We Ran Out of HubSpot Credits in Two Months. Here’s What We Learned. [Prospect Agent Edition]
When we turned on Prospecting Agent, we had the 5,000 credits that come with our Enterprise subscription. My plan was to try it, use them up, and move on.
That’s not what happened.
Why we used up our credits so fast
The first thing I noticed was the quality of the research. Prospecting Agent was pulling in the kind of detail my BDR team used to spend 15 minutes digging for on each contact: context from the company’s website, earnings coverage, recent org changes, and what the contact had actually been posting on LinkedIn.
The drafts it produced were specific enough that editing them was faster than starting from scratch. We used up our 5,000 credits within the first couple of months and upgraded to 25,000.
Red-lining beats full automation
We’d already tried the fully autonomous AI BDR approach, where the tool writes and sends on its own. It didn’t work for us, and I think a lot of teams have reached the same conclusion. What you really want is a tool that does the heavy lifting on research and gives you something you can red-line.
What makes Prospecting Agent work is that the editing happens right inside HubSpot. I’m not exporting to a doc, rewriting, and pasting it back. Research, editing, sending, and the record of all of it live in one place. Nothing leaves the tool.
Research plus a human edit is what gets replies, and it’s already booked us a meeting.
What 100 credits per email really means
Here’s the number I wish someone had told me at the start. For us, Prospecting Agent uses about 100 credits per contact.
That means:
- 5,000 credits gets you about 50 personalized emails
- 25,000 credits gets you about 250 a month
My first reaction to 250 was that it didn’t sound like a lot. At the time, I was managing a three-person BDR team, and 250 emails a month across three people is definitely not a volume play. But it was a big jump from 50, and it turned out the limit was the most useful part.
Why the limit made us better at targeting
When outreach costs almost nothing, it’s tempting to send to everyone who loosely fits and let the numbers sort it out. When every email has a cost attached, you have to ask: Is this account worth 100 credits?
That one question forced us to get sharper about our ideal customer profile than any quarterly planning session ever had. Before we spend credits on a contact now, we’d take time to be more strategic and intentional.
Where it works best: turning MQLs into SQLs
Prospecting Agent really earns its credits re-engaging MQLs you already know are worth a conversation. A generic nurture email blends in. A personalized one breaks through and gives them a reason to take the meeting.
If you’re just getting started
- Use the credits you already have. Even one email a week gets you familiar with it.
- Do the math before you scale. Know your cost per contact.
- Choose accounts on purpose. Treat it like a volume tool and you’ll burn your credits in two weeks.
- Edit everything. The agent drafts. You bring the voice.
For us, it was a low-risk win that paid off fast. Start small and let the results make the case.
