HubSpot's new AI suite, Breeze AI, is getting a lot of attention. If you're in sales or marketing, you've likely seen the slick demos and thought, "Could this finally be the thing that simplifies my work?"
But then you hop over to Reddit and see a different side of the story. People are calling it a
that
walled off from all their other tools. So, what's the real deal? Let's cut through the marketing noise and take a look at how HubSpot’s AI tools actually hold up in the real world, the good, the bad, and the siloed.
What are HubSpot's AI tools?
First off, Breeze AI isn't one single tool. It's the name HubSpot has given to all the AI features scattered throughout its platform. It's their way of building an AI assistant that lives exclusively inside their own world.
The main pieces you'll come across are:
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Breeze Copilot: This is your everyday AI helper, kind of like having ChatGPT built-in. It can handle quick jobs like summarizing a contact's history, whipping up an email draft, or finding a simple piece of data from your HubSpot records.
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AI Agents: These are the more specialized bots designed to run on their own. You've got the Customer Agent for support, the Content Agent for marketing, and the Prospecting Agent for sales.
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AI Intelligence: This part is all about beefing up your data. Think automatic data enrichment (like finding company details), figuring out buyer intent from website visits, and lead scoring.
It sounds like they've covered all the bases, right? But the real question is how well these parts actually work together day-to-day.
Content creation and task automation: The basics
A lot of people use HubSpot's AI for content creation. It's handy for getting past that blinking cursor when you're starting a blog post, marketing email, or social media update. Since it’s built right into the editor, you can get a first draft going without toggling between tabs.
But here's the thing: the content it spits out is... well, pretty generic. User feedback and our own experience confirm that you'll spend a fair bit of time editing it to sound like your actual brand. The AI only really learns from the prompt you give it, not from the goldmine of your team's best-performing emails or helpful support answers. It has no clue what really clicks with your customers.
This is a classic problem with built-in AI. More specialized tools like eesel AI get around this by learning directly from your team's actual work, thousands of past support tickets, emails, and docs. That means the AI picks up your brand's voice, tone, and what solutions have worked before, right from the start. You end up spending way less time editing and trying to craft the perfect prompt.
A screenshot of the eesel AI landing page, showcasing the platform's main features and benefits. This visual supports the discussion of eesel AI as an alternative in this HubSpot AI tools review.AI agents for support and sales: A closer look
Some of HubSpot's flashiest AI features are its agents. They're meant to automate entire workflows, but they have some serious drawbacks that aren't immediately obvious.
The customer agent needs a perfect setup
HubSpot's Customer Agent is supposed to handle live chats and support tickets by using your HubSpot knowledge base. Sounds great, but there's a huge catch. It only works well if your knowledge base is flawless: perfectly organized, complete, and always up-to-date.
Let's be honest, whose is?
The real problem runs deeper. The answers to tough customer questions are almost never sitting neatly in one spot. They're usually spread out across Google Docs, Confluence pages, Notion wikis, and old Slack conversations. HubSpot's agent can't see any of that information, so it's blind to the context needed to answer a whole lot of questions.
This is exactly why a dedicated AI platform is different. For example, eesel AI is built from the ground up to connect all your scattered knowledge. It plugs into your help desk, wikis, documents, and chat apps to give your support AI one unified brain. You don't need to spend months building a perfect knowledge base first. eesel AI just works with the information you already have, no matter where it lives.
This infographic from our HubSpot AI tools review illustrates how eesel AI centralizes knowledge from various sources to enhance support automation.The prospecting agent is stuck in the CRM
It's a similar story with the Prospecting Agent. It's designed to help sales reps research leads and personalize their emails using data from the CRM. It's decent for getting a quick summary of a contact's history or deal status from within HubSpot.
But just like the support agent, it's trapped inside the HubSpot bubble. All the juicy details that give you the full picture of a lead, technical docs, project plans in a shared folder, or even internal notes in another app, are completely off-limits. The AI can only see a fraction of the customer relationship, so its recommendations are never as sharp as they could be.
The hidden problems: Getting started and getting data
Beyond the feature list, how an AI tool feels to use is what really counts. And this is where HubSpot's AI can create some big headaches.
The 'black box' problem of flying blind
A lot of users say that setting up HubSpot's AI feels like working with a "black box." You tweak some settings, write a few prompts, and then you just have to cross your fingers, flick the 'on' switch, and hope it doesn't say something weird to a real customer. There's no way to safely test it or see where it might stumble before you set it loose.
