Organizations at the mid-market and enterprise levels are increasingly considering migrating from Marketo to HubSpot. There is a 13% expected increase in the ABM market’s revenue between 2024 and 2030 (reaching $2.39 billion), according to Maximize Market Research.
So it’s no surprise then that HubSpot is becoming an increasingly popular choice.
The all-in-one capabilities of HubSpot make it an attractive platform for those who use Adobe Experience Cloud or have extensive ABM experience.
Several factors play into people’s decision to commit to a Marketo HubSpot migration, the foremost being Adobe’s push for customers to adopt Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) and Experience Cloud bundling, as well as high TCO.
Adobe has announced a further set of price hikes across its products, making it the perfect time for ABM practitioners and organizations to consider moving to HubSpot.
In this blog, we’ll provide you a detailed breakdown of what’s involved in the Marketo to HubSpot migration, a few signs that it’s time to move to HubSpot from Marketo, the essential steps to make the migration as successful as possible, how long the Marketo to HubSpot migration takes, the pitfalls of the migration process, and when a migration to HubSpot makes sense, and when you should stay with Marketo.
TL;DR
- The Marketo to HubSpot migration includes several factors, such as data, lead scoring, lifecycle stages, CRM sync, etc.
- The TCO of Adobe Marketo is significantly higher than HubSpot when taking price hikes and add-ons into account.
- The migration process goes smoothly with the help of HubSpot’s Marketing Hub Enterprise and Operational Hub Professional.
- Intentional field-mapping is the best way to ensure a frictionless migration from Marketo to HubSpot.
- The pitfalls of the Marketo-to-HubSpot migration include integration complexities, data mapping, database cleanup, rebuilding complex marketing campaigns, and adoption preparation.
What’s Included in a Marketo to HubSpot Migration?
When heading into the Marketo-to-HubSpot migration, it’s important to set the correct expectations from the start. It isn’t a simple export-import CRM migration. Marketo’s object model (Smart Lists, Smart Campaigns, Programs) doesn’t match 1:1 to HubSpot’s object model (Lists, Workflows, Campaigns). Because of this, everything has to be rebuilt and not simply moved. Here is a small guide on the rebuild that’s required:
Data
- Contact records – In your contact records, there is a need for both standard and custom field migration, and most importantly, field-type mapping. Marketo’s field types (string, date, score) don’t always match seamlessly to HubSpot’s property types, so some fields need reformatting more than 1:1 copying.
- Static lists – This can be migrated straightforwardly to HubSpot’s static lists.
- Smart lists – This needs to be rebuilt as HubSpot active lists with an equivalent logic to the filter. Marketo operates under an “any/all” filter logic and activity-based criteria. This is difficult to do a 1:1 match and needs to be built again. Smart lists are a very important part of Marketo’s software, which is why you want to get this right to prevent future issues with users.
- Program membership history – Those with experience in Adobe Account-Based Marketing will be aware of how important program membership history is in the time and resource budget of the migration process. This can be a huge deciding factor in CRM migration as it provides a clear map of decisions regarding data preservation and archiving. If you are considering a migration, you must ask yourself how much of the historical program data is worth preserving. This serves as a great exercise in data hygiene.
- Data Hygiene pass – When using this as an opportunity to discard redundant data that serves no purpose, take into account that you should also conduct a process that leads to standardized formatting. When you get rid of unengaged contacts before the CRM migration, it saves you money in HubSpot’s contact-tier pricing, which results in bloated costs. Cost-saving is especially important in year one of HubSpot usage, as there are also added implementation and migration costs.
Read More: HubSpot Consulting Cost in 2026
Automation
- Smart campaigns – Smart campaigns become “HubSpot Workflows”. Marketo has a distinct trigger logic and flow logic that can often require multiple HubSpot workflows to replicate in one Smart Campaign. The use of several workflows in comparison to one Smart Campaign can be a limitation for HubSpot.
- Engagement Programs – Marketo’s Engagement Program is its core nurture-stream tool. This has to be rebuilt using HubSpot workflow delays, goals, and re-enrollment settings. An issue you might face is understanding the actual benefit of the Engagement Program on Marketo. The Engagement Program’s “cast logic” has no specific HubSpot equivalent and therefore needs a workaround. This, too, is a limitation in the migration process.
- Tokens and dynamic content – Marketo’s token-based personalization gets rebuilt using the HubSpot personalization tokens and smart content rules. This is one of the few close 1:1 matches.
