to hundreds of recipients in under two minutes—no CSV imports or third-party applications necessary. You can easily insert custom variables (such as first name, company, and deal data) directly from your pipelines, schedule automatic follow-up sequences in the same thread, and even A/B test subject lines to enhance reply rates. Each sent message and follow-up is seamlessly logged in your Streak timeline, allowing you to track who has opened, clicked, or replied. However, Streak’s campaign features do lack advanced analytics dashboards; thus, you won’t receive detailed reporting on unsubscribes or bounce handling without incorporating additional tools.

HubSpot’s Sales Hub Professional and Enterprise offer powerful one-to-one sequences, allowing you to enroll up to 50 contacts at a time and send hundreds of personalized emails per user each day. Its drag-and-drop sequence builder simplifies template creation, manages delays, and detects replies, while Marketing Hub supports scalability to thousands of recipients with robust segmentation, A/B testing, and comprehensive analytics on opens, clicks, and bounces. However, since the most powerful campaign features are found in Marketing Hub, Sales Hub users without that add-on will encounter limitations on total sends and more basic reporting.

Open and Click Tracking

Streak seamlessly integrates a small tracking pixel and link tracker directly into Gmail, allowing you to see real-time “eye” icons indicating every time an email is opened or a link is clicked within a thread. By hovering over the green eye, you can access timestamps, locations, and per-link click data, all without leaving your inbox. Since it operates solely on Gmail’s API, setup is virtually non-existent, and feedback is immediate; however, you won’t find aggregated campaign dashboards or multi-link heat-mapping features beyond individual message views.

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 requires a paid Sales Hub seat—free users can only see opens—and you can track total clicks per link directly in the email activity feed. Advanced attribution features, like multi-variant link analysis across campaigns, are available in Marketing Hub, meaning that pure Sales Hub users won’t access enterprise-level click analytics without the add-on.

In-Inbox CRM Experience

Streak operates entirely within Gmail, providing comprehensive CRM capabilities—such as pipelines, contact details, and email logging—without you ever having to leave your inbox. The sidebar displays deal stages, custom fields, and shared notes alongside each thread, ensuring you always have the necessary context at your fingertips. You can easily drag and drop emails into various 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 this same in-inbox experience if you switch to Outlook or another email client.

With the HubSpot Sales extension installed, you can access 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 familiar CRM sidebar will appear next to your inbox, allowing you to create tasks, send template replies, and view recent interactions without needing to switch applications. It even displays lead scores and deal forecasts inline, ensuring that every email action contributes directly to your pipeline. The only downside is that if you don't have a paid Sales or Service Hub seat, some of these in-inbox features (like sequences and call logging) remain inaccessible behind a paywall.

folk CRM: The Best Email CRM

folk provides teams with the seamless, connected email workflow they've longed for. It centralizes communication, automates follow-ups, and simplifies sequencing—all within a clean, intuitive CRM. With an impressive 4.5/5 rating on G2, folk distinguishes itself as one of the top-rated lightweight CRMs tailored for modern sales and partnership teams.

Designed specifically for startups, agencies, and growing sales teams of 20-50 members, folk streamlines email operations without overwhelming users.

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, along with AI-driven analysis, teams can:

• Quickly recap past conversations using folk's Recap assistant, which extracts key information from emails and notes to provide a summary, enabling you to grasp the context within seconds.
• Follow up at the optimal time, as AI scans conversations to notify you when to reach out to a contact and even drafts a response for you.

Email Sequencing & Automation

folk's native sequencing engine allows you to effortlessly create automated outreach flows directly within the CRM. Build multi-step email sequences, personalize messages using CRM fields, and automatically log every interaction. Whether nurturing leads, executing outbound campaigns, or re-engaging dormant deals, folk offers a robust yet straightforward sequencing workflow that eliminates the need for separate tools.

Set conditions based on your CRM variables to trigger automated email sends, such as when a deal is closed or when 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 analyzing your email history, folk notifies you when a contact hasn’t responded, highlights cold conversations, and pinpoint the ideal time to re-engage. It acts as a built-in assistant, keeping your inbox organized and your pipeline active—without any manual tracking.

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

Conclusion

In summary, Streak excels with its seamless Gmail integration, providing real-time tracking within the inbox, while HubSpot offers robust email capabilities and extensive marketing tools across platforms. However, for teams prioritizing email integration, automation, and intuitive sequencing, folk stands out as the best alternative. Its user-friendly design centralizes communication, automates follow-ups, and leverages AI-driven insights to keep teams engaged without clutter. For email-centric workflows, folk is undoubtedly the superior choice, enhancing efficiency and driving sales success.

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