ActiveCampaign to HubSpot Migration, Step by Step

Can ActiveCampaign and HubSpot be integrated?

Yes, usually through Zapier or a custom API integration. When we checked in November 2026, Zapier offered ready ActiveCampaign and HubSpot templates, such as adding or updating HubSpot contacts when they change in ActiveCampaign. Before connecting them, decide which system sends marketing email and owns unsubscribes, so nobody is emailed from both.

Running both makes sense when, for example, marketing stays in ActiveCampaign for now while sales moves to HubSpot. It works only with clear ownership:

• One sender: pick the tool that sends marketing email. The other should not email the same contacts.
• One owner for opt-outs: an unsubscribe in one tool has to reach the other, or you risk emailing people who opted out.
• Field ownership: for each synced field, write down which system wins, and sync one way where you can.
• Matching on email: match contacts by email address, and clean duplicates first so the sync does not multiply them.

If the plan is to leave ActiveCampaign, a short overlap followed by a full move is usually simpler than a long-running sync; the rest of this guide covers the move. See our HubSpot Zapier guide for how Zapier connects to HubSpot, and our integration services for custom syncs.

How does ActiveCampaign data map to HubSpot?

Contacts stay contacts, accounts become companies, and deals stay deals. The differences are tags, which have no direct equivalent, lists and segments, which become HubSpot segments, and automations, which do not transfer at all and have to be rebuilt as HubSpot workflows.

Write each row into a data migration mapping sheet before anything moves.

What should happen to ActiveCampaign tags?

Audit them and turn the useful ones into structure. ActiveCampaign accounts often carry hundreds of tags added by forms, automations and imports over the years. Moving them all into one HubSpot property keeps the mess. Map the tags that drive decisions to properties, lifecycle stages or segments, and archive the rest.

A simple rule works: if a tag records where someone came from, it becomes a source property; if it records how far they are in the funnel, it becomes a lifecycle stage or lead status; if it records an interest, it becomes a property that segments can filter on. Tags that only existed to trigger an automation usually disappear with that automation.

How do you migrate ActiveCampaign to HubSpot?

With HubSpot Smart Transfer, or with ActiveCampaign CSV exports imported through HubSpot's import tool. Smart Transfer is the faster route and also moves templates, segments and notes. CSV exports give you full control over the mapping, but leave out notes, which are only available through ActiveCampaign's API.

HubSpot Smart Transfer

When we checked HubSpot's documentation in October 2026:

• Only Super Admins can use it, and it moves data one way into HubSpot. A transfer can be reverted.
• Contacts, deals, accounts (as companies), email templates, segments, users and groups (as teams) sync, and keep updating in the background after the first sync.
• Lists, notes and the tags on each contact move once, after the sync, and do not stay up to date. Tags land in a custom contact property.
• Custom field mappings need a Data Hub subscription, and custom objects are not supported.
• Email templates are recreated in HubSpot using AI, and HubSpot says they may need review and testing.

Check the current requirements in your portal before you plan around them. Our Smart Transfer guide covers how the tool works.

ActiveCampaign export, then HubSpot import

ActiveCampaign exports contacts, deals and accounts as CSV files, with custom fields and all of a contact's tags in a single column. List exports can be filtered by status, which is how you get the unsubscribed and bounced contacts. Notes are not included in any CSV export, so use the API or Smart Transfer if note history matters. Contact export links expire after seven days.

How do you keep unsubscribes and sending reputation intact?

Import every unsubscribed and bounced address into HubSpot as an opt-out before the first send, decide which contacts are marketing contacts, and connect and authenticate your email sending domain. Skipping any of these is how a migration ends with complaints, bounces and a damaged sender reputation in the first week.

• Opt-outs: HubSpot's opt-out import sets "Unsubscribed from all email" for each address. Addresses that are not contacts yet are not created and are not billed.
• Marketing contacts: only marketing contacts can receive marketing email, and they count towards your billable contact tier. Mark only the people you will actually email.
• Sending domain: connect it in HubSpot with DKIM, SPF and DMARC records. HubSpot needs a domain or subdomain that is not used for something else, such as your website.
• First sends: start with your most engaged contacts rather than the whole database.

What are the steps, in order?

Audit ActiveCampaign, decide what to keep, design the HubSpot structure, map fields and tags, import opt-outs, test on a sample, rebuild automations, then cut over and validate. In that order, problems show up in testing instead of in your recipients' inboxes.

1. Audit ActiveCampaign. Count contacts by status, list every tag, list, custom field and automation, and note which forms and integrations feed it.
2. Decide what to keep. Which contacts are worth emailing, which tags still mean something, which automations still run for a reason.
3. Design the HubSpot structure. Lifecycle stages, the properties that replace tags, deal pipelines and segments. See our CRM architecture blueprint.
4. Map every field and tag, including the old-to-new deal stage map.
5. Clean before import. Merge duplicates and standardize values. Our deduplication playbook covers the process.
6. Protect consent. Import opt-outs, set marketing contacts, and connect the sending domain.
7. Test on a sample in a sandbox or test portal: properties, associations, owners and segments.
8. Rebuild automations as HubSpot workflows, improving them where the old logic was a workaround, and reconnect forms and integrations.
9. Cut over. Pause ActiveCampaign automations and campaigns, run the final transfer, then import anything changed since the test.
10. Validate and send. Compare counts, check opt-outs carried over, and start with a small send to engaged contacts.

What usually goes wrong?

Unsubscribes that never reach HubSpot, hundreds of tags dumped into one property, automations nobody listed that stop on cutover day, notes left behind because the CSV export skips them, and both systems emailing the same people during the overlap. Each is cheap to prevent before cutover and expensive after.

• Lost opt-outs: import unsubscribed and bounced contacts before the first send, not after a complaint.
• Tag sprawl: decide what each kept tag becomes; do not rebuild segments on a tag dump.
• Double sends: pause ActiveCampaign automations before HubSpot workflows go live.
• Missing notes: CSV exports leave them out; plan the API or Smart Transfer route.

ActiveCampaign migration checklist