topic Re: Free Hubspot Features in Account & Settings

Free Hubspot Features

RecoDeDon — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 05:24:00 GMT

I’m referring to the post created in September 2023 (Link here) by GiantFocal (Link here), which mentions that we can store up to 1 million (1,000,000) contacts in our HubSpot account. I’ve attached a screenshot here for reference:

However, despite this information, I received a warning and was ultimately blocked from adding more contacts after reaching only 1000 contacts. Please see the screenshot below for clarification:

I previously responded to that post two weeks ago (Link here), but unfortunately, I haven’t received any response yet. I’ve also attached another screenshot to show my comment:

Given the lack of response, I decided to open a new post here to get clarification, as it seems like I won’t receive help in the original thread. Could someone please assist me in understanding how to access the 1 million contact feature? This was the primary reason I signed up for HubSpot, as it seemed to provide the best entry point for my needs. 1000 contacts is simply too few for any serious marketing efforts, and I’m sure those familiar with marketing will understand the challenge.

I’m looking forward to receiving some helpful guidance from the community. Thank you so much for your time and assistance!

Re: Free Hubspot Features

karstenkoehler — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 07:14:04 GMT

Hi @RecoDeDon,

It looks like HubSpot have changed the limit on free plans here. If I recall correctly (and I have answered accordingly on many other threads), the limit used to be 1,000,000 contacts in the CRM.

The products and services catalog now states that the limit for free accounts is 1,000: https://legal.hubspot.com/hubspot-product-and-services-catalog

Best regards

Re: Free Hubspot Features

RecoDeDon — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 07:25:20 GMT

Hi Karsten,

Thanks so much for your quick reply – I really appreciate it!

Regarding the post by GiantFocal, which I referenced about the 1 million contacts limit, it was published in August 2024, so it’s really unfortunate that this has changed. Does HubSpot frequently adjust these limits? And has this happened to other users who may have already imported tens or hundreds of thousands of contacts into their free accounts?

In light of this, what are my options for importing more than 1,000 contacts? Are there any workarounds available, or would you recommend a specific subscription plan that’s more affordable to help us get started with HubSpot?

Re: Free Hubspot Features

karstenkoehler — Sun, 05 Jan 2025 09:22:32 GMT

@RecoDeDon generally I would say no, these limits are not changed frequently. Typically, HubSpot announces changes like these but apparently they chose to not make a big deal of this one.

As far as a subscription goes, this doesn't seem to be documented at the moment. I would assume that a Sales Hub Starter subscription increases your limit. Have you clicked the link in your email? If that's not helping, I'd recommend reaching out to HubSpot support directly.

PS. Up until September 2024, the free CRM still included 1,000,000 contacts, see the wayback machine here: https://web.archive.org/web/20240909120418/https://www.hubspot.com/products/crm

"Enjoy unlimited data and up to 1,000,000 contacts with no time limit or expiration date."

Re: Free Hubspot Features

RecoDeDon — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 06:46:23 GMT

Hi Karsten! Thanks again but when looking at the Starter Subscription it says that it gives only 1000 Marketing Contacts and thats all what I was able to find. I guess these are not the right type of contacts and I would love to understand what the difference from these "Marketing Contacts" to the regular Contacts are. Can you help me to check if the starter does allow up to 1 Mio Contacts or is it even unlimited? Thanks a lot!

Edit: Okay I found it!

Re: Free Hubspot Features

karstenkoehler — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 06:43:19 GMT

@RecoDeDon I'd recommend reaching out to HubSpot sales directly, as I said in my previous reply, I can't find any reliable information on the contact counts per subscriptions, neither on the pricing page, nor the products and services catalog. Talking to the sales team is the best option 🙂

Re: Free Hubspot Features

LPeng5 — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 05:55:12 GMT

Hi karstenkoehler,

I saw that OP mentioned receiving a notification when they reached the contact limit of 1,000. I’m curious because we currently have 2,580 contacts but haven’t received any notification, and we can still import new contacts. Is this normal, or should we expect to see a notification soon?

Thanks in advance!

Re: Free Hubspot Features

Spitfire2674 — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 13:54:07 GMT

Since when. i had an old account over 1k, and was fine. chose to delete and rebuild, and now that's not the case. something's up.

Re: Free Hubspot Features

Victor_Becerra — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 15:28:57 GMT

Hi @Spitfire2674 — you’re right, and nothing’s wrong on your end.

The difference is when the account was created. Free HubSpot accounts created before Sept 2024 were allowed up to 1M contacts and were grandfathered in. Any new free accounts created after that change are now capped at 1,000 total contacts.

So when you deleted and rebuilt the account, it picked up the new Free plan limits. Unfortunately, there’s no workaround on Free anymore — exceeding 1,000 contacts now requires upgrading to a paid hub.

Totally understand the frustration here; the change wasn’t communicated very clearly.

Best, Victor