HubSpot Content Hub

Content Hub Enterprise offers structured content modeling via Custom Objects (~10 definitions, up to 1M records, ~15 property field types: string, number, date, datetime, enumeration, bool, rich text, file, calculation, phone, etc.) plus HubDB for tabular data, and 2026 expanded native content types (podcasts, video, case studies). Still no schema-as-code, no JSON/geo fields, no polymorphic/union types, and limited nesting depth. Modestly improved over fixed-type CMS but rigid vs headless platforms, holding it in the limited band.

Custom Object associations enable relationships between objects and CRM records (up to 500 associations per record), but relationships remain CRM-centric rather than content-centric. No graph-style traversal, no bidirectional content linking in the editorial UI, no reference filtering/validation comparable to headless CMSs. Cross-type associations exist but require API-level management, and content-to-content links still rely on manual linking or HubDB lookups rather than first-class reference fields.

HubSpot's module system provides component-level content via drag-and-drop modules (text, image, CTA, custom modules) reusable across pages and templates, with the Elevate theme adding React-based modules and Content Embed enabling content blocks on external sites. Nesting depth is limited — modules sit in rows/columns in a flat layout grid rather than deeply nested component trees, custom modules support field groups but not recursive nesting, and rich text is an HTML blob with no Portable Text equivalent.

Custom Object properties support required fields, number min/max, and enumeration constraints, while rich text and page content have minimal validation beyond required fields. No regex support, no cross-field validation, no custom or async validators, and custom module fields offer only required/optional plus basic type constraints. Error messages are system-generated, not customizable, keeping this firmly in the limited band.

Page and blog revision history is solid — HubSpot maintains version history for all content, allows visual comparison between versions, supports instant rollback, and offers scheduled publish/unpublish dates with well-implemented draft/published states. No content branching or forking and no programmatic version access, placing it in the adequate 60–75 band rather than best-in-class.

Genuine HubSpot strength: the drag-and-drop page editor provides true in-context editing with live preview, letting marketers visually build pages by dragging modules into flexible row/column layouts with real-time rendering — no developer needed for layout changes. The Elevate theme with React-based modules and the redesigned CMS React local dev server improve performance, extensibility, and preview, with a theme/module marketplace adding components.

The rich text editor supports standard formatting (headings, bold, italic, lists, links), table insertion, image/video and CTA embedding, code blocks, and decent paste handling from Word/Google Docs. It is not extensible — no custom marks, no custom inline blocks, no markdown mode, and output is an HTML blob rather than a portable AST — keeping it in the standard-WYSIWYG 55–70 band.

Built-in File Manager supports image, video, document, and audio uploads with folder organization, automatic WebP serving for supported browsers, HubSpot Video hosting on Pro/Enterprise, and AI-powered image generation. No focal point cropping, no built-in DAM (marketplace apps connect Bynder/Cloudinary), and limited metadata fields — functional but short of purpose-built DAM or headless media libraries.

HubSpot still has no real-time co-editing of content — last-write-wins with no conflict resolution, presence indicators, or content locking, and 2026 release notes highlight no co-editing additions. Collaboration is limited to commenting on assets, @mentions, client-collaboration draft review workflows, and a Marketing Studio campaign-planning canvas; multiple members can access drafts but cannot simultaneously edit the same content.

Enterprise content approval workflows cover web pages, landing pages, blogs, emails, and social, now strengthened by a May 2026 One-Click Approval Reminder and a seat-based permission model with custom permission sets controlling view/create/edit/delete/approve granularly. Still single-step only — HubSpot natively lacks multi-step approval, conditional routing, custom stages beyond approve/reject, and scheduled transitions — keeping it in the adequate band.

