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Is Hubspot Email Deliverability Good? Our 90-Day Usage Review

This is my honest HubSpot email deliverability review after 90 days.

I’ve sent over 10,000 emails using HubSpot.

At first, it worked great. Then the problems started—low open rates, spam issues, and dropped replies.

I tracked everything: inbox placement, bounce rates, and sender score.

And when it got worse, I switched.

If you're thinking about using HubSpot for cold email or marketing, read this.

I’ll show you what to expect before you risk your list or your money.

What Is Email Deliverability (And Why You Should Care)?

Just because your email says “sent” doesn’t mean it was seen.

It might land in the inbox.

Or spam.

Or nowhere at all.

That’s email deliverability.

It’s not about sending. It’s about landing where it counts.

Here’s what we tracked to know if deliverability was good or bad:

  • Open rate (Did anyone even see it?)

  • Bounce rate (Did it get rejected?)

  • Inbox placement (Did it go to spam or promotions?)

If your emails aren’t landing in the right place, everything else falls apart.
👉 Use This Free Email Deliverability Test
Email Deliverability Test in Salesforge
This image shows the Email Deliverability Test in Salesforge
  • Instant results in your inbox

  • Checks SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX, and PTR

  • Flag misconfigurations before they hurt your sender rep

It takes 30 seconds. You’ll know exactly what to fix.

Doesn’t matter how good your copy is—no one’s reading it.

Our Email Setup Using HubSpot (So You Know This Is Real)

Let’s make one thing clear:

This wasn’t some lazy spray-and-pray test. We did everything by the book.

Here’s the setup:

  • Used a fresh domain with SPF, DKIM, DMARC, MX, and PTR all correctly set up
Domain Set Up in Hubspot
This image shows the Domain Set Up in Hubspot
  • Sent around 1,200 emails/week

  • A mix of cold outreach and warm leads

  • Emails sent through HubSpot Sequences (Pro Plan)

  • Monitored everything with Salesforge’s free tools:


Bottom line? We treated this like a real campaign. No shortcuts.

What HubSpot Says About Deliverability (vs What We Experienced)

HubSpot makes some bold claims about email deliverability.

We tested them. Here’s how each one held up:

What HubSpot Claims What Actually Happened
✅ “Smart list cleaning” Still had to remove cold leads and bounces ourselves manually. One-click cleaning didn’t catch everything.
✅ “Predictive alerts” Alerts came after our emails were already flagged. Too late to fix the damage.
✅ “Dedicated deliverability team” Got generic copy-paste replies. No deep help. No urgency.
✅ “Redundant infrastructure” Our emails still got blacklisted. No failover. No warning. No fix.

The features sound great in the pitch deck, but they didn’t protect us when deliverability went south.

When HubSpot Email Does Work Well

Let’s be fair—HubSpot’s not bad at everything.

It actually works fine if:

  • You’re sending to warm, opt-in lists

  • Running internal sequences (like onboarding or lifecycle emails)

  • Doing small-volume newsletters

  • And using it as your all-in-one CRM/marketing suite

In that world? It holds up.

When HubSpot Email Falls Apart

But the second you try to scale cold outreach? Game over.

  • Cold emails get flagged fast

  • No inbox rotation, no way to manage multiple domains

  • No built-in warm-up tools — so you start cold, and stay cold

  • Shared IPs = shared risk (you get punished for what others do)
Dedicated IP vs Shared IP: What's the difference?
  • Zero control over backend infrastructure

So, if your team is sending high-volume cold emails?

You’re flying a jet with no engine.

So We Switched to a Hubspot Alternative... But Not to Another CRM

This wasn’t a “let’s try a new CRM” problem.

Our CRM was fine.

Our deliverability sucked.

5 Ways to Improve Cold Email Deliverability Rates

We didn’t need a new HubSpot.

We needed emails that landed.

So we switched our infrastructure to Mailforge.

Is Mailforge a HubSpot Alternative? Here's the Honest Answer

Mailforge Homepage
This image shows the Mailforge Homepage

Let’s not sugarcoat this.

✅ YES — Mailforge is perfect if you care about:

  • Cold outreach that lands

  • Inbox placement

  • Domain + mailbox setup

  • Deliverability at scale

❌ NO — if you’re looking for:

  • CRM tools

  • Marketing automation

  • Lead nurturing workflows

  • Reports and dashboards

Mailforge doesn’t pretend to be HubSpot.

It’s not a CRM. It’s a cold email machine.

And for what it’s built to do?

It’s damn good at it.

HubSpot vs Mailforge (For Email Deliverability Only)

Feature HubSpot Mailforge
Cold Email Friendly? ❌ No ✅ Yes
Auto DNS + Domain Setup ⚠️ Partial ✅ Fully automated
Dedicated IP Option ❌ (Only on Enterprise) ✅ (via Infraforge)
Email Warm-Up ❌ Not included ✅ Built-in support
Shared IP Risk ✅ High risk ❌ Controlled setup
Support ⚠️ Reactive ✅ Fast + proactive

Final Verdict — Is HubSpot Good for Email Deliverability?

✅ Yes — if you’re sending internal emails, warm newsletters, or using it as part of your CRM drip flows.

❌ No — if you’re doing cold outreach, need inbox control, or want to scale without getting burned.

For us, deliverability wasn’t a nice-to-have. It was the whole game.

And after 90 days inside HubSpot?

We knew one thing for sure:

We’d never use it for cold email again.

Need Your Emails to Land, Not Linger in Spam?

Try  Mailforge — and trust me, you’ll never look back.

  • Domains set up in minutes

  • Warm-up handled automatically

  • Inbox placement that just works

If you’re serious about outreach, don’t gamble with deliverability.

👉 Try Mailforge free and see the difference in your next campaign.

FAQs — HubSpot Email Deliverability

1. Does HubSpot have good email deliverability?

Yes, for opt-in contacts. Not great for outreach.

2. Can I do cold email with HubSpot?

Technically, yes. Realistically? Not at scale.

3. Does HubSpot provide warm-up tools?

No. You’ll need third-party tools.

4. What’s a better tool for email deliverability?

If all you care about is inboxing and outreach, Mailforge.