When I started out as a freelance writer, I didn't have a professional background in content marketing. I not only needed to learn everything I could about my new industry, but also had to show potential clients that I was worth investing in. And after creeping on a few freelancer subreddits, I learned HubSpot certifications were exactly what I needed.
But the courses you can take from HubSpot Academy go well beyond my niche—in fact, they run the gamut from marketing to sales and even web development. For this article, we asked nine industry leaders to share their top picks for the most useful HubSpot certifications, to give you a little help deciding which course to start with.
What are HubSpot certifications?
HubSpot certifications are free, industry-recognized courses from HubSpot Academy that give you skills in a variety of business areas. These courses are broken down into bite-sized lessons in a mix of video and text, and most of them can be completed in a few hours.
Many small business owners and professionals take these courses to gain new skills. And because you can put a completion badge on your resume and LinkedIn profile, HubSpot courses are also a great way to demonstrate your expertise to potential (and current) employers.
The best HubSpot certifications
The experts we consulted for this article work in a range of industries, from digital marketing to electrical services—and each one suggests a course they found the most useful for their work. Keep reading for a complete list, or choose an option below to jump straight to the one that interests you most.
1. HubSpot inbound marketing certification course
HubSpot invented inbound marketing, so it makes sense that the inbound marketing certification is its most popular course. In fact, it was the first course I took when I started my freelance content writing journey—and I can personally attest that what I learned helped set me up for success.
Justin Schulze, the owner of Colorado-based digital marketing agency Schulze Creative, agrees with me: "This certification teaches you all about inbound marketing, which is a way of attracting, engaging, and delighting customers without being pushy. It's all about giving people helpful content that they actually want instead of just pushing sales on them."
Justin also shared his personal experience with the course: "The certification really helped me get better at creating content that connects with people, which is something I was not good at before. It taught me how to set up a plan to bring customers in naturally, using things like blogs, SEO, and social media rather than just spending money on ads. For my business, it gave me a clear way to engage with customers—from finding leads to turning them into happy, loyal clients. Thanks to what I learned, I've seen an improvement in both the quality of leads and how many turn into real customers."
Who should take this course: Marketing professionals, small business owners, and solopreneurs who want to learn how to attract and delight customers through inbound marketing.
2. HubSpot content marketing certification
No digital marketing skill set would be complete without content creation abilities, which is why HubSpot's content marketing certification is one of the most valuable courses. Ani Ghazaryan, the Head of Content Marketing for Neptune.AI, shares, "This certification dives into the strategy behind content creation, from planning and producing to promoting and analyzing content. For me, it reinforced the importance of developing content that aligns with each stage of the buyer's journey, as it is a crucial skill for any content leader."
Ani continues: "The training also sharpened my skills in content distribution, helping me ensure our content reaches the right audience on the right platforms, which has been instrumental in expanding our reach and engagement. Beyond that, the emphasis on data-driven content decisions has allowed me to optimize our content strategy with a more strategic lens, focusing on what truly resonates with our audience. By applying these insights, we've been able to drive measurable increases in lead generation and conversions, directly impacting our bottom line."
Who should take this course: Content marketers and small business owners who want to improve their content creation, strategy, and SEO skills.
3. HubSpot SEO certification course
HubSpot's SEO certification course helps demystify the process of optimizing your website to rank better on search engines. Students learn things like keyword research, backlink building, and how to use Google Analytics to monitor their website's performance.
Milosz Krasinski, the owner and Managing Director of Chilli Fruit Web Consulting in the U.K., says the course both transformed his career path and propelled his company forward. "Starting the course, I thought I knew SEO well enough," Milosz says. "I then dug into the specifics, and wow, it was eye-opening. The step-by-step format sharpened my strategies and showed me fresh angles I'd missed before. The lesson about matching SEO work with marketing goals really clicked. We often get lost in keywords and rankings, forgetting what matters most."
"My favorite part?" Krasinski continues. "The certification teaches both technical skills and the human side of SEO. After all, it's all about writing content that speaks to real people while pleasing search engines too. So now, when I talk strategy with clients, I speak from a place of real expertise mixed with genuine care for their goals."
Who should take this course: SEO professionals, small business owners, and content creators who want to improve their website traffic and rankings in Google.
4. HubSpot email marketing certification course
The email marketing certification from HubSpot covers how to create compelling email copy and design, personalize and automate emails, and even conduct A/B testing to learn what works best with your audience. For founder and CEO Mike Sadowski of Brand24, a social listening SaaS with locations in Florida and Poland, the course had a huge impact on his early days with his company. "It's practical and straightforward, covering what really matters in email marketing," he shares.
One of the biggest lessons for him was the power of contact management and segmentation. Mike elaborates: "The course taught me how to organize lists and target specific groups with specified content. Once I put those strategies into action, I saw engagement skyrocket. Open rates went up, click-throughs improved, and our campaigns felt sharper because we were reaching the right people with the right message."
The section on deliverability was another highlight for Mike and his team. "Getting emails to actually land in inboxes isn't as simple as it seems," he explains. "The certification dives into avoiding spam triggers and managing your sender reputation, which keeps campaigns running smoothly. For anyone looking to step up their email marketing, this certification lays more than a solid foundation in my opinion."
Who should take this course: Marketers and small business owners who want to improve their email marketing skills.
5. HubSpot revenue operations certification
Revenue operations (RevOps) may sound like inscrutable corporate jargon, but it's actually an essential business operation—and your business does it, even if you don't call it that. RevOps is the process of making your sales, marketing, and customer success efforts as efficient as possible. It's about helping the different parts of your business all work together toward the same goals.
