Send a Slack alert when a HubSpot deal changes stage using Make

Prerequisites

Why Make?

Make sits between Zapier's simplicity and n8n's flexibility. The visual scenario builder is intuitive for non-developers, and Make's credit-based pricing is significantly cheaper than Zapier's per-task model — the free plan handles about 300 stage changes per month compared to Zapier's 100.

The main trade-off is that Make's HubSpot module uses polling (not webhooks), so there's a slight delay before alerts arrive. On the free plan, scenarios run every 15 minutes. Paid plans support 1-minute intervals. If real-time delivery matters, consider n8n (webhooks) or the code approach. If cost and ease of use are your priorities, Make is a strong choice.

How it works

• Watch Deals module polls HubSpot for recently updated deals on a schedule (every 1-15 minutes depending on your plan)
• Filter checks whether the dealstage property actually changed — since Watch Deals fires on any deal update, this prevents false alerts from minor edits like notes or owner changes
• HTTP module calls the HubSpot Pipelines API to resolve the internal stage ID to a display label
• Slack module posts a formatted message to your channel with deal name, amount, stage, and a direct HubSpot link

Step 1: Add a Watch Deals trigger

Create a new scenario. Add a HubSpot CRM → Watch Deals module:

• Connection: Your HubSpot OAuth connection
• Watch: Updated deals
• Limit: 10 (per poll cycle)

This module fires whenever a deal is updated. It returns the full deal record including all properties.

Step 2: Add a filter for stage changes

Click the line between the Watch Deals module and the next module to add a Filter:

• Condition: dealstage → Not equal to → {{previous.dealstage}}

This ensures you only process deals where the stage actually changed, not every minor property update.

Step 3: Resolve stage name

Add an HTTP module to fetch pipeline stages:

• URL: https://api.hubapi.com/crm/v3/pipelines/deals
• Method: GET
• Headers: Use the HubSpot connection for auth

Then add a Set Variable module or use Make's built-in map() function to look up the stage label from the pipeline response.

Step 4: Send Slack message

Add a Slack → Create a Message module:

• Connection: Your Slack connection
• Channel: Select #sales-pipeline
• Text:

🔄 *Deal Stage Changed*
*{{dealname}}* moved to *{{stageName}}*
Amount: ${{formatNumber(amount; 0; "."; ",")}}

For richer formatting, use the Blocks field with Block Kit JSON.

Step 5: Schedule and activate

• Set the scenario schedule to Immediately (processes as soon as HubSpot emits the event)
• Toggle the scenario to Active

Common questions

How does Make's operations pricing work for this scenario?

Each scenario run consumes credits based on how many modules execute. This scenario uses about 4 modules per deal (trigger + filter + HTTP + Slack), so each stage change costs approximately 4 credits. On the free plan (1,000 credits/month), that handles around 250 stage changes. The Core plan ($10.59/mo) gives you 10,000 credits — enough for about 2,500 stage changes per month.

How often does Watch Deals poll HubSpot?

On the free plan, the minimum interval is 15 minutes. The Core plan ($10.59/mo) supports 1-minute polling. There's no webhook option for Make's HubSpot module — it always polls. If you need sub-minute alerting, use n8n (webhooks) or the code approach.

What happens if many deals update at once?

The Watch Deals module processes up to 10 deals per poll by default (configurable via the Limit setting). If 50 deals change in a 15-minute window, Make queues them and processes in batches across subsequent runs. Each deal is a separate execution path through the scenario. For high-volume pipelines (50+ changes per day), increase the Limit and ensure your credit budget covers the volume.

How does Make compare to Zapier for this use case?

Make is cheaper at scale — its free plan handles 2.5x more stage changes than Zapier's. Make also gives you a visual canvas where you can see the entire flow at once, while Zapier is step-by-step. The downside: Make requires you to manually resolve stage names via an HTTP module, while Zapier's HubSpot trigger returns stage labels directly. Make is the better value; Zapier is the faster setup.

Cost

• Free plan: 1,000 credits/month. Each scenario run uses ~3 credits (trigger + filter + Slack). Handles ~300+ stage changes/month on free.
• Core plan: $10.59/mo for 10,000 credits if you need more volume.