Finding the best free website builders or content management systems means making inevitable comparisons. Regarding CMS platforms, WordPress and HubSpot are the most popular choices today.
WordPress is an in-demand, open-source CMS that allows custom solutions and web building. HubSpot lets users focus on building content and marketing campaigns without worrying about website management. Both options are incredibly growth-focused. Let's take a closer look at each.
What is WordPress?
Though HubSpot has its eye on the top spot, WordPress remains the most popular CMS, with over 450 million users. WordPress operates a very flexible CMS that asks users to create custom solutions.
What is Hubspot?
After launching in 2006, HubSpot blew up the marketing world with inbound marketing and offered software and services to encourage business growth. HubSpot offers its CMS as a software package as a website builder, blogging platform, and landing page builder that integrates perfectly with other HubSpot services, including analytics, marketing, email, and SEO.
The current HubSpot CMS is an all-in-one solution for businesses that need comprehensive online marketing services. Almost 145,000 customers use HubSpot services to help them navigate daily business processes.
What's the difference between WordPress and Hubspot CMS?
Whether you're looking for a good, free CMS, web hosting service, or blog builder, it's important to research your options thoroughly. Looking at the disadvantages of each option is a good place to start.
Data Access
Any organization requires consistent, real-time access to data. While you can get this information from both HubSpot and WordPress as CMS-free tools included with your plan or membership, you might find one more thorough and accessible than the other.
HubSpot offers the following data:
- Landing page analytics
- Form submission numbers
- Keyword data
- Page performance information
- Email marketing performance
- Published blog post data
- Published social media post data
- Thorough contact list
WordPress offers the following data:
- Post analytics
- Page visit and interaction data
- Custom fields
- Comments
- Custom navigation menus
While both content management systems offer valuable data, HubSpot comes out on top from a marketing perspective. The original focus of the HubSpot platform revolved heavily around marketing tactics.
Analytics
If you want to monetize your website and grow your platform, you must fully understand your website's incoming traffic. Failing to use analytics means missing out on crucial information to help you make well-informed business decisions.
The analytics software on the HubSpot CMS gives you a comprehensive solution to the analytics you need. You can launch your site and begin tracking visitors right away.
WordPress doesn't include analytics, but you can add them easily via WordPress plugins. Businesses that choose the WordPress CMS can also use HubSpot for marketing and integrate those analytics into their WordPress site.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
An essential part of creating a website is optimizing it for search engines. Site structure, strategy, speed, keyword usage, and mobile optimization all play key roles in driving traffic to your site, and you need a CMS that can support this effort.
HubSpot offers on-page, built-in tools that can help you optimize your website in addition to the SEO Scanner, topics tools, and traffic analytics. You can install the Google Search Console tool and import data like total impressions, average position, and click-through rate straight from Google into HubSpot. HubSpot also creates Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) automatically for every page you publish which rank higher in Mobile search.
WordPress doesn't have built-in SEO, so HubSpot is the clear winner out of the box. However you can easily install the Yoast plugin for WordPress and utilize online tools like SEMRush. Yoast offers a free version of their plugin with SEO insight that makes them the most trusted SEO plugin for wordPress sites.
How to decide which CMS suits your business’s needs
Deciding on a CMS is all about knowing what your business needs right now and having the ability to accurately forecast what you’ll likely need in the future.
When to use WordPress
WordPress is great for small businesses looking to get online quickly and inexpensively. With the largest community of developers, WordPress is the ideal choice if you don’t have an in-house developer to maintain and keep your site up to date.
If you want or need more control of your hosting server then WordPress is the better solution as it is an open source solution and can be installed on most servers. Another great reason to choose WordPress is that it has a nearly endless number of plug-ins to expand site functionality.
You can create membership sites, e-commerce websites, news & media sites, online community sites, Software as a Service (SaaS) sites, and many more. WordPress can be used for nearly any business. With the millions of free and premium themes it’s easy to get a WordPress site up in a matter of hours if needed.
When to use HubSpot
HubSpot is the best choice if you’re focused on growth and scaling without always needing to rely on a web developer. As a cloud-based solution, it does not require third-party hosting, server configurations, or software installation.
Once built, HubSpot allows marketers and sales team members to reuse site sections to quickly and easily create new pages on the fly with a drag-and-drop page builder.
HubSpot also provides powerful tools for developers. HubSpot is the clear choice if you’re looking for out-of-the-box reliability, speed, and security.
HubSpot is much more intuitive and user-friendly. If you’re looking to build a website that supports your entire community and integrates into your business teams, then choose HubSpot.
HubSpot equips your company to manage better your website, marketing, sales, services, and operations efforts. From startup to enterprise, HubSpot is the solution built to grow with you.
HubSpot is another great solution to get a site up within a few hours. It also includes amazing analytics and SEO tools to help you grow better and faster without any additional expense.
Seeking guidance from our team.
If you’re having trouble choosing between WordPress or HubSpot for your CMS, Eternal Works can help!
We’re willing to help provide the guidance you need for growth. We’ll help you determine the best solution for you and your business based on your goals and plans. If you’re ready to start building on your own, you are welcome to take the reins, and start building your free website!
