HubSpot ended the partner program I loved

On August 15, HubSpot will remove me from the Solutions Provider Program. I'm going to let them.

That's not a protest. I'm not asking anyone to boycott HubSpot, and I'm not writing this to recruit other agencies to my position. I'm writing it because I spent years earning a badge that stood for something, and it's worth saying what it stood for, and what I'm unwilling to trade it for.

A badge I was proud of

The Solutions Provider Program was, for a long time, a meaningful distinction. It meant you were a HubSpot expert who operated independently. Most of the clients I brought onto HubSpot purchased directly from HubSpot. I recommended the platform when it fit their requirements. I implemented it, administered it, and supported it after the contract was signed.

The independence was the point. I could recommend HubSpot without depending on a commission from the sale. I could tell a client "this isn't the right tool for you" without it costing me my partner status. That credibility (the ability to recommend without a financial stake in the recommendation) is what made the relationship useful to clients. And I think it's part of what made independent service providers useful to HubSpot.

The provider network was a layer of genuine advocates. We were in HubSpot portals every day, building the workflows, writing the documentation, running the programs, and talking to customers about what was and wasn't working. That is not the same thing as selling subscriptions. But for a long time, HubSpot seemed to understand that.

What changed

HubSpot is replacing the Solutions Provider Program with a structure built around required spending and attributed sales.^1 Agencies must spend at least $400 per month on HubSpot software or membership and demonstrate ongoing new sales activity. Providers that don't convert by August 15 lose program standing.

I know the details. My own HubSpot spending was already above the $400 threshold. That's not the problem.

The problem is what the requirement means once it exists. When a minimum level of spending becomes a condition of partner status, the purchases that once served an operating purpose now serve a second purpose: they keep me in the program. And when partner status requires attributed sales, my recommendations carry a financial stake I didn't have before.

That's not a technicality. That's a different relationship.

An independent advisor who is financially dependent on recommending a platform is no longer independent. It doesn't matter how carefully they try to stay objective: the structure makes the objectivity impossible to verify, and impossible to credibly claim. The value I offered clients was that my recommendation meant something. Quotas put that meaning in question.

I still like HubSpot

I want to be clear: I like HubSpot. I'm a customer, a longtime user, and a shareholder. The platform is genuinely good at what it does, and the people building it are building something real.

I'll keep running HubSpot for clients where it's the right tool. I'll keep building workflows, administering portals, and supporting the customers who are already on the platform. My commitment to those clients doesn't change because my badge does.

And if a prospective client asks me whether HubSpot is the right choice for them, I'll give them the same honest answer I always have: sometimes yes, sometimes no, and always based on what I think serves them. Not what preserves a vendor relationship.

The numbers tell the story

HubSpot's own SEC filing puts the direction plainly. In the first quarter of 2026, the company grew sales and marketing employee costs by $50.8 million year over year and reduced Solutions Partner commission expense by $4.15 million, during a period when revenue generated through partners actually increased.^2

HubSpot is building out its internal sales organization and converting its partner program into an extension of that motion. That's a legitimate business decision.

But I think they jumped the shark here. The Solutions Provider Program worked because it created a credible layer of advocates who weren't on the payroll. Replacing it with a model that requires quotas and attributed sales turns that layer into an extension of the sales team. The value that made providers worth recommending is the thing the new program eliminates.

I don't expect HubSpot to reverse this. I'm not waiting around to see. They made their choice about what kind of partner they want, and it isn't the kind I'm willing to be.

They made their choice. I make mine.

My provider status expires August 15. I'm at peace with that.

I'm proud of what I built under that badge. The clients I helped. The implementations I got right. The times I looked a prospect in the eye and told them HubSpot wasn't the answer (because it wasn't), and they thanked me for it later. That work doesn't disappear when the badge does.

HubSpot is entitled to build the program they believe will serve their business. And I'm entitled to decline participation in programs built around quotas, because quotas compromise the thing that made me worth listening to in the first place.

They made their choice. I make mine.

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Philip Bosley is CEO of Tactical Marketing, a longtime HubSpot service provider, customer, and shareholder. Conclusions about the strategic effect of HubSpot's policy are the author's analysis.