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Every CRO asks me the same thing on the first call: "When can we turn Salesforce off?"
It's a fair question. It's also the wrong first question. The better one is: when does my team stop working around the CRM and start working in it? Those are two different dates, and most migration plans only track the first one.
If you haven't decided yet whether to move at all, start with should we move from Salesforce to HubSpot. This page assumes the decision is made and you want to know how long it really takes.
What decides how long a Salesforce to HubSpot migration takes?
Four things decide the timeline: how messy the data is, how many tools connect to the CRM, how much of the process you redesign, and when your Salesforce contract renews. The data and the integrations take the most time. The renewal date sets the deadline whether you like it or not.
Here's how each one pushes the date:
- Data volume and mess. A property data company we worked with had about 67,000 contacts to move. Volume alone isn't the problem. Duplicates, dead records and fields nobody understands are what slow you down.
- Integrations. Every tool that reads from or writes to Salesforce needs a new home. Call recording, support desks, billing and the ERP each need their own test.
- Redesign. A one-to-one copy is faster on paper and slower in real life, because the team rebuilds the old mess in the new tool. A replatforming takes a little longer up front and saves months later.
- The contract. A cybersecurity company we spoke with had an auto-renewal with 30 days' notice. Miss that window and you pay for two systems for a year.
When a move runs long, the cause is almost never the software.
What happens in each phase of the migration?
A Salesforce to HubSpot migration runs in five phases: audit and plan, clean and design, build and connect, test and train, then cut over and support. In a focused move, the first four phases fit into about 8 to 9 weeks. The fifth runs for at least the 90 days after go-live.
Five phases: four before cutover, one after
Audit and plan. Look at what's really in Salesforce: which fields are filled, which reports get used, which deals are alive. A fast CRM audit gives you the list of what to move, what to archive and what to leave behind.
Clean and design. Clean before you import. Remove duplicates and dead records, agree on what a good company, contact and deal look like, and design the new pipelines. The company that described its Salesforce as a hoarder's house spent real time here, and it paid off.
Build and connect. Set up objects, properties, pipelines and automation in HubSpot, then reconnect every tool. HubSpot's own import tool can bring in several objects at once and match them by unique IDs, which matters when you're moving companies, contacts and deals together.
Test and train. Run real deals through the new setup with real reps. Train on your own data, not a demo account.
Cut over and support. Pick a hard date, switch, and stay close for the next 90 days.
Why do some migrations take twice as long as planned?
Migrations run long when the team copies everything instead of choosing, when integrations are discovered late, or when nobody owns decisions. The most common delay is a decision nobody wants to make, like which of three lifecycle fields is the real one, sitting open for weeks.
The patterns I see most:
- Moving the mess. Copying every Salesforce field into HubSpot means you rebuild the hoarder's house at a new address, then spend months cleaning it there.
- Late integration surprises. A software company planning a move learned late that its call recording and support tools needed real answers before cutover. Those questions belong in week one, not week seven.
- Activity history. When Worldwide Logistics (WWL) left Dynamics, only about 20% of accounts had logged emails, and the activity export was poor. We archived the old history, moved active deals and had reps reconnect live threads. Trying to move every old email would have added weeks for almost no value.
- Soft dates. "Sometime next quarter" is not a date. Teams that never set a hard cutover end up running two systems far longer than planned.
Why migrations run long, and what keeps them on time
| What slows it down | What keeps it on time |
|---|---|
| Copying every field and object | Decide what stays behind, then archive it |
| Integrations found in the last weeks | List every connected tool in the first week |
| Moving years of old activity | Move active deals; back up the rest |
| Decisions waiting on a committee | One named owner per decision |
| A soft cutover date | A hard date, worked back from the renewal |
How do you keep the migration on schedule?
Keep a migration on schedule by fixing the cutover date early, deciding what not to move, and naming one owner for every decision. Back up what you leave behind, test with real reps, and publish a short weekly status that shows what's done, what's next and what's blocked.
A few rules that work:
- Work back from the renewal. If your Salesforce renews in 60 days, your plan has 60 days. On a partner call, about 60 days was the typical window for a focused migration, which is why the renewal date matters so much.
