HubSpot user management: users, seats, teams and permissions

Setting up HubSpot users correctly helps protect your CRM data, control subscription costs and give each person the access they need.

User access is managed from Settings → Users & Teams. The available options depend on your HubSpot subscription and the administrator’s permissions.

How HubSpot user access works

Several settings combine to determine a user’s HubSpot experience:

• Seat: determines which subscription tools and features the user can access.
• Permissions: control the actions the user can take, such as viewing, editing, exporting or deleting information.
• Team: groups the user with colleagues for purposes including record visibility, reporting and routing.
• Preset: applies default preferences, such as the user’s homepage, dashboard, language, email signature and notification profile.
• Permission set: provides a reusable collection of permissions for users performing a particular role.

A seat and a permission are not the same thing. A user may have permission to use a feature but still be unable to access it if their assigned seat does not include that feature.

Adding a HubSpot user

Super Admins can add users from Settings → Users & Teams.

When creating a user, review:

• Their email address
• The seat they require
• Their permissions
• Their main and additional teams, where applicable
• Any permission set or preset they should receive

Users can be added individually or, where supported, imported in bulk.

Before sending the invitation, check that the person has only the access required for their role. Avoid granting Super Admin access as a convenient shortcut.

HubSpot guide:
Add and update HubSpot users

Assigning the appropriate seat

A user’s seat determines the HubSpot tools available to them. The seat types available depend on your subscription and pricing model.

Examples can include:

• View-Only Seat
• Core Seat
• Sales Seat
• Service Seat
• Revenue Seat
• Partner Seat
• Developer Seat

Choose a seat according to what the person needs to do, rather than their job title alone.

For example, someone who only reviews dashboards may need a View-Only Seat, while a sales representative using advanced Sales Hub tools may require a Sales Seat.

Paid seats should be reviewed regularly. However, unassigning a paid seat from a user does not automatically stop billing for it. The unassigned seat must be removed from the subscription separately, and the billing change may not take effect until the next subscription term.

HubSpot guide:
Assign and manage seats

Configuring user permissions

Permissions control what users can view, create, edit, export, delete or administer.

Apply the principle of least privilege: give users the access they need to perform their responsibilities without providing unnecessary administrative or data-management capabilities.

Pay particular attention to permissions covering:

• User and account administration
• Billing
• Data exports
• Record deletion
• Property and data-model changes
• Workflows
• Connected applications
• Website, marketing and sales assets

Access should be based on defined roles wherever possible. This makes permissions easier to understand, review and maintain.

HubSpot guide:
Manage user permissions

Using permission sets

Permission sets provide reusable access configurations for groups of users performing similar roles.

For example, you might create separate permission sets for sales representatives, sales managers, marketers and CRM administrators.

Permission sets can improve consistency and reduce the risk of individual users receiving different permissions accidentally.

Permission sets are an Enterprise feature. Super Admin permissions are required to create or edit them, although appropriately authorised users can assign existing permission sets.

Assigning a permission set does not replace the need for the correct seat. The user’s effective access depends on both their permissions and the features included with their seat.

HubSpot guide:
Create and assign permission sets

Organising users into teams

Teams group users according to structures such as:

• Department
• Region
• Brand
• Business unit
• Sales territory
• Customer service function

Teams can influence record visibility, reporting, automation and conversation routing. Your team structure should therefore reflect genuine operational responsibilities rather than being created solely for convenience.

A user can have a main team and, with eligible subscriptions, additional team memberships. Additional team membership does not provide exactly the same reporting and routing behaviour as main team membership.

Teams are available with eligible Professional and Enterprise subscriptions. Nested team structures require Enterprise.

HubSpot guide:
Create and manage teams

Applying user presets

Presets apply default user preferences without requiring each person to configure them individually.

Depending on the available features, a preset can define:

• Default homepage or landing page
• Default dashboard
• Language
• Date and number format
• Email signature
• Notification profile

Presets are available with eligible Professional and Enterprise subscriptions.

Users can change many of their personal preferences after a preset has been applied. Presets should therefore be treated as a consistent starting point rather than a permanent access-control mechanism.

HubSpot guide:
Manage user preferences with presets

Managing notifications

Notifications should help users respond to important activity without overwhelming them.

Notification profiles can support more consistent settings for different roles and can be assigned through user presets. Individual users may still be able to personalise their notification preferences.

When reviewing notification settings, consider which users need to know about:

• Assigned records or tasks
• Form submissions
• Conversations and tickets
• Workflow activity
• Account and security events

Avoid enabling every notification by default. Excessive notifications can make important alerts easier to miss.

Handling role changes and leavers

User access should be updated promptly when somebody changes role or leaves the organisation.

Before deactivating or removing a user:

• Reassign CRM records they own
• Reassign relevant tasks, conversations and tickets
• Review workflows, reports and assets that reference the user
• Transfer any responsibilities that depend on their account
• Unassign or transfer their paid seat where appropriate
• Check whether a separate subscription change is required to reduce future billing

Deactivation is useful when access needs to be suspended while retaining the option to reactivate the user. Removal is more appropriate when the person should no longer remain in the account.

Records are not automatically deleted when their owner is removed, but they may remain assigned to that former user until ownership is changed.

Reviewing user access regularly

User access should be reviewed throughout the life of the HubSpot account, not only when users are first added.

Regular reviews should cover:

• Inactive users
• Unaccepted invitations
• Paid-seat assignments
• Super Admin access
• Export and deletion permissions
• Team membership
• Permission sets
• Presets and notification profiles
• Partner and third-party access
• Leavers and internal role changes

It is also useful to document who can approve new users, paid seats and sensitive permissions.

What can Forbidden help with?

Forbidden can help you:

• Design a practical user and team structure
• Review existing users, seats and permissions
• Identify potentially unnecessary paid-seat assignments
• Create role-based permission recommendations
• Configure teams, permission sets and presets
• Establish onboarding, role-change and leaver processes
• Train administrators responsible for user management

Your organisation remains responsible for approving user access, employment-related decisions and changes that may affect its HubSpot subscription or billing.

Further information

• Add and update HubSpot users
• Assign and manage seats
• Manage user permissions
• Create and assign permission sets
• Create and manage teams
• Manage user preferences with presets