For an RIA buying HubSpot Professional or Enterprise, the realistic onboarding options are HubSpot's own paid onboarding, an RIA-focused HubSpot partner such as Proper Expression, a financial services implementer such as The Pedowitz Group or Vantage Point, or a generalist partner such as Media Junction. HubSpot's onboarding costs $1,500 to $7,000 per Hub and coaches your team to do the setup. A partner costs more and does the setup for you, including the compliance work an RIA needs.
Disclosure: Vantage Point wrote this list and is one of the options compared. Every claim about another firm comes from that firm's own website, as checked on November 11, 2026. Where a firm doesn't publish something, we say so.
Is HubSpot onboarding required for an RIA?
Yes, on Professional and Enterprise. HubSpot's Solutions Partner program page lists "Onboarding required (one-time fee)" for any Professional or Enterprise level of HubSpot software. You meet that requirement in one of two ways: pay HubSpot for its onboarding, or have a Solutions Partner deliver onboarding. HubSpot lets partners waive its onboarding fee for their clients, which its partner page values at up to $6,000 per client.
Starter editions and the free CRM have no onboarding requirement, so a small RIA on Starter can set HubSpot up alone with HubSpot Academy courses.
What does each option cost?
| Option | Who does the setup | RIA or financial services focus (as published) | Published price |
|---|---|---|---|
| HubSpot paid onboarding | Your team, coached by HubSpot | Cross-industry | Sales or Service Hub Professional $1,500, Enterprise $3,500; Marketing Hub Professional $3,000, Enterprise $7,000 (HubSpot list prices) |
| Self-guided with HubSpot Academy | Your team | Cross-industry | Free, Starter and free CRM only |
| Proper Expression | Partner | RIA marketing agency page; Wealthbox integration guide | Not published |
| The Pedowitz Group | Partner | HubSpot for financial services page naming RIAs, with a compliance architecture review | Not published |
| Fast Slow Motion | Partner | Article for RIAs and broker-dealers; says it helps financial services firms implement HubSpot | Not published |
| Media Junction | Partner | Not stated on its pricing page | Onboarding starting at $3k; implementation starting at $15k |
| Vantage Point | Partner | Financial services and other regulated industries | $7,500 per Hub (Foundation, 3 to 4 weeks) |
The options in detail
HubSpot paid onboarding
HubSpot's onboarding pairs your team with a HubSpot onboarding specialist who guides setup over a fixed period. Your team does the configuration. It is the lowest-cost route for a Professional or Enterprise purchase, and HubSpot's specialists know the product well.
Best for: an RIA with an operations person who has time to configure HubSpot, a simple data set and few integrations. Less suited to firms moving from Redtail, Wealthbox or Salesforce, or firms that need archiving and consent set up correctly from day one.
Self-guided setup with HubSpot Academy
HubSpot Academy's free courses cover CRM setup, pipelines, email and reporting. On Starter or the free CRM there is no onboarding fee to pay.
Best for: a small RIA testing HubSpot for marketing before committing to Professional. Note that Professional and Enterprise still carry the onboarding requirement even if you configure the portal yourself.
Proper Expression
Proper Expression describes itself as a Platinum HubSpot agency partner and runs an RIA marketing agency page focused on growing assets under management. Its blog includes a guide to integrating HubSpot with Wealthbox and an article on how financial advisors benefit from HubSpot CRM. Pricing isn't published.
Best for: RIAs whose main goal is marketing and growth, with HubSpot onboarding as part of a wider marketing engagement.
The Pedowitz Group
The Pedowitz Group's HubSpot for financial services page says it has implemented HubSpot for registered investment advisors, insurance agencies, regional banks and fintech companies. For RIAs it describes a household model (company as household, contacts as family members), AUM-based segmentation and referral partner tracking. Its process starts with a two-week compliance architecture review that produces a field exclusion list and a sign-off checklist for the compliance officer, and it gives a typical compliance-sensitive implementation timeline of 10 to 16 weeks with 90 days of post-implementation support. Pricing isn't published.
Best for: larger RIAs that want a structured, longer implementation with a formal compliance review up front.
Fast Slow Motion
Fast Slow Motion publishes an article on why RIAs and broker-dealers choose HubSpot and states that it "helps financial services firms customize and implement HubSpot to support growth, compliance, and client success." Its partner tier and pricing aren't stated on that page.
