WordPress vs. HubSpot: Choosing the Right CMS

Selecting the right content management system (CMS) is a crucial decision that can significantly impact your ability to generate demand and increase revenue. In this guide, we'll dive into the HubSpot vs. WordPress debate, examining the strengths and weaknesses of both platforms, so you can make an informed choice for your business.

Key Consideration: SaaS vs. Open Source

There are no limitations to what’s possible on the front-end of either CMS. You can develop complex, beautiful website layouts and user experiences on either tool. The real distinction is deciding if SaaS or Open Source is better suited for your business.

It’s imperative that you consider both options in context with your existing tech stack and who on your team engages with the backend of your website. We recommend answering the following questions to ensure you have the foundational internal information needed to make the right CMS decision.

Questions to Ask Before Selecting a CMS

• Primary Goal: What is the primary goal of the website related to company KPIs?
• Team Involvement: What team(s) interact with the backend of your website, and what are their CMS priorities?
• Software Integration: What software needs to integrate with your website?
• Time Allocation: How much time is your team ideally spending on website updates?
• Hosting and Security: What hosting and security requirements does your company have in place?
• Outsourcing: What amount of website efforts will you outsource to partners?

By addressing these considerations, you can better determine whether HubSpot CMS Hub or WordPress will be the most suitable platform for your business needs.

Comparing the Basics: HubSpot CMS Hub vs. WordPress

HubSpot CMS Hub

HubSpot CMS Hub is a cloud-based content management system (CMS) that empowers marketers and developers to create engaging websites focused on the customer experience. With CMS Hub, users can easily generate content, optimize their site for conversions, and gain insight into performance all in one place. The propriatary software also includes built-in features for hosting, security, SEO, marketing tools, analytics, themes, and more.

WordPress 

WordPress is an open-source software package that must be installed or configured either on your servers or using a third-party hosting provider. The platform provides extensive customization capabilities but requires a hosting provider. Its interface includes basics like content creation tools but requires plugins for additional functionality like sitemaps, SEO, analytics, and more.

Features Comparison Overview

Before weighing the pros and cons of each platform, let’s review how the basic elements of the two platforms compare.

HubSpot Content Hub Strengths and Weaknesses

Pros

Fully Integrated CRM: If you’re using other HubSpot Hubs, it’s a no-brainer to consolidate your tech stack and leverage Content Hub to manage your website. This allows you to increase efficiency in marketing and sales processes, decrease software spend, and increase data integrity. 

Security: Content Hub comes with a standard SSL certificate, web application firewall (WAF), and 24/7 security & threat monitoring out of the box. They also offer activity logging and partitioning, site performance monitoring, and reverse proxy configuration depending on the tier purchased. Learn more here.

Built-In Features: Content Hub includes basic features such as a drag-and-drop website builder, website themes and templates, web hosting, blog maker, etc. that are expected in any CMS. They also offer content staging, personalization tokens, ad management, password-protected pages, multilingual functionality, payments, custom reporting dashboards, user permission sets, AB testing, and more depending on the website tier purchased. It now also includes multiple blog features powered by AI, dependent on tier.  See all features by tier. 

Dedicated support team: Whether you’re building your website on your own or working with a HubSpot Solution partner, it’s imperative that your team feels confident troubleshooting website issues. HubSpot’s dedicated support team responds within one business day, so you’re never on your own. Learn more here. 

Cons

Locked into out-of-the-box tools: With a closed platform comes less flexibility and freedom to edit every aspect of your website. You are locked into out-of-the-box functionality such as redirect tools, search functionality, and required hosting. 

Limited template gallery: While HubSpot’s template gallery is growing, it does pale in comparison to WordPress’ extensive template gallery with tens of thousands of themes across multiple marketplaces. Several WordPress themes are highly customizable without knowing any code via admin panel settings, while most HubSpot themes require users to edit code to customize. 

Extensibility: WordPress has more than 58,000 plugins in its official marketplace, most of which are free. HubSpot’s app marketplace currently has 1,000 apps to extend HubSpot’s functionality and, if one of those doesn’t solve your current challenge, you’ll need to work with a HubSpot Solution Partner to custom build a solution.

WordPress Strengths and Weaknesses

Pros

Popularity: WordPress proudly boasts that 42% of the web is built on WordPress. This popularity has led to a massive WordPress community who work together to develop the platform and contribute towards its growth. This also means there is a substantial partner ecosystem to support you on WordPress. 

Customization Capabilities: With 58,000 plugins and thousands of free and paid themes, WordPress allows users to lean on pre-built solutions or customize the structure, tools, and backend of their website to their heart's content.  

Cost: All tiers of WordPress are significantly cheaper than Content Hub tiers (except the free tier!), which gives users the ability to pick and choose if they want to invest in plugins, themes, managed hosting, etc. 

Cons

Security Vulnerability: WordPress is vulnerable to security issues and threats, which can occur due to malware issues or hackers. Businesses are responsible for maintaining website security if self-hosting, they can outsource that responsibility to managed hosting providers such as Kinsta and WPEngine.

Plugins Maintenance: While plugins offer incredible customization and extensibility opportunities, they are point solutions developed by multiple vendors that you must monitor individually. 

Admin Challenges: The benefits of customization act as a double-edged sword if not thoughtfully approached. As you add plugins/integrations and your website grows over time, you might spend too much time chasing down broken integrations or need external development support to execute your plan. 

Total Cost of CMS Ownership

Has there ever been a software purchasing decision made without understanding the total cost of ownership? We hope not. It’s important to break down total cost of ownership beyond just CMS tier pricing for both HubSpot and WordPress, so your business can make a fully informed decision on the investment needed to maintain a successful website on either CMS. 

We recommend you investigate the total cost for each category to understand monthly / annual fees: 

Choosing Your Best-Fit CMS

It’s always hard to choose between two excellent options. The answer to the HubSpot vs. WordPress debate rests with your unique priorities.

If your ideal solution is a cloud-based SaaS solution with a host of built-in features and no required plugins, HubSpot will likely be your preferred Content Hub.

If your preferred solution is an open-source solution with unique customizability options and extensive plugin options, WordPress will likely be your preferred CMS.

Need support identifying the right CMS for your team? Let’s chat!