How to set up discount approvals in HubSpot (deal desk)

By Caner Kaya, Kayabyte

Reps give 35% off to close a deal by the end of the month, and finance finds out when the invoice goes out. A deal desk fixes that with a simple rule: discounts above a set level need a manager or finance to say yes first. HubSpot has several ways to do this, and which one you get depends on your plan and on which quotes tool your account uses.

First: which quotes tool do you have?

HubSpot now has two quotes tools (HubSpot guide):

• Quotes (the CPQ tool), available with Revenue Hub Professional or Enterprise.
• Legacy quotes, which some older accounts still have. HubSpot says the legacy tool is no longer available to new users, and accounts created or upgraded to Sales Hub after 3 September 2025 don’t get it.

The approval options are different for each, so check which one you see under Settings > Data Management > Objects > Quotes.

Quote approvals (Revenue Hub Professional and Enterprise)

Quote approvals let you require sign-off before a quote goes to the buyer, based on the quote and its line items (HubSpot guide). There are two kinds, and you can’t turn both on at once.

Standard approvals (Professional and Enterprise)

1. As a Super Admin, go to Settings > Objects > Quotes > Approvals and turn on Approvals.
2. Edit the standard approval and add filters, for example line item Discount % is greater than 20.
3. Choose up to 10 approvers and pick All approvers required or At least one approver required.
4. Add a note for reps (for example “Discounts over 20% need finance approval”) and save.

Advanced approvals (Enterprise)

Advanced approvals run as a workflow with up to five approval steps in a row, each with up to 10 approvers. A later step only starts after the earlier one approves. Rules can use the quote amount, discount, SKU, billing frequency, net payment terms, the user and related records such as the deal. That covers rules like “25 to 40% goes to the sales manager, over 40% also to the CFO”.

Properties HubSpot lists as commonly used for discount rules (HubSpot guide):

• Line item: Discount %, Total discount amount, Margin, SKU
• Quote: Total discount percent, Total Discount, Quote amount

How approvers work (HubSpot guide):

• Approvers get a notification in HubSpot and by email. They can approve, with an optional message, or request changes. The rep edits the quote and resubmits it.
• Approvers need the Approve quotes permission and Edit permission for deals (or Super Admin), and a seat that isn’t view-only.
• Nobody can approve their own quote. If the rep is the only approver, no approval is needed. If there are several approvers, the rep is taken out of the list.
• If one approver requests changes, every approver has to approve the resubmitted quote again.

Legacy quote approvals (Sales Hub Enterprise)

If your account still has legacy quotes, approvals are simpler and need Sales Hub Enterprise: “A Sales Hub Enterprise subscription is required to turn on legacy quote approvals” (HubSpot guide). You toggle Require approvals on all legacy quotes and pick one approver, who needs a Sales Hub Enterprise seat. There are no discount thresholds: every legacy quote needs approval. Keep the When quotes require approval workflow on, because if it’s turned off, reps can publish quotes without approval.

Without quote approvals: required properties and workflows

Many teams don’t send HubSpot quotes at all, or don’t have the plan for quote approvals. Then the discount usually lives on the deal, and you build the check around the deal:

1. Make the discount a deal property. A number property such as Discount %. Validation rules work on all plans and can set a minimum and maximum on custom number properties, for example 0 to 50 (HubSpot guide). They apply in the CRM and on imports, but not in workflows.
2. Require it at the right stage. Add Discount % and a Discount reason as required conditional stage properties at, say, Contract sent, so reps fill them in when they move the deal (HubSpot guide).
3. Alert the deal desk (Professional and Enterprise). A deal-based workflow that starts when Discount % is greater than 20 creates a task for finance and sends an internal notification (HubSpot guide). Finance sets an Approval status property to Approved.
4. Hold the deal (Professional and Enterprise). Pipeline rules can stop reps from skipping a “Waiting for approval” stage and limit editing in that stage to finance (HubSpot guide).
5. Block the stage (Sales Hub Enterprise). Pipeline approvals with a condition such as Discount % is greater than 20 stop the deal at the approval stage until someone approves it, and can’t be bypassed (HubSpot guide).

On Starter, pipeline automations can create a task or send an email when a deal enters a stage (HubSpot guide), but they can’t wait for a decision or stop the move. On the free CRM, the property, a required field at the stage and a saved view for finance are what you have.

Where the built-in options stop

• Quote approvals approve the quote, not the deal. A deal can still move to Closed won with a big discount typed into the deal, outside the quote.
• The plan line is high. Quote approvals need Revenue Hub Professional, discount thresholds on legacy quotes don’t exist, and approvals on the deal itself need Sales Hub Enterprise.
• Workflow approvals are honour-system. Anyone who can edit the Approval status property can approve their own deal, and Super Admins, workflows and API changes bypass pipeline rules.
• Approval after changes. HubSpot’s articles don’t say whether editing an approved quote sends it back for approval. Test it in your account before you rely on it.
• Validation rules don’t run in workflows, and HubSpot’s article doesn’t say they apply to line item or quote properties.

Full disclosure: our app

I make an app for the deal side of this, Deal Approvals & Stage Gate. It works on Free, Starter and Professional. You set conditions on a deal property such as Discount % or Amount, choose who approves (several steps in a row on the paid plan, for example manager and then finance), and pick the stage that needs sign-off. A deal moved into that stage without approval is moved back within a couple of seconds, and approvers decide from a card on the deal. If the amount goes up or the discount changes, the next move needs a new approval. It doesn’t approve HubSpot quotes; if you have quote approvals, keep using them for the quote.

Quick answers

Can HubSpot require approval for discounts over a certain percent? Yes, with quote approvals on Revenue Hub Professional or Enterprise, using line item Discount % or the quote’s Total discount percent.

Can I have different approvers for different discount levels? With advanced quote approvals on Enterprise, yes. Standard approvals use one set of filters and one approver list.

Do I need quotes to approve discounts? No. You can track the discount on the deal and use workflows, pipeline rules or, on Sales Hub Enterprise, pipeline approvals.

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.