3 HubSpot Workarounds That Save You Hundreds Per Month
HubSpot gates a lot of genuinely useful features behind expensive plan upgrades. After spending years inside HubSpot portals across US and Canadian companies, these are three workarounds that actually work — tested in live business environments, not theory.
Workaround 01
Run email sequences without Sales Hub paid plan
The problem
HubSpot Sequences — the tool that sends a timed series of personalised emails to individual contacts — requires Sales Hub Starter or above. If you are on the free CRM or a lower tier, you cannot access it natively.
The workaround
Fake a form submission via Zapier when a contact is added to a specific list. This triggers a contact-based workflow in HubSpot that sends a timed series of emails — effectively mimicking a sequence using basic Marketing Hub automation.
How to set it up
Create a static list in HubSpot called something like "Sequence — Outreach." This is your trigger list. Anyone added to this list will enter the sequence.
In Zapier, create a Zap with the trigger: Contact added to list in HubSpot (select your static list). The action: Create or update contact in HubSpot — set a custom property like "Sequence Enrolled = True" and a timestamp.
In HubSpot, build a contact-based workflow triggered by the "Sequence Enrolled = True" property being set. Add your emails as workflow actions with time delays between them — Day 1, Day 3, Day 7, and so on.
Add a goal to the workflow — such as contact replies or books a meeting. When the goal is met, the contact exits the workflow automatically so they do not keep receiving emails after they have responded.
To enrol someone in the sequence, simply add them to the static list. Zapier fires, the property gets set, and the workflow picks them up within minutes.
One thing to note: Workflow emails send from a shared company email address, not from an individual rep's personal inbox like true sequences do. If one-to-one personalisation at the sender level matters for your use case, this workaround covers 80% of the need but not all of it.
Workaround 02
Mimic calculated properties without Operations Hub
The problem
Calculated properties — fields that automatically compute a value based on other properties, like a lead score or a total deal value — require Operations Hub Professional at $720 per month. For most small businesses that is simply not justifiable.
The workaround
Use workflow if/then branches with number-based conditions to manually set a custom number property based on your criteria. It takes more upfront configuration but produces the same result — a property that reflects a calculated value — at zero extra cost.
How to set it up — lead scoring example
Create a custom number property on the contact object called "Lead Score." This is the property your workflow will write to.
Build a contact-based workflow that re-enrols whenever any of your scoring criteria change — job title, company size, email opens, page visits, form submissions, and so on.
Inside the workflow, use if/then branches for each scoring criterion. For example: if job title contains "Director" or "VP" → set Lead Score to 30. If company size is over 50 → add 20. If visited pricing page → add 15.
Stack the branches so the score accumulates across conditions. Use the "Increase property value" action rather than "Set property value" so scores add up rather than overwrite each other.
Add a final branch: if Lead Score is greater than 60 → update lifecycle stage to MQL and notify the sales team. You now have automatic lead qualification without Operations Hub.
Pro tip: Add a first step that resets the Lead Score to 0 every time the workflow re-enrols. This prevents scores from compounding incorrectly when contact properties update.
Workaround 03
A/B test emails without Marketing Hub Professional
The problem
Native A/B testing for marketing emails is locked behind Marketing Hub Professional at $890 per month. If you want to test subject lines, content, or send times on a lower plan, HubSpot simply will not let you do it through the built-in tool.
The workaround
Split your contact list into two segments using a workflow, send different email versions to each segment, and compare results manually in the reporting dashboard. Same data, same insight, no upgrade required.
How to set it up
Create a custom contact property called "AB Test Group" with two options — "A" and "B."
Build a workflow triggered by the list or segment you want to test. Add an if/then branch using a random splitting condition — HubSpot does not have a native coin-flip action, so use contact ID: if Contact ID is even → set AB Test Group = A. If odd → set AB Test Group = B. Contact IDs are assigned sequentially so this produces a roughly 50/50 split.
Create two active lists — one filtered to AB Test Group = A, one to AB Test Group = B. These are your send lists.
Send Email Version A to List A and Email Version B to List B at the same time. Change only one variable between the two versions — subject line, CTA, or content — so your results are meaningful.
After 24 to 48 hours, compare open rates, click rates, and conversions in the Email reporting dashboard. Filter by each send. The version that wins becomes your standard going forward.
One thing to note: This method requires more manual setup than native A/B testing and the statistical significance calculation is on you. For large lists (10,000+ contacts) the results will be meaningful. For smaller lists, treat them as directional rather than conclusive.
The bigger picture
HubSpot is a genuinely powerful platform but it is also very good at making you feel like you need the next plan up to do what you want to do. In reality, most of what small businesses actually need is achievable on lower tiers with the right configuration knowledge.
The workarounds above are not hacks or exploits — they use HubSpot's own features in combinations that HubSpot fully supports. The only difference is knowing they exist.
That said, there are legitimate reasons to upgrade. If your team is hitting volume limits, needs advanced reporting, or wants features that genuinely cannot be replicated — upgrading makes sense. But that should be a deliberate decision based on real need, not a panic upgrade because something looked impossible.
Need help setting any of these up?
We set up HubSpot for businesses across the USA and UK — including these kinds of creative configurations that get more out of the plan you are already on. Book a free 30 minute call and we will take a look at your setup.
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