Pardot to HubSpot - switching made easy
Your complete Pardot to HubSpot migration roadmap for scalable growth.
Switching from Pardot to HubSpot can supercharge marketing and sales, but without a clear plan it’s easy to lose data or disrupt campaigns.
That’s why we use a simplified roadmap; 12 clear phases that take you from discovery through go-live, so the transition is structured and predictable.
It will give your marketing leaders the clarity they need, ops admins a technical blueprint, and sales teams confidence that pipeline continuity won’t break in the process.
What is Pardot?
Pardot, now called Marketing Cloud Account Engagement, is Salesforce’s B2B marketing automation tool. It’s used by companies that want to tie campaigns, emails, and lead nurturing directly into their Salesforce CRM.
Why switch from Pardot to HubSpot?
Many teams make the move because HubSpot is easier to use, faster to launch campaigns in, and more flexible for reporting.
It also integrates cleanly with Salesforce while giving marketing and sales a shared platform that non-technical users can run. For teams tired of heavy admin work or slow campaign cycles, HubSpot offers a simpler way forward.
The switch gets tricky
Pardot and Salesforce usually carry years of baggage: old lists, stale forms, half-broken automations, campaigns no one has touched in ages. Some of it still matters, some of it doesn’t.
The risk is dragging it all into HubSpot without sorting first.
That’s how unsubscribe records get lost, workflows stop firing, or your HubSpot bill balloons because you imported junk data along with the good stuff.
A structured plan keeps the important pieces, sheds the noise, and sets HubSpot up to actually work.
Your 12 step Pardot to HubSpot migration plan
Phase 0: kickoff & planning
This is where you set the tone for the whole migration. If you skip it or rush it, you’ll spend weeks untangling confusion later.
The job here is to agree on three things: what absolutely has to be preserved (unsubscribe records, key campaigns, critical automations), who is going to own the project, and when the actual cutover will happen.
That means pulling the right stakeholders into the room, and forcing the hard conversations early.
- Which campaigns still drive revenue?
- Which lists are still valid?
- What’s dead weight that shouldn’t follow you into HubSpot?
Output goal: a signed-off migration plan with owners, priorities, and timeline.
Phase 1: inventory & discovery
Once the ground rules are set, you can dig into the details. In this phase we will create a full map of what actually lives in Pardot.
The work: Audit and export every asset, then label each “migrate,” “rebuild,” or “retire.”
Checklist:
- Contacts & prospect lists
- Static and dynamic lists
- Engagement programs
- Automations
- Forms & landing pages,
- Email templates
- Files
- Scoring models
- Suppression lists
- Salesforce fields
- Validation rules
- Campaign setups
Output goal: a single inventory spreadsheet that becomes the source of truth for the rest of the migration.
Phase 2: data strategy & mapping
With your inventory in hand, the next step is figuring out how Pardot data will fit into HubSpot’s structure. This is where a lot of migrations fall apart, if fields aren’t mapped correctly, you risk losing critical information.
The core job here is to build a data dictionary: a document that shows how every Pardot and Salesforce field connects to a HubSpot property, what the data type is, and which system wins if there’s a conflict.
You’ll also need to define how deduplication will work and decide how to separate marketing vs. non-marketing contacts so you don’t inflate HubSpot costs.
Tasks involved:
- Map Salesforce fields to HubSpot properties (document data types, sync rules, and system of record).
- Define lifecycle stages, lead status, scoring models, and deduplication rules.
- Separate marketing vs. non-marketing contacts (critical for managing HubSpot contact costs).
Output goal: an approved data mapping & transformation workbook that serves as the blueprint for the migration.
Phase 3: data cleanup & compliance checks
This is the part most people want to skip, and it’s also the part that causes the biggest headaches if you do.
Moving messy data into HubSpot will inevitably drive up your costs. Unsubscribes, in particular, are non-negotiable. Miss them and you’ll end up emailing people who already opted out - a growing compliance risk these days.
Tasks involved:
- Clean exported data (remove bad emails, fix formatting, standardize fields).
- Deduplicate contacts so HubSpot isn’t bloated with doubles.
- Export suppression lists and unsubscribes from Pardot/Salesforce.
- Import unsubscribes into HubSpot’s opt-out list first to protect compliance.
Output goal: clean, import-ready CSV files and confirmation that suppression lists have been imported correctly.
Phase 4: HubSpot setup
Before you move data or turn on campaigns, HubSpot itself has to be ready.
The focus here is to get the account configured, make sure your email domains are authenticated, and put the right privacy tools in place so you can launch without surprises.
Tasks involved:
- Create user accounts, teams, and permissions
- Authenticate email domains (SPF/DKIM/DMARC)
- Set up tracking codes, cookie banners, subscription types, and preference centers
Output goal: HubSpot configuration checklist confirming setup.
Phase 5: Salesforce integration or CRM decision
At this stage, you need to make a call: are you keeping Salesforce as your CRM, or moving fully into HubSpot’s CRM?
Either path can work, but you have to decide up front. Leaving it vague creates messy handoffs and data conflicts later.
Steps:
- Option A: Keep Salesforce CRM
- Install and configure HubSpot-Salesforce sync
- Finalize field mapping, sync direction, and conflict resolution
- Test sample data sync (e.g., leads to contacts)
- Option B: Move to HubSpot CRM
- Set up pipelines, import records (Contacts, Companies, Deals, Activities), and replicate assignment logic
Output goal: Integration Runbook and mapping documentation.