- Munchkin tracking code – The Munchkin tracking code on Marketo gets switched into the HubSpot tracking code across all your web properties. Cookies and tracking continuity become difficult as historical behavioral data that’s tied to Munchkin cookies doesn’t carry over to HubSpot. As a result, there is a data gap that needs to be communicated to all teams and stakeholders in advance.
Lead scoring and lifecycle logic
- Score fields – Marketo’s numeric lead score and demographic sub-scores have to be changed to HubSpot’s lead score properties, such as standard or custom score properties. HubSpot also has a newer predictive scoring, so you can use that where it fits.
- Scoring logic – Mapping out the scoring logic change during the migration can be a tricky process. The actual point values and triggering rules need to be built as HubSpot workflow-based scoring criteria. This can be a bit time-consuming and requires a level of reverse data engineering.
- Lifecycle stage mapping – Since Marketo doesn’t have a “lifecycle stage” concept the way HubSpot does, setting clear definitions becomes important. Clear definitions of MQL/SQL, program-based stage changes, and sales-handoff triggers are implemented into HubSpot lifecycle stages and deal stages.
- Re-engagement logic – If your organization has clear rules for discarding stale leads or re-triggering nurtures, these need to be built again because Marketo and HubSpot handle re-entry into automation differently from each other.
Reporting and revenue attribution
- Revenue Cycle Explorer (RCE) reports – Marketo’s reporting layer doesn’t have a HubSpot equivalent, which is why it needs to be redefined and rebuilt using HubSpot’s custom report builder and multi-touch revenue attribution. This helps with long-term full-funnel visibility, showing you exactly how the customer journey leads to specific outcomes.
- Campaign-level performance reports – Email, program, and channel performance dashboards get built natively into HubSpot instead of migrating. While it is time-consuming, it can prevent confusion of data points in the future.
- Attribution model continuity – If your organization uses Bizible or a custom multi-touch model in Marketo, this is especially applicable to you. HubSpot’s attribution reporting is only available at the Enterprise tier, which is why you should factor this in when deciding whether to commit to a migration.
- Historical reporting data – Decide precisely which historical performance data needs to be preserved and exported to HubSpot for year-over-year comparisons. Dashboards don’t migrate, but the data that fuels them does.
CRM sync
- Re-establishing the sync – Marketo-to-Salesforce or Marketo-to-Dynamics must be replaced by HubSpot’s native, bidirectional CRM integration. It’s about creating a different sync architecture rather than a simple reconnection.
- Field mapping parity – Every sync field, such as lead or contact, opportunity/deal, custom objects, etc., needs to be re-mapped and approved so that the syncing doesn’t stop following the cutover plan.
- Sync rules and logic – Marketo’s sync has custom logic for how and when records get pushed into the CRM. One example is records being pushed into the CRM only after reaching MQL. This logic needs to be clearly defined in HubSpot’s sync settings, or else you risk assuming that it will simply carry over, which it won’t.
- Deal stage alignment – This is a key meeting point for marketing and sales teams so they know exactly how to pick up where they left off post-migration. In deal-stage alignment, the lifecycle stage and the CRM deal stage must be stitched together consistently.
- Testing period – We highly recommend a small window where both Marketo and HubSpot run in parallel before the cutover so you can catch any mapping errors before they start influencing actual decisions being made.
Marketo vs. HubSpot: A Realistic 3-Year TCO Comparison
Adobe does not publish Marketo prices as it is usually custom-made quotes based on each organization’s requirements. As a result, we have pieced together two tables based on estimates from various sources.
The HubSpot professional tier is considerably cheaper than Adobe Marketo’s Select and Prime tiers. While the Enterprise version can come up to just as much when accounting for implementation and migration, the reality is that Adobe is a lot less generous when it comes to yearly price hikes. Keep that in mind when looking at the 3-year TCO below:
*These are estimates from various sources such as ITQlick, Mailsoftly, nobounds digital, and knock.ai*
The year-over-year increase in this table is estimated at a conservative 5%. This is according to Adobe’s official policy, but it should be noted that the realistic figure is likely much higher.
