How to Merge Contacts in HubSpot (2026 Guide)
HubSpot has two paths for merging duplicate contacts: a one-by-one merge from any contact record, and a bulk Manage duplicates tool that uses AI to surface likely matches. Both end at the same dialog where you pick which record stays as the primary.
The catch: merges are permanent. Once you click Merge, there’s no undo button. Here’s how to do it cleanly.
1. Merge Two Contacts from a Contact Record
Use this when you’ve spotted a duplicate while working on a record.
- Open the contact you want to keep (the primary record). Most teams pick the one with more activity history or the more accurate property values.
- Click Actions in the top right of the record header.
- Select Merge.
- In the Merge contacts dialog, search by name or email and select the secondary contact.
- HubSpot shows the two records side by side. For each property where the values differ, choose which to keep using the radio buttons. Most properties default to the primary record.
- Click Merge.
The secondary record disappears. Its email becomes a secondary email on the primary. All engagements (calls, emails, meetings, notes, tasks), deals, tickets, and list memberships move to the primary. The merge can take up to 30 minutes for all activities to fully synchronize.
Permanent: Once merged, contacts cannot be unmerged. If two records were merged in error, you can sometimes extract the secondary email and create a new contact from it, but engagement history stays with the merged record.
2. Find Duplicates with the Manage Duplicates Tool
The duplicates tool uses AI to surface matches based on email, name, phone, company, IP, and behavioral signals. It’s the right tool when you’re cleaning up a database, not just a single record.
- Go to CRM > Contacts.
- Click Actions above the table.
- Select Manage duplicates.
- HubSpot displays suggested duplicate pairs with a confidence score: typically labeled High, Medium, or Low.
- Click Review next to a pair.
- Choose which record to keep as primary, resolve any property conflicts, and click Merge. Or click Reject if they aren’t actually the same person.
You can filter the list by confidence level to start with the high-confidence matches. Rejected pairs won’t reappear unless one of the records changes significantly.
Bulk reject in one pass
If you want to clear out the long tail of low-confidence matches:
- Filter by Low confidence.
- Select multiple pairs using the checkboxes at the left.
- Click Reject at the top of the table.
Bulk merging from this view isn’t supported, each merge still requires a property-conflict review, but bulk reject saves a lot of clicking.
3. What Actually Gets Combined When You Merge
This is where merges trip people up. The behavior depends on which object you’re merging.
Contacts
| Data type | What happens |
|---|---|
| Primary email stays as the main email. Secondary email is preserved as an additional email. | |
| Other properties | Default to the primary record’s value, unless you override during the merge dialog. |
| Lifecycle stage | Picks the value furthest down the funnel (e.g., Customer beats Lead). |
| Engagements | Calls, emails, meetings, notes, tasks all move to the primary record. |
| Associations | Companies, deals, tickets, line items all move to the primary. |
| List/segment memberships | Active segments re-evaluate; static segment memberships move to primary. |
| Workflow enrollments | Carried over to the primary record. |
Companies
| Data type | What happens |
|---|---|
| Domain | Primary domain stays. Secondary domain is preserved as an additional domain. |
| Analytics totals | Combined (page views, sessions). |
| Properties | Default to primary unless overridden. |
Deals
| Data type | What happens |
|---|---|
| Properties | Default to the primary deal’s values. No combination of amounts. |
| Pipeline/stage | Primary deal’s pipeline and stage are kept. |
| Associations | All contacts, companies, line items move to the primary. |
Merge cap: A single record can be involved in up to 250 merges. After that, further merges are blocked. This rarely affects normal use but can come up after big migrations.
4. Permissions and Tier Gating
| Feature | Tiers |
|---|---|
| Merging contacts/companies/deals from a record | All HubSpot tiers, including Free CRM |
| Manage duplicates tool with AI suggestions | All tiers (with a limit on suggestions surfaced on Free) |
| Bulk reject of suggested duplicates | All tiers |
User permissions: merging requires the Edit permission on the relevant object (Contacts, Companies, or Deals). Admins set this in Settings > Users & Teams.
Which Method Should You Use?
- Found a duplicate while in a record? Merge directly from Actions > Merge on the contact you want to keep.
- Cleaning up the database? Open Manage duplicates and work through high-confidence matches first. Bulk reject the low-confidence noise.
- Imported a big list and want to dedupe before review? Use the Don’t create duplicate contacts option during import, it deduplicates by email automatically without a merge step.
Skip Duplicate Cleanup Altogether
Most duplicates come from manual entry and inconsistent data flowing in from forms, emails, and tools. Carly is an AI assistant that connects to 200+ apps including HubSpot and handles the repetitive work for you.
More on HubSpot: How to export contacts from HubSpot · How to import contacts into HubSpot · How to create a workflow in HubSpot · How to connect HubSpot to an AI agent · Best AI CRM tools
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