HubSpot offers both REST and GraphQL; GraphQL (CMS Pro/Enterprise) queries CRM, HubDB, and custom object data with sorting/filtering and dynamic-page directives, but is designed primarily for rendering HubSpot-hosted pages via HubL rather than as a standalone headless endpoint, and REST stays CRM-centric. Serverless functions are fully supported again in Developer Platform v2026.03, and new date-based API versioning (semi-annual March/September, 18-month support) improves predictability, but there is still no separate delivery vs management API.

HubSpot includes a global CDN for all hosted content with automatic SSL, WebP image serving, brotli compression, edge caching, a 99.99% uptime SLA with data-center failover, and automatic cache invalidation on publish. TTL controls are limited (HubSpot manages caching) and there is no edge computing — placing it at the top of the CDN-backed-without-granular-control band for its reliable auto-invalidation and zero-config setup.

Webhooks v4 uses a journal-based polling model (apps poll a journal rather than receiving pushes) built for reliable, ordered, resumable enterprise-scale event processing, with per-portal/object/property subscriptions, historical retrieval, and custom events surfaced on CRM records under the new date-based versioning. Content-specific event coverage remains limited (no page-published or blog-updated webhooks), so the system is still stronger for CRM/sales than content operations.

HubSpot remains a fundamentally coupled CMS but is expanding multi-channel reach: Content Embed places content blocks on external sites as headless blocks, Content Remix repurposes content across formats (blog, email, video, social, audio), and omnichannel publishing spans website, email, and social within the ecosystem. Still no official mobile/IoT SDKs, visual editing works only on HubSpot-hosted pages, and true headless use beyond Content Embed requires significant workarounds.

CRM-powered segmentation with active lists (dynamic) and static lists based on contact properties, behavioral data, lifecycle stage, lead scoring, and company attributes. Segment builder supports AND/OR logic with nested criteria and real-time membership updates. Fall 2025 Segments + Personalization feature enhances audience discovery. Direct CDP-like capability through the CRM eliminates need for external CDP for most use cases. Lacks third-party behavioral data ingestion beyond HubSpot-tracked interactions.

Smart Content modules serve different content based on CRM list membership, lifecycle stage, device type, country/state, referral source, and preferred language at the module level within pages, targeting both known contacts and unknown visitors. Smart CTAs support smart content rules with audience variants and per-segment preview. Personalization rules remain relatively simple (list membership, not complex real-time behavioral rules). Powerful for known contacts via CRM but limited for anonymous visitors beyond country/state/device.

Built-in A/B testing for landing pages, website pages, emails, and CTAs with configurable traffic split and statistical significance reporting; tests cover images, text, layouts, and forms with engagement/conversion tracking. Adaptive testing automatically allocates traffic to winning variants. Smart Content for CTAs is live, with A/B testing for CTAs still in beta. True multivariate testing (MVT) still not available — only A/B (two variants for pages).

No algorithmic content recommendation engine. Related blog posts shown by topic tag matching or manual curation only. No ML-powered recommendations, no collaborative filtering. Content strategy tool suggests topic clusters for planning, not runtime delivery. Teams needing content recommendations must build custom solutions or integrate third-party services.

Basic site search for HubSpot-hosted pages is functional but limited — no faceting, no typo tolerance, minimal relevance tuning, no search analytics dashboard. Autocomplete is basic. Search covers pages and blog posts but not custom objects or HubDB without custom development. Adequate for marketing sites with modest content volume; content-heavy sites typically need external search.

No official integrations with Algolia, Elasticsearch, or Typesense. A community-maintained Algolia search module exists in the HubSpot Code Gallery, and third-party integration via Pipedream/Make/Workato is possible, but no pre-built connectors or search pipeline hooks from HubSpot. CMS API and Site Search API make content available for external indexing but provide no search-specific infrastructure.

Commerce Hub supports 130+ global currencies, SEPA/BACS/PADs bank debit, Apple Pay/Google Pay via Stripe, automated sales tax (Stripe Tax), stored payment methods, automated invoice generation, and CPQ — a unified quote-to-cash workflow inside Smart CRM. Still fundamentally B2B-focused (quotes, invoices, subscriptions) — no product catalog/PIM, no B2C cart/checkout storefront, no inventory management.

