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You're Probably Wasting Free HubSpot Credits

Written by Lucy Strack | Jun 3, 2026 12:59:22 AM

If You’re a Service Team → Test Customer Agent (Carefully)

Customer Agent is where things get interesting. And also where things can go sideways if you rush it.

The AI agent can help resolve customer conversations using your existing knowledge base and support content. Our recommendation is to start with repetitive, low-risk support questions first.

Think:

  • Opening hours
  • Delivery FAQs
  • Account setup instructions
  • Basic troubleshooting
  • Simple policy questions

Do not immediately hand over sensitive or high-context customer conversations.

The goal initially is to reduce repetitive workload for your team, not replace your support team entirely.

 

If You Love Automation → Experiment with AI Workflow Actions

This is where operations teams can create some serious efficiency.

AI workflow actions can:

  • Summarise records
  • Categorise tickets
  • Assist with routing
  • Generate snippets or internal notes
  • Support repetitive admin tasks

But again:

  • Don’t automate chaos

  • Clean process first

  • AI second

If the underlying process is messy, AI usually just helps you make mistakes faster.

 

Buyer Intent Is Powerful… But Be Careful

Buyer Intent can help identify companies engaging with your website and show signals that suggest purchasing interest.

Very, very cool.

Also very easy to over-monitor and burn through credits if you get excited.

Our recommendation:

  • Start with a tightly defined ICP
  • Monitor a small number of high-value companies first
  • Make sure your sales team actually has a follow-up process before scaling usage

Because data without action is just expensive reporting.

 

Not everything “AI-related” inside HubSpot necessarily uses credits

For example:

  • Rule-based chatbots generally do not consume credits
  • Testing environments usually don’t use credits
  • Some enrichment functionality is no longer as heavily tied to credits as it once was

HubSpot is evolving this space quickly, so it’s worth checking the latest product documentation before rolling out anything at scale.

 

The Biggest Mistake We’re Seeing

Teams either:

  • Ignore credits entirely

OR

  • Switch everything on at once with no visibility over usage

Neither is ideal.

The sweet spot is: small experiments with measurable outcomes.

 

A Few Important Things to Know Before You Start

Some important operational notes:

  • Free and View-Only users cannot consume credits
  • Prospecting Agent and Customer Agent both include free trial periods
  • You can exceed your limits if overages are enabled
  • Additional capacity packs can be purchased if needed

And this part matters:

If automatic credit upgrades are enabled, HubSpot can automatically move you into a higher credit tier if usage exceeds your allowance.

So before rolling anything out widely: set usage alerts and monitor adoption carefully.

 

How to Check Your Credit Usage

Inside HubSpot:

Settings → Account & Billing → Usage & Limits

From there you can:

  • Monitor usage
  • Activate trials
  • Review limits
  • Purchase additional capacity if needed

We also strongly recommend ensuring your billing contacts and Super Admins are receiving usage notifications.

Because nothing ruins the excitement of “testing AI” faster than an unexpected bill.

 

The Opportunity Here Is Actually Pretty Simple

Most businesses are already paying for access to these tools through their HubSpot subscription. They’re just not using them yet.

Not because the tools aren’t useful, but because nobody has really explained where to start, how to manage the credits properly, or which use cases are actually worth testing first.

That’s why our recommendation is simple:

Start small.

Pick one team, one process, and one measurable outcome. Put limits and monitoring in place before you scale anything, and focus on practical use cases that genuinely reduce workload or improve visibility for your team.

And please…

Don’t turn every AI feature on just because HubSpot added it.