How to Manage Your HubSpot Credits Without Surprises on Your Bill

If you’ve ever worried about unexpected charges in HubSpot, you’re not alone. Many teams don’t fully understand how HubSpot credits work or how to control them. The good news is that HubSpot gives you tools to manage credits, set limits, and keep billing predictable.

In this post, we’ll break down what HubSpot credits are, how they’re used, and the best ways to manage them.

What Are HubSpot Credits?

HubSpot credits are a flexible way to pay for usage-based features inside your portal. Instead of being billed immediately when you use something, HubSpot deducts the cost from your credits. If you run out, you’ll be billed automatically, unless you’ve set limits.

Credits are often used for things like:

• Breeze Agents (Customer, Prospecting, Data)
• Breeze Automation (“Ask Breeze” Workflow Actions)
• Buyer Intent 
• Data Studio

Why Managing Credits Matters

Without proper oversight, credit usage can sneak up on you:

• The customer agent handles more conversations.
• Your team is reaching out to more contacts with the Prospecting agent.
• You're executing more “Ask Breeze” workflow actions.

These small overages can add up, and by the time you see your bill, it’s too late to adjust.

There are two options you can set up via the credit overage settings: auto-upgrades and pay-as-you-go overages.

Once you’ve used your included monthly credits, you can buy more HubSpot Credits as needed. If you choose not to buy additional credits after you reach your monthly limit, any usage-based features will pause until your next reset date or until you purchase additional HubSpot Credit capacity packs. 

Auto-upgrades

By default, once you’ve purchased additional credits and exceed your monthly credit limit, your account will automatically be upgraded to include a higher HubSpot Credits pack that reflects your usage for the rest of your commitment term. You can change the default setting by turning on overages instead. 

For example, if you're an Enterprise customer with an included monthly allotment of 5,000 HubSpot Credits, and you have purchased an additional 1,000 HubSpot Credits capacity pack, your plan has a total of 6,000 HubSpot Credits per month. If you use 6,500 HubSpot Credits in a usage cycle, an extra 1,000 HubSpot Credit pack will be automatically added to your subscription, increasing your monthly limit to 7,000 HubSpot Credits for the remainder of your contract. You can only downgrade your HubSpot Credits tier at the end of your contractual commitment term. 

Pay-as-you-go overages

By turning on the setting for overages, you'll be charged our current overage rates for each credit used beyond your monthly limit. On your reset date, your account will automatically go back to your original monthly credit limit, instead of staying at the higher credit tier for the rest of your commitment term. 

Before getting started with overages, please note the following: 

• To have access to overages, you need to buy additional HubSpot Credits.
• If you want to switch from automatic upgrades to overages, you must turn on the setting for overages. 
• Overages are billed on a monthly basis, in arrears, in increments of 10 HubSpot Credits, rounding down. 
• You'll receive a separate HubSpot invoice for your overage charges at the end of your monthly usage period. Payment is due in accordance with your existing payment terms.

How to Set a Maximum Credit Limit

HubSpot gives you the option to set a maximum credit limit, which helps prevent runaway costs. Here’s how to do it:

1. In your HubSpot account, click your account name in the top right corner.
2. Go to Account & Billing.
3. Navigate to the Credits tab.
4. Click Set credit limit.
5. Enter the maximum amount you’re comfortable spending.

Once you hit that limit, HubSpot will stop usage that requires additional credits. This safeguard ensures you won’t get billed more than you planned.

Note: If you are not paying for additional credits, then it will always stop at the limit.

Best Practices for Managing HubSpot Credits

1. Start with a conservative limit: If you’re new to credits, set your limit lower than you think you’ll need. You can always adjust upward later.
2. Monitor usage regularly: Check the Credits tab in your account monthly (or more often during busy campaigns).
3. Align with your budget: Match your credit limit to what finance has approved for overages. This avoids surprises in reconciliation.
4. Communicate with your team: Sales and marketing should understand how their activities impact credits, especially calling and email.

Keeping Costs Predictable in HubSpot

HubSpot credits give you flexibility, but flexibility should never mean unpredictability. By setting a maximum credit limit and monitoring your usage, you can stay in control of your budget while still taking advantage of HubSpot’s powerful features.

Pro tip: Review your credit settings each quarter, especially if your business is scaling or running new types of campaigns.

Need help setting up billing guardrails in HubSpot? At Process Pro Consulting, we help teams not only get the most from HubSpot’s features but also keep budgets under control.