A HubSpot deal is the record you use to track a sales opportunity through a pipeline of stages until it's won or lost. Deal records, pipelines, line items and collaborators work on all plans; as of October 2026 deal scores and deal plans need Sales Hub Professional or Enterprise, and deal approvals need Sales Hub Enterprise.
What most teams don't realise is how final some of these settings are. If a Super Admin turns off a pipeline's approval process, every approval is cancelled whatever its status, the approval stage becomes a normal stage, and HubSpot says you can't undo it. A rejected deal can only move to a closed lost stage. And once a deal closes, its score stops updating; reopen it and it gets no score at all, so HubSpot recommends creating a new deal instead.
Pipelines and stages
Pipelines show where each deal sits, stage by stage. Every account gets a default Sales Pipeline with seven stages, from Appointment scheduled through to Closed won and Closed lost, and each stage carries a probability that feeds the weighted amount in board view. HubSpot says you must keep stages for both Won and Lost, or sales reports and analytics won't process your deals correctly.
Only build a separate pipeline when a process has different stages. HubSpot's example is an online shop with a few stages sitting next to a wholesale process that needs appointments and contract negotiation. Different brands that sell the same way should share one pipeline and use Team only permissions instead. For a stage list to start from, use my sales pipeline stage template.
| Subscription | Custom pipelines, seat-based pricing | Custom pipelines, Flexible Seats and Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Free tools | 0 | 0 |
| Starter | 15 | 15 |
| Professional | 100 | 350 |
| Enterprise | 350 | 350 |
That allowance is shared across every object with pipelines, not just deals, and doesn't count each object's default pipeline. You can't delete a pipeline that still holds records or is used in another HubSpot tool or integration.
How to add a deal approval stage
- In Users & Teams, edit each approver's permissions, expand Deals and turn on Approve. It can take several minutes before they show as available approvers.
- Click the settings icon, then Objects, and select Deals.
- On the Pipelines tab, click the pipeline, then open the Pipeline Rules tab.
- Toggle on Add approval process for deals and drag the Pending approval stage into position.
- Choose All deals, or Deals that meet specific conditions.
- Add up to 30 approvers, choose whether all of them or any one must approve, then click Save.
Deals already sitting in a stage when you switch this on aren't affected, and a deal can still go straight from a non-approval stage to closed lost. The approval won't start if the deal has no owner, if the owner is a required approver, or if an approver has lost the permission or been deactivated.
Deal scores and what moves them
Deal scores use AI to predict how likely an open deal is to close, on a scale of 0 to 100. They draw on the deal amount, close date, time in the current stage, logged activity, owner changes and buying signals such as email opens, clicks and replies. A new deal usually gets its first score within about 36 hours, or up to 48 hours at busy times, and later changes can take up to 6 hours to show. HubSpot is clear that scores are for information only and shouldn't be the only factor in a decision. If you score contacts as well, my guide to HubSpot lead scoring covers that side.
Deal plans, collaborators and line items
Deal plans give the rep and the buyer a shared list of milestones with owners and due dates, on a portal at your own connected subdomain. They need a Sales or Service seat and, as of October 2026, enrolment in the Deal Progression: Next Best Actions and Deal Plans public beta. Buyers can add, edit, complete or delete milestones themselves.
Collaborators let several users work on one deal and find it in a Deals I'm collaborating on view. They gain view and edit access but don't get credit for the deal amount; for that, HubSpot points you to deal splits. You can't edit collaborators in the mobile app.
Line items bring products into the deal so HubSpot can show total contract value, annual contract value and annual and monthly recurring revenue. The card and editor display up to 200 line items. Importing line items or updating them through the API doesn't change the deal amount, so associate them by hand if the amount matters.
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Defaults that don't apply everywhere
By default a new deal's close date is the last day of the month it was created, and you can change that in deal settings. That default doesn't apply to deals created in the mobile app, by import or through a workflow, where the close date can end up blank. Picking a different default deal amount calculation won't update existing deals either.
My verdict on HubSpot deals
I'd set up deals with one pipeline per distinct sales process, keep both a Won and a Lost stage, and add approvals only once you're on Sales Hub Enterprise and know exactly who signs off what. I'd skip treating deal scores as the final word, and I'd never switch off an approval process casually, because it can't be reversed.
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Frequently asked questions
Are HubSpot deals free?
Yes. Deal records, pipelines, line items and collaborators are available on all products and plans. Free tools get the default pipeline but no custom pipelines.
Can I undo turning off deal approvals?
No. Approvals are cancelled and the approval stage becomes a normal stage. To bring approvals back, you set up a new approval stage.
How many approvers can a HubSpot deal pipeline have?
Up to 30 approvers per pipeline.
Why doesn't my reopened deal have a score?
Reopened deals don't receive a deal score. HubSpot recommends creating a new deal instead of reopening a closed one.
Do deal collaborators get credit for the deal?
No. Collaborators don't receive credit for the deal amount. Use a deal split for that.
