CRM and sales: what users struggle with, 2026
66 sourced reports about 2 crm and sales products, gathered from public posts and linked to where each was said. The most-discussed problem area is Pricing & plans (30 items across the category). 23 items, across all dates, describe leaving one of these tools.
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The category at a glance
| Product | Reports | Themes | Source threads | Most-discussed area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salesforce | 51 | 42 | 84 | API & developer experience |
| HubSpot | 15 | 13 | 29 | Pricing & plans |
Problem areas, ranked by number of items
Items of every date, including older ones outside the recent window the report counts above use.
| Area | Items | Salesforce | HubSpot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing & plans | 30 | 20 | 10 |
| API & developer experience | 28 | 20 | 8 |
| UI & usability | 19 | 15 | 4 |
| Integrations | 13 | 10 | 3 |
| Performance | 13 | 10 | 3 |
| Reliability & bugs | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Customization | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Reporting & analytics | 6 | 5 | 1 |
Read the products
- Salesforce problems and requests · Salesforce alternatives
- HubSpot problems and requests · HubSpot alternatives
Side by side
Method and limits
Reports come from public Hacker News comments and public issues of vendors' open-source repositories; each was extracted into a structured item, and each links to its source. A report counts once per product, however many people agreed. Open-source and developer-facing products are over-represented because that is where public discussion happens; counts show how much is said, not which tool is better. Full method and sources.
Cite as: Friction, “CRM and sales: what users struggle with, 2026”, https://friction.grain64.com/state-of/crm-and-sales/, data as of 2026-10-15.