# licenses

**URL:** <https://community.hubspot.com/t/licenses/98374>\
**Category:** Email Marketing Tool\
**Tags:** free, starter\
**Created:** [January 22, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/licenses/98374 "2024-01-22T21:28:49Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![LionelMessi10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LionelMessi10](https://community.hubspot.com/u/LionelMessi10)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2024, 9:28pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/licenses/98374/1 "2024-01-22T21:28:49Z")

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**Author:** ![jnix284](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/jnix284/32/29_2.png) [@jnix284](https://community.hubspot.com/u/jnix284)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 12:28am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/licenses/98374/2 "2024-01-23T00:28:08Z")

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@LionelMessi10 I’m sorry you’ve had a bad experience as a result of the branding that appears for free accounts - this is clearly outlined in their pricing:

 ![Jnix284_0-1705969105823.png](https://d2qpr2jzcazej7.cloudfront.net/original/3X/4/6/4620b86fc394232ab3b21502d2d7842239042a5f.png)

You should have also received ample notice of your Starter subscription renewal, in fact, it should auto-renew unless you cancel.

It’s completely a matter of opinion and you’re entitled to yours - I personally don’t find it sleezy to include their branding on free tools that you’re using. They’re making tools accessible to businesses that otherwise couldn’t afford it.

I also verified in a free account that the branding is visible from the editor:

 ![Jnix284_1-1705969355942.png](https://d2qpr2jzcazej7.cloudfront.net/original/3X/f/e/fee9bc9c1aebbbd371c91e1f9ac046ff82354883.png)

the preview:

 ![Jnix284_2-1705969393486.png](https://d2qpr2jzcazej7.cloudfront.net/original/3X/a/2/a217a511410b0b06d868fe00e5777af7559bb157.png)

and test emails:

 ![Jnix284_3-1705969429729.png](https://d2qpr2jzcazej7.cloudfront.net/original/3X/5/f/5fd67a91d01cceac636081ed00c438c2e265064b.png)

Depending on when your subscription expired relative to when you created and then subsequently sent the email (or had it scheduled), it could have not been visible at the time you created it and was added to the email send because of the delay between the two.

I know signing back up isn’t going to undo the fact that you’ve had an email go out with the HubSpot branding, I imagine it’s much less of an issue for your recipients than it feels - I know that doesn’t make it any easier, I do hope you’ll give it another chance and I’m happy to help with questions you might have regarding your email health and analytics for the email that went out with the branding.

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**Author:** ![LionelMessi10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LionelMessi10](https://community.hubspot.com/u/LionelMessi10)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 4:50am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/licenses/98374/3 "2024-01-23T04:50:40Z")

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Hi Jennifer, totally get it, thank you helping to clarify things. An email was sent without Hubspot branding and I was told by hubspot that their branding was actually included even though it didnt show up anywhere in the production, testing or reporting processes. I contacted them again and they confirmed that it wasn’t included. I dont know what or why that happened but it seems resolved.

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**Author:** ![jnix284](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/jnix284/32/29_2.png) [@jnix284](https://community.hubspot.com/u/jnix284)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2024, 12:41pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/licenses/98374/4 "2024-01-23T12:41:44Z")

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you’re welcome @LionelMessi10 - I haven’t heard of having the branding added in the way you describe, where it was added only for the recipients, which I could definitely understand would be very frustrating! I’m really glad t hear that they confirmed it wasn’t included and that it’s resolved.

Still not a fun thing to go through, hopefully you were able to provide feedback regarding your initial inquiry to avoid any future misunderstandings.