Substack vs HubSpot CMS
Compare Substack and HubSpot CMS for your content needs. Find out what actual users are saying about each product and which one is best suited for you!


At a Glance
Quick overview of key features differences between Substack and HubSpot CMS. Click on any feature to read more details.
Feature | Substack | HubSpot CMS |
---|---|---|
Basic Features | ||
Hosting Option | Cloud & Self-hosted | Cloud Only |
Content Modeling | Limited | |
Blog on Subdomain | ||
Blog on Subdirectory | ||
Marketer Experience | ||
Mobile-first Experience | ||
Automatic Content Linking | Limited | |
Automatic CTA Linking | Limited | |
Engage with Comments | Limited | |
Multi-tenancy | Limited | |
Read all reviews from marketers → | ||
Developer Experience | ||
Ease of Integration | Medium | Medium |
Custom React Components | ||
Full Text Search | ||
Starter Kits | (5 kits) | (5 kits) |
Read all reviews from developers → |
What Users Say
See what users who have used Substack and HubSpot CMS have to say about their overall experience with the product.
Substack's Key Strengths
Read what users love about Substack.
HubSpot CMS's Key Strengths
Read what users love about HubSpot CMS.
Substack's Key Issues
Read what issues users have with Substack.
HubSpot CMS's Key Issues
Read what issues users have with HubSpot CMS.
What Marketers & Content Creators Say
Hear from the users who uses Substack and HubSpot CMS daily about their experience with the editors.
Substack's Editorial Experience Highlights
What marketers love about Substack's editor.
HubSpot CMS's Editorial Experience Highlights
What marketers love about HubSpot CMS's editor.
Substack's Editorial Experience Issues
What marketers dislike about Substack's editor.
HubSpot CMS's Editorial Experience Issues
What marketers dislike about HubSpot CMS's editor.
Mobile Editing
Find out how the platforms handle the mobile-first experience for the new generation of workforce on the move.
Substack has launched a mobile editor for creating posts directly on iOS and Android devices, offering essential functionalities.
HubSpot CMS lacks mobile-first content creation capabilities and requires desktop editing for modules.
Automatic Content Linking
Find out if the platform supports automatic linking of related content to help user discover more content without additional manual effort from the marketer. This automatically create topical clusters of content and is essential for SEO.
Substack does not support automatic related blog linking features; manual linking is required.
"If you'd like to share certain parts of a post or allow readers to jump to a specific section of a long post, try adding anchor links."Source
"Recommendations are a Substack super ... However, I couldn't find evidence of automatic related content linking."Source
"I was wondering if it is a good idea to create a substack and post my content on there as well and even link the substack post back to my main blog."Source
HubSpot CMS offers automatic related posts based on blog tags, but not for broader content types or complex algorithms.
"We are running 2 related post based on tags on bureuvet.nl/blog."Source
"Auto-populated posts will be determined by topic (or if on WordPress it would be determined by Category/Tag/Custom Field)."Source
"Internal link-building tools help find opportunities for internal linking but require manual setup for related content."Source
Automatic CTA Linking
Find out if the platform supports automatic display of Call-to-Actions using AI to help users take actions that are relevant to the content they are reading.
Substack lacks built-in automatic CTA linking; users rely on external tools for automation features.
"Substack provides no automation tools at all; the author notes this is a primary reason users leave for competitors."Source
"Substack lacks several critical features needed for effective email marketing, including automated email sequences."Source
"Users discuss the absence of integrated automation features in Substack, noting their reliance on external tools."Source
HubSpot supports CTAs but does not automatically link them to content AI-wise.
"Use the calls-to-action (CTA) tool to create button CTAs, banners, or pop-ups to add to your HubSpot pages."Source
"After creating your call-to-action (CTA), you can add the CTA to both HubSpot and external pages."Source
"HubSpot CTAs are trackable and customizable, but cannot be made unique to each recipient."Source
Substack supports commenting on posts from both subscribers and non-subscribers, with moderation options available.
"Navigate to your publication's Settings and click on Community. Slide the toggle to enable comments."Source
"You can now enable comments on your posts for anyone on your mailing list, even if they’re not a paid subscriber."Source
"Writers can choose whether to allow comments from everyone or only paid subscribers."Source
CMS Hub supports internal comments via collaboration tools but lacks an external commenting feature for website visitors.
Multi-tenancy
Find out if the platform supports managing multiple clients or projects within a single account. This is useful for agencies, multi-client or multi-project scenarios.
Substack does not support multi-tenancy, focusing primarily on individual writers and content monetization.
HubSpot CMS supports limited multi-tenancy allowing users to manage multiple accounts but with restrictions.
What Developers Say
Hear from developers who've integrated and built on Substack and HubSpot CMS about their experiences.
Substack's DX Highlights
What developers love about building with Substack.
HubSpot CMS's DX Highlights
What developers love about building with HubSpot CMS.
Substack's DX Issues
What developers dislike about building with Substack.
HubSpot CMS's DX Issues
What developers dislike about building with HubSpot CMS.
Content Modelling
Find out how developers model and manage their content with the platform with key highlights and limitations.
Substack does not offer built-in content modelling features or custom content types.
"Substack offers limited customization, focusing more on content rather than design."Source
"Directus allows you to create custom schemas, manage data, define roles & permissions for your organization."Source
"Substack doesn’t allow customization for its newsletter formats, thus limiting content modelling."Source
HubSpot CMS offers custom content types but lacks extensive content modeling features.
"HubSpot CMS allows the creation of custom modules and supports basic content modeling."Source
"HubDB allows storing structured data that enhances content modeling capabilities in HubSpot."Source
"Personalization tokens based on custom properties are supported, adding to content customization."Source
Custom React Components
Find out if the platform supports custom React components to go beyond the basic HTML components for content.
Substack does not support custom React components directly in the content editor.
"Over the years, I’ve written and reviewed hundreds of React components for a $1.7B GenAI startup."Source
"I wanted to display my Substack posts on my website instead of a subscribe link, so I created my own Substack feed component!"Source
"A customizable React component renders the login page based on the user's UI settings."Source
"The new components are both fully customizable AND robust."Source
"I have used substackapi to achieve this Custom Embed Substack Signup Form."Source
HubSpot CMS supports custom React components through modules for advanced interactivity and personalization.
Full Text Search
Find out if the platform supports full text search across multiple fields to help users find content quickly.
Substack's search functionality is weak, lacking full text search across all content and authors.
HubSpot CMS supports full-text search allowing searches across various content fields.
"The HubSpot CMS has built-in site search functionality to allow your users to search through website content, including full-text search."Source
"Is your website hosted in HubSpot? If so, we have a built-in search functionality. A search module that you can add to your pages to enable search."Source
"The CRM Search API supports full-text search capabilities, enabling users to query various text fields of CRM records."Source
Starter Kits
Discover starter kits and templates to help you get started with the platform.
Substack offers various starter kits and templates for creators.
(Expand section to see a list of Substack templates and starter kits.)
HubSpot offers multiple themes and templates within its CMS Hub starter kits.
(Expand section to see a list of HubSpot CMS templates and starter kits.)
Pricing & Plans
Compare the prices of Substack and HubSpot CMS.
Comments
Find out if the platform supports comments from your users to improve user engagement. This is often a great way to collect feedback and user emails.