Substack
CMS
HubSpot CMS
CMSSubstack vs HubSpot CMS
Substack and HubSpot CMS are both popular choices, but they serve different needs. Substack is a CMS with a traditional, manual approach to building, while HubSpot CMS is a CMS that prioritises developer or designer control.
Below you'll find a side-by-side breakdown of detection signals, AI scores, and technical fingerprints — plus our honest take on which builder wins for different use cases.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | CMS | CMS |
| AI Score | 20/100 — Traditional | 20/100 — Traditional |
| Detection Signals | 5 patterns | 6 patterns |
| Script Detection | 2 patterns | 3 patterns |
| CDN Detection | 1 domains | — |
| Header Detection | — | — |
| Sites Detected | 4 scans | 426 scans |
| Best For | Blogs & content-heavy sitesTry Substack → | Blogs & content-heavy sitesTry HubSpot CMS → |
| Official Website | Visit | Visit |
Example Websites
Substack websites
Substack
CMS
Substack is a cms with an AI Score of 20/100 (Traditional). Our detection engine uses 5 signal patterns to identify Substack-built sites.
HubSpot CMS
CMS
HubSpot CMS is a cms with an AI Score of 20/100 (Traditional). Our detection engine uses 6 signal patterns to identify HubSpot CMS-built sites.
Platform Overviews
Substack
Substack is the largest and most influential newsletter and subscription platform, hosting hundreds of the world's top writers, journalists, and independent media outlets — including publications that have generated millions in annual subscriber revenue. It pioneered the paid newsletter model with simple 10% revenue sharing, a writer-friendly setup experience, and a built-in discovery network. Substack Recommendations has become a major growth channel, with reader suggestions driving new subscriber acquisition. Substack sites are identifiable through resources loaded from substackcdn.com for media and assets, the Substack JavaScript runtime on all publication pages, and distinctive *.substack.com subdomain patterns. Custom domain sites still load all media through substackcdn.com, making it a reliable detection signal. The platform is free to use with Substack taking 10% of paid subscription revenue.
HubSpot CMS
HubSpot CMS Hub is a content management system built natively into HubSpot's marketing platform — enabling marketing teams to build, manage, and personalize website content alongside their CRM, email, and analytics in a single platform. It's used by B2B companies that want tight integration between their website content and their sales pipeline — showing different content to known contacts versus anonymous visitors. HubSpot CMS pages load scripts from hs-scripts.com (HubSpot's tracking script CDN) and cdn2.hubspot.net for module assets. The markup includes hs-cta- prefixed class names for HubSpot's call-to-action widgets, hs-sites-specific data attributes, and the HubSpot tracking cookie infrastructure. The _hsp and _hsq JavaScript objects appear on all HubSpot-tracked pages. HubSpot CMS pricing starts at $25/month with the Starter tier.
Key Differences
- Both Substack and HubSpot CMS are classified as CMS tools, making them the most direct competitors in this comparison.
- Substack scores higher on AI involvement (20/100 vs 20/100 for HubSpot CMS), meaning it relies more heavily on AI for site generation and content creation.
- Our detection engine identifies Substack using 5 fingerprint patterns and HubSpot CMS using 6 patterns — more signals generally means more reliable detection.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Substack if…
- You prefer a cms solution
- You want more manual control over the final output
- Substack's detection fingerprint of 5 signals means your site is reliably identifiable
Choose HubSpot CMS if…
- You need a cms approach
- You prefer traditional building tools with predictable output
- HubSpot CMS's ecosystem and community better match your team's existing workflow
Our Pick — Based on 430+ detections
HubSpot CMS
Detected 107× more often than Substack across our database of scanned sites.
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