It seems like everyone is talking about how AI can revolutionize sales, marketing, and service, especially within a beast of a platform like HubSpot. The promise is always the same: let AI handle the repetitive tasks, pull smarter insights from your data, and help you create personalized experiences that don't feel like they came from a robot.
But if you've tried to actually do it, you know it can be a real headache.
That’s why we’re laying it all out. This guide will walk you through the three main ways you can get AI and HubSpot working together: using HubSpot's own tools, connecting external models like OpenAI, or bringing in a unified AI platform. By the time you're done reading, you’ll have a much clearer idea of which path is right for your team.
Understanding HubSpot's native AI, Breeze
Breeze is HubSpot's homegrown suite of AI tools. It’s not one single product but a collection of features designed to work with the data you already have sitting in your CRM.
It's split into a few key components:
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Breeze Assistant: Think of this as your personal AI helper for day-to-day tasks like drafting content, prepping for meetings, or running analysis on your CRM data.
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Breeze Agents: These are a bit more specialized, acting like AI-powered teammates that can handle specific jobs, like prospecting for your sales team or answering basic customer service questions.
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Embedded AI features: These are the little helpers sprinkled throughout the platform, like the AI Blog Writer, AI Email Writer, and the Reporting Assistant that you might have already stumbled upon.
For teams already deep in the HubSpot world, Breeze is the most obvious place to start. It’s pretty good at tasks that only need information that’s already stored inside your HubSpot portal.
Option 1: Using HubSpot's native AI in workflows
This is the most straightforward route. You’re using the tools HubSpot provides right out of the box, which means they fit perfectly into the platform's interface and workflows you're used to.
Key features and common use cases
The heart of HubSpot's AI automation is the "Ask Breeze" action you can drop into your workflows. You can use it to generate text, summarize info, or update properties based on a prompt you feed it.
Here are a few practical examples of what that looks like:
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Qualifying leads: You could set up a workflow that looks at a new form submission and uses Breeze to assign a lead score based on the info provided.
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Drafting follow-ups: When a deal moves to a new stage, you can automatically create a task for a sales rep with a pre-written follow-up email drafted by Breeze, ready for a personal touch.
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Standardizing data: If your data is a bit messy, like having various spellings for country names ("USA," "United States"), you can use a Breeze workflow to clean it up and keep your property values consistent.
The limitations of a "walled garden" approach
Now for the reality check. The biggest downside to Breeze is that it lives in a "walled garden." It's designed to work exclusively with data that's inside HubSpot, which means it can't tap into real-time, external information.
This brings us right back to that common problem people face: if you want an AI to "review a contact’s website and write a report," Breeze will simply tell you it can’t access the internet. It wasn't built for that. Its world begins and ends with your CRM data.
On top of that, the most useful AI features, like the advanced agents and workflow actions, are often locked behind HubSpot’s priciest subscription tiers. For a lot of businesses, the cost is just too steep for what you get.
Understanding HubSpot AI pricing
Most of the AI automation tools that make a real difference are part of HubSpot's Professional and Enterprise plans. It's important to look at the full cost, because it's more than just the monthly fee.
| Feature Tier | Starting Price | Required Onboarding Fee | Key AI Features Included |
|---|---|---|---|
| Professional | $800/month | $3,000 | Breeze actions in workflows, Data agent (Beta) |
| Enterprise | $3,600/month | $7,000 | Everything in Pro + Customer journey automation, Lookalike Lists (Beta) |
As you can see, you're not just paying a high monthly subscription. There are also hefty, mandatory onboarding fees that can add thousands to the bill right from the start.
Option 2: Integrating external AI models like OpenAI
If Breeze feels a bit too boxed in, the next step is a more hands-on, DIY approach. This involves connecting HubSpot to more powerful external AI models, like the ones from OpenAI.
Using the official HubSpot OpenAI integration
HubSpot has an "Ask OpenAI Assistant" action for workflows that lets you plug in your own OpenAI account.
The upside is that this gives you access to models that are much more capable than Breeze. You can write more complex prompts and get more sophisticated answers. But it also comes with its own set of hurdles:
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You have to set up and manage a separate OpenAI account and keep your API key secure.
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You get billed directly by OpenAI for every API call your workflow makes. This usage-based cost can be unpredictable and difficult to budget for, especially as your automations grow.
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The setup is more technical, and you’re still limited by the specific functionality of that one workflow action.
Using the HubSpot connector for ChatGPT
HubSpot also offers a connector for ChatGPT, but it's really important to know what it does (and doesn't) do. This tool gives ChatGPT read-only access to your HubSpot data. That means you can ask it questions and get analysis outside of HubSpot.
The big limitation is that it’s an analytical tool, not an automation tool. You can't use it to trigger workflows, update records, or do anything inside HubSpot. It’s handy for research, but it won’t help automate your actual work.
