What This Update Actually Is
HubSpot is rolling out Affirm and Klarna as optional payment methods inside HubSpot's native checkout experience. This is a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) feature. Your buyers will see Affirm and Klarna alongside your existing payment options and can choose to split their purchase into installments.
You don't wait for those installments. HubSpot and the BNPL provider handle the financing. You get the full payment amount upfront when the transaction is completed.
The fee structure is straightforward. Every Affirm or Klarna transaction carries a 5.99% processing fee. On top of that, a platform fee applies: 0.5% if you're using HubSpot Payments, or 0.75% if you're running Stripe as your payment processor. So the total cost for a BNPL transaction sits at either 6.49% or 6.74% depending on your setup.
This feature is rolling out over the coming months, not all at once. If your business qualifies, you'll see these options appear in Settings > Tools > Commerce > Payments.
Why HubSpot Shipped This
Cart abandonment on high-ticket items is a real problem. When a buyer looks at a $3,000 consulting package or a $1,500 annual software seat and sees a single lump-sum checkout, hesitation kicks in. It's not that they don't want what you're selling. It's that the payment feels like a wall.
BNPL removes that wall. Splitting $3,000 into four payments changes the psychology of the purchase entirely. The dream outcome stays the same; the perceived effort drops sharply.
HubSpot also has a broader commerce goal here. Affirm and Klarna are table stakes in ecommerce. Adding them to HubSpot's native checkout brings the platform closer to feature parity with dedicated commerce tools and keeps more of the transaction lifecycle inside a single system. That's a pattern we've seen across every major Revenue Hub expansion over the past two years.
How to Use It Step by Step
- Check your eligibility. Navigate to Settings > Tools > Commerce > Payments. If your business qualifies, you'll see Affirm and Klarna listed as available payment methods. If they're not there yet, the rollout hasn't reached your portal.
- Enable or disable per method. Toggle Affirm and Klarna on or off independently. You don't have to enable both. If your audience skews toward one provider, you can offer just that one.
- Review your pricing on high-ticket items. The 5.99% processing fee is higher than standard card processing. Before enabling BNPL across all your payment links, decide whether you'll absorb that cost or build it into product pricing for installment-eligible offers.
- Update your checkout communications. If your sales team sends payment links, let them know BNPL is now an option. A rep on a call can now say 'you can split this into installments at checkout' with confidence.
- Track BNPL transactions separately. Use HubSpot's commerce reporting to segment transactions by payment method. Watch whether BNPL buyers have higher average order values or different retention patterns. That data will tell you whether to promote the option more aggressively.
What It Touches in Your HubSpot Strategy
This update lives inside Commerce Hub, but its effects reach further than that. Here's where you'll feel the ripple.
Payment links and quotes: Any payment link you've built in HubSpot can potentially surface BNPL options once you enable them. If you've been using payment links with expiration dates and checkout limits (a feature covered in detail in Set Expiration Dates and Limit Checkouts on Payment Links), Affirm and Klarna will appear as additional choices on those same links.
Key Takeaway
Enabling Affirm or Klarna doesn't break your existing payment links. It adds new options to them. Buyers who want to pay in full still can; buyers who want installments now have that path.
Sales pipeline: Deals that stalled at the checkout stage because of price sensitivity have a new lever. Reps can resurface those deals and lead with the BNPL option. This is a real prospecting and re-engagement move, not just a passive checkout upgrade.
Revenue reporting: BNPL transactions will show up in your commerce reports. If you're building a full picture of Revenue Hub performance, this is another data layer to account for. The broader context of what Revenue Hub can track is worth understanding if you haven't dug into it yet.
Fee modeling: The 5.99% processing fee matters for your margins. Standard card processing through HubSpot Payments sits around 2.9% + 30 cents. BNPL more than doubles that rate. For high-margin digital products or services, that's probably fine. For lower-margin physical goods, you'll want to do the math before enabling it broadly.
Key Takeaway
Don't enable Affirm and Klarna globally without first modeling the fee impact per product or service tier. The 5.99% processing fee is the right price for some offers and the wrong price for others.