Official Shopify integration syncs products, orders, customers, and abandoned carts to HubSpot CRM with one-way or two-way sync options; Commerce Hub connects directly to Shopify for product/order data. BigCommerce and WooCommerce integrations also provide CRM data sync. These are marketing-data-centric integrations — product content from Shopify doesn't flow into HubSpot CMS pages natively for content-commerce blending, and account-level (Company) order linking typically needs a custom build.

Products exist in HubSpot CRM as a standard object with basic fields (name, description, price, SKU) extensible via custom properties. Can be associated to deals, invoices, payment links, quotes, and subscriptions. No variant/SKU modeling, no rich product descriptions with structured content, no per-variant media management, no attribute/facet system. Product records are CRM-centric, not content-centric.

Standout capability. Traffic analytics, page performance, source attribution, campaign analytics, and content engagement metrics deeply integrated with CRM. Full-funnel tracking from first page view to closed deal. Custom report builder slices data across content and CRM dimensions. Blog analytics show views, CTA clicks, and form submissions per post. Marketing Studio (Fall 2025) adds collaborative campaign canvas with optimization insights.

GA4 integration via tracking code injection or GTM. HubSpot tracking code API enables custom behavioral event tracking feeding into analytics and segmentation. Reporting API enables data export to external BI tools. Data Studio (Data Hub) connects external warehouses for cross-platform analytics. Marketplace integrations for various analytics platforms. No dedicated CDP connectors or analytics middleware.

Enterprise tier supports multiple brand domains within a single portal with per-domain themes and navigation. Content can be organized by domain. Content sharing across domains is limited — no centralized content library serving multiple sites with controlled access. Governance is portal-wide, not per-site granular. Works for 2-3 related marketing sites; strains for true multi-site operations with independent editorial teams.

Multi-language content management supports 60+ languages with page/post language variants linked together. Language switcher module provided with dropdown, flag, or text link display options and fallback to primary language. Localization remains document-level (page duplication per language), not field-level. No locale-specific content branching or field-level override model. Global content modules remain global even in staging, complicating localized staging workflows.

Built-in AI translation via DeepL provides automatic page/post translation within the editor, and HubSpot now offers translation approval workflows so teams can review/approve translated content before publishing. Crowdin offers a HubSpot CMS connector with auto/manual sync; Lokalise and Localize also integrate. Still no native integrations with major TMS platforms like Phrase/Smartling, no translation memory, no batch operations, and no XLIFF export/import workflow.

Brand domains provide domain separation, and content partitioning by teams/permissions is possible. Business Units add-on (Enterprise) provides brand-level CRM segmentation but doesn't extend to CMS content governance. No shared component library with brand overrides, no centralized design system management across brands, no brand-level analytics separation.

Files Tool provides folder-based organization, folder/file-level access controls (Professional+), basic versioning (replace files without breaking existing links with archive/restore of prior versions), and usage tracking before deletion. No metadata taxonomy or tagging schemas, no rights/expiry management, no asset engagement analytics, no bulk metadata operations. Third-party DAM connectors (Brandfolder, Bynder, ImageKit) exist via marketplace.

All assets served via HubSpot's global CDN. Automatic WebP conversion server-side when WebP is smaller than the original. Developer-available resize_image_url() HuBL function for width/height resizing. Responsive image support via the 12-column grid. Known bug: WebP format does not work with resize_image_url(). No AVIF support, no focal-point cropping UI, no automatic srcset generation for arbitrary images.

Native video hosting built into Content Hub and Marketing Hub (Professional+), with transcoding and adaptive streaming powered by Mux. Videos embeddable in pages, blog posts, emails, and CRM records. AI-generated captions and caption translation. Native podcast tools to create and manage episodes. CRM-connected video view tracking per contact. No live streaming.