*Admin overhead is an estimate based on typical staffing patterns our team observes in migrations, not a published figure*
*The HubSpot figures assume annual billing (as it is a cost saver) and do not include Sales Hub or Service Hub. All the available data is from HubSpot’s official website*
Table 1 compares the Select and Prime tiers on Marketo and the Professional Tier on HubSpot Marketing Hub.
| Cost category | Staying on Marketo | Migration to HubSpot Marketing Hub |
| Platform tier | Select/Prime | Professional |
| One-time Onboarding cost | $3000 | |
| One-time Migration cost | $40000-90000 | |
| Administrative cost | $45,000-$95,000 per year | Often absorbed into a marketing generalist role |
| Hidden/Added cost | $3500-$6000/month or $42,000-$72,000/year or $126,000-$216,000 over 3 years | $8760/month or $105,120/year (for marketing contacts, contact overage, additional seats, usage-based add-ons, marketing SMS, API calls, custom reports, Breeze intelligence credits) |
| Year 1 (only license fee) | $20,540-$45,540 | $9600-$10680 |
| Year 2 | $21,567-$56,700 | $10,080-$11,214 |
| Year 3 | $22,645-$59,535 | $10,584-$11,714 |
| 3-year total (Licensing fee only) | $64,725-$170,235 | $30,264-$33,608 |
| TCO over 3 years (license+ onboarding+ migration+ admin+ hidden cost) | $325,725-$656,235 | $175,684-$179,028 |
Table 1
Table 2 compares the TCO of Adobe Marketo Ultimate vs. the Migration to HubSpot Marketing Hub Enterprise version.
*Marketo’s tiers, pricing, and hidden costs are courtesy of default.com*
*HubSpot Enterprise details are transparent and available on their official website*
*Admin cost for HubSpot Enterprise is courtesy of withsurface.com*
*Migration cost for HubSpot Enterprise is courtesy of noboundsdigital.com*
*The ranges in the table below account for a standard 5%-10% year-over-year increase in licensing fee*
*Both figures are conservative estimates, and the Marketo estimate is likely to be higher than stated*
| Cost Category | Staying in Marketo | Migration to HubSpot Marketing Hub |
| Platform tier | Ultimate | Enterprise |
| One-time onboarding cost | – | $7,000 |
| One-time migration cost | – | $90,000-$200,000 |
| Administrative cost | $100,000-$200,000/year or $300,000-$600,000 over 3 years | $24,000-$95,000/year |
| Hidden/Added cost | $6,000-$10,000/month or $72,000-$120,000/year or $216,000-$360,000 over 3 years | $10,000-$30,000 a year or $120,000-$360,000 over 3 years |
| Year 1 (licensing only) | $72,000 | $43,200/year |
| Year 2 | $75,600-$79,200 | $45,360-$47,520 |
| Year 3 | $79,380-$83,160 | $47,628-$49,896 |
| 3-year total (Licensing fee only) | $226,980-$234,360 | $136,188-$140,616 |
| TCO over 3 years (license+ onboarding+ migration+ admin+ hidden cost) | $374,980-$574,360 | $315,188-$662,616 |
Table 2
Figures are directional estimates based on publicly available pricing and industry benchmarks as of July 2026.
Request a Blueprint 360 Audit for a cost breakdown specific to your database size and stack.
Signs That it’s Time to Move from Marketo to HubSpot
Since Adobe is increasingly pushing Marketo customers toward Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) and Experience Cloud bundling, it has led many to consider the decision to migrate from Marketo to HubSpot.
A high TCO, steep learning curve, slow implementation, limited collaboration tools, and friction of usage have led to many Marketo users considering a move to HubSpot.
These are five clear signs that it’s time to move from Marketo to HubSpot:
- Your database costs more than your usage justifies.
- You need a dedicated admin just to keep things running.
- Marketing and sales still aren’t in the same system.
- You’re paying for Adobe Experience Cloud features you don’t use.
- ABM and attribution reporting have gotten harder to trust.
Essential Steps to Migrate From Marketo to HubSpot
Here are seven essential steps to successfully migrate from Marketo to HubSpot, which include:
Step 1. Audit your current Marketo instance
Inventory every object type – Most organizations have live objects that turn out to be years of abandoned or duplicate data. Auditing Smart campaigns, Smart lists, Static lists, Programs and Program statuses, Engagement Programs, forms, landing pages, email templates, and even tokens can make the migration process significantly easier as it adds a structured, standardized layer.
Flag what’s actually active – Cross-reference the real usage, such as the last-run dates and active enrollments, rather than just assuming that everything that exists in the instance is still needed. It trims down the bloat, and hundreds of Smart campaigns can be reduced to a dozen active and relevant ones.
Document scoring rules and lifecycle logic in their current form – Providing steady documentation ensures that important scoring information lives outside of just one admin’s head.
Assess data quality – Format inconsistent fields, and spot duplicate contacts and old, irrelevant records.
Deliverables – While CRM platforms try to serve as a single source of truth, that can only happen if the data underneath is clean, structured, and organized. Create a full inventory spreadsheet that becomes a source of truth for later steps.
