If you run a service business and you are planning a new website, the platform question comes up early: HubSpot CMS or WordPress? Both are mature, both power a huge number of business websites, and both can produce a fast, professional site in the right hands.
The honest answer is that neither is better in general. Each is better for a particular kind of business. As a studio that builds on both, here is how we help clients decide.
The short version
- HubSpot CMS suits businesses that already use HubSpot for sales or marketing, want their website and customer data in one place, and would rather pay a predictable subscription than manage hosting, updates and plugins.
- WordPress suits businesses that want maximum flexibility and control, need features that a plugin ecosystem does well (such as complex e-commerce or membership sites), or want to keep ongoing platform costs low and are comfortable arranging maintenance.
The rest of this article explains the trade-offs behind those recommendations.
Cost: subscription versus assembled
HubSpot's content platform is a subscription. Hosting, security certificates, a content delivery network and platform updates are included, and the price depends on the plan tier. Check HubSpot's current pricing for exact numbers, because plans and features change.
WordPress itself is free and open source, but a working business website is not. You pay for hosting, often for premium themes or plugins, and for someone's time to keep everything updated. The total can be lower than HubSpot, or higher, depending on how much you rely on paid plugins and professional maintenance.
The useful comparison is not the headline price. It is the total cost of running the site properly for three years, including maintenance.
Editing: who will update the site?
Both platforms let non-technical people edit pages. HubSpot's drag-and-drop editor works well when the site is built with reusable modules, so marketers can add sections without breaking the design. WordPress's block editor is similarly capable, and many teams already know it.
In practice, ease of editing depends more on how the site was built than on the platform. A well-structured site is easy to edit on either. A poorly built one is painful on both.
Security and maintenance
This is where the two differ most. HubSpot is a managed platform: the hosting, the server software and the core system are maintained by HubSpot, so there is no core software or plugin stack for you to keep patched.
WordPress can be very secure, but its security depends on maintenance. Most compromised WordPress sites are not attacked through WordPress itself but through outdated plugins or themes, weak passwords, or poorly configured hosting. With a clear update schedule, good hosting and restrained plugin use, WordPress is a safe choice. Without them, it becomes a liability over time.
If nobody in your business will own maintenance and you do not plan to pay someone to, that is a strong argument for a managed platform.
CRM and marketing integration
HubSpot's biggest advantage is that the website and the CRM are the same system. Form submissions become contacts automatically, you can see which pages a lead visited before getting in touch, and content can be personalised for existing contacts without connecting separate tools.
WordPress can connect to HubSpot and other CRMs through plugins and integrations, and for many businesses that is enough. It is one more connection to set up and maintain, and some features available natively inside HubSpot are more limited when the website sits outside it.
Flexibility
WordPress wins on raw flexibility. Its plugin ecosystem covers almost anything, you can host it wherever you like, and developers can change any part of the system. Complex e-commerce, membership areas and unusual custom functionality are generally easier to build on WordPress.
HubSpot is flexible within its framework. Custom themes, modules and templates allow fully bespoke designs, and it handles typical service business needs well: service pages, landing pages, blogs, forms and gated content. It is less suited to heavy custom application logic.
Lock-in and ownership
With WordPress, you can export your site and move it to another host at any time. With HubSpot, your content lives on HubSpot's platform. You can export content and move away, but the templates and some features will need rebuilding elsewhere.
Neither is a reason to avoid a platform. It is a reason to make sure that, whichever you choose, the accounts are registered in your business's name and the design and code are yours.
When we recommend HubSpot CMS
- You already use HubSpot for your CRM or marketing.
- Your marketing team wants to build landing pages and campaigns without a developer.
- Nobody will own ongoing technical maintenance.
- You value predictable costs over the lowest possible monthly spend.
When we recommend WordPress
- You need complex e-commerce, memberships or features best served by established plugins.
- You want full control over hosting and the underlying code.
- You have, or will pay for, reliable ongoing maintenance.
- Your CRM is not HubSpot, or your needs are simple enough that deep integration does not matter.
Questions to ask before you decide
- Which CRM do we use now, and will we still use it in three years?
- Who will edit the website each month, and how technical are they?
- Who will handle updates, backups and security?
- What will the site cost to run properly over three years on each platform?
- Are there features we need that one platform handles much better than the other?
Need a second opinion?
FilteDev builds HubSpot CMS websites and custom themes, WordPress sites, and migrations between the two. If you are weighing up the options, send us a short brief and we will recommend the platform that fits your business, even if that means suggesting you stay where you are.