Discover the real pros and cons of HubSpot CMS Hub through insightful user reviews. Uncover what users love about the platform and what they don't.
Note: This article has been updated to reflect HubSpot's 2024 release of Content Hub.
Choosing the right Content Management System (CMS) is a critical decision for any website, as it significantly impacts its functionality, user experience, and overall success.
It’s important to select a CMS that aligns with your website’s goals and requirements since a well-suited CMS can streamline content creation, enhance site management, and improve SEO, ultimately contributing to better user engagement and conversion rates.
Therefore, investing time and resources in researching and selecting the right CMS for your specific needs is crucial for establishing your digital presence and achieving long-term success online.
If you’ve stumbled onto this article – that likely means you’ve narrowed your search down to one of the most popular options, HubSpot CMS.
But, just because HubSpot CMS is one of the top options in the market doesn’t mean it’s the best choice for your organization. There’s still some research to be done.
Instead of having to dig through review site after review site, I’ve done a big part of the homework for you by diving into user experience reviews on popular review sites, including G2, TrustRadius, GetApp, and others.
Using the power of AI, I’ve distilled the collective insights into unified pros and cons. The result is this article providing you with a clear snapshot of what HubSpot users truly appreciate and critique.
So, get ready to break through the review site chaos and cut your research time in half!
Here's what's covered in this article - just click to jump to the section you're most interested in:
Understanding HubSpot CMS and Content Hub
As of April 2023, HubSpot replaced its CMS Hub with a new offering called Content Hub. This new Hub combines the power of the HubSpot CMS with additional tools and features to help teams capture leads and deliver personalized content experiences through the entire customer journey.
This article is primarily focused on the pros and cons specific to HubSpot's CMS offering within Content Hub.
What are the Pros of HubSpot CMS?
User-Friendly
When it comes to websites, a good CMS walks a fine line between ease of use for the everyday user (usually marketers) and the power expected from the development team. HubSpot CMS leans in hard on this concept of balance with its intuitive and easy-to-use interface, drag-and-drop templates and themes, and more. Plus, it has built-in tools to help take the guesswork out of search engine optimization (SEO) and device responsiveness.
Reviews highlight HubSpot CMS’s ease of use, offering a wide array of helpful and intuitive tools and features.
Here’s what real users say about this pro:
User Review 1:
“Overall the CMS is very easy to use – whether updating a web page or publishing a new blog post – and provides valuable insights. Having a fully integrated CMS plus CRM is helpful to our sales team.” (Source: GetApp)
User Review 2:
“It is an intuitive platform, allows extreme ease of use for making edits on the website. Love the analytics that we are able to see, it was the missing piece for making a one-stop shop for all things digital.” (Source: G2)
Built-In Security Features
Another pro reported by users of the HubSpot CMS is that it offers security features to its users right out of the box, including:
- The HubSpot CDN for handling the high influx of traffic your new website will get.
- Regular virus checks to ensure your site is running clean.
- A built-in standard SSL certificate for your website, enabling you to use the more secure HTTPS instead of HTTP on your website.
- Global data centers to ensure your site has no downtime.
- Free web application firewall (WAF) to automatically detect and remove potential attacks on your site.
Many content management systems lack some of these key security features like CDN and SSL certificates which are very important. This is reflected in many of the user reviews.
Here’s what real users say about this pro:
User Review 1:
“The platform is very easy to use, it has great customer support and a host of customization that covers CRM, SEO, e-commerce, and very high security to ensure that your user data is protected. Implementation is also straightforward practically drag and drop.” (Source: G2)
User Review 2:
“The CMS integrated extremely well with our HubSpot CRM. I like how the CMS includes a lot of the mandatory add-ons such as an SSL certificate and content delivery network. The SEO and reporting functions are very easy to use.” (Source: GetApp)
Responsive Templates
Over 55% of website traffic comes from mobile devices. That means that over half of your web visits are done on mobile. These days, a mobile-friendly design that looks great on any device is no longer a nice to have, it’s a must! We’ve all experienced trying to access a website on our phone that hasn’t been optimized for mobile and struggled to navigate, trying to zoom in to read the text or find the navigation menu. It’s a bad user experience and often leads to your website visitors bouncing.
The included templates with HubSpot CMS use a drag-and-drop interface that is responsive by default. HubSpot offers over 400 themes and templates, all highly customizable and responsive. This means that no matter what device your visitors are using, the user experience will not be hampered.
