Comparison · BrightStep and HubSpot · General-purpose CRM
BrightStep or HubSpot: a CRM follows deals, an application is not one.
Most schools that hold admissions in software hold them in a CRM: HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce, or a tool a local integrator put together. The software is not at fault: HubSpot is excellent at what it was built for. But an application has documents to verify, fees to collect, an interview to score and a decision to justify, and a sales deal has room for none of the four. Here, line by line, is what each platform holds.
- of HEC Rabat’s admissions run online on BrightStep, from file to payment
- 100%of HEC Rabat’s admissions run online on BrightStep, from file to payment
- the only HubSpot tier where an application can exist as an object of its own
- Enterprisethe only HubSpot tier where an application can exist as an object of its own
- WhatsApp template messages a month on HubSpot, across all connected accounts
- 1,000WhatsApp template messages a month on HubSpot, across all connected accounts
- Moroccan numbers in HubSpot calling: Morocco is not on its list of countries
- 0Moroccan numbers in HubSpot calling: Morocco is not on its list of countries
Two ways of working
Bend a sales pipeline. Or lay out the journey as it is.
This column is not about HubSpot in particular. It describes what has to be done to any general-purpose CRM before admissions can be run on it.
The CRM way
- Repurpose a sales pipeline into application stages.
- Create custom objects for programmes and intakes.
- Build from scratch the space where the applicant follows their file and uploads documents.
- Hand the configuration to an integrator, then keep it standing year after year.
It works. But it is a workaround, and someone has to keep it standing every intake.
With BrightStep
- Lay out your actual stages: form, documents, fee, interview, decision.
- Open the intake’s campaign, with its public page and its deadlines.
- Review files from the first applicant onwards.
The school’s journey is the tool’s journey. Nothing was bent to get there.
Line by line
What each platform holds, and on what terms
Six categories. Every cell says what it means: included, available with configuration or on a higher tier, or absent.
- Included
- Partial
- Not available
| Capability | BrightStep | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|
| The application journey | ||
| An application exists as an object of its own | Included | Partial, Custom objects reserved for Enterprise tiers |
| Typed stages: form, payment, interview, test | Included, Included, reusable as templates | Not available, A pipeline stage carries a name, not a type |
| Separate campaigns per programme and per intake | Included | Partial, A separate pipeline to create and maintain per programme; no additional pipeline on the free tier |
| Automatic follow-ups and reminders | Included, Included, with no rule to write | Included, One automated action on the free tier, ten on Starter; full workflows from Professional |
| Automatic progression when a document or a payment is approved | Included | Partial, To be built, one automation at a time |
| The applicant | ||
| A space where the applicant follows their file and uploads documents | Included, Included, in your colours | Partial, Content Hub private pages, to be built |
| Public campaign pages | Included, Included, tracked by source | Included, Page builder included from the free tier |
| Revisions requested from the applicant field by field | Included | Not available, No such feature: HubSpot has no application file to send back for correction |
| Conversations | ||
| WhatsApp Business in the shared inbox | Included | Partial, Native channel from Marketing or Service Professional |
| WhatsApp invitations sent to a whole applicant list | Included | Partial, 1,000 template messages a month, across all connected accounts |
| Authenticated institutional email (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) | Included | Included, Included, sending domain to connect |
| Calling a Moroccan applicant from their record | Included, Included, the call logged with its duration | Not available, Morocco is not among HubSpot calling’s countries; a calling application from the catalogue, Aircall for instance, is to be connected |
| Interviews | ||
| Interview slots booked by the applicant | Included, Included, distributed between interviewers | Included, Meetings tool included, from the free tier |
| A video interview room inside the platform | Included, Included, with a scoring rubric; recording if you turn it on | Not available, Zoom, Teams or Google Meet to connect |
| A scoring rubric filled in by several assessors | Included, Included, weighted criteria | Partial, To be built with forms and properties |
| Application fees | ||
| Fees collected by card in Morocco, inside the stage | Included, Included, as an option | Not available, HubSpot payments does not cover Morocco, and Stripe does not accept Moroccan merchants: the local rail, the CMI, has to be integrated bespoke |
| A receipt on the institution’s letterhead for every payment | Included, Included, as a PDF | Partial, Invoices and receipts from the sales tool, sent by hand when a payment is recorded |
| Getting started and oversight | ||
| Ready for the campaign already open | Included, In a few days | Partial, Onboarding required on Professional, then pipeline, objects and pages to build before the first campaign |
| Set up without a certified integrator | Included, Done with GEERD, part of the set-up | Partial, Onboarding billed and required on the Professional tiers |
| Admissions reports ready to read | Included, Funnel, decision times, collections | Partial, Dashboards to build on sales objects |
| A read-only audit log | Included, Included, since the organisation was created | Partial, Audit log from Starter, limited to logins and security; object and workflow history on Enterprise |
| A catalogue of applications to connect | Partial, A documented contacts API (OpenAPI) with quota-bound keys, to connect your website or your automations; no catalogue | Included, A large catalogue of applications and native connectors |
The scores given to HubSpot are for the published Marketing Hub, Sales Hub, Service Hub and Content Hub tiers, without third-party applications from the catalogue. A third-party application changes the row: that is why the column says “to connect” rather than “no”.