Drag-and-drop editor with full WYSIWYG live preview, inline editing within each module, responsive preview toggles (desktop/tablet/mobile), and 12-column resizable grid. Elevate theme provides customizable templates and modules with streamlined theme settings. Module library includes developer-built custom modules. Global content modules editable once, applied everywhere. Editor is module-based, not free-form canvas; complex layouts still need developer HuBL coding.

Content approval system requires approval before publishing with role-based routing (only approvers can publish pending content), with a dedicated translation approval workflow for localized content. Automatic audit trail created for every approval action; CMS Content Audit API allows programmatic querying. Single approval gate model — no multi-stage custom workflow states (e.g., Legal Review then Brand Review). No inline commenting on draft content.

Schedule Publish and Schedule Unpublish are both supported for pages, blog posts, and case studies. Schedule Updates (Enterprise) allows updating a live page at a scheduled time without unpublishing. Bulk publish/unpublish from content dashboard. Social publishing has a dedicated calendar (separate tool). No native release bundles for atomic multi-content publishing. No integrated web content calendar view.

Version history shows timestamps and editor names with preview and restore of any prior version. No real-time simultaneous editing, no presence indicators, no co-authoring capability. No per-page inline commenting for editorial reviewers. Marketing Studio provides collaborative campaign planning but does not add real-time content co-editing. Real-time collaboration remains a frequently cited community request with no shipped solution.

Drag-and-drop form builder with multi-step forms, conditional logic (show/hide fields or steps), progress bars, smart pre-population for known contacts, and reCAPTCHA scoring system that auto-flags high-risk submissions as spam. Form submissions write directly to CRM contact records. Form analytics track views, submissions, and conversion rate. Progressive profiling exists in the legacy form builder only — not yet ported to the new Forms Editor.

Fully native ESP — no external tool required. Visual drag-and-drop email editor with goal-based responsive templates. Workflow-triggered automated sends based on contact properties, behaviors, lifecycle stages, form submissions, and email engagement. AI-Powered Email builds individualized messages using CRM data. Transactional email with dedicated send pool. A/B testing, send time optimization, and email health dashboard with deliverability metrics.

Visual Workflow builder with multi-step, multi-branch automation across contacts, companies, deals, and tickets. Behavioral triggers: page views, form submissions, email engagement, CRM property changes, lifecycle stage transitions. Unified lead scoring model (behavioral + demographic). Predictive AI lead scoring (Enterprise). Journey Analytics visualizes funnel performance. Lifecycle stage tracking includes date entered/exited and time spent.

Data Hub adds AI-assisted data assembly, identity resolution, deduplication, and enrichment via Data Quality tools. Data Studio connects external warehouses with no-code analytics. Smart CRM acts as a unified contact profile across all HubSpot touchpoints. Audience sync to ad platforms (Google, Meta, LinkedIn) natively. Third-party CDP connectors available (Segment, mParticle, BlueConic) via marketplace. Not a true CDP — no anonymous identity stitching, no raw event stream storage.

2,000+ apps in the HubSpot App Marketplace with 2.5M+ active installs. Strong first-party and certified integrations across Salesforce, Shopify, Stripe, Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, LinkedIn, Meta Ads, Google Ads. Breeze Agent marketplace for AI agents. 2026 certification updates tighten OAuth v3, uninstall API, and security questionnaire requirements, raising baseline integration quality. Integration quality still varies across the long tail.

Webhooks API v3 with up to 1,000 subscriptions per application. Event types cover contact/company/deal/ticket property changes, creation, deletion, merge, and association changes, plus custom events with record-level visibility. Signed payloads via HMAC-SHA256 with timestamp for replay prevention. Retry with exponential backoff. No webhook events for user lifecycle changes; no server-side payload transformation; no Kafka/EventBridge streaming.