Phase 6: asset recreation
Pardot assets don’t transfer over to HubSpot with a click.
Forms, CTAs, landing pages, and email templates all have to be rebuilt. This is the point where marketing teams often realize how much old material they’ve been carrying.
The good news: it’s a chance to clean house and improve design and compliance while you’re at it.
Tasks involved:
- Rebuild forms and form handlers (with consent copy, hidden tracking fields)
- Recreate landing pages (CMS templates, prioritized high-traffic pages)
- Build email templates and subscription preference page
- Set up file hosting and CTAs
Output goal: Staging assets ready for QA.
Phase 7: automation & scoring rebuild
Automations and scoring don’t carry over from Pardot to HubSpot.
Engagement Studio programs need to be rebuilt as HubSpot Workflows, and Pardot’s scoring model has to be rethought for HubSpot’s rules.
Tasks:
- Convert automations into HubSpot Workflows (paths, suppression, delays)
- Rebuild or modernize scoring model
Output goal: Fully configured, testable Workflows and scoring logic.
Phase 8: historical & activity data import
Data history is what gives your reporting and segmentation real context.
The challenge is that not every click, form fill, or email open needs to be migrated, some of it can be safely archived. The job here is to separate the valuable history from irrelevant info, and then move it into HubSpot in a way that keeps timelines intact.
Tasks involved:
- Decide which data to import vs. archive (e.g., page views, form submissions)
- Extract using Pardot exports or API
- Import Contacts/Companies and plan activity data ingestion or archival
Output goal: Imported records and activity import/archival plan.
Phase 9: QA & user testing
Before you flip the switch, you need to prove the system actually works.
In this phase you’ll run full end-to-end tests.
Tasks involved:
- Test user journeys: ad → landing page → form → workflow → Salesforce sync
- Validate lifecycle transitions, email deliverability, redirects, tracking, and unsubscribe flows
Output goal: a UAT issue log documenting any problems found during testing (and how they were fixed), along with final sign-off from stakeholders that the system is ready to go live.
Phase 10: deliverability warm-up
When you start sending email from HubSpot, inbox providers don’t trust you yet.
If you go from zero to blasting thousands of emails, you’ll land in spam. The goal here is to slowly build HubSpot’s reputation so your messages get delivered.
Tasks involved:
- Send to highly engaged segments first
- Monitor bounce rates and complaints, optimize as needed
Output goal: Deliverability Validation Report.
Phase 11: cutover & go-live
This is the handoff moment - when HubSpot becomes the active system.
The risk here is duplicate or conflicting sends if Pardot and HubSpot are both live at once. To avoid confusion, you need a clean cutover plan.
Tasks involved:
- Freeze Pardot emails and automations
- Deploy HubSpot tracking code, forms, and landing pages, apply redirects
- Enable HubSpot Workflows and campaign sending
Output goal: Completed Go-Live Checklist.
Phase 12: hypercare & optimization
Going live isn’t the finish line - it’s the start of a shakedown period.
The first few weeks are where hidden issues surface: forms not feeding correctly, workflows misfiring, syncs dropping records.
The goal is to catch and fix these fast so trust in the system doesn’t erode.
Tasks involved:
- Monitor submissions, workflows, sync errors, and deliverability
- Provide team training and migration documentation
Output goal: Hypercare Summary and Phase-2 improvement backlog.
To recap: your complete go-live checklist
- Opt-out lists imported and verified
- Domains authenticated (SPF/DKIM/DMARC)
- Tracking and redirects active
- Forms, landing pages, and key email templates rebuilt and tested
- Workflows and scoring implemented and validated
- Integration sync (HubSpot ↔ Salesforce) tested
- Warm-up sends show acceptable deliverability metrics
- Team trained and documentation delivered
Top risks & mitigations
There are a few common risks in a Pardot to HubSpot migration, but they can all be managed with the right plan.
One of the biggest is losing unsubscribe data or consent records - solve that by importing opt-outs first and freezing Pardot sends during cutover.
Another is a dip in email deliverability once you start sending from HubSpot. Authenticating domains early and warming up sends gradually helps prevent inbox providers from flagging your emails.
Salesforce sync conflicts are another trap; the fix is to lock user updates, test in a sandbox, and push small batches before scaling.
Finally, workflow logic often doesn’t translate cleanly from Pardot to HubSpot.
Rebuilding automations as HubSpot Workflows and mirroring decision branching or suppression logic will keep nurture programs and lead handoffs running smoothly.
When you do it right (an example of success)
A SaaS company used this roadmap to migrate from Pardot to HubSpot.
In Phase 1, they found 30% of their email templates were outdated, saving hours of rework.
Phase 3’s focus on suppression lists avoided a compliance issue with an old unsubscribe list.
The Phase 5 Salesforce integration ensured seamless lead handoffs, while Phase 9 testing caught a broken form before launch.
Post-migration, campaigns launched 20% faster due to clean data and a streamlined HubSpot setup.
You don’t have to go at it alone
This roadmap breaks a complex migration into clear steps, so data isn’t lost and HubSpot is set up to scale.
Marketing leaders get clarity, ops teams have a plan for the technical lift, and sales keeps pipeline visibility throughout. Follow it, and you’ll have a compliant, efficient transition that sets you up for growth.
If you’d like a hand making it happen, or just want a second set of eyes on your plan - book a quick call with Tate.