Read More: HubSpot CRM Audit Checklist
Step 2. Decide what moves and what gets removed
Apply the audit findings – Any of the irrelevant, inactive, and duplicate data should be discarded instead of migrating. The long-term cost savings of this are huge.
Business owner sign-off – Work alongside RevOps, SalesOps, and Marketing executives to confirm whether any data points are still needed. This helps prevent a common issue, which is the problems caused by migrating information that serves no purpose just because someone could potentially still use it.
Historical data decision – Make a clear decision on what program membership history and past campaign performance data gets archived, and what gets exported. This is so you can have data that can be referenced in the future.
Set a migration scope document – Create a list of what data will go into HubSpot vs what data will be thrown out. This is the best way to avoid scope creep so the migration doesn’t run over budget.
Step 3. Map fields and programs into HubSpot
Field-level mapping – Every Marketo field (standard and custom) should be mapped into HubSpot’s property equivalent. This includes sorting mismatches, such as Marketo score fields and multi-select fields.
Object-model translation – This is at the heart of the Marketo HubSpot migration. Each object needs a clear translation and mapping document before any rebuilding document. This means understanding that Programs’ equivalents aren’t Campaigns, Smart Lists aren’t the equivalent of Lists, and Engagement Programs are not Workflows.
Naming convention decisions – This is the perfect opportunity to create a standardization in naming (ex – folders, list names, workflow names) rather than creating years’ worth of issues from inconsistent Marketo naming habits.
An object/field-mapping document – Create a document that serves as the foundation of the rebuild and the blueprint for the entire migration process.
Step 4. Rebuild Smart Campaigns as HubSpot Workflows
Translate trigger and flow logic – Marketo divides logic across a Smart list, which has trigger/filter and flow (actions). Each of these Smart campaigns could become multiple HubSpot workflows.
Rebuild engagement programs – By rebuilding and rebranding engagement programs as multi-step nurture workflows with delays, re-enrollment logic, and clear goals, you reduce the issue of Marketo’s “cast (send-time-optimization) not having a direct equivalent in HubSpot.
Recreate token-based personalization – You can recreate token-based personalization by using HubSpot’s personalization tokens and smart content.
Quality assurance (QA) for each rebuilt workflow – Run a QA check against the original Marketo logic before moving on to the next one, instead of building in large batches and testing only at the end.
Step 5: Rebuild lead scoring and lifecycle stages
Recreate scoring logic – Use Marketo’s scoring rules to create a system where point values and triggering criteria are rebuilt as HubSpot scoring properties and workflows.
Define lifecycle stages – Marketo has no native lifecycle stage concept, unlike HubSpot. As a result, MQL/SQL and sales definitions should be formally documented as HubSpot lifecycle stages. This can be a hidden upside of migration as clear definitions make crucial data points easier to access and understand.
Rebuild re-engagement rules – This is necessary for demoting old leads and re-opening nurture, because re-entry logic works differently in Marketo and HubSpot.
Alignment with sales – Ensure that the rebuilt lifecycle stages align with what sales acts on. This is important as it solves the long-standing problem of marketing and sales misalignment
Step 6: Validate reporting and attribution before the cutover
Rebuild core reports – Rebuild campaign performances, email metrics, and program-level dashboards natively inside HubSpot rather than conducting a migration from historical dashboards.
Address attribution model continuity – If your organization used Marketo’s RCE or a Bizible-style multi-touch model, then focus on continuity in the best way possible. HubSpot’s multi-touch attribution is Enterprise-tier only.
Cross-check numbers against Marketo – Run reports in both Marketo and HubSpot side-by-side for a short period before the cutover so that stakeholders and decision-makers actually trust the new data available in HubSpot, rather than discovering gaps and discrepancies only after Marketo has been discontinued.
Export and archive historical performance data – This is the best way to reference year-over-year comparison reporting to ensure that only relevant historical performance data gets carried forward.
Step 7: Train your team
Role-based training – RevOps and Marketing Ops need in-depth training on the HubSpot platform. General marketers need workflow and campaign-building training, while sales needs lifecycle-stage and CRM-sync training.
Documentation handoff – A HubSpot-specific playbook needs to be created to replace the old Marketo one. This must be built from the mapping+scope documents that are already created during the migration process rather than a document written from scratch.
Feedback loop – There must be regular check-ins every 30 days (ideally) to 60 days post-migration to spot the gaps and find the edge cases that weren’t accounted for in the training process.
How long does the Marketo-to-HubSpot migration take?
