Dynamics 365 vs HubSpot vs Mailchimp: Marketing Automation Platform Comparison

Dynamics 365 is best for mid-to-large businesses already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem. HubSpot suits inbound-focused growth teams wanting an all-in-one CRM and marketing platform. Mailchimp is ideal for small businesses with straightforward email marketing needs and limited budgets.

Choosing a marketing automation platform is one of the most consequential technology decisions a business makes. The wrong choice wastes budget, creates data silos, and locks you into a system that doesn't match how your team actually works. Having implemented and managed campaigns across all three platforms — Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys for enterprise training companies, HubSpot for inbound-focused organisations, and Mailchimp for small business clients — I've seen where each platform genuinely excels and where it falls short.

This comparison covers pricing, features, automation capabilities, integrations, and practical guidance on which platform fits which type of business.

Quick Comparison Table

What Is Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys?

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys (formerly Dynamics 365 Marketing) is Microsoft's enterprise marketing automation platform. It enables businesses to orchestrate real-time, personalised customer journeys across email, SMS, push notifications, and custom channels — all connected to the broader Dynamics 365 CRM and business application ecosystem.

The platform is built on Microsoft Dataverse and integrates natively with Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service, and Business Central. This deep integration is its defining strength: marketing, sales, and service teams share a single customer record, eliminating the data silos that plague organisations using separate tools for each function. The 2025 release wave introduced Copilot AI capabilities for generating email content, building audience segments from natural language descriptions, and suggesting journey optimisations.

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights is licenced per tenant (not per user), starting at $1,700 per month for the full platform or $1,000 per month with the "Attach" discount for organisations with 10 or more qualifying Dynamics 365 licences. The base subscription includes 10,000 interacted people (contacts you actively market to) and 100,000 unified people profiles, with unlimited user access.

What Is HubSpot Marketing Hub?

HubSpot Marketing Hub is an all-in-one inbound marketing platform that combines email marketing, social media management, content creation, SEO tools, ad management, landing pages, and marketing automation — all built around a free CRM. HubSpot pioneered the "inbound marketing" methodology and has built its entire product philosophy around attracting, engaging, and delighting customers through content-driven marketing.

HubSpot's pricing structure uses a tiered model combined with contact-based pricing. The Starter plan begins at $15 per month for 1,000 marketing contacts, but meaningful automation features (workflows, lead scoring, A/B testing, social media scheduling) only unlock at the Professional tier starting at $800 per month for 2,000 marketing contacts. The Enterprise tier starts at $3,600 per month. Professional and Enterprise plans require mandatory onboarding fees of $3,000 and $7,000 respectively, and all Professional plans require annual commitments.

A critical pricing consideration: HubSpot's costs scale with your contact database. As your list grows, your bill increases — even if your actual sending volume stays the same. Exceeding your contact tier automatically bumps you to the next pricing level. At 10,000 contacts on the Professional plan, expect to pay approximately $1,100 per month before add-ons.

What Is Mailchimp?

Mailchimp is an email marketing platform built for simplicity. Originally designed for small businesses sending email newsletters, it has expanded to include basic automation flows, landing pages, social media posting, and a lightweight CRM. Mailchimp was acquired by Intuit in 2021 and has since integrated AI features (branded as "Intuit Assist") for content generation and send-time optimisation.

Mailchimp offers four plans: Free (250 contacts, 500 emails per month), Essentials ($13 per month for 500 contacts), Standard ($20 per month for 500 contacts), and Premium ($350 per month for 10,000 contacts). Multi-step automation flows — the feature most businesses actually need — require the Standard plan. Advanced segmentation, comparative reporting, and multivariate testing require Premium.

Mailchimp's contact pricing deserves attention: you're charged for all contacts in your account, including unsubscribed and inactive contacts, unless you manually archive them. This can inflate costs if you don't regularly clean your list. At 10,000 contacts on the Standard plan, expect to pay approximately $135 per month — significantly less than HubSpot or Dynamics 365 at the same contact count.

How Do the Three Platforms Compare on Pricing?

Pricing is where these three platforms differ most dramatically. The table below shows realistic monthly costs at different business sizes, using each platform's automation-capable tiers.

These figures make the value proposition clear. Mailchimp is the obvious winner on raw cost. HubSpot's pricing makes sense when you factor in its CRM, social media tools, landing page builder, and reporting — features you'd need separate tools for otherwise. Dynamics 365 only makes financial sense for organisations that are already in the Microsoft ecosystem and can leverage the "Attach" pricing at $1,000 per month, or that need enterprise-grade journey orchestration tightly integrated with their CRM and sales processes.

How Does Each Platform Handle Email Automation?

Email automation is the core capability that separates a marketing platform from a simple email sending tool. The three platforms approach automation very differently.

