Businesses migrate from HubSpot to ActiveCampaign primarily for cost reasons. HubSpot's paid plans scale aggressively in price, and many businesses find ActiveCampaign delivers comparable automation and CRM capability at a significantly lower cost. The migration involves rebuilding automation workflows and CRM pipelines, but ActiveCampaign's toolset maps well to HubSpot's core features.
This guide covers everything you need to migrate from HubSpot to ActiveCampaign without losing subscribers or breaking your automations. Estimated time: 4-8 hours.
What transfers and what does not
| Item | Transfers? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Contacts | Yes | Export from HubSpot, import via CSV to ActiveCampaign |
| Contact properties | Partial | Standard fields map; custom fields need manual creation and mapping |
| Lists and segments | Partial | Export as properties, recreate as tags or lists in ActiveCampaign |
| Deal pipeline data | Partial | Export deals as CSV, recreate pipeline stages and import deals |
| Email templates | No | Must be rebuilt in ActiveCampaign |
| Workflows | No | Must be rebuilt in ActiveCampaign's automation builder |
| Historical campaign data | No | Stats stay in HubSpot |
| Forms | No | Must be rebuilt in ActiveCampaign |
Keep your HubSpot account active throughout the migration. Do not cancel it until ActiveCampaign is fully set up and tested. Cancelling early means losing access to your historical data and any active automations still running.
Step-by-step migration guide
Create your ActiveCampaign account and complete domain authentication (DKIM, DMARC). Configure your sending domain before importing any contacts. Use the 14-day trial period to complete your migration before committing.
In HubSpot, go to Contacts, select all contacts, and export as a CSV. Include all contact properties. Export your opt-out/unsubscribed contacts separately. HubSpot exports are comprehensive but may require cleanup before importing.
In ActiveCampaign, go to Contacts, Import, and upload your CSV. Map each column to the correct ActiveCampaign field. Create any custom fields you need before importing. Import unsubscribed contacts as opted-out to maintain email compliance.
In ActiveCampaign, go to Deals and create your pipeline stages to match HubSpot. Export your HubSpot deals as a CSV and import them into ActiveCampaign. Assign deals to contacts and set deal values.
This is the most time-consuming part of the migration. Document all your active HubSpot workflows before you start. In ActiveCampaign, go to Automations and rebuild each one. ActiveCampaign's automation builder is comparable in power to HubSpot's and supports all the same core logic.
Recreate your key email designs in ActiveCampaign's drag-and-drop editor. Test each template with a preview and a real send to yourself before activating.
Create signup forms in ActiveCampaign and replace HubSpot form embeds across your website. Test each form to confirm contacts are added and automations trigger correctly.
Run end-to-end tests: submit forms, send test emails, trigger automations, create test deals. Once everything is working correctly, cancel your HubSpot subscription on your renewal date.
The bottom line
Migrating from HubSpot to ActiveCampaign is a substantial project but well within reach for most businesses. The automation and CRM capabilities map closely enough that you can replicate your HubSpot setup in ActiveCampaign. Budget a full day for the migration and a few days of parallel running to verify everything before cancelling HubSpot.
Not sure ActiveCampaign is the right destination? Take the Marketing Automation Buyer's Guide quiz for a personalized recommendation.