HubSpot deal approvals without Enterprise: what Free, Starter and Professional can do

By Kayabyte

HubSpot has a real approval step for deals, but it is part of Sales Hub Enterprise. If you are on Free, Starter or Professional and want “a manager must say yes before this deal moves on”, you have three options: build it yourself with what your plan includes, upgrade, or add an app. This page is the short version; the plan-by-plan guide has every click.

What is Enterprise-only

HubSpot’s help article on pipeline approvals says: “A Sales Hub Enterprise subscription is required to configure the deal approval process” (HubSpot guide). With it you choose an approval stage, conditions and up to ten approvers per pipeline, and a deal cannot move past that stage until it is approved.

What you can do on Professional

Pipeline rules (HubSpot guide): restrict skipping stages and moving backwards, and limit who can edit a deal in the stages you pick. Super Admins, people with Edit property settings permission, workflows and the API can bypass these rules, and skipping into Closed won and Closed lost is always allowed.
A workflow plus a property: an “Approval status” deal property, a “Waiting for approval” stage, and a workflow that creates a task for the manager. Workflows need Professional or Enterprise (HubSpot guide).

Together these give a process people follow. They do not give a request, a decision and a record that cannot be edited by whoever has edit access.

What you can do on Starter and Free

Starter pipelines can create a task, send an internal email or edit a record when a deal enters a stage (HubSpot guide). That tells a manager a deal arrived; it does not stop the move. You can also make a property required at a stage (HubSpot guide). Free has one deal pipeline and no pipeline rules or automations, so there it is a team agreement.

Which route to pick

Situation	Reasonable choice
You have Sales Hub Enterprise	HubSpot’s pipeline approvals
Professional, trusted team, one or two rules	Pipeline rules plus a workflow
You need a recorded decision on Free, Starter or Professional	An app, or an upgrade

Full disclosure: we built an app for the middle row

Deal Approvals & Stage Gate works on Free, Starter and Professional. Pick the stage that needs sign-off, which deals need it (amount, discount, deal type or any deal property) and who approves. If a deal is moved into that stage without approval, the app moves it back within a couple of seconds, writes a note and asks the approvers, who approve or reject from a card on the deal with a comment. Apps cannot stop a stage change before HubSpot saves it, so the deal is in the stage for a moment first, and automations that start on “deal entered stage” can still fire in that moment.

Free covers one pipeline with one approval step and 20 requests a month. Pro is USD 29 per month per HubSpot account, with a 14-day Pro trial and no card needed. Install it from the HubSpot Marketplace listing. If you have Enterprise, use HubSpot’s own approvals instead.

FAQ

Can I get deal approvals in HubSpot without Enterprise? Not HubSpot’s built-in approval step. On Professional you can approximate it with pipeline rules and workflows, and on any plan you can add an app.

Does Sales Hub Professional have deal approvals? No. Professional has pipeline rules and workflows, but the deal approval process needs Sales Hub Enterprise.

Is there a free deal approval app for HubSpot? Deal Approvals & Stage Gate has a free plan (one pipeline, one approval step, 20 requests a month). We built it, so weigh that when you compare apps.

Questions or corrections: support@kayabyte.dev. HubSpot is a registered trademark of HubSpot, Inc. Kayabyte is an independent developer and is not affiliated with HubSpot.