How do HubSpot marketing contacts affect your bill?
Last verified September 28, 2026 · Next check October 28, 2026
HubSpot only charges for marketing contacts: the contacts you send marketing emails or ads to. Every other contact in your CRM is free, up to 15 million. Each Marketing Hub plan includes some marketing contacts (1,000 on Starter, 2,000 on Professional, 10,000 on Enterprise). Above that you buy contact tiers, and once you move up a tier you can't move back down until your contract renews.
Key numbers
| Starter | Professional | Enterprise | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing contacts included | 1,000 | 2,000 | 10,000 |
| Extra contacts sold in blocks of | 1,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 |
| Price per block, first tier | $50/mo | $250/mo | $100/mo |
| Price per block, largest tier | $40/mo | $150/mo | $60/mo |
| Non-marketing contacts | Free | Free | Free |
| Monthly email send limit | 5× contact tier | 10× contact tier | 20× contact tier |
List prices from HubSpot's Product & Services Catalog. Non-marketing contacts are free up to 15 million contacts in total.
Marketing vs non-marketing contacts
A marketing contact is someone you plan to reach with HubSpot's marketing tools. Three things need marketing status:
- Marketing emails, including follow-up emails after a form submission
- Contact audiences in the ads tool
- Marketing workflow actions, such as sending an email or managing an ad audience
Non-marketing contacts cost nothing and can still get sales one-to-one emails, sequences, registration emails, ticket emails, transactional emails and customer feedback surveys. For most companies, customers, closed-lost deals and old leads you no longer email don't need marketing status.
How contact tiers are priced
Extra contacts are priced in tiers, and the price per block falls as you buy more. HubSpot calls this a blended rate: you pay the first tier's price for the first blocks, the next tier's price for the next blocks, and so on.
The cost per contact drops sharply on Enterprise. At 87,000 marketing contacts, Professional pays about $3,550 a month for contacts and Enterprise about $760. Add the platform fees ($800 and $3,600, paid annually) and the two editions cost almost the same: about $4,350 against $4,360 a month. If you'd also need Content Hub, compare both against the Customer Platform and Marketing+ bundles.
What happens when you go over
HubSpot upgrades you to the next contact tier automatically, the moment you exceed your current one. You can't stop it once the limit is crossed. You then pay for the higher tier until your subscription renews, even if your marketing contact count drops again. HubSpot doesn't downgrade contact tiers mid-term.
One contact can matter. On Professional, 22,000 marketing contacts cost $1,000 a month. At 22,001 you move into the next block and pay $1,225, every month until renewal.
When status changes take effect
Setting a contact as non-marketing doesn't lower your count straight away. The change applies on your next update date: the first day of each month on yearly subscriptions, or your monthly renewal date on monthly subscriptions. New marketing contacts count as soon as they're added, so your total can rise mid-month and trigger a tier upgrade.
How to keep the contact bill down
- Set a maximum. HubSpot lets you cap the number of marketing contacts. Once you reach the cap, new contacts from imports and automated sources come in as non-marketing instead of pushing you into the next tier.
- Review what sets contacts as marketing. Forms, imports, integrations and ads can all create marketing contacts. Check each source's default before you connect it.
- Clean up before you commit. Setting unengaged contacts as non-marketing only lowers your bill at the next tier decision. Do it before you sign or renew, not after an upgrade has happened.
- Size for the contract, not the pipeline dream. Buy the tier you'll need in the next few months and let it grow. You can't get money back for contacts you never used. The same logic applies to seats and credit capacity packs.
Three worked examples
Contact prices only, at HubSpot's list prices. Platform fees and seats come on top; the pricing calculator adds them up for you.
Small team on Starter with 5,000 marketing contacts. 1,000 are included. The rest are billed in blocks of 1,000: $190/mo.
Professional with 30,000 contacts, 12,000 of them unengaged. 30,000 marketing contacts cost $1,450/mo. Setting the 12,000 unengaged contacts as non-marketing before renewal brings you to 18,000 and $1,000/mo: $450 a month, or $5,400 a year, saved.
Enterprise with 50,000 marketing contacts. 10,000 are included. The other 40,000 cost $400/mo. The same list on Professional would cost $2,300/mo.
What to ask your HubSpot rep
- Which contact tier are you quoting, and what does the next tier cost?
- Are contact prices lower if we pay the year upfront?
- Can we start on a lower tier and add contacts as we grow?
- If we upgrade a tier mid-term, is the upgrade prorated?
- At renewal, can we move down a tier if our list has shrunk?
- Do our planned integrations set new contacts as marketing by default?
FAQ
Page changelog
- 28 Sept 2026: Published. Rules verified against HubSpot's knowledge base (contacts billing, updated 14 Aug 2026; marketing contacts, updated 14 Sept 2026); prices against HubSpot's Product & Services Catalog and Marketing Hub pricing page.