HubSpot consultant Fawwad Mirza, who also founded HubSpot Partner consultancy Pixcell.io in the U.K., says that the revenue operations certification from HubSpot has been a game-changer for him. "It doesn't just focus on theory—it's packed with practical, actionable insights on aligning sales, marketing, and service to drive real revenue growth. The RevOps framework taught me how to streamline processes, improve team collaboration, and scale more efficiently."
"What I love most about this certification is its focus on real-world application," Fawwad elaborates. "From mapping sales processes to setting up Service Level Agreements (SLAs), it's given me the tools to create sustainable growth strategies. The fact that it's designed for both beginners and seasoned pros makes it accessible but still deep enough to challenge even experienced operators. For anyone serious about driving scalable revenue and becoming more strategic in their approach, this certification is essential."
Who should take this course: RevOps professionals and anyone who wants to optimize their business processes.
6. HubSpot custom report course
Because HubSpot is a software platform, it makes sense that HubSpot Academy would also offer deep-dive tutorials to help you make the most of its products.
If you use HubSpot's software for your business, you can take the custom report course to learn how to dig deeper into your most essential business data. It's a four-lesson course that covers creating and managing custom reports in HubSpot, automating your data management, and the different types of reports you can create.
"For me, the HubSpot custom report course has been helpful because it covers the kind of data that truly powers decisions across the business," says Anders Bill, the co-founder and CPO of Los Angeles–based affiliate platform company Superfiliate. "Marketing or salespeople rarely consider creating their own reports; they stick to predefined dashboards or predefined metrics. But, through this certification, I was able to create super-granular, hyper-customized reports for our specific business issues, ranging from calculating lifetime value by customer category to tracking the impact that specific pieces of content have on lead quality over time."
The custom report course goes beyond technical tips for using the software. It also teaches users how to think more deeply about data analysis. Bill continues: "I have been able to identify random trends, such as which marketing channels are consistently generating long-term buyers instead of one-time buyers, and then we have changed resources and ROI has improved greatly. I'd definitely recommend this certification to anyone wanting to go beyond just the metrics and actually apply data to drive business change and make the decisions based on your own insights, not off-the-shelf ones."
Who should take this course: Anyone who uses HubSpot's Marketing, Sales, or Service Hubs and wants better insight into their data.
7. HubSpot Marketing Hub software certification
HubSpot's Marketing Hub is marketing automation software that helps marketers manage contacts, segment leads into groups, and interact with customers—among all sorts of other marketing tasks. The Marketing Hub software certification is an in-depth tutorial on how to get the most from the tool.
According to MD. Raisul Islam, a digital marketing executive with MeasureMinds Group, "It gave me a comprehensive understanding of integrating HubSpot into a marketing strategy and leveraging its tools to improve customer relationships through segmentation and automation."
Who should take this course: Anyone who uses HubSpot's Marketing Hub software.
8. HubSpot Service Hub software certification
If you use HubSpot software to manage your customer service processes, the Service Hub software certification can help you make the most of the tool. Daniel Vasilevski, the director and owner of Australian electrical services company Bright Force Electrical, says the course really helped him navigate the product: "Running a 24/7 operation means we need a system that keeps every client interaction organized and on track. This certification showed me how to set up ticket pipelines, automate processes, and use tracking tools to ensure every client request is handled efficiently. No one slips through the cracks, and our team can stay responsive, which matters in a business like ours, where timely service is everything."
But the benefits from the certification don't stop there. Daniel continues: "Automated follow-ups and reminders have transformed our workflow. After a major installation, for example, we can automatically send maintenance tips or reminders without needing to manually track each one. This has improved consistency across the board, which clients appreciate, as they know we're actively managing their needs. The certification did more than just teach me about the tools' features; it showed me how to put these tools into practice in a way that's made a real impact on our daily operations."
Who should take this course: Anyone who uses HubSpot's Service Hub.
9. HubSpot Sales Hub software certification
If you use HubSpot to manage your sales processes, your best resource by far is HubSpot's Sales Hub Software certification. Just ask Anbang Xu, the founder of California-based JoggAI, an AI ad generator platform: "The certification's focus on a structured, data-driven sales process has been instrumental in optimizing how we engage with customers, especially in a competitive field like AI-driven video technology. It taught me how to use data to segment and prioritize leads based on their specific needs, allowing us to tailor our approach rather than relying on broad sales tactics."
Anbang explains that they work with agencies and advertisers who value efficiency and precision: "HubSpot's Sales Software Certification helped us set up a sales process that reflects this, moving beyond basic product features to communicate how our solution directly addresses the needs of our clients. One significant improvement has been in follow-up strategies. The certification emphasized building meaningful, timely follow-ups based on real data insights, which has led to a notable increase in our engagement rates. This personalized timing and value-driven messaging have not only improved our conversion rates but have strengthened client relationships in a way that feels genuinely supportive rather than overly sales-focused."
Who should take this course: Anyone who uses HubSpot's Sales Hub.
HubSpot certifications elevate your business skills
You don't have to shell out major bucks to learn a new business skill or add some sparkle to your resume. With HubSpot's free courses, you can learn more about your own industry, add a new specialization to your repertoire, and level up in your career.
If you're looking to upskill in other areas, I recommend learning about automation and AI, two areas that are consistently in demand from employers. No matter your role, automation skills and AI knowledge can help you do your job more effectively.
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