HubSpot provides helpful recovery features such as recycle bins, version history and exports, yet these are not a comprehensive, point‑in‑time backup with governed restore. This guide lists common HubSpot objects and assets, shows what is covered natively, highlights where coverage is limited or excluded, and sets out practical steps to reduce risk.
What is the short answer to HubSpot backup coverage and exclusions?
HubSpot restores core records and some content items within time and feature limits, however it does not offer a full, portal‑wide point‑in‑time restore across data, assets and settings. When incidents affect relationships, configuration or many items at once, you need a governed backup with point‑in‑time restore to recover safely and quickly.
Who should use this object‑by‑object guide and how will it help?
If you lead growth, run operations or manage HubSpot day to day, this guide helps you see residual risk clearly and plan recovery with confidence. Growth leaders get a board‑ready view of continuity. IT and compliance owners get governance clarity. Functional teams see what can be fixed natively and what requires a planned restore path.
How should you use this guide to assess your own portal?
Start with the definitions so everyone shares the same language. Use each object‑by‑object section as a checklist. For every item that matters to your organisation, confirm native coverage in your account, run a small recovery drill in a non‑production portal, record the steps and timings, then update your runbooks and acceptance checks.
Which definitions matter before you review coverage, and why?
A backup is a governed copy of data, assets and settings kept for recovery. A restore returns systems or items to a prior known good state. A recycle bin is a time‑limited place to restore deleted items. Version history is a set of saved revisions that allows item‑level rollbacks within limits. An export is an extract used for analysis or manual re‑import. A point‑in‑time restore recovers to a specific timestamp across selected scopes. Recovery Point Objective, RPO, is the maximum acceptable data loss window between backups. Recovery Time Objective, RTO, is the maximum acceptable time to restore operations.
What important caveats apply to HubSpot’s native recovery features?
Coverage and retention vary by subscription, feature and asset type, and they can change over time. Some items support restore or versioning, while others require manual rebuild or re‑import. Always test recovery steps in a non‑production portal and document what worked, what did not and how long each step took.
What do core CRM records include, and where are the limits?
Native coverage includes Contacts, Companies, Deals and Tickets as records with property history, plus a recycle bin for recent deletions. Limits appear because association integrity and related activities are not guaranteed to return consistently, and recovery windows are time‑bound. Recovery options include restoring from the recycle bin within the window and correcting values via imports, followed by association checks. The recommendation is to set RPO and RTO for core objects, plan targeted restores for bulk errors and document verification steps so you can prove parity after recovery.
What is covered and excluded for custom objects and activities?
Native coverage for custom objects includes records and links to standard objects. Limits appear around schema changes, association labels and permissions, which are harder to recover. Activity restoration varies by type for notes, emails, calls, meetings and tasks. Recovery options include exporting before schema edits and testing re‑imports in a non‑production portal. The recommendation is to treat schema and labels as configuration, run change control with approvals and keep rollback notes with screenshots and definitions.
What do sales assets and commerce items include, and what is missing?
Native coverage includes Products, Line Items and Quotes as records, with pipelines, stages, properties and association labels held in settings. Limits appear because pipelines and property models have little native rollback support, and quote dependencies can be sensitive to change. Recovery options include regular exports of product catalogues and careful rebuild of pipeline and property configuration. The recommendation is to put pipeline and property edits under change control, take before and after snapshots and keep a simple restore plan for catalogue updates.
What do marketing assets include, and where are the gaps?
Native coverage includes forms and submissions, list definitions and memberships, and email assets linked to campaigns. Limits appear because recovery for deleted forms varies, list logic has little rollback and campaign associations can be disrupted by edits. Recovery options include cloning forms, recreating fields where necessary, exporting submissions before major edits and documenting list logic. The recommendation is to version list rules in a shared document, catalogue critical forms with owners and retain approved email templates.
What do CMS assets and content include, and where are the risks?