- Decide what stays behind. Old activity, unused objects and dead records can go to an archive. Keep a flat-file backup of everything you don't migrate, so nothing is truly lost.
- Simplify on the way in. The property data company cut about 37 forms to about 5 during its move. Every form you don't rebuild is a week you don't spend testing.
- One owner per decision. The person who knows the sales process signs off on pipelines. The person who knows the data signs off on fields. Nobody waits for a committee.
If your bigger worry is who should run all this day to day once it's live, our answer on whether to hire RevOps in-house or use a partner covers that choice.
What happens in the first 90 days after cutover?
The first 90 days decide whether the move worked. Reps form habits, managers start running meetings from the new reports, and small gaps show up in real use. Plan for weekly check-ins, fast fixes and a clear adoption target, or reps will drift back to spreadsheets.
On our Salesforce to HubSpot migration case study, a pharmaceutical manufacturer moved its CRM, quotes and e-signatures in one cutover. We're still in its operating rhythm 18 months later, because the hard part of a move isn't moving the data. It's changing how the company works.
A logistics company that moved off Dynamics with about 200 users treated go-live the same way: AI agents, daily digests and training came with the move, not just a launch email.
The first 90 days decide whether the move worked
- Rep logins droppingRide along and fix what slows them down
- Deals losing their next stepRebuild trust in the pipeline stages
- Leaders asking for exportsMove the forecast meeting into HubSpot reports
- Fix list growingAdd a short weekly working session
What to watch in those 90 days:
- Weekly logins by reps and managers.
- Deals with a next step. If this number drops, reps have stopped trusting the pipeline.
- Reports in real meetings. Leadership should run the forecast from HubSpot, not from an export.
- Open fixes. A short list that shrinks every week is a healthy sign. A long list that grows is not.
Frequently asked questions
Can we migrate from Salesforce to HubSpot in 30 days?
Sometimes, for a small team with clean data and few integrations. Most established companies need longer, because cleanup and integration testing take real time. If a renewal forces a 30-day window, move active records and core pipelines first, archive the rest, and plan a second phase for everything else.
Should we run Salesforce and HubSpot side by side during the move?
Only briefly. A short overlap helps you check that data and reports match. A long one splits the team between two systems and doubles the work. Set a hard cutover date, keep a read-only Salesforce or a flat-file backup for lookups, and turn the old system off.
Does moving marketing from Pardot change the timeline?
Yes, a little. Forms, lists, scoring rules and email history all need decisions. Old email opens and clicks don't move over cleanly, so plan reporting around a fresh start. Cutting forms and lists down during the move saves more time than it costs.
When should we tell the sales team about the migration?
Early. Tell reps why you're moving, what changes for them and the cutover date as soon as the plan is set. Then involve a few respected reps in testing. When reps help shape the new pipelines, they defend the new system instead of working around it.
What should we do with old Salesforce data we don't migrate?
Export it to a flat-file backup you can search later, and store it where the team can find it. Old activity, closed deals from years ago and unused objects rarely need to live in the new CRM. Keeping them out makes HubSpot faster, cleaner and easier to trust.
Sources
- RevOps Shop CRM moves, 2025 to 2026: a company that described its Salesforce as a hoarder's house, with about 8 to 9 weeks to cut over and about 90 days to a really good place; a software company whose call recording and support tools needed answers before cutover; a cybersecurity company with an auto-renewal and 30 days' notice; and a property data company moving about 67,000 contacts and cutting about 37 forms to about 5.
- Partner calls, 2026: about 60 days as a typical migration window, flat-file backups for data left behind, and a logistics company that moved off Dynamics with about 200 users.
- Worldwide Logistics (WWL) Dynamics move: about 20% of accounts with logged emails, archived history and active deals moved. See the WWL case study.
- RevOps Shop, Salesforce to HubSpot migration case study: CRM, quotes and e-signatures in one cutover, with support 18 months after go-live.
- HubSpot, Import records for multiple objects and Connect HubSpot and Salesforce.