Teams usually move from HubSpot to Zoho for cost or because they want the wider Zoho suite. Whether that is the right call is a separate question, covered on my HubSpot vs Zoho CRM page. This guide is about the move itself. The good news is that Zoho CRM has a built-in migration path for HubSpot. The less good news is that it moves data, not your processes, and it works best when the data is clean before it leaves.
Step 1: Audit and back up HubSpot
Before touching Zoho, export everything from HubSpot. Export each object (contacts, companies, deals, tickets, products) with all properties, and export the property lists from Properties settings so you have internal names, types and dropdown options. Keep these exports outside both systems as your permanent record. Then list what will not move automatically: workflows, sequences, lead scoring, forms, email templates, reports, dashboards and integrations. Decide what to leave behind. Old marketing contacts that never engaged, unused properties and test records only add clean-up work in Zoho. This is also the moment to write or update your data dictionary, because you are about to recreate every field you keep.
Step 2: Map HubSpot objects to Zoho modules
The main structural decision: HubSpot keeps all people in Contacts and uses Lifecycle Stage for status, while Zoho has separate Leads and Contacts modules and a Convert action between them. Decide your rule up front. A common one: HubSpot contacts at Subscriber, Lead or MQL become Zoho Leads; contacts at SQL, Opportunity or Customer, or any contact associated with a deal, become Zoho Contacts linked to an Account. HubSpot Companies map to Zoho Accounts, Deals to Deals with each pipeline and stage mapped to a Zoho layout or pipeline and stage, Products to Products, and engagements (calls, meetings, tasks, notes) to the matching Zoho activities and notes. HubSpot custom objects map to Zoho custom modules, which depend on your Zoho edition's limits.
Step 3: Prepare Zoho before data arrives
Set up the destination first. Choose the edition that supports the modules, fields and automation you need, checking Zoho's published edition limits. Create custom fields in each module with deliberate API names. Recreate picklist values to match HubSpot dropdown values exactly, or document the mapping. Set up deal pipelines and stages. Add users with the same email addresses as their HubSpot owners so record ownership can be matched. Create a field such as HubSpot Record ID on each module to hold the original HubSpot ID, which lets you trace records and rerun associations. Clean duplicates in HubSpot before export, since fixing them in two places doubles the work.
Step 4: Run Zoho's HubSpot migration or file imports
According to Zoho's help documentation, migration from HubSpot runs through APIs rather than file uploads. You create a private app in HubSpot under Settings, Integrations, Private Apps, grant it read scopes for the CRM objects you want to move (contacts, companies, deals and so on), and copy the access token. Then, as an administrator in Zoho CRM, go to Setup, Data Administration, Import, choose HubSpot under data migration, enter your instance URL and token, and start the migration. It runs in the background and Zoho emails you on completion. Zoho's documentation notes that a migration can be undone or rerun up to three times, and that only the first ten tags per record migrate, each up to 25 characters. For data outside the tool's scope, Zoho's standard import accepts CSV and Excel files per module.
Step 5: Validate before anyone logs in
Reconcile record counts per module against your HubSpot exports. Spot-check a sample of records end to end: a contact, its account, its deals, and its activity history. Check that owners matched correctly and that dropdown values landed in the right picklist options rather than as blanks. Run your key pipeline report in Zoho for a past quarter and compare the totals with the same report in HubSpot. Because you have a limited number of undo and rerun attempts in Zoho's migration tool, test on a sample or sandbox first if your edition includes one, and fix mapping issues before the full run rather than after.
Step 6: Rebuild processes and cut over
Now rebuild what data migration does not carry. HubSpot workflows become Zoho workflow rules, assignment rules and, for stage-gated processes, Blueprint, which lets you define states, transitions and mandatory fields per transition. Lead scoring becomes Zoho scoring rules. Sequences become cadences or email workflows, depending on edition. Forms move to Zoho web forms or your website form tool pointed at Zoho. Rebuild dashboards. Then freeze HubSpot, run a final delta import of records changed since the main migration, switch integrations, and train the team on their own data. Keep HubSpot exports permanently and avoid cancelling the HubSpot subscription until leadership confirms reports in Zoho match.
FAQ
Yes. Zoho's help documentation describes a HubSpot data migration under Setup, Data Administration, Import, which uses a HubSpot private app access token and your instance URL, runs in the background, and can be undone or rerun up to three times.
No. Workflows, sequences, scoring, forms and reports do not migrate. Document each one and rebuild it with Zoho workflow rules, assignment rules, Blueprint and scoring rules.
Decide a rule based on Lifecycle Stage. Early-stage contacts usually become Zoho Leads, while sales-qualified contacts, customers and anyone attached to a deal become Zoho Contacts linked to an Account.