HubSpot’s custom report builder lets you pull data from any object in your portal and shape it to match your actual business questions. The pre-built reports in the Report Library cover common metrics. Custom reports give you control over which data appears and how it is organised.
This guide covers how to build a custom report in HubSpot and which data source to use for different questions, then how to add reports to a shared dashboard your team will actually check.
Go to Reports in the left navigation and click “Create report”. Select “Custom Report Builder”. Your choice of primary data source determines which properties are available to build with.
HubSpot organises data by object type. Start with the object closest to your question: Contacts for people-level data, Deals for pipeline. If you need data from a second object, add a cross-object join after selecting the primary source.
Apply a date range filter to set the time window, then add a pipeline filter if your portal has more than one. Drag properties from the right panel into your report and group rows by a property to see breakdowns by deal owner.
Choose a visualisation type based on what the data needs to show. A line chart by week or month works well for trends. For comparisons across reps or regions, a bar chart is usually the clearest option.
Name the report so other users understand what it shows. Add it to an existing dashboard or create a new one, then set sharing permissions so the right people can view or edit it.
Which data sources work for which questions?
The data source you pick determines what is available to build with. Here are the most practical combinations:
- Deals: Best for tracking pipeline velocity and close rate by stage. This is where most sales managers start because the deal object holds the revenue and stage data you need.
- Contacts joined to Deals: This cross-object join lets you see which lifecycle stages most often connect to closed deals, or how quickly leads move from creation to first deal.
- Contacts joined to Marketing activities: Useful for measuring email click-to-deal conversion or how contacts from a specific campaign progressed through the pipeline.
- Tickets: For support teams tracking resolution time or volume by category over a given period.
If your portal has custom objects configured, those are available as data sources in the report builder. This is useful for tracking non-standard records like course bookings or partner agreements alongside your core CRM data. The custom objects guide covers how to set those up if you have not already.
What do filters actually change in a custom report?
Filters in the custom report builder narrow the dataset before aggregation. This is different from dashboard-level date filters, which override the display without changing the underlying report definition.
The most useful filter types to know:
- Date range: Set a fixed range or a rolling window like “last 30 days”. Rolling windows update automatically, which is what you want for a live dashboard.
- Pipeline filter: If your portal has multiple deal pipelines, always filter to the relevant one so the report reflects the right sales motion and does not blend unrelated deal types.
- Property equals: Filter to a specific deal stage or contact owner. Combining two filters narrows the dataset quickly without making the report hard to maintain.
A common source of confusion is setting filters inside the report while a dashboard-level filter is overriding them. If a report shows unexpected numbers, check both layers before assuming the data is wrong.
How do you build a deal attribution report in HubSpot?
Attribution reporting requires Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise. If you have access, go to Reports then Attribution and select an attribution model. First touch and last touch are the most common starting points; linear distributes credit across all touchpoints in the path.
The custom report builder does not replace the Attribution section. It complements it by letting you cut deal data by properties the Attribution view does not expose, such as deal owner and custom segments added during onboarding.
For teams without Attribution access, a useful alternative is a cross-object report with Deals as the primary source and Contact Original Source as a column. This shows where the associated contact first entered the CRM, giving a directional view of channel influence without requiring the full attribution module.
The HubSpot reporting guide covers standard dashboards and saved views, including how report filters differ from dashboard-level date overrides.
Can you share custom reports across the team?
Yes. When saving a custom report, you can set visibility to everyone in the account or restrict it to specific users and teams. Reports added to a shared dashboard are automatically visible to anyone with access to that dashboard.
If the same report needs to appear in multiple dashboards, add it to each dashboard separately. The same report object is referenced each time, so edits you make propagate to every dashboard that includes it.
HubSpot also has a Report Library where you can publish internal templates. This is helpful when you want every team in your portal to start from the same baseline structure without each person configuring from scratch.
What limits apply to custom reports?
The number of saved custom reports depends on your subscription tier. Starter allows fewer than Professional or Enterprise. If you hit the limit, archive older reports before creating new ones. Archiving removes the report from all dashboards, so confirm no active dashboards depend on it before proceeding.
For more complex cross-object analysis than the builder supports, HubSpot Datasets (Operations Hub Professional) lets you create a curated data layer from multiple sources and report on it directly. This is worth considering if you need reporting that requires joins the standard builder does not support natively.
Frequently asked questions
Can I export a custom report?
Yes. From the report view, click “Actions” and select “Export”. HubSpot exports the current filtered dataset as a CSV. Large reports may take a few minutes to prepare before the download link appears.
Why does my custom report show different numbers than the standard report for the same metric?
The most common cause is a different date window. Custom reports start with no filters unless you add them. Standard reports often have a default date filter applied. Check that both reports cover the same date range and pipeline before comparing.
Can I schedule a custom report to send by email?
Yes, through the dashboard that contains the report. Go to the dashboard, click “Actions”, then “Schedule email”. You can set a daily or weekly send to specific team members. This is a dashboard-level feature, so the email includes all reports on that dashboard.
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