Does HubSpot use OpenAI? A practical guide for 2025

It feels like every software tool is rolling out AI features these days, and a massive platform like HubSpot is no different. All the buzz around its new capabilities usually boils down to one question: "Does HubSpot use OpenAI?"

The short answer is yes, but it’s not as simple as flipping a switch. HubSpot has woven OpenAI’s tech into its platform in a couple of different ways, and each comes with its own set of uses, costs, and headaches. This guide will give you a straight-up, no-fluff look at how HubSpot works with OpenAI, what you’ll actually pay, and the practical hurdles you’ll face.

While the integrations are powerful on paper, they aren’t always the easiest or most affordable solution, especially if your main goal is to automate customer support. Let’s get into it.

Does HubSpot use OpenAI? Understanding HubSpot’s AI: Breeze vs. OpenAI

Okay, first let’s clear something up. HubSpot has its own native AI called "Breeze." This is what powers many of the built-in features you see, like generating marketing copy or offering sales predictions inside the CRM. Think of it as HubSpot’s in-house AI.

But what most people are really curious about are the direct connections to OpenAI’s technology. HubSpot offers two main ways to do this.

Does HubSpot use OpenAI via the HubSpot ChatGPT connector?

This is a tool that links your HubSpot CRM with a paid ChatGPT account. Its whole purpose is analysis. You can hop into the ChatGPT interface, ask plain-English questions about your CRM data, and get back some pretty detailed reports. It’s almost like having a data analyst on standby.

Does HubSpot use OpenAI through the OpenAI workflow action?

This one is more about doing things. It’s a feature inside HubSpot’s automation tools that lets you use your own OpenAI API key to send data from your CRM to OpenAI and get a response. You can then use that response to trigger actions in a workflow, like summarizing call notes, drafting an email, or tidying up messy data.

Using the HubSpot OpenAI connector for research

The first option, the HubSpot connector for ChatGPT, is all about digging deep into your data. It’s designed to help you make sense of the mountains of information in your CRM without having to build a bunch of complicated reports.

Instead of messing around with filters and dashboards, you can just ask something like, “What were the most common reasons we lost deals last quarter?” or “Give me a summary of our main customer support trends from the last six months.” ChatGPT crunches your HubSpot data and spits out an AI-generated answer.

How it helps marketing and sales teams

This can be genuinely helpful for big-picture planning. Here are a few examples:

• Marketing: You could ask it to identify your best-converting customer segments or summarize campaign results across different channels.

• Sales: It’s handy for checking on your pipeline’s health, spotting common bottlenecks, or creating target account lists based on a dozen different data points in your CRM.

• Support: You might analyze seasonal ticket spikes to figure out staffing needs for the next quarter.

The limitations of the ChatGPT connector

While it’s a neat tool for analysis, the connector has some real-world drawbacks that can get in the way.

• It’s for looking, not doing. This is the biggest one. The tool gives you insights, but it gives them to you inside ChatGPT. It can’t automatically take action back in HubSpot. You can’t ask it to tag a support ticket, reply to a customer, or update a contact’s info. A person on your team still has to go back and do that by hand.

• It forces you to switch tabs. To use it, your team has to leave HubSpot and work in a different tool. This constant app-hopping is disruptive and adds a little bit of friction to an already busy day.

• It requires another subscription. You need a paid ChatGPT Plus, Team, or Enterprise plan to even use the connector. That’s another tool to manage and another bill to pay.

• Data security can be a worry. HubSpot says the connector respects your CRM permissions, but the thought of sending sensitive customer data to an outside platform makes a lot of businesses nervous. As some users have pointed out online, this can turn into a compliance headache for bigger companies.

Using OpenAI in HubSpot workflows

The second method is the "Ask OpenAI Assistant" action in HubSpot’s workflows. This is where you can get more hands-on and build custom AI-powered steps directly into your automations. It lets you plug in your own paid OpenAI account and use it to process information from your CRM records.

This is where you can start automating tasks that are a bit more complex than your standard if/then rules.

Workflow examples

The possibilities are pretty cool, and some teams have found clever ways to use this:

• Auto-summarize notes: You can have a workflow trigger whenever a new note or email is logged on a deal. The OpenAI action can read the text and write a quick summary into a custom field, making pipeline reviews a whole lot faster.

• Draft personalized emails: You could set up a workflow that cooks up a draft follow-up email based on what a contact has been doing on your website and what you know about them in the CRM. The workflow then creates a task for a sales rep to review, tweak, and send.

• Clean up data automatically: If you have messy data coming in from forms (like "Georgia," "GA," and "ga."), you could use an OpenAI action to standardize it all to the proper two-letter state code.

The hidden hurdles and fine print

This all sounds great, but there are a few big roadblocks that HubSpot’s marketing materials don’t always put front and center.

• It’s an enterprise-only feature. This is the biggie. The OpenAI workflow action is only available on Marketing, Sales, or Service Hub Enterprise plans. That price wall immediately puts it out of reach for most small and mid-sized businesses.

