Migration from Zoho to HubSpot: Challenges, Pitfalls, and Solutions

Migrating from one CRM to another is never a simple “copy-paste” operation. And when it comes to moving from Zoho CRM to HubSpot, the challenge is twofold: on one side, a highly flexible and modular tool (Zoho), on the other, a unified platform designed for marketing and sales (HubSpot).

Many SMBs and mid-market companies are considering this switch to benefit from HubSpot’s usability and power. But an unprepared migration can lead to:

• Loss of strategic data,

• Broken sales processes,

• Disoriented teams,

• And ultimately, a negative ROI.

At HS Simple, we’ve handled dozens of complex migrations, many of them from Zoho to HubSpot. This guide aims to share a complete overview of the challenges, pitfalls, and solutions, so your migration project becomes an opportunity for transformation rather than a technical burden.

Why migrate from Zoho to HubSpot?

Before looking at the technical aspects, it’s important to understand why companies migrate in the first place:

• User experience: HubSpot is renowned for its intuitive interface, making adoption easier for sales and marketing teams.

• Integrated ecosystem: Marketing, sales, customer service, CMS, and reporting are unified on a single platform.

• Powerful automation: Workflows, sequences, and native integrations often surpass Zoho’s capabilities.

• Clearer reporting: HubSpot dashboards provide direct visibility on the pipeline and marketing performance.

• International growth: HubSpot adapts well to expanding companies, with integrations and an extensive marketplace.

⚠️ But beware: Zoho and HubSpot are built on very different logics. Understanding these structural differences is key to a successful migration.

Technical Challenges of Zoho → HubSpot Migration

1. Fields and Modules Management

Zoho provides great flexibility with custom fields, lookups, and Deluge formulas.
HubSpot, however, follows stricter logic, with standardized properties and custom properties limited by license type.

👉 This means some fields will need to be:

• Transformed (e.g., Zoho multi-select → HubSpot checkboxes),

• Merged,

• Or dropped if they hold little business value.

2. Financial Modules (Quotes, Invoices)

Zoho natively generates quotes, invoices, and purchase orders.
HubSpot only supports quotes, and even then with limitations.

👉 Possible solutions:

• Create a custom object (requires HubSpot Enterprise),

• Connect an ERP or billing tool (e.g., QuickBooks, Stripe, Pennylane),

• Store Zoho quotes history as attachments.

3. Automations and Workflows

Zoho Blueprints allow complex process management.
HubSpot also offers powerful workflows, but the logic differs, there’s no direct translation.

👉 Every automation must be rebuilt manually in HubSpot. This is a great opportunity to:

• Simplify,

• Standardize,

• And align with your new business goals.

4. Activity History

Emails, calls, notes, and closed tasks are stored differently.
HubSpot’s CSV import doesn’t allow activity migration.

👉 Options are:

• API-based migration (technical and costly),

• Or accept partial history (contacts and deals without activities).

5. API Constraints and Quotas

HubSpot enforces strict API call limits, unlike Zoho.
Mass migrations must therefore be performed in batches, carefully managing quotas.

Structural Differences Between Zoho and HubSpot

1. Leads vs Contacts

Zoho: strong distinction between leads and contacts.
HubSpot: everything is a contact, with a “lifecycle stage” property to define status.

👉 Consequence: you’ll need to merge leads and contacts into a single clean database, rethinking qualification.

2. Companies (Accounts)

Migration is relatively straightforward.
But HubSpot allows multiple associations (a contact can be linked to multiple companies).

👉 Define your association rules carefully to avoid confusion.

3. Opportunities (Deals)

Pipelines must be recreated manually in HubSpot.
This is often the perfect time to rethink your sales stages.

4. Products and Catalogs

Zoho supports multiple price lists.
HubSpot only allows one product catalog.

👉 Adaptation is required if you sell across multiple currencies or ranges.

5. Custom Modules

Zoho is very flexible.
HubSpot requires an Enterprise plan to create custom objects.

Watch-Out Areas: Where Pitfalls Hide

• Invisible data loss: some fields, notes, or tags disappear without an equivalent.

• Incompatible formats: phone numbers, encodings (UTF-8 vs ISO), currencies.

• Mass duplicates: HubSpot auto-merges contacts with the same email.

• Lost associations: contacts not linked to deals, deals not linked to companies.

• Broken automations: Zoho workflows don’t translate → sales teams blocked on day one.

Migration Strategy: Key Steps

1. Audit & Mapping

   • Inventory all modules, fields, and automations.

   • Define a field-by-field mapping between Zoho and HubSpot.

2. Data Cleaning

   • Deduplicate,

   • Remove inactive contacts,

   • Standardize formats (emails, phone numbers, dates).

3. Choose Migration Method

   • Native HubSpot import: simple but limited.

   • Specialized tools (Trujay, Import2, Data2CRM): balanced cost vs efficiency.

   • Custom API: for complex projects.

4. Pilot Migration

   • Import a small sample.

   • Test UX with sales reps.

5. Full Migration

   • Executed in batches, managing API quotas.

6. Testing & Training

   • Verify data integrity.

   • Train users on HubSpot’s new logic.

Opportunities Created by Migration

A well-executed migration is more than a technical transfer. It allows you to:

• Start fresh with a clean, normalized database.

• Improve processes (pipeline, lead qualification).

• Align Marketing, Sales, and Service teams.

• Unlock new automation (lead nurturing, scoring, sequences).

• Gain strategic reporting: marketing ROI tracking, sales performance, revenue attribution.

FAQ: Zoho → HubSpot Migration

1. Can we migrate Zoho quotes and invoices?
   Yes, but not natively. You’ll need either a custom object or to store them as attachments.

2. Will Zoho email history be lost?
   Yes via CSV. To preserve it, an API migration is required.

3. How long does a migration take?
   Between 2 and 8 weeks, depending on complexity (data volume, number of modules, workflows).

4. What’s the average cost?
   Between €3,000 and €15,000 depending on database size and automation complexity.

Conclusion

Migrating from Zoho to HubSpot is not just an IT project. It’s a strategic decision that impacts your sales, marketing, and customer relationships.

By anticipating structural differences, cleaning your data, and rebuilding your processes, you can turn migration into an opportunity for optimization and growth.

👉 At HS Simple, we help SMBs and mid-market companies succeed in this transition by securing every step: audit, technical migration, and team training. Let’s talk.