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If you’ve ever tried to make HubSpot fit your business perfectly, you’ve probably hit a wall.
Contacts, companies, deals, and tickets cover a lot - but not everything.
What about the data that doesn’t belong to any of those?

That’s where custom objects come in.

They let you define your own data types, tailored to how your business actually works.
Whether you’re tracking subscriptions, assets, or events, custom objects give you the flexibility to model your operations exactly the way you want.

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What Exactly Is a Custom Object?

A custom object in HubSpot is a new kind of record that you create yourself.
It sits alongside the standard CRM objects - Contacts, Companies, Deals, and Tickets - but it’s fully customizable.

You can:

• Add your own properties (fields)
• Decide how it associates with other records
• Use it in workflows, reports, and automations

Think of it like adding a new folder to your CRM’s filing cabinet.
If “Contacts” holds people and “Deals” holds sales, your custom object might hold anything else you need - from subscriptions to service requests.

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Why Custom Objects Are So Useful

Custom objects solve a few big problems for teams working at scale:

1. Replace Messy Properties

Without custom objects, you might end up cramming unrelated data into contact or deal records - like “Subscription 1,” “Subscription 2,” “Subscription 3.”
Custom objects let you store that data neatly, one record per item.

2. Enable Better Automation

You can trigger workflows based on changes to a custom object or its associations.
That means automating real business logic, not just updates on standard records.

3. Keep Reporting Clean

Because each custom object has its own properties, you can report on it directly instead of mixing data across multiple records.

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Everyday Examples

Here are three of the most common ways teams use custom objects in HubSpot:

1. Events

Track registrations, attendance, and post-event engagement for webinars, trade shows, or demos.
Link events to contacts and companies, and use workflows to send reminders or follow-ups automatically.

2. Subscriptions or Contracts

Manage renewal dates, billing cycles, or multi-line contracts.
Use automation to notify your team or the customer when a renewal is coming up.

3. Products or Assets

Track digital or physical assets that don’t fit in the native product library.
Associate them with deals or contacts for lifecycle management or maintenance reminders.

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How to Create a Custom Object (Updated for Data Model Builder)

In 2025, HubSpot moved custom object creation into the Data Model Builder - a unified view for managing all your objects and their relationships.

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Here’s how to create one:

1. Go to Settings → Data Management → Data Model
2. Click Edit Data Model in the top right
3. Select + Create a Custom Object from the sidebar
4. Add a name, description, and properties
5. Define how it associates with standard objects
6. Save and start using it in workflows and reports

This new view gives you a visual overview of your CRM’s structure - ideal for understanding how everything connects before you start automating.

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Advanced Uses and Ideas

Once you’ve created a custom object, you can use it to power much more advanced workflows and data models.

Automate Workflows Across Objects

Trigger workflows when a related object changes - for example, send an alert when a “Contract” object moves to “Pending Renewal.”

Create Approval or Status Systems

Add fields like “Status” or “Approved by” and build workflows that update associated records automatically.

Build Custom Dashboards

Combine data from custom and standard objects in one report to get full visibility across operations.

Integrate External Data

If you use tools outside HubSpot, use the API to sync data directly into your custom object structure.
This keeps external systems aligned with your CRM - no manual updates needed.

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Key Takeaways

• Custom objects are your own data types inside HubSpot.
• They’re perfect for structured information that doesn’t fit into standard CRM records.
• They make automation cleaner, reporting smarter, and data more consistent.

Once you start using them, they become an essential part of scaling your HubSpot setup.

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What’s Next

While powerful, custom objects come with a learning curve. Over the next few weeks, we’ll publish short guides on how to:

• Fix reporting issues with custom objects
• Trigger workflows reliably
• Manage associations cleanly
• Customize record views for teams
• Integrate data accurately

These guides will walk you through setups and screenshots - so you can master the trickier parts of custom object management.

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