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys offers the most sophisticated automation engine of the three. Its real-time journey orchestration responds to customer behaviour as it happens — a form submission, a website visit, or an email interaction can immediately trigger a personalised journey branch. You can build complex multi-step sequences with conditional logic, wait steps, A/B test branches, and multi-channel touchpoints (email, SMS, push) within a single journey. The Copilot AI can now generate journey structures from natural language prompts. The trade-off is complexity: building and testing journeys requires more time and expertise than either HubSpot or Mailchimp.

HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional takes a workflow-based approach. You create workflows triggered by contact properties, form submissions, email engagement, or deal stage changes. HubSpot workflows can send emails, update contact properties, create tasks for sales teams, enrol contacts in other workflows, and trigger webhooks. The visual workflow builder is intuitive, and the direct connection to HubSpot's CRM means you can build automation that bridges marketing and sales seamlessly. However, meaningful automation is locked behind the $800 per month Professional tier — the Starter plan offers only "simple automation" that covers basic follow-up sequences.

Mailchimp rebranded its automation as "Marketing Automation Flows" in 2025. The Standard plan allows multi-step flows with branching logic, time delays, and conditional rules based on subscriber activity. You can trigger automations from sign-ups, purchases, date-based events, and tags. For straightforward email sequences — welcome series, abandoned cart recovery, re-engagement campaigns — Mailchimp handles it well. Where it falls short is multi-channel orchestration and the kind of complex conditional branching that Dynamics 365 and HubSpot support.

How Do CRM and Sales Integration Compare?

The strength of CRM integration determines how well your marketing and sales teams can work from the same customer data — and this is where the three platforms diverge significantly.

Dynamics 365 has the strongest CRM integration, but only within the Microsoft ecosystem. Customer Insights – Journeys shares the Dataverse with Dynamics 365 Sales, meaning marketing interactions, lead scores, and journey participation appear directly on sales records. Sales teams see which marketing emails a prospect opened, which events they registered for, and where they are in a marketing journey — all within the same interface they use to manage deals. For organisations already running Dynamics 365 Sales or Business Central, this unified data layer is extremely powerful. The limitation is that this deep integration only works with other Microsoft products.

HubSpot includes a free CRM that's tightly integrated with Marketing Hub from the ground up. Every contact, company, and deal lives in one system. Marketing activities (email opens, page views, form submissions, ad clicks) automatically attach to contact records and feed into lead scoring. This built-in CRM is HubSpot's key differentiator against both Dynamics 365 and Mailchimp — you don't need to buy or integrate a separate CRM. For growing businesses that don't already have a CRM, HubSpot's combined offering is compelling. The downside is that HubSpot's CRM, while capable, isn't as deep as Dynamics 365 or Salesforce for complex enterprise sales processes.

Mailchimp offers basic contact management that it labels as CRM functionality, but it's not a true CRM. You can store contact information, view engagement history, and create segments — but there's no deal pipeline, no sales sequence tools, and no revenue attribution. Most Mailchimp users pair it with a separate CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot CRM, or even a spreadsheet) for sales management. Mailchimp integrates with popular CRMs through its app directory, but the data sync is one-directional in many cases.

What Are the Reporting and Analytics Capabilities?

Dynamics 365 leverages Power BI for advanced reporting and analytics. Out of the box, you get journey analytics, email performance metrics, and engagement dashboards. The real power comes from connecting to Power BI, where you can build custom reports that combine marketing data with sales pipeline, revenue, and customer service metrics across the entire Dynamics 365 environment. For data-driven organisations, this is unmatched. The downside is that Power BI itself has a learning curve, and building meaningful cross-functional reports requires someone with BI skills.

HubSpot Professional includes custom reporting dashboards, marketing attribution modelling (first touch, last touch, linear, and custom models), and campaign analytics that connect marketing activity to revenue. HubSpot's reporting is the most accessible of the three — the visual dashboard builder lets non-technical marketers create useful reports without needing a separate BI tool. Revenue attribution reporting, which shows which marketing activities actually influenced closed deals, is available on Professional and above.

Mailchimp provides campaign-level analytics: open rates, click rates, revenue generated (for e-commerce integrations), subscriber growth, and audience demographics. The Standard plan includes send-time optimisation data and basic comparative analytics. Premium adds comparative reports that let you benchmark campaigns against each other. Mailchimp's analytics are adequate for email-focused marketing but lack the multi-channel attribution and revenue connection that HubSpot and Dynamics 365 provide.

When Should You Choose Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys?

Choose Dynamics 365 when your organisation meets most of these criteria:

You're already using Dynamics 365 Sales, Business Central, or other Microsoft business applications. The shared Dataverse eliminates data silos and gives you a genuine single customer view across marketing, sales, and service. Trying to achieve this same level of integration between separate platforms would cost significantly more in middleware and maintenance.

You have 10,000 or more active contacts and need enterprise-grade journey orchestration. The real-time behavioural triggers, multi-channel journey builder, and AI-powered Copilot features are designed for sophisticated marketing operations — not simple newsletter sends.