Native coverage includes website pages, landing pages and blog posts with revision history for item‑level rollbacks. Themes, modules and templates can use design tool versioning, and HubDB tables store content for dynamic pages. Files and media live in the file manager. Limits appear because bulk rollback is manual, table state can be hard to revert and module dependencies are easy to overlook. Recovery options include reverting single pages, restoring module versions where supported and exporting HubDB before major edits for re‑import. The recommendation is to use source control for themes and modules, schedule exports of key HubDB tables and include CMS recovery in your quarterly drills.
What do automation and engagement tools include, and what is excluded?
Native coverage includes workflow history and some revisions, and sequence definitions. Limits appear because full rollback of workflow logic is not guaranteed and sequence versioning is limited. Recovery options include cloning a known‑good workflow, reverting steps and pausing misfiring triggers while you correct them. The recommendation is to place workflows under change control, record acceptance criteria, capture screenshots before edits and include a safe rollback step in your runbooks.
What about users, teams, permissions and audit logs?
Native coverage includes user and team structures, permission sets and audit logs for certain events. Limits appear because there is no native restore to a prior permission state. Recovery options include reviewing audit logs, resetting roles manually and verifying access afterwards. The recommendation is to document your permission model, restrict who can change access and run quarterly access reviews with evidence of approvals.
What is included for integrations and data sync?
Native coverage includes connection status and some configuration for connected apps, data sync and keys. Limits appear because complex mappings, scopes and secrets do not have simple rollback, and re‑authorisation steps can be time‑sensitive. Recovery options include keeping integration runbooks with mapping tables and scopes, and re‑authorising and re‑mapping as needed. The recommendation is to maintain a quick‑disable plan for incidents, catalogue your integrations with owners and include integration scenarios in your drills.
What is covered for reports and dashboards?
Native coverage includes saved reports and dashboard layouts. Limits appear because restore of deleted reports varies and rebuilds may be required. Recovery options include cloning reports and exporting definitions for key dashboards. The recommendation is to keep a small library of approved dashboards with owners and last‑review dates so you can recreate them quickly if needed.
What are the main risk hotspots you should watch?
Settings and configurations without native rollback, such as pipelines, properties, permissions and integration mappings, create recovery risk. Cross‑asset changes, including themes and modules that touch many pages at once, increase impact. High‑volume changes from imports, integrations, AI or automation can cause wide‑ranging inconsistencies if not recovered promptly.
How can you test coverage and confirm your RPO and RTO in practice?
Pick one representative item per category and simulate a simple recovery in a non‑production portal. Record the steps, timings and issues, then update your runbooks and acceptance checks. Repeat quarterly to confirm your current approach meets your RPO and RTO. Keep an evidence pack with logs, approvals, screenshots and results so you can show control during reviews and audits.
When should you add a comprehensive backup with point‑in‑time restore?
Add a governed backup with point‑in‑time restore when incidents could span objects, assets and settings, when you must meet defined RPO and RTO reliably or when you need auditable recovery with clear approval trails. A HubSpot‑specific solution such as backHUB backs up HubSpot data, assets and settings and restores them to a known timestamp with change tracking and access control so you can recover safely and quickly.
FAQs
Does HubSpot provide a full portal point‑in‑time restore?
No. HubSpot offers recycle bins, version history and exports, however not a full portal restore across data, assets and settings. For environment‑wide rollback you need a governed backup with point‑in‑time restore.
Which HubSpot items are hardest to restore without a governed backup?
Pipelines, properties, workflows, permissions, themes, modules, HubDB tables and detailed relationships are hardest to restore cleanly without a HubSpot‑aware backup and restore path that respects configuration and associations.
How long are deleted items recoverable in the recycle bin?
Recovery windows vary by object and subscription. Check the current limits in your portal, record the times in your runbooks and act within the window to avoid data loss.
How do I test that my RPO and RTO are realistic for HubSpot?
Define your targets with business owners, run a quarterly restore drill in a non‑production environment, time each step, record evidence and adjust backup cadence and procedures until actuals consistently meet targets.
What is the safest way to roll back cross‑asset changes in HubSpot?
Diagnose and confirm the fix in a sandbox first, then apply a governed restore or reversion in production with a short change freeze, clear communication, validation checks and sign‑off to protect user experience.