The complexity of custom and low-code solutions
For maximum flexibility, some teams go all-in with third-party automation platforms like n8n or Make. These tools let you build custom connections between HubSpot, OpenAI, and just about any other app you can think of.
While this gives you total control, it's also the most technically demanding option by a long shot. You'll need someone with the skills to build, test, and maintain these workflows. Every new connection is another thing that can break, and you can easily find yourself spending more time fixing the plumbing between your tools than actually improving your processes.
Option 3: Using a unified AI platform
This leads us to a more modern, balanced approach. Instead of choosing between a limited native tool and a complex custom setup, you can use a unified AI platform. This gives you the horsepower of external AI models without the headache of building and managing it all yourself.
A platform like eesel AI is built for exactly this scenario. It plugs directly into the tools you already use, including HubSpot, without making you overhaul your entire help desk or CRM.
How a unified platform helps
A unified platform is designed to get around the exact roadblocks we’ve been talking about.
- Unified knowledge: While Breeze is stuck with your CRM data, eesel AI connects to all of your company's knowledge. It can learn from your Confluence pages, Google Docs, past support tickets, and more. This gives it a much broader and more accurate understanding when it generates responses.
An infographic showing how a unified AI platform connects various knowledge sources, a key strategy for how to integrate AI with HubSpot effectively.-
Custom actions & external lookups: This is the direct fix for the problem that got us started. You can configure eesel AI with "AI Actions" to perform real-time lookups using any API. For instance, you could build an automation that says: "When a demo is booked in HubSpot, have an eesel AI agent scrape the prospect's website, summarize their key services, and add that summary as a note on their HubSpot contact record." Finally, your AI can see the outside world.
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Self-serve & simple setup: Forget about mandatory sales calls and pricey onboarding packages. You can get started with eesel AI on your own in just a few minutes. It's a completely different experience from the high-cost setup required for premium HubSpot features or the deep technical work needed for custom solutions.
A smarter way: Testing and control
One of the biggest worries with AI is launching it and not knowing how it will perform. This is where eesel AI’s simulation mode is a huge help. You can test your AI agent on thousands of your historical HubSpot records to see exactly how it would have responded in past situations. This gives you a solid forecast of its performance and potential ROI before it ever interacts with a live customer or runs in a real workflow.
A screenshot of the eesel AI simulation mode, demonstrating a risk-free way to test how to integrate AI with HubSpot before going live.This kind of risk-free testing just isn't an option with HubSpot's native tools or custom-built integrations.
You also get fine-grained control. You can decide exactly which types of contacts, deals, or tickets the AI should handle. You can start small with a very specific use case, and as you see how it performs and build confidence, you can gradually let it handle more.
Choosing the right integration method
So, what's the best move for you? It really boils down to your team's needs, budget, and how comfortable you are with technical setups.
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HubSpot Native AI (Breeze): This is your go-to for simple, internal automations, especially if you’re already on a premium HubSpot plan and your AI doesn't need to access any outside data.
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External/Custom AI (OpenAI): This path is for technical teams who have very specific requirements and the in-house talent to build and maintain their own complex solutions.
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Unified AI Platform (eesel AI): For most businesses, this is the sweet spot. It gives you a powerful, flexible, and easy-to-manage solution that connects HubSpot to all your other tools and knowledge.
If you want to unlock AI automations for real-world scenarios, the ones that require your AI to be aware of information outside your CRM, a platform designed for that purpose is going to be the most practical and scalable solution.
Ready to see how a unified AI platform can boost your HubSpot workflows without all the complexity? Sign up and build your first AI agent with eesel AI in minutes.
Frequently asked questions
HubSpot's native AI, Breeze, is limited to internal CRM data. To enable AI to access external information or browse the internet, you would need to either integrate external AI models like OpenAI directly or utilize a unified AI platform designed for external lookups and knowledge sources.
Most impactful AI automation features in HubSpot's native Breeze suite are part of Professional and Enterprise plans. These tiers incur significant monthly fees (e.g., $800+ for Pro, $3,600+ for Enterprise) along with mandatory, hefty onboarding fees ($3,000-$7,000).
Yes, integrating external AI models directly often involves setting up and securing separate API keys, which adds technical complexity. Additionally, you are billed directly by the AI provider for usage, leading to potentially unpredictable and difficult-to-budget costs as your automations scale.
A unified AI platform offers broader knowledge access by connecting to all your company's data sources, not just HubSpot. It also enables custom actions for real-time external lookups and provides self-serve setup, often with advanced testing features like simulation modes for risk mitigation.
HubSpot's native Breeze AI is excellent for tasks within your CRM's "walled garden." You can use it in workflows to qualify leads, draft follow-up emails, or standardize data by cleaning up property values based on information already present in HubSpot.
Unified AI platforms often offer simulation modes that allow you to test AI agents against historical data, predicting performance before live deployment. This enables fine-grained control over which records the AI handles, allowing for gradual scaling and confidence-building.
