Are you weighing the options between HubSpot CMS vs WordPress? It’s not a decision that should be taken lightly!
A website is a crucial marketing tool for any B2B organization to increase brand awareness, gain people’s trust, and get an edge over competitors.
Content Management Systems (CMS) can come in handy in such situations as businesses can use them to set up and manage their website efficiently and effectively.
And when it comes to CMS, WordPress and HubSpot top the list.
But, which is right for B2B, and specifically YOUR business?
Let’s take a look at HubSpot's CMS vs. WordPress.
An Overview of CMS
Launched in 2003, WordPress has been around longer than HubSpot's CMS. It is a popular blogging website with over 60 million active websites (including 35% of the top 10k most visited websites). Over the years, it has taken on more functions than just blogging.
WordPress is essentially an open-source CMS platform consisting of basic content creation tools. Installed on servers by a third-party hosting service like SiteGround or Bluehost, it does away with coding and other technical knowledge to employ “plugins” and “themes” which customize and help build your website.
In 2006, HubSpot launched the cloud-based content management system CMS Hub, which introduced the concept of “inbound marketing.” It is essentially an all-in-one marketing solution for businesses as it is a website builder and blogging platform.
CMS Hub enables businesses to use functions such as email, social media, analytics reports, hosting videos, ad management, and link trackers. Therefore, it can be a one-stop solution for the growth of any business. Additionally, it allows content creation, personalization, and optimization.
HubSpot CMS vs WordPress: A Detailed Comparison
It’s time for a showdown! We’ve compared HubSpot's CMS vs. WordPress across different areas of functionality.
User Interface
One of the top reasons to use WordPress is its user interface. Originally designed for blogging, the WordPress user interface is easy to use with a simple layout. The themes and plugins ease the process of designing. However, over-involvement in third-party plugins is unwanted.
CMS Hub is more advanced than WordPress in terms of functionality. However, you don’t necessarily have to be well-versed in technical know-how to use CMS Hub. Unlike WordPress, HubSpot CMS has built-in features that do not need third-party support.
Best Option in Terms of User Interface: WordPress
Features and Usage
WordPress is a CMS at its core. It is an open-source platform for building websites and allows you full control over them. However, unlike HubSpot’s CMS Hub, WordPress doesn’t offer businesses fancy marketing tools.
Features such as mobile optimization and A/B testing need additional software, and third-party plugins support an array of features that come in-built with HubSpot's CMS.
HubSpot's CMS Hub is a cloud-based inbound marketing tool that clearly has the edge over WordPress when it comes to ease of use. It allows businesses to do much more than content management. Some of its built-in functions include website hosting, search engine optimization or SEO, A/B testing, detailed analytics, accelerated mobile pages (AMP) support, blogging tools, and much more.
Best Option in Terms of Features and Usage: HubSpot’s CMS Hub
Subscription Plans
Another reason why WordPress is the king of content management systems is that it is free to use. All you need to do is invest in a few themes (most WordPress themes are pretty affordable). Therefore, it is an affordable and pocket-friendly option.
One downside of HubSpot's CMS Hub is that, depending on your needs, it may not be as pocket-friendly. It has three subscription plans: $25/month (Starter), $400/month (Professional), and $1,200/month (Enterprise). This makes subscribing to HubSpot’s CMS Hub a potentially significant investment.
Best Option in Terms of Subscription Plans: WordPress
Extensibility/Customization
Extensibility is the extent to which you can customize a CMS by using plugins and adding more features. As businesses grow, they start investing in and adding more features to make their websites more compelling. WordPress has over 58,000 plugins available to use in its marketplace, most of which are also free. Additionally, many premium plugins are also available for sale by WordPress development companies. Lastly, you can also easily hire a WordPress developer to build a plugin that suits your requirements.
HubSpot’s CMS Hub is complex when it comes to customization. Since it is proprietary software, you can only use it in a pre-defined way. For example, there are a limited number of modules (750+) available on the HubSpot marketplace, and it is comparatively more difficult to hire a HubSpot developer owing to its demand for coding knowledge.
Best Option in Terms of Extensibility/Customization: WordPress
Security
Security is also a critical factor to consider when comparing WordPress and CMS Hub head to head. Since WordPress is open source, it ranks lower in security than HubSpot's CMS, a highly secure CMS platform. Moreover, in the case of WordPress, you need to pick a hosting provider yourself, which is risky since secure CDN and SSL certificates access relies on the hosting provider’s services.
HubSpot's CMS is a closed-source platform that monitors and resolves issues consistently. The control is with the CMS itself, so it provides an inherent SSL certification and a global CDN. Thus, HubSpot's CMS takes the win in the security domain.
Best Option in Terms of Security: HubSpot’s CMS Hub
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