Should you build your SaaS product website in HubSpot or WordPress?

We build a lot of websites at Xander Marketing, and one question we’re often asked by clients is which platform is best for creating their website – HubSpot or WordPress?

While both softwares have their merits, there are some distinct differences between the two. It’s important to understand what these differences are, and how it will impact both cost and functionality, in order to make the right decision.

Is it easier to build a website in HubSpot or WordPress?

Both these platforms are very popular, but you may find it easier to build and develop your website if it’s created with WordPress.

This is for a number of reasons. Firstly, there are more website developers that work with WordPress, which makes it easier to (a) find someone to create it, and (b) find someone to make changes once the website is live. And given that websites are living documents, you need the flexibility to make regular changes and updates.

Also, WordPress is an open source platform, which means the code used to create it is freely available for developers to modify and customise. As a result, there are a lot more plugins readily available to make your website do what you need it to do – whether that’s adding an SEO tool to help your search ranking, or creating an eCommerce function if you want to sell directly online.

In fact, the huge size of the WordPress development community out there means that a plugin already exists for pretty much everything you might want to do to your website. As a result, new features can be rolled out quickly and cost-effectively.

In contrast, HubSpot has fewer developers compared to WordPress, so there aren’t as many ready-made plugins available. It’s also fundamentally less customisable, meaning your HubSpot developer may have to create a new feature from scratch – rather than tailoring something that already exists for your site – which impacts both time and cost.

Which platform is more flexible for my business?

As we’ve already explained, it’s often easier to change and enhance a website that has been built with WordPress, however there are some areas in which HubSpot is strong.

For example, the HubSpot website platform is part of a larger solution that integrates into HubSpot’s powerful marketing automation software. It is designed to be an all-in-one marketing tool, which can be very effective for nurturing prospects, and proving which marketing activities are driving pipeline.

If you want to personalise your website and content on that based on previous user behaviour you can do that with HubSpot.

However, there is a downside to this integration: if you choose to move to another marketing automation tool or lead scoring software package instead of HubSpot, this will directly impact your website. You will need to download your data and content, as you will no longer have access to any HubSpot tools.

Therefore, if you are looking to integrate your website and lead generation activities through HubSpot, you need to be confident that this is a long-term investment. Otherwise you may find yourself having to go to the expense of building another company website a couple of years down the line.

Is it cheaper to use HubSpot or WordPress?

Speaking of expense, it is also worth pointing out that the cost model for building a website is different if you’re using WordPress versus HubSpot.

WordPress is a free platform; the only regular financial commitment you will need to make is hosting. You may also need to pay a developer to do maintenance like update plugins regularly if you don’t have the skills to do it in house.

HubSpot, on the other hand, charges £245 per month its standard CMS. You don’t need to pay for hosting though.

If you are using the full HubSpot marketing automation solution effectively then this expense may feel justified, but otherwise you could be better off going for the cheaper option and choosing WordPress.

Which platform do we prefer at Xander Marketing?

Having worked with both WordPress and HubSpot, we recommend that our clients build their websites in WordPress. Not only is it more cost-effective, the level of customisation is greater, so we can give clients exactly what they want.

However, the customisation capabilities of WordPress can be a double-edged sword. At Xander Marketing, we make sure that the templates and pages we build are still easy for non-technical people to use, meaning our clients can make updates and changes internally, without having to always rely on external developers.

Many other companies will make more complex WordPress websites, which need to be updated by them – a costlier exercise that is much more long-winded, and ties you to relying on them every time you want to make a change.

So if you’re choosing WordPress for your new website, make sure you speak to a developer like us, who can build you something that is personal and functional.