Primary-source desk review · September 3, 2026

Before buying SaaS, run the exit test.

An export button proves that some data can leave. Portability means your team can reconstruct the useful working state—with relationships, history, permissions, workflows, and a verified result.

The five-step test

Export: Export a representative workspace with the permissions and plan you would actually buy. Record format, omissions, time, and required privileges.
Open: Open every exported format without the vendor. Count records and inspect attachments, relationships, history, custom fields, and metadata.
Restore: Import the artifact into a clean destination. An archive that cannot reconstruct the working state is evidence, but not a migration.
Operate: List the workflows, credentials, alerts, identities, reports, and human procedures that the raw data export does not carry.
Reconcile: Compare totals and decision-critical samples, document gaps, estimate repair labor, and require an owner before approving the purchase.

What five popular products actually promise

These are documentation findings, not hands-on migration results. Plan details and export behavior can change; each linked profile names the source and review date.

HubSpot

Records can leave; workflows, associations, history, dashboards, and connected-app behavior still need a migration plan.

Migration check: Pilot with a representative CSV and reconcile record counts, associations, owners, activities, and custom fields before the final import.

Review pricing, sources, and the open-source path →

QuickBooks Online

Reports, lists, attachments, and selected data can leave, but that is not a one-click portable company database.

Migration check: Reconcile opening balances, unpaid invoices and bills, tax settings, payroll boundaries, attachments, and historical reports before switching the system of record.

Review pricing, sources, and the open-source path →

Notion

HTML, Markdown, CSV, and files can leave; Notion explicitly says a workspace export cannot be instantly recreated by reuploading it.

Migration check: Test representative documents, databases, relations, files, permissions, and embeds in both directions; a successful archive is not the same as a restorable workspace.

Review pricing, sources, and the open-source path →

Zapier

Zaps can move between Zapier accounts, while credentials, connector behavior, task economics, and the managed runtime remain platform-specific.

Migration check: Inventory triggers, actions, paths, custom code, credentials, schedules, and live volume; rebuild and shadow-run critical workflows before disabling them.

Review pricing, sources, and the open-source path →

1Password

1PUX preserves more than CSV, but exports are plaintext and desktop exports do not currently move passkeys automatically.

Migration check: Inventory vaults, item types, custom fields, passkeys, one-time passwords, shared ownership, and SSO constraints; test the destination before rotating or deleting credentials.

Review pricing, sources, and the open-source path →

Use the result in the buying decision

Add the tested exit cost to year-one cost. If restoring the representative fixture takes six hours and the full migration is ten times larger, record that labor instead of calling the export “free.” Reject the product when a decision-critical object cannot leave or be reconstructed within your risk tolerance.

Open source can improve control and format access, but it transfers upgrades, backups, availability, security response, and recovery to your team or integrator. The exit test applies to both ownership models.

Apply it to your stack

Start with the free shortlist. The optional $39 report adds your constraints, relevant open-source paths, implementation order, and decision checks.

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