What is the HubSpot API and When to Use It

Having a lot of different types of software running at the same time can be tricky if you need them to communicate with each other. If you use HubSpot, you have access to a variety of native integrations to solve this problem, but sometimes you will still need help from a developer if the desired integration is not available.

Using API is an effective way to allow a live transfer of data between different systems with little coding. Moreover, this is an opportunity for software companies to scale by sharing a small piece of data with other developers to find ways to use their platforms in conjunction with other systems. In this blog, we will explore what HubSpot API is and when to use it.

What is API?

The acronym API stands for Application Programming Interface, which is a functional application that allows different types of software to communicate with each other. Instead of developing integrations from scratch, API acts like a bridge that saves you coding time to get the job done faster and easier.

What is HubSpot API?

If you are a HubSpot user, you generally can go on three different routes when using API:

Install a native integration from the Marketplace
Create an integration on top of the API to communicate with the system desired. It could help with all types of software, from webinar providers to CRMs to social media
Or simply generate an API key in your portal

To access the API key in your HubSpot portal, navigate Settings > Integrations > API Key. There you can refer to your API key by clicking the tab Call Log, where you can view activity for the last seven days, or generate one if you haven’t started using it yet. That’s the information you need to share with your developers so they can create APIs that interact with information in your HubSpot account.If your developer is going above and beyond on a given project and wants to create a new app, HubSpot offers the ability to get listed in the App Marketplace and share your integration with the HubSpot community.

There are a few types of API available on the web, but in HubSpot they are all organized around REST, which is a software architectural style that defines a set of constraints used for creating Web services. Moreover, there are many HTTP features available in HubSpot, and the APIs are designed to have predictable, straightforward URLs and to use HTTP response codes to indicate API errors.

API Limits

Each HubSpot account has access to different APIs based on the products and product levels you purchased. HubSpot’s API limits allow for 100 requests per 10 seconds and 250,000 requests per day for Free and Starters accounts, and 500,000 requests per day for Professional and Enterprise level accounts.

If you exceed the limits allowed in your account, you will receive 429 error responses for any API calls you make. The daily limits reset at midnight depending on the time zone selected in your Settings. See a detailed breakdown for which APIs are supported for each product level on the APIs by Product Tier page.

When to use HubSpot API

Let’s say you use the HubSpot CRM, but your website is hosted in another platform, such as WordPress, and you need to use forms. The easy solution could be simply embedding HubSpot forms in a WordPress page. BUT if you are an e-commerce business, and you have a third software taking care of credit card transactions, and you still need the data to go to HubSpot...Oh my, that’s confusing!

And that’s when an API can become the bridge that connects all systems relevant to your business. In this case, by using API the whole operation stays the same and still transfers data to HubSpot even though you are not using a HubSpot form.

Another common use case of API is for webinars or events that live in a different software and cannot be handled inside HubSpot. By using API, you can continue managing your events and webinars externally but feed the HubSpot CRM with data every time there is new action.

When working with contacts, use the Batch API to update contacts in sets, up to 100 records per call. If the data is not time-sensitive, you can make group updates into periodic batches instead of individual ones. That’s also a good way to update multiple records in a single request for either a group of companies or a group of deals.

Managing Your HubSpot API

As we mentioned above, generating an API key in your settings is very easy. However, there are some best practices to make sure your tools are always connected and efficiently running, such as:

Check daily API usage in your Settings to ensure transfer of data is running
Create a developer account. There you have access to a test account to test HubSpot API without affecting HubSpot’s real data
Update the API key when necessary by either rotating or deactivating it

Conclusion

If you found this article helpful, you may also enjoy:

Are you ready to get started with HubSpot CRM? Great!

Set up your free account.
Read our 'Getting Started' post that guides you through the beginning steps.

*If you want to have a quick chat with a HubSpot CRM expert, feel free to book a call below.