Buyer psychology: If you want to go deeper on why installment options move the needle neurologically, the B2B buyer behavior research on how humans justify large purchases is worth a read. The brain science behind B2B buyer behavior shows exactly why breaking a large number into smaller ones isn't a gimmick. It's how buying decisions actually work.
Who Should Care Most
This update matters most to specific types of HubSpot portals. Here's who should prioritize it.
- Agencies and consultancies selling high-ticket retainers or project packages where $2,000-plus price points create hesitation at checkout.
- SaaS companies offering annual plan upgrades through HubSpot Payments, where a lump-sum renewal creates friction that a monthly-equivalent installment removes.
- Training and education businesses selling courses, certifications, or workshops where the audience is real but the upfront cost is a blocker.
- Revenue operations leaders who own the commerce stack and need to brief their sales teams on new checkout capabilities before those teams are caught off guard by buyer questions.
- Business owners at the Starter tier: this isn't a Professional or Enterprise-only feature. If your business qualifies, it's available across all paid tiers.
Humans who sell lower-margin physical goods through HubSpot should run their numbers carefully first. The fee delta between standard card processing and BNPL is meaningful at scale.
George's Take
I've watched HubSpot build out Commerce Hub piece by piece, and this one stands out because it's not about adding another feature for your ops team. It's about removing a real barrier for the humans on the other end of your checkout page. We've seen portals with solid pipelines and great offers leave serious revenue on the table simply because the payment moment felt too heavy. Affirm and Klarna won't fix a broken sales process, but for a well-run portal with a high-ticket offer, this could be the thing that turns a stalled deal into a closed one.
“BNPL isn't a discount. It's a confidence signal. It tells your buyer: we believe in this purchase enough to let you spread the cost.”
Ready to Get More From HubSpot Commerce?
Affirm and Klarna are one piece of a bigger commerce picture inside HubSpot. If you're not sure whether your portal is set up to take advantage of it, or if you want a second set of eyes on your checkout flow, fee structure, and payment strategy, that's exactly the kind of work we do at Sidekick Strategies. Book a strategy call and let's look at it together.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the processing fee for Affirm and Klarna in HubSpot?
HubSpot charges a 5.99% processing fee on every transaction completed through Affirm or Klarna. On top of that, a platform fee applies: 0.5% if you use HubSpot Payments, or 0.75% if you use Stripe. That puts the total transaction cost at either 6.49% or 6.74% depending on your payment processor.
Do I get paid upfront when a buyer uses Affirm or Klarna at HubSpot checkout?
Yes. When a buyer completes a purchase using Affirm or Klarna, you receive the full payment amount upfront. The BNPL provider handles the installment financing with the buyer. You're not waiting for individual payments to come in over time.
How do I enable Affirm and Klarna in my HubSpot portal?
Go to Settings > Tools > Commerce > Payments. If your business qualifies for Affirm and Klarna, you'll see them listed as available payment methods. Toggle each one on or off independently. If they don't appear yet, the rollout hasn't reached your portal. HubSpot is releasing this gradually over the coming months.
Which HubSpot hubs and tiers include Affirm and Klarna?
This feature is available across a wide range of hubs and tiers, including Sales Hub, Marketing Hub, Service Hub, Content Hub, Data Hub, and Commerce Hub at Starter, Professional, and Enterprise levels. Eligibility depends on your business and location, not just your subscription tier.
Can I offer Affirm but not Klarna, or vice versa?
Yes. Affirm and Klarna are independent toggles inside your HubSpot Payments settings. You can enable one, both, or neither. If your audience strongly prefers one provider, you don't have to offer the other. The same fee structure applies to both options.
Will Affirm and Klarna appear on existing payment links and quotes?
Once enabled, Affirm and Klarna will appear as additional payment options on your existing HubSpot payment links and checkout pages. Buyers who want to pay in full still can. The BNPL options add a choice without removing the standard credit card path buyers already use.