That's a pretty stressful way to work, and it's why most people only trust it with the most simple, boring questions.
This is a huge difference compared to a tool like eesel AI, which has a Simulation Mode. Before you let the AI talk to anyone, you can run it against thousands of your past support tickets in a totally safe environment. You can see exactly how it would have answered real customer questions, get a solid prediction of your automation rate, and find any weak spots in your knowledge, all before it ever goes live. That kind of risk-free testing gives you the confidence to actually automate important stuff.
A screenshot of the eesel AI simulation feature, which allows for safe testing. This visual is part of our comprehensive HubSpot AI tools review.The same old data silo problem
If you haven't noticed the theme yet, here it is: HubSpot's AI tools are built to work with HubSpot data and nothing else.
But that's not how anyone actually works. Our information is spread across a dozen different apps we use every day. An AI that can't see all that is always going to be working with one hand tied behind its back. It can only ever give you a piece of the puzzle.
HubSpot pricing: The actual costs
The pricing is where the platform's limitations really start to sting. The most useful AI features aren't included in the free or starter plans. If you want the Customer Agent or Prospecting Agent, you have to upgrade to one of their very expensive higher-tier plans.
Here’s a quick look at the costs:
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To get the advanced AI agents, you need the Professional plan ($800/mo) or the Enterprise plan ($3,600/mo).
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On top of that huge monthly bill, many AI tools use HubSpot Credits. This means you're paying extra for usage, which can make your costs jump around unexpectedly.
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And don't forget the mandatory one-time onboarding fees of $3,000 and $7,000 for the Professional and Enterprise plans. That's a massive hidden cost just to get in the door.
| Feature | Free/Starter Tier | Professional Tier | Enterprise Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Content Generation | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Customer Agent | No | Yes (Requires Credits) | Yes (Requires Credits) |
| Prospecting Agent | No | Yes (Requires Credits) | Yes (Requires Credits) |
| Buyer Intent / Data Enrichment | No | Yes | Yes |
| Mandatory Onboarding Fee | No | $3,000 | $7,000 |
This is a very different approach from platforms like eesel AI, which have straightforward, predictable pricing. You pay based on what you actually use, not some arbitrary plan level, and there are no surprise resolution fees or giant, mandatory onboarding bills before you can even begin.
The verdict: A good start, but a walled garden
So, what's the bottom line? HubSpot's AI tools are a nice-to-have for teams that are all-in on the HubSpot ecosystem and just need a hand with basic content writing. The integration is smooth, but only if your whole world already revolves around HubSpot.
For everyone else, the cracks start to show. The tools are stuck in a data silo, you can't test them safely before they go live, and the best features are locked away behind pricey plans with big, hidden fees.
If your team needs an AI that's powerful and flexible enough to work with all your tools and knowledge, not just one, then HubSpot's built-in AI probably isn't the right fit.
Your team needs an AI that connects to everything
Instead of a walled-off AI that costs a fortune and requires you to just hope for the best, your team needs an AI that can bring all your knowledge together, let you test without risk, and plug right into the tools you're already using.
See how eesel AI can connect to your apps in minutes and give your support team an automation partner they can actually rely on.
This video shows you how to use HubSpot's AI tools to save time and get better results on marketing tasks.
Frequently asked questions
This review suggests Breeze AI is a good starting point for basic content generation and simple tasks if your operations are fully within HubSpot. However, for more complex automation or tasks requiring external data, its effectiveness is limited due to data silos.
The content generated by Breeze Copilot tends to be generic and often requires significant editing to match a brand's specific voice and tone. It primarily learns from the prompt, not from your extensive historical brand content or successful internal documents.
The data silo problem is highly significant, as HubSpot's AI can only access data within its own ecosystem. This severely limits its ability to provide comprehensive answers or insights, especially when crucial information resides in other applications like Google Docs or Slack.
The Customer Agent relies on a perfectly organized and complete HubSpot knowledge base, which is rarely achievable for most businesses. It struggles because it cannot access critical context or answers found in external documents, wikis, or past chat conversations outside of HubSpot.
The 'black box' problem means there's no safe way to extensively test HubSpot's AI against real-world scenarios before going live. This leads to uncertainty and limits trust, often restricting its use to only the most basic questions; mitigation is difficult without an external testing mechanism.
Advanced AI features like the agents are locked behind expensive Professional or Enterprise plans, costing hundreds to thousands per month. Additionally, many tools use HubSpot Credits, leading to unpredictable usage costs, and there are mandatory, large one-time onboarding fees.
