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Why GrowthHub Will Never Be an Official HubSpot Partner (And Why That’s Better for You)

By Tomislaw Dalic January 5, 2026

 

Let’s get this out of the way:

We love HubSpot.

We recommend it often. We implement it. We fix it when it’s messy. We build automation that makes it hum like a well-tuned engine. We help teams stop running their revenue operation on Slack messages and half-broken spreadsheets.

HubSpot is one of the best platforms on the market for serious B2B companies, scale ups, and enterprises.

So naturally, people ask:

“Are you a HubSpot Partner?”

And the answer is simple:

No. And we never will be.

Not because we can’t.
Because we won’t.

This isn’t a rebellious branding move. It’s a business decision grounded in one thing:

We want to stay independent.

And independence is the only way we can give you advice you can actually trust.


The HubSpot Partner Model: Great for HubSpot, Risky for You

HubSpot’s partner program is smart. It scales their ecosystem. It creates an army of agencies and consultants selling, onboarding, and supporting customers.

But it also creates a structural incentive problem.

Partners can earn a commission on subscription revenue, often up to 30% depending on tier and performance.

Let’s call that what it is:

A built-in upsell incentive.

Even if you’re a good partner.
Even if you’re honest.
Even if you swear you’ll “always do what’s best for the client.”

If your business model includes a meaningful cut of subscription revenue, then:

  • the “right plan” and the “most profitable plan” start to overlap
  • the line between advice and sales becomes blurry
  • and the client can never be 100% sure which hat you’re wearing

Not because you’re unethical.

Because incentives shape behavior.


The Moment You Become a Partner, You Stop Being Neutral

Imagine this scenario:

A client comes to you and says: “We’re not sure if we need Professional or Enterprise.”

If you’re independent, you can respond:

  • what features they actually need
  • what the cheapest plan is that supports those workflows
  • how to structure seats to avoid wasted cost
  • how to manage marketing contacts so pricing doesn’t spiral
  • and when it’s worth upgrading later

If you’re a partner earning commission, there is always a voice in the back of your business saying:

“Enterprise would be safer. And it pays better.”

This is not a moral failing.
It’s a math problem.

And businesses follow math.


We Don’t Want to Be in the Business of Selling Software

GrowthHub is not a software resale channel.

We do not want to be rewarded for putting you on a bigger plan.

We want to be rewarded for:

  • improving conversion
  • tightening your pipeline
  • reducing churn
  • making forecasting reliable
  • making automation and data clean
  • turning your CRM into a real revenue system

You should pay us for outcomes, not for which package you end up on.

That is what independence enables.


The Hidden Problem: Partners Often Become “HubSpot-First”

Here’s what happens to many agencies once they become official partners:

They stop being “best tool for the job” consultants and become “HubSpot-first” businesses.

Not because HubSpot tells them to.

Because:

  • their incentives are aligned to HubSpot subscriptions
  • their team is trained around one ecosystem
  • their margins get tied to platform retention
  • it becomes easier to sell the same solution to everyone

And when everyone looks like a HubSpot client, you start recommending HubSpot even when:

  • the company isn’t ready
  • process maturity is too low
  • the org needs fundamentals before automation
  • or the business would be better served with something simpler, for now

We don’t want that.

We want to tell you the truth, even when it’s inconvenient.


Yes, HubSpot Is Often the Best Choice. But Not Always.

We work with companies where HubSpot is clearly the best platform.

But we also work with companies where the right answer is:

  • wait 3 months and fix process first
  • start with a smaller setup
  • use Starter and scale into Pro later
  • or use a different tool because the requirements do not justify the HubSpot cost

If we were earning a commission, those recommendations become harder to trust.

We want to keep them easy.


Our Promise: We’ll Recommend the Cheapest Plan That Works

Here’s the GrowthHub pricing philosophy:

We will recommend the lowest-tier HubSpot package that meets your requirements.

And if HubSpot isn’t the right fit, we’ll tell you that too.

We’ll also help you avoid the two biggest HubSpot cost traps:

  1. buying too many seats
  2. letting marketing contacts explode

Because saving you money is part of delivering value.

It’s not something we should be punished for.


What You Lose When You Work With a Partner (Even a Good One)

To be fair, official partners can bring benefits:

  • deeper access to HubSpot resources
  • sometimes faster support channels
  • packaged onboarding offerings
  • co-marketing opportunities
  • partner tooling

But you often lose something more important:

clean incentives.

When the same party who advises you also profits from the size of your subscription, the relationship becomes less like consulting and more like brokerage.

Again, not evil.

Just structurally compromised.


What You Gain When You Work With GrowthHub Instead

You gain:

  • independent platform advice
  • transparent pricing strategy
  • vendor-neutral implementation
  • a seat and contact strategy that optimizes cost
  • someone who can say: “No, you don’t need Enterprise. You need a better process.”

Because we don’t get paid more if you upgrade.

We only get paid more if we create more value.


Final Word: Independence Is the Product

HubSpot is a fantastic platform.

But GrowthHub’s real product is not HubSpot.

It’s clarity.
It’s outcomes.
And it’s independence from the incentives that turn advice into sales.

So no, we will never be an official HubSpot Partner.

Not because we don’t believe in HubSpot.

Because we believe in you.

And you deserve an advisor who is structurally incapable of upselling you for commission.


Want an independent HubSpot audit?

If you want the cheapest HubSpot plan that works, or you want an unbiased review of your current setup, we’re here.

No partner badge.

Just truth, systems, and growth.

Tomislaw Dalic

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