The Marketo to HubSpot migration timeline is entirely dependent on the size of the organization as well as the database and structural complexity, but it ranges from 6 weeks to 16 weeks. Here is a breakdown of a realistic migration timeline. It should be noted that even after the migration is done, a CRM migration audit should be conducted every 30 to 60 days to spot any gaps and weaknesses:
| Organization tier | Database & structural complexity | Realistic migration timeline |
| Small business | Under 50,000 contacts; 5–10 basic Smart campaigns; straightforward CRM sync. | 6-8 weeks |
| Mid-market | 50,000–500,000 contacts; 10–30 multi-step workflows; custom field mappings; small data debt. | 8-12 weeks |
| Enterprise | 500,000+ contacts; 30+ complex workflows (nurture tracks); custom objects; heavy Salesforce/MS Dynamics sync. | 12-16 weeks |
When a Marketo-to-HubSpot migration is worth it and when you should stay
Here is a table demonstrating two sides – one where you should migrate from Marketo to HubSpot, and the other where you should stay with Marketo. As a rule of thumb, if three of the points on either side are in your checklist, then you can consider your decision effectively made:
| When a Marketo to HubSpot migration is worth it | When you should stay in Marketo |
| You want a unified CRM/Ops ecosystem | You have massive multi-CRM environments. |
User adoption is stalling |
Your database architecture relies on Custom Objects |
| Content and inbound drive your growth | You have highly rigid global compliance parameters |
| You want faster time-to-market | Your tech stack relies on specialized webhooks |
| You want predictable, all-inclusive pricing | You have a massive database with low email volume |
How The Automation Strategy Group Can Help
With their expertise in platform migrations, Automation Strategy Group has been assisting organizations since 2016, and the experience is quite similar.
Companies migrate onto some new platforms and spend months recovering from dysfunctional processes, absence of information, and inadequately trained employees.
Marketo to HubSpot migrations are no different. Automation Strategy Group has walked plenty of businesses through this exact switch, and every migration is treated like the team’s own system is on the line.
That means contacts, campaigns, and historical data land in HubSpot clean and usable from day one, not buried in some CSV that needs fixing six months later.
What sets Automation Strategy Group apart is that data doesn’t just get moved and left there. Each migration is mapped around the client’s actual business goals, automation and workflows get rebuilt so nothing is lost in translation, and sales, marketing, and service teams are aligned in the new system instead of working around it.
The team has handled this for SaaS companies, service firms, and everything in between, including a seven-figure business transitioned with zero disruption to daily operations.
Being a certified HubSpot solutions partner, Automation Strategy Group has exceptional knowledge of the platform but, more importantly, has the know-how for ensuring quick adoption and some useful results for the customer.
Several businesses end up with a serious charge of HubSpot but never use a fraction of its capabilities as a result of a very low quality of the migration due to a lack of knowledge about the business needs of the organization.
The working process of Automation Strategy Group is different in that it offers a structured plan, transparent communication process, and attentive support.
Schedule a free strategy call with us to map out your Marketo to HubSpot migration.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to migrate from Marketo to HubSpot?
For the Professional tier, Marketo to HubSpot migration costs between $52,600 and $103,680 – a one-time onboarding fee ($3k), migration cost ($40k-90k), and the first year license fee ($9600-$10680). For the Enterprise tier, it costs between $140,200 and $250,200 – a one-time onboarding fee ($7000), migration costs ($90k-200k), and the first year license fee ($43,200).
How long does the Marketo-to-HubSpot migration take?
A Marketo-to-HubSpot typically takes 6 to 16 weeks. The timeline depends heavily on database size, data hygiene, and integration complexity. Small businesses can do it in 6 to 8 weeks, while enterprise instances with custom CRM objects and legacy webhooks require 12 to 16 weeks to ensure zero data loss and minimal friction.
Can HubSpot replace Marketo for Account-Based Marketing (ABM)?
Yes, HubSpot can replace Marketo for account-based marketing (ABM), especially for mid-market and enterprise teams looking for unified sales and marketing execution. While Marketo thrives at highly complex, data-heavy routing, HubSpot replaces this with intuitive account scoring, visual workflow builders, and a native CRM ecosystem.
Does HubSpot support Account-Based Marketing (ABM)?
Yes, HubSpot natively supports account-based marketing. HubSpot’s dedicated ABM toolkit includes target account dashboards, company-level tiering, automated buying committee mapping, and account-based reporting. This functionality allows marketing and sales teams to collaborate on high-value accounts directly within a single CRM platform.