Content Staging provides an in-app staging domain for full-site redesigns. Two states: Staged Draft (requires HubSpot login) and Staged Proof (shareable link, no login required) allowing external stakeholder review. In-editor draft preview toggle available for all content. No branch environments or dev/staging/prod pipeline. Cannot directly schedule a staged page for a future publish date. Global modules remain global even in staging, complicating localized staging.

Custom permission sets control tool-level access (CMS pages, blog, files, forms, email, contacts, reports). Teams for scoped user grouping. SSO via SAML 2.0 (Okta, Google, Azure AD, OneLogin, PingFederate, Microsoft Entra) on Professional/Enterprise. SCIM provisioning (Okta, Google, Azure/Entra) requires SSO active first, with permission sets auto-mapped from IdP role names. Enterprise audit log with category filters. Record ownership permissions support 'Owned Only' scoping. No field-level permissions.

Date-based API versioning (/YYYY-MM, e.g. 2026-03) is now the standard as of March 30, 2026, with new versions every March/September, immutable releases, and an 18-month minimum support window. GraphQL is GA for CMS Hub Pro/Enterprise (30,000 points/request) for querying CRM objects and HubDB in HubL or via the public API. Developer Platform unification completed March 2026. CRM and CMS API conventions still diverge, preventing a higher score.

Rate limits remain unchanged: Professional 650K/day with 190/10s burst, Enterprise 1M/day with 190/10s burst. CRM Search API at 4 requests/second. Batch APIs for CRM objects support up to 100 records. GraphQL uses points-based system. No published API response time SLAs and no CDN-backed content delivery API remain gaps. Rate limits are reasonable for production but still not best-in-class.

Official SDKs for Node.js (@hubspot/api-client v13.5.0), Python, Ruby, and PHP — four languages, confirmed on the client libraries docs page. CLI v8.0.0 requires Node 20+. Developer MCP Server GA for agentic tool integration. Still no official Go or .NET SDKs (community Go client exists but is unofficial). CMS-specific operations remain underserved in SDKs. The SDK count (4) and incomplete CMS coverage keep the score in the 40s per the rubric (55–70 needs strong coverage; 80+ needs 6+ SDKs).

The HubSpot App Marketplace has 2,000+ apps with 2.5M+ active installs (milestone confirmed via HubSpot Community), with 76+ new and 200+ updated apps in recent quarterly rollups. Official connectors for Salesforce, Slack, Zoom, Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Shopify, and more. Marketplace includes quality ratings, reviews, and partner-maintained certified apps. Covers all major categories including analytics, commerce, DAM, and AI. Continues to be one of HubSpot's strongest competitive advantages.

UI Extensions use React with serverless functions backend, built via the HubSpot CLI and Developer Projects framework. Serverless functions (App Functions) returned and expanded in Developer Platform 2026.03, aligned to the unified Projects architecture, with multiple functions callable per card. CMS React allows building modules with JavaScript/React islands alongside HubL. Still no content lifecycle hooks or plugin architecture comparable to WordPress, and serverless functions remain tier-gated.

SSO via SAML available on Enterprise tier only. MFA available for all users with org-wide enforcement. OAuth 2.0 for app integrations with improved install logging. Private app tokens for server-to-server API access. API key authentication fully deprecated. No OIDC support for SSO. SSO being Enterprise-only keeps the score in the 60-75 range per the rubric. No meaningful changes to the authentication model since last scoring.

Role-based access with predefined roles and custom permission sets on Enterprise. Content partitioning restricts access by teams to domains, blog tags, or landing page folders. No field-level permissions. Content-level access control remains coarse — team-based, not per-record. Custom roles are Enterprise-only. The model is adequate for marketing teams but insufficient for organizations needing granular content governance. No meaningful changes since last scoring.

SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports available via the Conveyor-powered Trust Center (trust.hubspot.com). HubSpot itself is NOT directly ISO 27001 certified — its AWS infrastructure holds ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type 2, and HubSpot relies on AWS's audited programs plus its own annual SOC 2 audit and third-party penetration testing. GDPR tooling includes consent management, data deletion workflows, and DPA. EU data residency available (Germany). No HIPAA eligibility or BAA. Posture is SOC 2 Type II + GDPR with EU residency — rubric band 65–78.

The March 2022 employee account compromise (affecting ~30 accounts) is now 4 years old with no repeat security incidents. HackerOne bug bounty program remains active. No major security breaches or platform-wide vulnerabilities reported in 2023-2026. Recent 2026 incidents (email replies, forms, saved views, HelpDesk) were availability issues, not security breaches. Transparent incident communication continues via status.hubspot.com.

SaaS-only with no self-hosted, hybrid, or multi-cloud options. Per the rubric, SaaS-only scores 50-60. HubSpot offers US and EU (Germany) data centers but no additional regions and no private cloud option. Zero operational overhead for customers but zero deployment flexibility. No changes to hosting model since last scoring.

HubSpot's legal terms publish a commercially-reasonable 99.95% monthly uptime commitment for the Subscription Service. Status page (status.hubspot.com) remains transparent. Incidents continued through March 2026: email replies (March 25), forms on landing pages (March 23), saved views disappearing (March 19). The published SLA meets the 99.95% threshold, but elevated real-world incident frequency keeps the score at 72 rather than 80+.

Managed SaaS with automatic scaling handling marketing sites with millions of monthly visits. CDN-backed delivery for published content. Portal-level limits exist for pages, blog posts, HubDB rows, and API rate limits. The increased API rate limits (190/10s, up to 1M/day) support programmatic scalability. Single-region origin with CDN remains a limitation for global enterprise deployments. Performance at massive scale (100K+ pages) less proven than AEM or WordPress VIP.

HubSpot manages backups internally with no published RTO/RPO for customer review. Content export available for blogs and pages. Design assets downloadable via CLI. CRM data export available. HubL templates remain proprietary and non-portable — migrating away requires significant transformation. Module-level content doesn't export cleanly. The lack of published DR metrics keeps the score at 55.

CMS React provides @hubspot/cms-dev-server, a Vite-based Express development server with auto-reloading and islands architecture for local React module development. CLI v8.0.0 requires Node 20+. CMS React local dev requires Content Hub Enterprise. Full production parity still limited — smart content, CRM data, and forms only work live. Sandbox environments remain Enterprise-only.

GitHub integration syncs design assets from repositories to HubSpot portals. CLI v8.0.0 commands scriptable in CI/CD pipelines. Developer Projects with date-based platform versioning (2026.03) and an 18-month support window improve CI/CD predictability. Developer Platform unification completed March 2026 consolidates app management. Projects v2025.1 deprecation set for August 1, 2026. Still no content migration tooling, no deploy previews, and no branch-based content environments.

Developer documentation at developers.hubspot.com remains comprehensive with monthly developer rollups and a Spotlight changelog continuing through 2026. CLI v8 migration guide and Developer Platform migration timeline published. CMS React documentation covers local development, modules, islands, and serverless functions. API reference includes code examples in multiple languages. HubSpot Academy provides free developer courses. Active developer changelog with clear deprecation notices (e.g., Projects v2025.1).

CMS React provides --generateFieldsTypes flag for auto-generating TypeScript types from module field definitions. CMS React modules built on Vite with native TypeScript, JSX, ESM, and tree-shaking support. UI Extensions support TypeScript for CRM customizations, and @hubspot/api-client ships TypeScript definitions. However, CMS React requires Enterprise, HubL templates have no TS integration, and there's no full content model type generation across all CMS content types. No meaningful TS improvements since last scoring.

HubSpot maintains rapid SaaS deployment with monthly product update rollups continuing through May/June 2026 and the Spring 2026 Spotlight launching a fresh wave of features. Recent Content Hub shipments include GPT Image 2.0 image generation, multi-video stitching in the video editor, AI landing-page image-source control, and improved permissioning/approvals for large teams. Not higher because CMS-specific cadence remains secondary to CRM/Marketing Hub feature flow.

