The value of any company's CRM will be directly dependent on whether your team has access to the relevant information for them, and enables them to do their daily tasks effectively and efficiently. As the average company now uses more than 20 different software solutions in their tech stack, and many of those handle customer data, integrations are a key success factor for your CRM implementation.
This is specially important for companies in the software industry, as your most valuable data is usually in your own systems, and no integration platform will be compatible out of the box.
In this article, I will explain the different approaches you can take to integrate your software into HubSpot CRM. I will present what method is relevant based on your goals, and give an overview of the pro's and con's of each method. For complex cases you may also consider to use several of these methods together or as separate integrations.
The different methods I will cover are: HubSpot Forms and form submission API, webhooks in HubSpot workflows, Private app integrations, and Public app integrations.
I will not discuss ready-to-install integrations from the HubSpot App marketplace here, but for implementing well-known services into your CRM, this can be a good place to start.
Send data to HubSpot with Forms
The easiest and fastest way automatically transfer information to HubSpot from your own application or website is through forms. This method can be utilized quickly with very limited development resources and can solve simple cases of tracking the most important interactions.
There are two ways to send data to HubSpot with forms. The obvious of course being that you can use HubSpot's forms directly, and all data will be registered in HubSpot to the relevant CRM records. These forms can be embedded on your website or in an application.
Another alternative is to send a form submission to HubSpot's API, which can be done without authentication, meaning you don't have to create a private app to do this. As you remain in complete control of what information your app will send to an API endpoint, you can also use this for other interactions you want to be able to register and trigger in HubSpot.
You can essentially use this to register any kind of action in a simplified way, but some examples can be to register activation or use of key features, feedback scores, or registration of new users.
See documentation about this endpoint here: Submit data to a HubSpot form
Preferred when
You want to track important interactions quickly and easily without spending a lot of resources.
Pro's and con's
🟢 Requires little to no development experience.
🟢 Very fast to set up.
🟢 Can be used to trigger automations.
🟢 Available for all HubSpot plans.
❌ Can not send data from HubSpot to your application.
❌ Only available for contact interactions and to create or update limited associated data.
❌ Extensive use will become messy and may conflict with other features.
Send data from HubSpot workflows with Webhooks
Webhooks are a powerful way to make HubSpot automations (workflows) interact with external applications. You can send data to your app as part of a workflow, and receive this data in an endpoint for your own API. This will essentially make it possible to trigger any function in your application from a HubSpot workflow.
Webhooks in workflows are however only available to accounts with a HubSpot Operations Hub Professional license or better, as opposed to the forms API that anyone can use even on free accounts.
You can also use webhooks with a private app (integration) to send data to HubSpot, and trigger workflows.
Preferred when
You want to send data to your own app from HubSpot quickly and easily without spending a lot of resources.
Pro's and con's
🟢 Requires some development experience.
🟢 Fast to set up.
❌ Can not send data to HubSpot from your application.
❌ Requires additional HubSpot Operations Hub Professional License
Integrate your software with HubSpot with a Private app
Private applications are one of the two ways to create a "proper" integration to HubSpot, and is available to all accounts regardless of license type. This requires significantly more time and expertise compared to the already mentioned methods, but also opens up a whole new level of possibilities.
With a private app you can set up webhook subscriptions to automatically send information to your app when something interesting happens in HubSpot. This can be anything from a new contact being created to a change in deal value on one of your clients. Your app can then receive and react to this change immediately.
The primary way of using private apps for most companies is still by utilizing the full API to make almost all of your CRM data available to read, update, or remove directly from your software.
When you create a new private app in HubSpot you get an API key to use as authentication. You then use this authentication to interact with HubSpot's API and follow the same process as most developers are familiar with to build an integration based on your needs.
You can also extend this by building CRM cards and make relevant information from your app available directly on a CRM record in HubSpot.
Preferred when
You want to spend the necessary resources to develop a robust two-way integration and make key information accessible between your app and your HubSpot account.
Pro's and con's
🟢 Can send information both ways between your application and HubSpot.
🟢 Ability to create, read, update, and delete almost any HubSpot data from your app.
🟢 You decide the scope and how your integration should work.
🟢 Secure authentication with API-keys.
🟢 Available for all HubSpot plans.
❌ Requires experience developing integrations.
❌ Can take resources to develop and maintain.
Integrate your software with HubSpot with a Public app
Public applications are the other way to create a proper integration to HubSpot. Although there are some exceptions where some prefer a public application only for their own use, these are intended to be accessible by several HubSpot accounts.
For a software company you would want to use a public app to create an integration that your clients can use to integrate your software with their own HubSpot account. This would typically be in addition to a private application where you cover your own need to send data from your admin panel to your HubSpot account.
Creating a public application is the most resource demanding way to build an integration with HubSpot, as it needs to cover the added complexity of securing and interacting with several HubSpot accounts apart from your own data. You will need to set up a specific developer account to get started, and thoroughly review the get started guides from HubSpot.
In addition to the full access to the same API as private apps (depending on the scope), public apps also have added functionality to serve your clients, like specific workflow actions to interact with your software, or timeline events that can add events from your application directly to CRM records in HubSpot.
Preferred when
You want to spend the necessary resources to develop a robust two-way integration for your clients, and facilitate for key interactions between your app and any HubSpot account.
Pro's and con's
🟢 Can send information both ways between your application and HubSpot.
🟢 Can be used by your clients.
🟢 Can be listed in the HubSpot App Marketplace and expose your app to new clients.
🟢 Ability to create, read, update, and delete almost any HubSpot data from your app.
🟢 You decide the scope and how your integration should work.
🟢 Secure authentication with API-keys.
🟢 Available for all HubSpot plans.
❌ Requires experience developing integrations.
❌ Can take lot of resources to develop and maintain.
