CMS comparison Contentful vs HubSpot CMS

Contentful vs HubSpot CMS

Contentful is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. HubSpot CMS is a closed-source site builder that runs on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 12.

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Contentful Headless · Closed source · 14 of 28 built in
HubSpot CMS Site builder · Closed source · 16 of 28 built in

Sources checked: Contentful on 29 Sept 2026, HubSpot CMS on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.

WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.

Feature comparison

Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available

Contentful vs HubSpot CMS feature comparison. Columns are the two platforms. Rows are features, grouped by area.
Platform	Contentful Headless	HubSpot CMS Site builder
Overview
What it is	Hosted headless CMS run by Contentful. Contentful stores content in its cloud and delivers it over REST and GraphQL APIs.	HubSpot's hosted CMS and site builder, sold as Content Hub. Pages and blogs connect to the HubSpot CRM, and HubSpot hosts every site.
Edition compared The product and release each column describes.	Contentful Platform SaaS, Free, Lite and Enterprise plans SaaS, continuously updated	Content Hub: Free, Starter, Professional, Enterprise SaaS, continuously updated
Vendor	Salesforce (acquired Contentful in September 2026) contentful.com	HubSpot, Inc. hubspot.com
Licence	Closed source Proprietary	Closed source Proprietary
Hosting	No self-hosting Vendor cloud Runs only in Contentful's cloud. The local MCP server and SDKs are open source.	No self-hosting Vendor cloud
Built with	Hosted SaaS with REST and GraphQL APIs, SDKs for JavaScript and other languages	HubL templates, HubSpot CLI
Database	Managed by Contentful	Managed by HubSpot, with HubDB for structured data
Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere.	Free to start Free plan. Lite $300 per month. Extra Lite Space $850 per month. Enterprise on request.	Free to start Free plan for 2 users. Starter $20 per seat per month. Pro from $450 per month for 3 seats. Enterprise from $1,500.
Content modelling
Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited.	Limited Migration scripts run by the Contentful CLI change the model. No declarative schema files. 3	Built in Theme and module fields live in fields.json, synced with the HubSpot CLI. 3
Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code.	Built in 1	Paid tier Module fields in Design manager on Starter. HubDB tables on Professional. 1 4
Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them.	Built in Reorderable reference fields to typed entries. Studio page building is Enterprise. 1	Built in Drag-and-drop modules and sections. 5
Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language.	Built in 2 locales on Free, 3 on Lite, custom on Enterprise. 1	Built in Free tools cover 3 languages, Starter 50, Professional unlimited. 1 6
Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service.	Built in Images API resizes, crops and converts by URL parameter. 4	Built in Automatic resizing plus the HubL resize_image_url function. 7
APIs and delivery
REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content.	Built in 1	Built in CMS APIs for pages, blog posts and HubDB. 8
GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content.	Built in 5	Paid tier Content Hub Professional. 9
Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published.	Built in 1	Not available Webhooks API covers CRM objects. No page publish events. 10
Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no.	Not available	Built in HubL themes and templates on HubSpot hosting.
Editorial workflow
Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then.	Built in 1	Built in
Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish.	Paid tier Scheduled publishing on Lite and Enterprise. 1	Built in 11 8
Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them.	Built in 1	Built in Restore previous versions on all plans. 12
Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing.	Built in 6	Built in
Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it.	Built in Live preview inspector mode opens the field next to the page. Needs the live preview SDK. 6	Built in Drag-and-drop editor edits the rendered page. 5
Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage.	Paid tier Not on the Starter Space. Up to 5 on a Lite Space at $850 a month, custom on Enterprise. 1	Paid tier Content approvals on Enterprise. 1
Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release.	Plugin or add-on Launch is available on Lite and Enterprise plan families, but requires Contentful admin support to purchase and install. 7 8	Paid tier Content staging on Professional publishes staged pages together. 13
Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live.	Paid tier Live collaboration on Lite and Enterprise, with per-field presence avatars. 1 13	Not available
Access and governance
Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set.	Paid tier Premium plans, sold as Enterprise. Free has 2 fixed roles, Lite 3. 1 9	Paid tier Permission sets on Enterprise. Per-user permissions on all plans. 14
Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries.	Paid tier Field and locale rules in custom roles. Premium plans only, sold as Enterprise. 10	Not available
Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider.	Paid tier SAML 2.0 SSO on Premium plans, sold as Enterprise. 11	Paid tier SAML SSO on Content Hub Professional and Enterprise. 15
Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log.	Paid tier Audit logs on selected Enterprise plans, by sales agreement. 12	Paid tier Activity logging on Enterprise. 1
Platform and extensibility
Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users.	Paid tier One Starter Space on Free and Lite, plus one paid Lite Space. Multiple spaces on Enterprise. 1	Paid tier Multisites on Enterprise. 1
Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface.	Built in App Framework for custom field, sidebar, entry and page apps. 14	Built in Custom modules and their fields appear in the page editor. 3
Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions.	Built in Contentful Marketplace. 15	Built in HubSpot Marketplace for apps and themes. 16
Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code.	Not available	Built in
Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors.	Not available	Paid tier Memberships on Professional with 2 access groups and Enterprise with 100. 1 2
AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content.	Plugin or add-on Official AI Content Generator app with your own OpenAI key. AI Actions need Enterprise. 1 15	Built in Breeze generates and refines content in editors on all plans. 17
Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content.	Built in Hosted beta server at mcp.contentful.com and an open-source local server. 16	Built in Remote HubSpot MCP server reads site pages, landing pages and blog posts. 18

Contentful sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Contentful Platform SaaS, Free, Lite and Enterprise plans.

HubSpot CMS sources

Checked 29 Sept 2026. Content Hub: Free, Starter, Professional, Enterprise.

Considering more platforms? Compare Contentful and HubSpot CMS with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.

Where they differ

Contentful and HubSpot CMS get a different status on 12 of the 28 features and the same status on 16. Contentful has 14 built in on its baseline edition, HubSpot CMS has 16. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.

Built in on Contentful, a different answer on HubSpot CMS 3

Content model in the UI Contentful: Built in. HubSpot CMS: Paid tier.
GraphQL API Contentful: Built in. HubSpot CMS: Paid tier.
Webhooks Contentful: Built in. HubSpot CMS: Not available.

Built in on HubSpot CMS, a different answer on Contentful 5

Content model in code Contentful: Limited. HubSpot CMS: Built in.
Renders the website Contentful: Not available. HubSpot CMS: Built in.
Scheduled publishing Contentful: Paid tier. HubSpot CMS: Built in.
Form builder Contentful: Not available. HubSpot CMS: Built in.
AI writing assistant Contentful: Plugin or add-on. HubSpot CMS: Built in.

Built in on neither, with different answers 4

Content releases Contentful: Plugin or add-on. HubSpot CMS: Paid tier.
Real-time co-editing Contentful: Paid tier. HubSpot CMS: Not available.
Field-level permissions Contentful: Paid tier. HubSpot CMS: Not available.
Site member accounts Contentful: Not available. HubSpot CMS: Paid tier.

More comparisons

Full write-ups with worked examples and costs: Contentful vs Payload.

Contentful against other platforms

HubSpot CMS against other platforms

Open the CMS comparison tool to put up to six platforms in one table.

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