# HubSpot Sales Hub vs Instantly: which do AI models recommend for sales engagement, September 2026

GTM AI Recommendation Index, September 2026 Edition, Sales engagement platforms. Zero of twelve models named HubSpot Sales Hub first on the direct prompt; zero named Instantly. Page: https://gtm-ai-index.com/sales/sales-engagement/hubspot-sales-hub-vs-instantly/

| | First-choice share | Rank | Negative rate | Labels | Models naming it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot Sales Hub | 8% | #4 of 10 | 4% | 48 | 12 of 12 |
| Instantly | 2% | #6 of 10 | 20% | 15 | 9 of 12 |

## The direct prompt, model by model

- Claude Haiku 4.5: neither first, one named (alternatives: Apollo.io, HubSpot Sales Hub, Outreach, Salesloft)
- GPT-5.4 mini: neither first, one named (first choices: Salesloft) (alternatives: HubSpot Sales Hub, Outreach)
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Salesloft) (alternatives: Apollo.io, HubSpot Sales Hub)
- Perplexity Sonar: neither first, one named (first choices: Salesloft) (alternatives: Apollo.io, HubSpot Sales Hub, Outreach)
- Grok 4.1 Fast: neither first, one named (first choices: Salesloft) (alternatives: Apollo.io, HubSpot Sales Hub)
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Groove, HubSpot Sales Hub, Salesloft)
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: neither first, one named (first choices: Salesloft) (alternatives: HubSpot Sales Hub, Klenty, Outreach)
- Mistral Small: neither named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Outreach, Salesloft)
- Llama 4 Maverick: neither named (first choices: Apollo.io, Outreach, Salesloft)
- Kimi K2: neither named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Outreach, Salesloft)
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: neither named (first choices: Apollo.io) (alternatives: Salesloft)
- MiniMax M2.5: neither named (first choices: Outreach) (alternatives: Apollo.io, Salesloft)

## What the models said about HubSpot Sales Hub

- "Never use for cold email: HubSpot Sales Hub" (Kimi K2, negative prompt, hard negative)
- "some features are only accessible in high-tier plans, which can be costly, and the platform can sometimes be slow" (Claude Haiku 4.5, negative prompt, soft negative)

## What the models said about Instantly

- "Instantly.ai (CAUTION — account bans & reseller risk)" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt, soft negative)
- "they lack deep CRM orchestration or enterprise telephony" (Gemini 3.5 Flash, comparative prompt, soft negative)
- "Klenty/Reply.io/Lemlist/Instantly for SMB/mid-market (better value, multichannel, ~$40-60/user/mo)" (Grok 4.1 Fast, negative prompt, first choice)
- "🥇 Best Overall: Instantly.ai ($30/month) - Exceptional value for pure email campaigns" (Mistral Small, budget prompt, first choice)
- "Consider: Modern alternatives focused on deliverability stability and flexible pricing, such as Instantly, Smartlead" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt, alternative)

Share is the count of first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts over all twelve models, for a mid-market B2B company; rank is within the category. Comparisons are drawn for the top eight products in each category. Published under CC BY 4.0; the output is the models' output, and nothing here is a recommendation by the index.