What it costs
A CRM bills by contact and by seat. A school counts in applicants.
The prices opposite are the ones HubSpot publishes. What they do not say is what an admissions campaign adds to them: contacts beyond the tier, seats, onboarding, and the tools still missing.
HubSpot
- Marketing Hub Professional is listed at $800 a month on an annual commitment paid yearly, three seats included, then $45 per extra seat.
- That tier includes 2,000 marketing contacts. An admissions campaign produces more than that, and every further tier is paid for.
- Sales Hub Professional is listed at $90 per seat per month. The private pages of an applicant portal, for their part, require Content Hub Professional, a third product.
- Onboarding is not optional on these tiers: $3,000 once for Marketing Hub Professional, $1,500 for Sales Hub Professional.
- Custom objects, the only way to model an application, are reserved for the Enterprise tiers, listed from $3,600 a month.
Public prices read on 19 September 2026 on the US version of hubspot.com, in US dollars, before tax and before conversion; the European version of the same site lists prices in euros. The total depends on which products are combined, on the number of seats and on the number of marketing contacts, and an integrator’s quote is often added to it.
BrightStep
We publish no prices on this site, because a price shown out of context reads badly and ages worse. What we publish is the rule.
BrightStep is sized on three things: your team’s seats, the modules you switch on and the communications actually sent. Set-up is invoiced once. The number of applicants sitting in the database is not part of the calculation; what follows volume is what goes out: a cycle twice the size sends twice as many messages.
No feature is held back behind a higher tier. The lines you choose (access, modules) do not change unless you ask; the communications follow your usage, and a monthly credit cap bounds Enro, BrightStep’s AI agent, which stops when it is reached. The quote is drawn up after the diagnostic, on your actual campaigns.
How we charge →Why BrightStep
What a CRM has no reason to hold
Six capabilities written for an admissions team, rather than carried over from a sales tool.
Stages that have a type
Form, payment, interview, test: every stage knows what it expects from the applicant and what closes it. No pipeline was bent to get there.
WhatsApp as the main channel
A shared inbox, approved templates, bulk invitations, a notification to the applicant at every change of stage. It is the channel families actually answer on in the Maghreb and West Africa.
Open for the campaign already running
No custom objects, no site to build, no integrator to hire. A first campaign opens in a few days, with us.
Calls from the record
A one-click call from the applicant’s record, logged with its duration, recorded with their explicit consent. The conversation stays where the record is.
The interview, from booking to decision
The applicant picks a slot, the video room opens inside BrightStep, the rubric is filled in during the interview and the decision stays attached to the file.
An applicant portal, not a form
The applicant follows their file, uploads documents, corrects what is asked of them field by field and books their interview, in your colours.
In fairness
When HubSpot is the right choice
If your institution is looking for a full marketing automation platform (search, blog, ad tracking, lead scoring beyond admissions), HubSpot does that, and does it well. Nothing on this page claims otherwise.
If your sales and marketing teams already work in HubSpot and admissions sit there as a secondary function, the configuration exists and it works. It has a cost to build and a cost to maintain, but it works.
BrightStep is for institutions whose admissions are the central process, the one the intake depends on, not a module bolted onto a marketing tool. The two can also coexist, each on its own ground: admissions in BrightStep, marketing and corporate relations in your CRM, joined by BrightStep’s documented contacts API.
Frequently asked
What leadership teams ask us
- Does BrightStep replace our CRM?
- It replaces it for admissions. If your CRM also serves marketing and corporate relations, the two coexist, each on its own ground. BrightStep exposes a documented contacts API (OpenAPI) with quota-bound keys, to connect your website or your automations; your existing contacts are brought in by GEERD at set-up.
- Does BrightStep send WhatsApp messages natively?
- Yes. A shared inbox, approved WhatsApp Business templates for writing outside the twenty-four-hour window, bulk invitations, and a notification to the applicant at every change of stage. One conversation per applicant, whichever colleague replies.
- How long does it take to set BrightStep up?
- Three to five days for a guided set-up, two to three weeks for full support. Either way, the stages are laid out with your team during the diagnostic: BrightStep is never delivered on its own.
- Is BrightStep suitable for a large institution?
- Yes. The number of applicants and campaigns is not capped, and it is not part of the billing: a school receiving three thousand files pays for the same platform as a school receiving three hundred. What is added is the team’s access and the communications sent.
- Can application fees be collected online in Morocco?
- Yes, by card, from the applicant portal, on a payment page secured to banking-industry standards. The file’s status turns to “paid” instantly, the PDF receipt goes out on the institution’s letterhead, and finance gets the period’s export with nothing to re-enter.
On this site
The pages this comparison is about.
See BrightStep on your own campaign.
A thirty-minute demo, prepared with your stages, your required documents and your deadlines. If you would rather start with the circuit than the tool, ask for a diagnostic.