The HubSpot customer agent is an AI support agent that answers customer questions from your own content, performs set actions such as booking a meeting, and hands conversations to a person when it isn't confident or your rules say so. You can deploy it on live chat, email, WhatsApp, Facebook and forms, or keep it in the help desk to suggest replies your reps can send, edit or dismiss.
The thing to know before you build it: as of October 2026, HubSpot's help says that once a customer agent is created, it can't be deleted. You can edit it or pause it whenever you like, but it stays in your account. So name it well and set it up deliberately, not as a throwaway test.
Two ways to use it
Most people picture a chat bubble on their website, but HubSpot describes two separate modes. Reply recommendations sit inside the help desk: the agent reads the conversation, checks your synced content and drafts a reply in the thread for a rep to review. You don't need to deploy it to any channel for this, and reply recommendations don't use HubSpot Credits.
Deployed to live channels, it answers customers directly, runs the actions you've set up and transfers to a human when its confidence is low or an escalation rule is met. On a website chat, visitors see Powered by AI in the chat header, and the agent suggests three relevant questions based on the page they're on.
How it uses credits
This is where it differs from a normal chatbot bill. Deploying to channels needs HubSpot Credits, but as of October 2026 credits are only consumed when the agent delivers a resolution, not per message. A conversation counts as resolved if the agent shared a content source or performed an action and there's no qualifying handoff to a person within 72 hours, or if a lead is marked qualified, partially qualified or not qualified.
| Situation | What HubSpot's help says, as of October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Reply recommendations in help desk | Don't use credits |
| Previewing and testing the agent | Doesn't use credits |
| Several messages in one open conversation | Don't automatically use extra credits |
| You assign a rep by hand or by workflow | Not a qualifying handoff, so it can still count as resolved |
| Credits run out | The agent stops being assigned new conversations until your reset date |
| You pause credit use | Can take up to a few hours to fully stop, and you can resume any time |
First-time users on Professional or Enterprise with included credits and an assigned seat can opt in to 14 days of free access, as long as they've used fewer than 1,250 Customer Agent credits in the last 12 months. You get a reminder four days before it ends, and then the agent turns off until you switch it back on in Account and Billing.
What you need first
You need customer agent editor permissions and an assigned seat to create and manage it. Before you can publish, you need at least one Facebook, WhatsApp or live chat channel connected to the conversations inbox or help desk. If the chat runs on a website not hosted with HubSpot, the HubSpot tracking code has to be on those pages, and generative AI has to be switched on in your AI settings.
Setting it up step by step
- Enter an agent name and choose a personality: Friendly, Professional, Casual, Empathetic or Witty, or your brand voice if you've set one up.
- Add content sources: existing HubSpot content, website pages by URL, or uploaded files. With Import related URLs on, up to 5,000 URLs in the domain are crawled.
- Write guidelines for tone, formatting and topics to avoid, using the templates if you'd rather not start from blank.
- Set up actions from the Actions library, with a protection level such as Match email or Verify email.
- Add handoff rules, such as handing off when someone mentions a cancellation or a refund.
- Test it as a contact or a segment in the preview, then run a batch test.
- Deploy it to one channel first and set its working hours.
Content sources: the privacy catch
HubSpot's help is blunt about this. Any content you add, private or public, can be used to draft responses. Private sources won't be cited, but their content may still appear in answers. So don't sync internal documents with personal or confidential details and assume they'll stay internal.
The best sources, per HubSpot, are FAQs and knowledge base articles with common questions and up-to-date answers, written with the phrases customers search for. You can also tie a source to a segment, so one group of customers gets answers from content meant for them. If your help content's thin, building out a HubSpot knowledge base first gives the agent far more to work from.
Actions and handoffs
Actions are tasks the agent performs through your apps when a customer asks, such as checking an order status or sending a password reset email. HubSpot advises that anything touching account access or credentials should only send secure links or instructions, never make the change inside the chat. Each action gets trigger phrases and the inputs it must collect first, such as an email address.
By default the agent hands off when it can't answer, when the visitor asks for a person, or when it's paused. You choose live handoff to the next available person, async handoff for later follow-up, or no handoff at all. Only users with an assigned Sales or Service seat can be included in routing rules.
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Testing before it goes live
Batch testing lets admins generate test questions from past conversations, grouped by theme, and run them all at once. A theme only appears once there are 5 or more conversations on a similar topic. You review each answer, add notes, and adjust knowledge, actions or handoff from the same panel. HubSpot suggests starting with one channel or a small share of conversations, then reviewing escalations and knowledge gaps before you expand.
My verdict on the customer agent
I'd start with reply recommendations, because they don't touch credits and your team sees exactly what the agent would say before any customer does. I'd deploy it live once batch tests look right and your handoff rules cover refunds, cancellations and anything account related. I'd skip it for now if your help content's out of date, because it answers from what you give it. If you only need scripted menus and lead capture, a rule-based HubSpot chatbot might be all you need.
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Frequently asked questions
Can I delete a HubSpot customer agent?
No. As of October 2026, once a customer agent is created it can't be deleted, though you can edit or pause it at any time.
Does the HubSpot customer agent charge per message?
No. Credits are consumed only when the agent delivers a resolution, not per message, and several messages in one open conversation don't automatically use extra credits.
Do reply recommendations use HubSpot Credits?
No. Reply recommendations in help desk don't consume HubSpot Credits, and you don't need to deploy the agent to channels to use them.
Which channels can the customer agent work on?
You can assign it to Facebook, WhatsApp, calling in beta, live chat, form or email channels.
Can the customer agent use private documents?
Yes, and that's the risk. Private sources won't be cited, but their content may still appear in responses, so leave out personal or confidential information.