Here’s what real users say about this pro:
User Review 1:
“The best part of the HubSpot CMS is its ease of use. But don’t mistake easy and simple for being tacky and fragile. The ability to add HTML/CSS/JS within the sections makes it as versatile as any CMS. The containers and elements fit and flow nicely and play nicely even when you modify them for mobile. What I really like is that it’s scalable and quite versatile, like the ability to add and connect multiple blogs. The layouts you can make are quite easy to do, so you can make them look unique with a bit of work.” (Source: G2)
User Review 2:
“Easy to update content, Easy to install app, No page speed issues, Responsive templates, Ability to customize code, Easy to create custom apps.” (Source: GetApp)
Powered by HubSpot’s Free CRM
The concept of a Single Source of Truth is at the core of HubSpot’s value. It means that all your data (sales, marketing, web analytics, etc.) are stored in one centralized location, HubSpot’s Free CRM. This eliminates data silos and ensures that everyone in your organization is on the same page.
That’s the key to one of HubSpot CMS’s most powerful features – Smart Content. The feature allows you to weave a personalized experience for users on your website. Imagine being able to create content modules and call-to-actions (CTAs) on your website based on what you know about a visitor…It’s all possible with HubSpot CMS powered by HubSpot Free CRM.
Here’s what real users say about this pro:
User Review 1:
“Having a fully integrated CMS plus CRM is helpful to our sales team as we look to uncover new leads and understand which topics are most interesting.” (Source: GetApp)
User Review 2:
“The HubSpot CMS is easy to use and is part of the complete HubSpot suite, meaning data flows seamlessly from the CMS to our HubSpot CRM, and into the HubSpot Marketing Hub. Our entire go-to-market team can stay aligned and united, armed with data and information in order to work as efficiently as possible.” (Source: G2)
What are the Cons of HubSpot CMS?
Not Always the Cheapest Option
HubSpot and its product suite receive a lot of positive reviews across various user review sites. Clearly, there is a lot to like about HubSpot.
However, one con that tends to come up a lot is —pricing. While HubSpot offers a flexible pricing structure and free versions of many products, users often emphasize the potential for costs to accumulate as they ascend through the tiers.
Here’s what real users say about this con:
User Review 1:
“I used HubSpot CMS in my previous two jobs, and it was a great tool for what it did. However, the price was really quite steep, and the limitations often made it frustrating given the price point.” (Source: TrustRadius)
User Review 2:
“The price jump between plans it’s quite significant, and I would love to see more ‘middle ground plans’ be met between them.” (Source: GetApp)
Some Implementations Might Require Professional Help
HubSpot CMS is a platform that requires almost zero development knowledge to create a website (see the User-Friendly Pro above). However, there are situations where you might need some technical expertise with HubSpot CMS – especially if you’re looking for a completely custom website.
Some user reviews point to challenges with specific steps in the setup process and/or with setting up advanced features or functionality.
Oftentimes, this is where users will need to work with a HubSpot Solutions Partner agency, like us.
Here’s what real users say about this con:
User Review 1:
“The interface can be buggy, and sometimes simple changes end up needing to be made in the actual code of your page; HubSpot support is generally able to help with this. Also, different themes bring different content and format features. Depending on who developed the theme, these features may not have all the flexibility you want, and HubSpot support may not be able to help.” (Source: G2)
User Review 2:
“Formatting across various platforms is difficult to optimize. Sometimes the interface to create a website can be clunky, specifically managing the spacing between blocks, again particularly across desktop vs mobile platforms.” (Source: G2)
A Bit of a Learning Curve
While HubSpot is known for its user-friendly design, some users have reported encountering a slight learning curve. Although designed to be simple to use, HubSpot CMS is still a powerful tool that can present some challenges at first.
The good news is that once users become familiar with navigating HubSpot CMS, it opens the door to mastering the entire HubSpot platform of product Hubs that all work together.
Here’s what real users say about this con:
User Review 1:
There are a few things that HubSpot CMS might do better. The downsides include its pricing structure, which may be too costly for smaller businesses, a learning curve for new users, local design flexibility, difficulties receiving timely technical assistance, and a limited variety of plugins. Addressing these flaws will improve the overall user experience and make the platform more accessible to a broader range of users.” (Source: G2)
User Review 2:
“There is a bit of a learning curve but once you understand it’s very easy plus there are so many helpful resources it’s simple to gain guidance.” (Source: GetApp)
The Bottom Line
As you move to select the right CMS solution for your business, I truly hope the distilled information about HubSpot CMS in this article has been helpful.
Now that you’ve explored some of the commonly reported pros and cons of HubSpot CMS, you should feel more informed and empowered to make an informed decision that aligns with your unique business needs.
Need more information for your decision? Here's why many choose to go with HubSpot CMS
