Salesforce to HubSpot Migration Checklist

The short answer

Start with a complete source backup, an object-and-field inventory, and a small test import. Do not change production routing until record counts, ownership, associations, required history, and critical workflows pass written acceptance checks.

First decide: migrate, coexist, or repair

Moving platforms may be the right choice, but the first useful deliverable is a decision record, not an import file.

Migrate

A smaller team needs simpler sales execution and marketing visibility, and the required Salesforce capabilities can be rebuilt or retired.

Coexist

Another team still requires Salesforce, or the transition needs a controlled validation period with an explicit source of truth.

Repair first

Duplicates, unclear ownership, inconsistent stages, or weak process would otherwise follow the team into the new CRM.

1. Name the source of truth

During a migration, people often update both systems. For contacts, companies, open opportunities, consent, and closed history, document which system is authoritative before and after cutover, who can freeze changes, and which value wins when records differ.

Do not infer consent, lawful basis, or subscription status from activity alone. Preserve the original evidence and map only approved values.

2. Inventory what Salesforce actually contains

Start with objects rather than exports. The inventory should distinguish four outcomes: migrate, archive, rebuild, or retire.

Record counts, business owners, required fields, custom fields, and picklist values

Relationships among leads, contacts, accounts, opportunities, and custom objects

Files, notes, emails, tasks, events, and the history users still need

Flows, workflow rules, assignment rules, reports, dashboards, and integrations

Permissions, retention, audit, consent, and access requirements

3. Preserve the unchanged source

Generate an approved Salesforce export.
Store an unchanged copy with a date, owner, and checksum.
Record which objects and attachments are included.
Restrict access to the people who need it.
Create a separate working copy for cleanup and mapping.

The unchanged export is the evidence baseline. Never clean the only copy.

4. Map objects, fields, owners, and associations

A useful mapping row records the source object and field, source type and values, destination object and property, transformation and association rules, required or default behaviour, owner, approval status, test result, and evidence.

Give extra attention to leads versus contacts, accounts versus companies, opportunities versus deals, inactive owners, multiple pipelines, custom objects, multi-select picklists, time zones, currencies, and activities or files attached to different parent records.

5. Decide how Salesforce leads become HubSpot contacts

Define when a person becomes a contact, how the former lead state is preserved, how company associations are created, how converted leads are de-duplicated, which lifecycle stage and lead status apply, and who owns the record. Do not let import order make this business decision accidentally.

6. Clean before the destination

Document deterministic rules for duplicate detection, email and phone normalization, company domains, geographic formats, picklist translation, invalid owners, test records, former employees, retention, and archive decisions. Keep raw values beside cleaned values so each transformation remains explainable and reversible.

7. Test with a representative sample

A useful pilot is small enough to reverse and varied enough to expose mapping problems. Include multiple contacts, open and closed deals, current and inactive owners, custom values, missing optional fields, activities, files, known duplicates, and different currencies or time zones when applicable.

Control	Acceptance question
Counts	Did the expected number of eligible records import, fail, or skip?
Owners	Do active records have the correct current owner?
Associations	Are contacts, companies, and deals connected correctly?
Dates and values	Did dates, currencies, booleans, and picklists retain their intended meaning?
History	Are the required activities and files accessible where users expect them?
Exceptions	Is every failure visible with an owner and next action?

FREE 11-SHEET MIGRATION WORKBOOK

Make every migration decision visible before cutover

Inventory objects and automation, map fields and owners, document lifecycle and pipeline decisions, test a pilot, reconcile counts, log issues, and control cutover or rollback.

XLSX template. Example rows are illustrative and contain no client data.

Download migration workbook

8. Rebuild only approved automation

For every rule, document the business event, exclusions, owner, failure path, risk-sensitive actions, test evidence, and monitoring plan. Do not copy a legacy automation merely because it exists. HubSpot workflow availability also depends on subscription.

9. Treat reporting as acceptance

List the decision each required report supports, then verify that its properties, stages, associations, and dates exist in HubSpot. A dashboard cannot repair missing definitions; it can only expose them.

10. Plan cutover and rollback together

Record the source freeze, final export owner, go-live authority, form and integration change order, inbound-lead protection, validation window, rollback trigger and owner, issue log, and the conditions for changing Salesforce access. Do not disable the source until retention and acceptance conditions are met.

Migration acceptance checklist

Document whether the right path is migration, coexistence, or repair.

Name the source-of-truth owner for every critical data area.

Preserve an unchanged Salesforce export with date, owner, and checksum.

Approve the object, field, automation, report, and integration inventory.

Approve destination mapping, including associations, owners, and transformations.

Handle consent and subscription values only from an approved source.

Document cleanup and duplicate rules before importing.

Import and reconcile a representative pilot.

Rebuild and test only approved automation.

Test decision-critical reports, permissions, and user workflows.

Approve cutover, rollback, and post-launch QA criteria.

Frequently asked questions

Can Salesforce data be imported directly into HubSpot?

HubSpot supports record imports and provides a Salesforce integration for supported coexistence scenarios. The right path depends on the objects, fields, associations, files, activities, and history in scope. Reconcile a representative test before full cutover.

Should every Salesforce field move to HubSpot?

No. Every field should have a business owner and a documented decision: migrate, transform, archive, or retire. Moving unused fields creates reporting and adoption debt in the destination.

Should Salesforce and HubSpot coexist before migration?

Sometimes. Coexistence can reduce cutover risk, but it also creates sync and source-of-truth risks. Define which system owns each record and field before both systems are active.

How long does a Salesforce-to-HubSpot migration take?

There is no responsible fixed answer without discovery. Record volume, custom objects, data quality, activities, files, automation, integrations, reporting, permissions, testing, and stakeholder availability all affect timing.

What should be tested before cutover?

At minimum: counts, required fields, owners, associations, dates, picklist values, files and history, duplicates, workflow outcomes, permissions, and decision-critical reports. Every exception needs an owner and disposition.

Scope the migration before changing production

Emergent Logic can help Canadian and US businesses assess whether to migrate, coexist, or repair; map the data and automation; and define test, cutover, rollback, and handoff controls.

Before selecting outside help, use the CRM implementation partner evaluation framework to compare delivery boundaries, data controls, testing, change control, and handoff.

Salesforce to HubSpot migration: a decision and QA checklist