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Custom objects: when they earn their place

Most custom objects are leftovers from a Salesforce migration. Here’s the test we use.

By Drew Bliss·April 8, 2026

Most custom objects in HubSpot are leftovers from a Salesforce migration that nobody bothered to clean up.

We use a three-question test for every custom object:

  1. Is the relationship many-to-many with a default object? If not, it's probably a property.
  2. Does the entity have a real lifecycle independent of contact/company/deal? If not, it's probably an association.
  3. Will more than one team need to report on it monthly? If not, it doesn't earn its place.

If the answer to any of those is "no" — kill it.

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