Your team includes (or has access to) someone with Microsoft platform expertise. Dynamics 365 is not a self-service platform for beginners. Implementation typically requires a Microsoft partner, and ongoing management benefits from someone who understands Dataverse, Power Automate, and the broader Microsoft ecosystem.

You can leverage "Attach" pricing. At $1,000 per month (vs $1,700 standalone), the platform becomes significantly more cost-competitive for organisations already paying for 10 or more Dynamics 365 licences.

When Should You Choose HubSpot Marketing Hub?

Choose HubSpot when your organisation matches these characteristics:

You want a single platform for CRM, marketing, sales, and service. HubSpot's integrated approach means your entire customer-facing operation can run from one system. For businesses that don't already have a CRM, or that are frustrated with the complexity of integrating separate tools, this is enormously valuable.

Your marketing strategy is content and inbound-focused. HubSpot's blogging tools, SEO recommendations, social media management, and landing page builder are purpose-built for inbound marketing. If your growth model depends on attracting leads through content, HubSpot's toolkit is more complete than either Dynamics 365 or Mailchimp.

You can afford the Professional tier. HubSpot's real value only emerges at $800 per month and above. The Starter plan lacks the automation, reporting, and lead scoring capabilities that make the platform worthwhile. If your budget caps at $100 per month, HubSpot isn't the right choice — you'd be paying for a fraction of its capability.

You have a marketing team of two to ten people. HubSpot Professional includes three marketing seats and is designed for teams, not solo operators. The collaboration features, campaign tools, and workflow builder assume a team environment.

When Should You Choose Mailchimp?

Choose Mailchimp when these conditions apply:

Your primary need is email marketing. If you're sending newsletters, promotional campaigns, welcome sequences, and basic automations to a contact list, Mailchimp does this job efficiently and affordably. You don't need enterprise journey orchestration or multi-channel campaign management.

Your budget is under $200 per month for marketing tools. At the Standard plan tier, Mailchimp delivers solid automation, decent templates, and workable analytics for a fraction of what HubSpot or Dynamics 365 cost. For small businesses, sole traders, and local businesses in Australia, this price-to-feature ratio is hard to beat.

You want fast setup and low maintenance. Mailchimp can be configured and sending emails within a day. There's no mandatory onboarding, no implementation partner, and no steep learning curve. For business owners who need to manage their own marketing without dedicated marketing staff, this simplicity matters.

You're comfortable using separate tools for CRM and other marketing functions. Mailchimp isn't an all-in-one platform. If you're already using a CRM (even a spreadsheet) and separate tools for social media and advertising, adding Mailchimp for email is straightforward and keeps your costs low.

Platform Limitations to Watch

Every platform has meaningful limitations that vendor marketing materials won't highlight.

Dynamics 365 requires significant upfront investment in both money and time. Implementation typically takes 8–12 weeks with a certified partner, and the platform's complexity means ongoing management requires Microsoft platform knowledge. The email template builder, while functional, is less intuitive than HubSpot's or Mailchimp's drag-and-drop editors. There's no built-in blogging, SEO tools, or social media management — you'll need separate tools for content marketing.

HubSpot's costs escalate faster than expected. Contact-based pricing means your bill grows as your database grows, even if your engagement stays flat. The jump from Starter ($15 per month) to Professional ($800 per month) is one of the steepest pricing cliffs in SaaS — and most of the features businesses actually need sit behind that cliff. The mandatory onboarding fee adds $3,000–$7,000 on top. And while HubSpot's ecosystem is broad, migrating away from it once you're deeply embedded is painful and expensive.

Mailchimp charges for unsubscribed and inactive contacts unless you manually archive them — a hidden cost that catches many users off guard. The free plan has been steadily reduced (from 2,000 contacts in 2022 to just 250 in January 2026). Multi-step automations require the Standard plan. The CRM functionality is basic to the point of being misleading. And Mailchimp's reporting lacks revenue attribution, making it difficult to prove marketing ROI for anything beyond direct email conversions.

Our Recommendation

For most Australian small businesses (under 5,000 contacts, 1–3 person marketing team, budget under $200 per month), Mailchimp Standard is the pragmatic choice. It handles email marketing well, the automation flows cover common use cases, and the cost is predictable.

For growing businesses ready to invest in a unified marketing and sales platform (5,000–50,000 contacts, dedicated marketing team, budget of $800+ per month), HubSpot Marketing Hub Professional delivers the most complete feature set. The all-in-one approach eliminates integration headaches and the CRM foundation supports long-term growth.

For enterprises already running Microsoft Dynamics 365 (10,000+ contacts, existing Microsoft investment, complex sales cycles), Dynamics 365 Customer Insights – Journeys is the strongest choice. The real-time journey orchestration, deep CRM integration, and AI-powered Copilot features are purpose-built for sophisticated marketing operations within the Microsoft ecosystem.

The worst decision is choosing a platform based on where you'll be in three years rather than where you are today. Start with what fits your current needs and budget. Migration between platforms, while never painless, is always possible — and far better than paying for capabilities you won't use for years.