TABLE OF CONTENTS
Built-in Features | Ease of Use | Security & Maintenance | Design & Customization | Contact Management | Reporting & Data Collection | Support
Choosing the right content management system (CMS) for your organization is no easy feat, but it is an important decision that requires careful evaluation.
As a marketer, you already know the effect that a solid content marketing plan can have on your audiences and your business. That’s why you need a platform that supports your internal growth goals and strategic efforts.
Two of the most popular and powerful content management systems available to marketers today are HubSpot and WordPress. In this blog, we’ll explore what you get with a Professional-level subscription to HubSpot Content Hub and how it compares to a typical WordPress setup.
Overview of HubSpot Content Hub vs WordPress
Before we dive in, allow us to give you a brief overview of the two platforms.
What Is HubSpot Content Hub Professional?
HubSpot Content Hub Professional provides a centralized, secure, and scalable foundation that supports both marketing and operational needs. If you’re redesigning your website or moving to HubSpot, this hub offers everything you need to fully host, manage, and grow your site on one secure platform.
With HubSpot, you can:
- Write, optimize, and publish blog content
- Host and manage websites
- Create and schedule social posts
- Build and send marketing emails
- Track performance with built-in analytics
Content Hub brings together website hosting, customer relationship management (CRM), content management, forms, and analytics all in one place, so you don’t have to worry about plugins, manual updates, or disconnected tools.
You can also add powerful features from HubSpot’s Marketing, Sales, and Data Hubs as needed. This fully managed platform provides your team with the tools, performance, and support to focus on marketing growth instead of infrastructure.
What Is WordPress?
WordPress began as a blogging platform for writers and has grown into a widely used CMS. Today, businesses around the world use WordPress to publish blogs, build websites, and manage digital content.
It’s open-source and free to download, but requires third-party hosting and ongoing configuration.
Most features marketers need, from search engine optimization (SEO) to lead generation forms to analytics, require additional plugins or custom development. Hosting, security, maintenance, and integrations also typically add costs and complexity.
While WordPress is a proven and flexible option, especially for e-commerce or personal blogging, it often demands developer involvement and constant management to match what HubSpot provides natively.
How HubSpot and WordPress Compare
The differences between WordPress and HubSpot should be important to you as a marketer, as you evaluate how you will continue to support the growth of your organization.
Below, learn more about the characteristics of both platforms and whether HubSpot or WordPress takes the cake.
Built-In Features
The biggest advantage of HubSpot is all of the built-in features that don’t require extra software, plugins, or coding, including:
- Lead generation forms
- CRM
- SEO
- Call-to-action creation
- Content calendars
- Blog and landing page management
- Marketing automation workflows
- Traffic analytics
These features are included natively in HubSpot Content Hub. WordPress can provide similar features, but they almost always require additional plugins, configuration, and maintenance.
Ease of Use (UI and UX)
One of HubSpot’s biggest benefits is its ease of use. Marketing teams can update website pages, change layouts, and edit navigation live without relying on developers. The drag-and-drop editor makes it simple to customize pages, ensuring a consistent and professional look without downtime.
WordPress typically requires themes, plugins, or developer support to achieve the same results.
Security and Maintenance
HubSpot offers enterprise-grade security built directly into its managed platform. SSL certificates, threat detection, and firewalls are included, and patches and updates are automatically applied without any extra effort on your part.
Because HubSpot handles hosting, you don’t need to worry about managing plugins or monitoring vulnerabilities yourself. You can also rely on HubSpot’s dedicated 24/7 security team, ensuring your site is monitored and updated regularly for safety and reliability.
WordPress security, on the other hand, depends on manual updates, plugins, and the reliability of your hosting provider. Site owners are responsible for applying patches and monitoring for threats. If neglected, this can lead to vulnerabilities and downtime.
Design and Customization
HubSpot supports fully custom websites with enterprise-grade stability and security built in. Marketers can make design changes quickly using drag-and-drop editors and modular layouts without developer assistance.
Pre-built themes allow for cohesive brand design within minutes, while reusable modules and centralized style settings ensure consistency across the site. HubSpot also supports multi-language domains, with SEO optimization built in and simple toggling between languages for users.
WordPress is extremely flexible and customizable, but it usually requires themes, plugins, or developer support. Multi-language functionality is not native and often requires plugins such as WPML.
Contact Management
HubSpot includes a fully integrated CRM, so forms and calls-to-action automatically capture and store contact data.
Contact records update in real time, giving marketing and sales teams a unified view of each prospect’s activity. Marketers can manage forms, emails, tasks, and lead data in one platform without manual entry or switching between tools.
WordPress requires third-party form plugins such as Gravity Forms or WPForms. Connecting those forms to a CRM requires additional configuration and integrations, which can add cost and complexity.
Reporting and Data Control
HubSpot provides built-in reporting dashboards for traffic, engagement, conversions, and campaigns.
Contact attribution reporting helps you understand which content and campaigns generate leads, allowing you to optimize your marketing strategy. HubSpot also integrates directly with GA4 and Google Search Console for advanced insights, consolidating all data in one place.
WordPress relies on Google Analytics with manual setup and plugins to create dashboards. Advanced attribution and campaign reporting require additional tools or integrations, which can fragment data.
Support
HubSpot provides 24/7 dedicated support along with robust onboarding resources, helping teams get up and running quickly while reducing downtime.
In addition, HubSpot Academy offers a library of lessons and certifications on inbound marketing, content marketing, email, and social media — all at no cost. These globally recognized certifications give marketers the opportunity to advance their skills while getting the most out of the platform.
WordPress support is fragmented across hosting providers, plugin vendors, and freelance developers. There is no centralized support team, which means businesses often need to hire external help to troubleshoot issues or train teams.
A Conflict-Free Platform for Developers and Marketers
Picture this: Developers build a scalable custom website on HubSpot, while marketers can safely make updates, launch campaigns, and personalize content without depending on IT. The result is a seamless, fast, and secure experience for your visitors.
HubSpot Content Hub Pro is not just a CMS. It’s a centralized growth platform that helps your marketing and sales teams align, scale, and perform better. By tying together the entire buyer’s journey, from a visitor’s first touchpoint to a closed deal, HubSpot enables businesses to grow smarter and faster.
WordPress remains a solid option for certain use cases, such as e-commerce or personal blogs. But when it comes to growth-focused marketing, scalability, and security, HubSpot consistently comes out on top.
Partner With a HubSpot Growth Agency
LAIRE is a Diamond HubSpot agency partner, and while we have clients who come to us with WordPress sites or other CMS platforms, HubSpot is our tool of choice.
Ready to switch from WordPress to HubSpot? We can make it seamless, plus help you hit your revenue goals with a personalized mix of strategy, digital marketing, and sales enablement.
We are marketers. We know marketers. Take the first step toward reaching your ROI goals and schedule a 20-minute marketing assessment today.