Best for: RIAs that want a partner already writing about the advisor market and want to compare approaches.
Media Junction
Media Junction's pricing page lists HubSpot onboarding starting at $3k and HubSpot implementation starting at $15k. The page doesn't mention financial services.
Best for: RIAs that want a published starting price and are comfortable bringing their own compliance requirements to a generalist partner.
Vantage Point
Vantage Point is a HubSpot Gold Solutions Partner and a Salesforce partner, founded in 2018, with headquarters in Dallas and a practice in Sofia, Bulgaria. Most of our clients are in financial services and other regulated industries, and our founder, David Cockrum, was COO of a wealth management firm, Retirement Planners of America, before starting the firm.
Our Foundation onboarding packages are $7,500 per Hub and take 3 to 4 weeks. A senior consultant configures HubSpot for you, imports cleaned data, sets permissions, consent and subscription types, connects email archiving and adds approval steps for regulated content. Firms moving from Salesforce can add a migration from $12,000. Our page on HubSpot partner vs paid onboarding for financial services sets out what is included.
Not the right fit if: you need 24/7 support, you want the lowest-cost offshore admin hours, or you're a global enterprise looking for a large systems integrator.
What should an RIA's HubSpot onboarding cover?
Whichever route you take, an RIA's onboarding should end with these in place:
- A household model. How families, joint accounts, trusts and beneficiaries map to HubSpot companies, contacts and associations.
- Restricted fields. A list of data that should not be stored in HubSpot, such as account numbers or anything your policies keep elsewhere.
- Email archiving. A connection to your archiving vendor before advisers send email from HubSpot, so your books and records under SEC Rule 204-2 stay complete.
- Approval steps. Review of marketing emails and pages before they go out, with the reviewer recorded.
- Consent and subscriptions. Subscription types matched to each kind of communication, with opt-outs honored everywhere.
- Permissions. Teams and roles so advisers see their own clients and operations sees what it needs.
- Integrations. A plan for your custodian data, planning software and existing CRM.
Our HubSpot onboarding checklist lists these steps in order.
Questions to ask before you choose
- Who will configure HubSpot: our team, or yours?
- Which RIAs have you onboarded, and can we speak to one?
- How will you model households, and where will account data live?
- How will email archiving and supervision work from the first day advisers send email?
- Will you waive HubSpot's onboarding fee, and what replaces it in your price?
- What is included after go-live, and what does support cost each month?
- Will you sign our vendor agreement and meet our Regulation S-P breach notification terms?
Frequently asked questions
Should an RIA use a HubSpot partner or HubSpot's paid onboarding?
Use HubSpot's paid onboarding if you have someone in-house with time to configure HubSpot and your needs are simple. Use a partner if you are migrating from another CRM, need archiving and consent set up correctly, or have integrations to connect.
How much does HubSpot onboarding cost for an RIA?
HubSpot's list prices are $1,500 for Sales or Service Hub Professional, $3,500 for their Enterprise editions, $3,000 for Marketing Hub Professional and $7,000 for Marketing Hub Enterprise. Partner onboarding ranges from Media Junction's published $3k starting price to $7,500 per Hub for our Foundation packages, with some partners quoting only after scoping.
Can a partner waive HubSpot's onboarding fee?
Yes. HubSpot's Solutions Partner program lets partners waive the onboarding fee for clients when the partner delivers onboarding. Confirm the waiver with your partner and HubSpot rep before you sign.
How long does HubSpot onboarding take for an RIA?
It ranges from a few weeks for a single Hub to 10 to 16 weeks for a full compliance-sensitive implementation, as The Pedowitz Group publishes. Our Foundation packages take 3 to 4 weeks per Hub.
Does HubSpot meet RIA recordkeeping rules?
HubSpot can hold client records and communications, but most RIAs keep their archive of record with a dedicated archiving vendor. Connect it before advisers send email from HubSpot.
Get help choosing
Book a free CRM assessment and we will tell you whether HubSpot's onboarding is enough for your firm or whether you need a partner. For firms moving from another CRM, see our HubSpot migration for financial services page, or our list of HubSpot migration partners for wealth firms.