The developer changelog at developers.hubspot.com/changelog remains well-structured with tagged entries (API, Announced) and monthly rollups, and the move to date-based API versioning (/2026-03/) is now documented clearly with explicit immutability and support windows, improving version traceability. Breaking changes carry firm sunset dates. The split between the developer changelog and the consumer product-updates page still forces CMS users to filter across two sources, limiting the score.

HubSpot still relies on the community Ideas Forum for feature voting and Spotlight/INBOUND events for directional previews rather than a formal public roadmap with timelines. Spring 2026 Spotlight and partner/ecosystem briefings shared strategy but without committed dates. Compared to platforms with public GitHub or Canny roadmaps, transparency remains moderate and feature-request resolution timelines stay opaque.

HubSpot's date-based API versioning is now live with the first /2026-03/ release, a fixed March/September cadence, immutable versions (breaking changes only land in a new version, never mid-lifecycle), and a guaranteed 18-month minimum support window — legacy v4 APIs supported through March 2027. Long, clearly-communicated deprecation timelines (Contact Lists API v1 sunset Apr 30, 2026) and continued support of all legacy semantic-version endpoints reinforce strong, predictable change management.

HubSpot serves ~299,000 customers (Q1 2026, up 16% YoY) across 135+ countries, and its ~35,600 G2 reviews across products is the highest review volume of any platform in the comparison. Active developer Slack/community forums, 1,600+ technology partners, INBOUND (10K+ attendees), and global HubSpot User Groups round out a large community — though the developer cohort remains smaller relative to open-source platforms.

Developer community engagement keeps improving through structured programs (Dev Platform Playground sessions, mentorship), MCP remote server availability enabling agentic tooling, and Breeze Studio custom-tool building. Community forums are actively staffed. However, the proprietary model still confines community contribution to marketplace apps and forum answers — there is no open-source PR pathway, capping engagement depth.

HubSpot ranks in the top 10 partner ecosystems globally per the 2026 Ecosystem Compass Report, sitting in the 'Ecosystem Leaders' quadrant on both program investment and partner opportunity, with 1,600+ technology partners and thousands of solutions partners. The program is being simplified into a single Solutions Partner tier (effective July 15, 2026, $400/month entry) while the legacy Provider Program sunsets Aug 15, 2026, and the addressable partner opportunity is projected to grow from $19.1B (2026) to $42.0B (2030).

The third-party content ecosystem remains prolific, with abundant 2026 guides and agency analyses covering Content Hub, Breeze AI, MCP integration, and the monthly product updates, plus HubSpot Academy courses and recorded INBOUND/Spotlight sessions. Content still skews toward marketing/sales, but CMS-specific developer content (Content Hub, HubL, MCP, Breeze) continues to grow.

With ~299K customers and 16% YoY growth, HubSpot talent demand and supply remain strong across marketing, RevOps, and web-development roles, and HubSpot Academy certifications feed a broad pipeline with an active freelancer market. The pool still skews toward marketing practitioners over developers, so sourcing dedicated HubL/CMS developers takes more effort than finding HubSpot marketing operators.

Momentum is re-accelerating: Q1 2026 revenue grew 23% YoY to $881.0M (above the prior ~21% guidance), customer count reached 299,458 (+16% YoY) with ~10,800 net new adds in the quarter, and HubSpot raised full-year guidance. AI monetization is compounding the story — active core seat users up 90% YoY and credit consumption up 67% QoQ — alongside continued upmarket strength and rising subscription revenue per customer (~$11,700).

HubSpot is among the most financially stable CMS vendors: Q1 2026 returned to GAAP profitability ($32.6M net income, reversing a prior-year loss) with $143M non-GAAP net income, 85% non-GAAP gross margin, and 23% revenue growth, and management raised full-year guidance. Publicly traded (NYSE: HUBS) with stable leadership and ongoing buyback capacity, it carries minimal solvency risk.

