I’ve been using the HubSpot CRM free version, and after the 30-day, I noticed that the history associated with my contacts seems to be gone.
Specifically, all the notes I had taken during calls, activity history, and other information I recorded are no longer visible. This is a major issue for me because I relied on those notes to keep track of conversations and follow-ups.
I’m trying to understand:
Has anyone been able to recover their notes or activity history after the trial ended?
At this point, I’m also considering moving away from HubSpot and switching to a self-hosted CRM or another alternative where I have full control over my data and don’t risk losing access after a certain period.
If anyone has recommendations for self-hosted CRMs or migration strategies (assuming I can still recover my data), I’d really appreciate your suggestions.
Good news first: your notes are almost certainly not deleted. HubSpot quietly changed the Free plan (late 2024 → Feb 2025) to hide activity older than 30 days from the contact timeline — it’s locked, not gone. Dozens of people got burned by the exact same thing on HubSpot’s own forum.
Two ways to get your history back below — plus the self-hosted CRMs so no vendor can ever do this to you again.
🧠 Hidden ≠ deleted — what actually happened (+ a free view most people miss)
The Free plan now caps the timeline to the last 30 days. Your data still exists — an upgrade instantly shows it all again — but you shouldn’t have to pay to see your own notes. Two facts that matter:
Notes, tasks, and pinned activities are EXEMPT from the 30-day cap — they’re supposed to stay visible. If yours vanished, they were probably actually deleted (not just hidden) → use the Restore tool below.
Even for hidden calls/emails, the Activity index pages (open the left menu → Activities, not the contact’s timeline) can still list items older than 30 days. That’s a free way around the cap most people never try.
🔧 Get your history back — the 90-day Restore tool (do this first)
If notes were genuinely deleted, HubSpot keeps them in a recycle bin for 90 days:
Open any contact record → top-left Actions → Restore activity.
A Restore Activities tab opens → filter by date range (defaults to 90 days).
Tick the notes / calls / meetings / tasks you want → Restore.
Official steps + limits here. Caveats: only works within 90 days of deletion, needs Add & edit users / Super Admin, and GDPR or permanent-purge deletions can’t be recovered.
📞 Then: escalate + never get caught again
Escalate to HubSpot support and link that community thread — it shows this is a known, documented issue, not a one-off, so you get a real answer instead of a brush-off.
Start exporting weekly, today — Contacts → Actions → Export pulls contacts + notes + activity to CSV. Do this no matter what you decide next; it’s your insurance.
🖥️ Own your data for good — self-hosted CRMs (you control retention, forever)
Host it yourself and no free-tier rule can ever hide your data again:
Pick:Twenty if you want clean, modern, zero lock-in. SuiteCRM or EspoCRM if you want HubSpot-level features or the simplest possible setup.
🔄 Moving out clean — the migration checklist
Export everything from HubSpot first (Contacts → Actions → Export): contacts, notes, deals, activity logs.
Import the CSVs — Twenty, SuiteCRM, and EspoCRM all take CSV import.
Map your HubSpot fields onto the new CRM’s fields.
Turn on automated backups on day one. Now you own retention — this exact problem can never happen again.
😎 Why owning it quietly saves you
The month you pause a subscription, your own customer history doesn’t vanish behind a paywall.
A client asks “what did we agree back in March?” — you scroll back years, not 30 days.
Business picks up and you hit the free contact cap at the worst moment — self-hosted has no cap.
A vendor changes the rules overnight (like this) — can’t touch you, the data’s on your box.
Fat-finger a delete or a bad import — with weekly backups it’s a 2-minute rollback, not a crisis.
✅ Do this in order
Check the Activity index pages — your older calls/emails may already be sitting there, free.
Run Actions → Restore activity on affected contacts (90-day window) for any deleted notes.
Export everything to CSV now, and message support with the thread link.
Stand up Twenty (or SuiteCRM/EspoCRM), import the CSV, switch on auto-backups.
Bottom line: your notes are hidden, not gone — pull them back via the index pages + 90-day Restore, export a copy today, then move to a self-hosted CRM so retention is yours to control.
Your notes were never HubSpot’s to hide — pull them back, then park them where no one can put your own words behind a paywall.
Your notes aren’t deleted. In HubSpot a note/call/meeting is an engagement — a separate object from the contact. The export button only reads contact records, so engagements never appear in it. A tier change hides the view, not the rows.
Free path, 30 seconds: Contacts → click the Contacts dropdown (top-left) → Notes / Calls / Tasks / Meetings. Each is its own full table. Filter → select all → export.
Anything genuinely deleted sits in the recycle bin 90 days (attachments: 30). Check today.
Everything below is collapsed — open only what you need.
Free-tier access — activity index pages, saved views, tier limits
CONTACT RECORD ──> properties ──> ✅ included in export
TIMELINE ────────> notes ┐
calls ├──> ENGAGEMENTS ──> ❌ never in a contact export
tasks │ ✅ but each has its own table
meetings ┘
Do
Link
Notes / Calls / Tasks / Meetings as standalone tables
MCP servers — query your CRM from Claude / ChatGPT
MCP = a plug that lets an AI assistant use a tool for you. Paste a private-app token (a password for scripts), then ask for the data in plain language.
soft_delete=True — pull archived rows and field history
HubSpot has two kinds of gone: archived=true = actually deleted. archivedInDashboard=true = only hidden from you. Production data pipes can request both.
1. Client says “you never told me that.” Open the Notes table, filter to their name, sort by date. Timestamped call log, two clicks. Argument over.
2. Someone leaves the company. The pipeline is fine — their notes are the asset. Filter Notes by owner, export, hand it to whoever picks up the accounts.
3. A teammate bulk-deletes the wrong list. Inside 90 days it’s a restore. Outside 90 days it’s gone forever. Knowing which side you’re on is the whole difference.
4. You quoted a price you don’t remember quoting.include_history=True returns every past value of every field — you can read what the deal amount was on any date.
5. Renewal quote doubles. With a nightly mirror on your own box you can walk in the same week, instead of paying because three years of history is hostage.
Pick your row → the one link you need
You are
Do this
Panicking, not technical
The two-click activity pages above, then export. 10 minutes.
Anything genuinely deleted sits in the recycle bin 90 days (attachments: 30). Check today.
Permanent deletes and privacy-law deletes skip the bin entirely.
!