HubSpot Data Import to Cognism

Import your HubSpot CRM data into Cognism to enable access to CRM-specific search filters, allowing you to exclude prospects that already exist in your HubSpot system. This feature can be configured by the Cognism Admin together with your HubSpot Admin. Once initial import is complete, updates will be carried out automatically in the background.

Please note the following prerequisites and capabilities:

  • This functionality requires that you are using HubSpot’s Professional tier or above (Starter tiers may not support the necessary API scopes).
  • You must ensure that the HubSpot integration has API access enabled and that your app has been granted the appropriate scopes (for example: crm.objects.contacts.read, crm.objects.companies.read)
  • The following HubSpot objects will be imported: Contacts, Companies, and Tasks.
  • Cognism uses selected properties from these objects (such as email, domain, name, owner) purely to enable filter-logic and existence-flags in your searches. Your data is stored securely (AES-256 encryption).
  • HubSpot user/role permissions must allow for reading the required objects (see HubSpot User Permissions documentation).

Initial HubSpot Data Import

In Prospector (Legacy Platform)
  1. In Prospector, click your user avatar (top-right) and navigate to Integrations.
  2. Under the HubSpot listing, click Configure to open the HubSpot Integration settings.
  3. Ensure your HubSpot Integration has been added and set up before proceeding.
  4. Navigate to the Data Import tab (this should open by default once you click Configure).
  5. The user performing this setup must have sufficient permissions in HubSpot (typically a Super Admin or integration service account with read-access to Contacts, Companies and Leads).
  6. Click Enable Data Import — a confirmation popup will appear.
  7. Confirm the correct HubSpot portal (organisation) is selected in the configuration.
  8. Once confirmed, Cognism will move to a “Preparing” screen where the number of records to be imported is calculated, then the import begins automatically.
  9. The initial import may take several hours (or up to a day) depending on the volume of records in HubSpot.
  10. After processing, Cognism will begin matching your imported data against its own database. 
  11. You (or the Cognism admin) will receive an email when the initial import and matching process finishes, and the status will change to Data Import Active.
  12. Once active, the additional HubSpot-specific search filters will become available to all users in your Cognism account — even those who are not individually integrated with HubSpot.

 

 

Filtering and search using your HubSpot Data

In Prospector (Legacy Platform)

How to Filter Using HubSpot in Prospector:

I. Contact Filters

A. Using the Contacts filter (in the Contacts tab)

  1. Go to Prospector → Contacts.
  2. Open the Contacts filter.
  3. Tick Exclude Existing Contacts to hide contacts already matched and owned in your HubSpot.
  4. When enabled, the Contact owner dropdown appears:
    • Select All Owners to exclude all owned contacts (including those without an owner but part of your HubSpot account).
    • Select a specific owner to exclude only records owned by that user.

B. Using the Companies filter (in the Contacts tab)

  1. Still in Prospector → Contacts, open the Companies filter.
  2. Choose All owners or a specific owner to show contacts belonging to those HubSpot accounts.
  3. Enable Exclude existing to hide contacts linked to HubSpot companies in your account (or to the selected owner).

Note: You cannot use both the Contacts and Companies filters in the Contacts tab at the same timeShape

II. Company Filters (Companies tab)

A. Using the Companies filter

  1. Go to Prospector → Companies.
  2. Open the Companies filter.
  3. Select All owners or a specific owner to view companies owned in your HubSpot.
  4. Use this to see how many matched companies exist in Cognism.

B. Using the Company Type filter

  1. Open Company Type.
  2. Select one or more mapped company types (from your HubSpot field mappings).
  3. Combine this with the Companies filter for more precise targeting.
  4. Tick Exclude to remove companies owned by your account/owner and only show net-new companies not in HubSpot.

 

Manual Re-syncing of HubSpot Data

Should you update or add more than ~100 k records in HubSpot (outside of Cognism) and wish to force an on-demand refresh:

  1. In Cognism go to Integrations → HubSpot → Configure.
  2. Click Re-sync Now on the Data Import page.
  3. Cognism will read the updated HubSpot data and re-run the matching process in the background.

Disabling Data Import

If you decide to turn off the integration:

  1. Navigate to Integrations → HubSpot → Configure.
  2. Click Disable Data Sync.
  3. Choose whether you want Cognism to:
    1. Remove my data — meaning your imported data will be stored for 30 days and then deleted; or
    2. Retain my data — meaning Cognism will keep your imported dataset until you request deletion.
  4. Click Confirm.
  5. If your data was previously removed and 30+ days elapse before you re-enable, the next import will behave like an initial full import (i.e., similar time requirement).

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Compliance and HubSpot 
When enabled, the data import uses only the following HubSpot objects: Contacts, and Companies. Cognism reads selected fields (for example: email, name, domain, owner) solely to facilitate exclusion filters and record-matching. Imported data is encrypted at rest and the only purpose is to power the CRM-filters in Cognism — no additional processing or enrichment is performed.

HubSpot Status Indicator 
Once the import and matching are complete, in Cognism searches you will see a status indicator showing if a given prospect exists in your HubSpot CRM. Cognism derives this by matching on key fields (e.g., email address for contacts, domain for companies, name/email for leads). When a match is found, the owner (HubSpot “Contact Owner”, or Company Owner) and other HubSpot-specific metadata can be displayed alongside the indicator.

What happens when the DI breaks?

This depends on the nature of the issue. In most cases, if a job fails temporarily, DI’s continuous sync processes are designed to self-recover and resume from the last successful checkpoint.

If an issue is persistent or a job becomes stuck, we can initiate a full data-import resync to restore normal operation.

What happens if the sync isn’t accurate?

“Accuracy” can refer to a range of issues, for example, missing data or records not updating as expected. Minor delays or temporary inconsistencies can occur when processing large volumes of data, but these are typically resolved automatically through the system’s ongoing update cycles, which run every 2 or 15 minutes depending on the job.

In the rare event that a permanent inconsistency or data gap is identified, we can perform a full data resync to ensure all records are aligned and up to date.

 

Was this article helpful?
0 out of 0 found this helpful

Comments

0 comments

Please sign in to leave a comment.