• It’s a "bring your own key" deal. HubSpot doesn’t pay for your OpenAI usage. You have to connect your own paid OpenAI API account, and you get billed directly by OpenAI for every single time a workflow action runs. This leads to unpredictable, usage-based costs that can, as some users have put it, "explode" if you’re not watching them carefully.

• The setup isn’t exactly a walk in the park. While it’s sold as a no-code tool, you still need a bit of technical comfort. You have to get an API key, learn how to write good prompts, and manage data permissions. As you can see in OpenAI community forums, people often run into weird issues like their API access getting blocked by security tools, which leads to a lot of frustration.

The true cost of using OpenAI with HubSpot

When you add it all up, using OpenAI with HubSpot isn’t just about installing an app. It’s a major investment of both money and time.

Breaking down the price

Here’s what it actually costs to even get your foot in the door with the OpenAI workflow action.

• HubSpot’s entry fee: First, you need an Enterprise plan. The Marketing Hub Enterprise plan, for instance, comes with a serious price tag.

Plan	Starting Price (Monthly)	Key Requirements
Enterprise	$3,600/mo	Includes 10,000 marketing contacts. Requires a one-time $7,000 onboarding fee.

Source: HubSpot Pricing Page

• OpenAI API costs: On top of that $3,600 a month, you’re also paying OpenAI for every API call. This is billed per token (basically, per word processed), which makes it almost impossible to predict your monthly spend, especially if you have a busy support team.

• HubSpot credits: To make things even more confusing, some of HubSpot’s own native AI features (the "Breeze" ones) use up "HubSpot Credits." So you can end up juggling your HubSpot subscription, your HubSpot Credits, and a separate bill from OpenAI.

Why this model is a tough sell for most support teams

This whole setup is built for large companies, not for the average support team just trying to work a bit smarter.

The high starting cost is an immediate deal-breaker for most small businesses. And the fragmented system, where you’re trying to manage native AI, a separate ChatGPT connector, and API-based workflows, just feels clunky.

But most importantly, the entire system is built around your CRM data. That means all the crucial knowledge living in your other tools, like your Confluence wiki, your Google Docs, or even your past support tickets in a help desk like Zendesk, is stuck in a silo, completely invisible to the AI.

A simpler path: Unify your knowledge with eesel AI

For teams that need powerful and accessible AI without the enterprise price tag or technical headaches, there are tools built specifically for this.

Go live in minutes, not months

Unlike HubSpot’s gated, sales-heavy process, eesel AI is built to be self-serve. You can sign up, connect your help desk, and have a working AI agent in just a few minutes, no demos or sales calls needed. With one-click connections for help desks like Zendesk, Intercom, and Freshdesk, eesel AI fits right into your current workflow instead of making you change tools.

A workflow showing the quick, self-serve implementation process of eesel AI, from connecting data to going live.

Train on everything, not just CRM data

This is the key difference. eesel AI connects to all your knowledge sources to create a single brain for your support team. It learns from your help desk, internal wikis like Confluence and Notion, chat tools like Slack, and most importantly, your history of past support tickets. This gives the AI the full picture so it can provide complete and accurate answers every time.

An infographic showing how eesel AI connects to multiple knowledge sources beyond the CRM to provide comprehensive support.

Test it out with powerful simulations

How do you know if your AI is going to work before unleashing it on customers? With HubSpot, you pretty much have to build it and hope for the best. With eesel AI, you can use a simulation mode to test your setup on thousands of your own past tickets. You can see exactly how the AI would have replied, get solid forecasts on resolution rates, and calculate your potential savings before a single customer ever talks to it.

A screenshot of the eesel AI simulation mode, which tests the AI's performance on past tickets to forecast resolution rates.

Transparent pricing without the surprises

eesel AI offers straightforward, predictable pricing plans that aren’t based on confusing credits or fees for every ticket it solves. This is a direct answer to the unpredictable and often expensive nature of the HubSpot and OpenAI combo, giving you a clear idea of what you’re paying from day one.

Is the HubSpot OpenAI integration right for you?

So, back to the original question: does HubSpot use OpenAI? Yes, it does. But its integrations are clearly built for large companies with big budgets, technical teams, and a world that revolves entirely around their CRM.

The ChatGPT connector is a decent tool for analysis, and the workflow action offers some slick automation, but both are wrapped in layers of cost and complexity. For most support teams, the goal isn’t just to analyze data; it’s to solve customer problems quickly and correctly without breaking the bank. A fragmented, expensive system tied to a CRM isn’t always the best tool for that job.

Modern, dedicated AI platforms offer a more unified, affordable, and straightforward way to automate support. They connect to all your knowledge, play nice with the tools you already use, and let you automate with confidence.

Want an AI that actually simplifies things?

If you’re looking for an AI solution that brings all your knowledge together, works with your existing setup, and comes with predictable costs, give eesel AI a try. You can set up your first AI agent in minutes and see what’s possible.