HubSpot's AI-first positioning is strengthening with Breeze agents, GPT Image 2.0 in Content Hub, MCP remote server enabling agentic integrations, and quantified AI traction (core seat users +90% YoY), reinforced by clear upmarket momentum and continued analyst recognition. It still trails enterprise DXPs for complex content architecture and deep composable use cases, but the integrated CRM-plus-content-plus-AI bundle remains a defensible, differentiated wedge.

HubSpot holds ~4.4/5 on G2 with the highest review volume in the comparison (~35,600 across products), and Content Hub reviews specifically praise ease of use, built-in SEO tooling, and centralized content management, with Gartner Peer Insights and Capterra similarly positive. Persistent negative themes — pricing escalation across tiers and limited advanced/large-team workflow flexibility — keep it in the 75–85 band rather than higher.

Full public pricing is published for every Content Hub tier including the Enterprise starting price: Free $0, Starter $20/mo (1 seat), Professional $500/mo (3 seats), Enterprise $1,500/mo (5 seats), with documented per-seat add-on costs. Multiple 2026 pricing guides (G2, HubSpot blog) confirm the tiers and amounts. Not higher because surprise onboarding fees and contact/API overages are not surfaced on the pricing page — but published tier rates remain among the most transparent in the CMS market.

Per-seat pricing scales linearly with team size and is predictable once on a tier, but the Starter ($20/mo) to Professional ($500/mo) jump is a 25x cliff that gates essential features (A/B testing, smart content, SEO, custom reporting). Multi-Hub bundling and contact-tier overages compound costs, and 2026 guides advise budgeting 20–30% above published pricing for the full reality. Not lower because seat-based pricing is at least predictable; not higher because of the steep cliffs and overage surprises.

Aggressive feature gating persists in 2026: A/B testing, smart content personalization, custom reporting, SEO analysis, and AI translations are all gated behind Professional ($500/mo), while SSO, sandboxes, custom objects, hierarchical teams, and multi-site management require Enterprise ($1,500/mo). For a platform targeting marketing teams, locking A/B testing and personalization behind $500/mo is restrictive. Not higher because core marketing capabilities sit behind a steep tier; not lower because a genuine free/Starter content tier still exists.

Starter offers monthly billing and there are strong discount programs (HubSpot for Startups up to 90%, nonprofit pricing), but Professional and Enterprise require annual upfront prepayment that is non-refundable mid-term — cancel mid-year and the full year is forfeited. Mandatory professional onboarding fees ($1,500–$7,000 depending on hub/tier) are 'very expensive and non-negotiable.' Lowered from prior because 2026 sources confirm Pro+ is annual-prepaid and non-refundable, the path most serious buyers take.

HubSpot offers a genuine free-forever tier with drag-and-drop editing, a standard theme, a single blog, up to ~30 pages, and pre-connected free CRM — no time limit or credit card required, and commercial use is permitted. It is meaningfully capped by mandatory HubSpot branding and the page limit, making it unsuitable for production marketing sites. Not higher because branding cannot be removed and features are entry-level; not lower because it is permanent, permissive, and includes the free CRM.

A genuine HubSpot strength: a marketer can sign up free without a credit card, install a marketplace theme in one click, and publish a landing page within minutes using the drag-and-drop editor — no hosting setup or technical knowledge required. Free CRM is pre-connected and guided onboarding walks new users through setup. Among the best time-to-first-value in the CMS market for the marketing-site use case.

Simple marketplace-theme marketing sites launch in 2–4 weeks; custom-designed themes/modules take 4–8 weeks; complex builds with CRM integration, custom objects, and multi-language run 2–4 months. Partner agencies typically quote 6–12 weeks for mid-market projects. The SaaS model eliminates hosting setup, keeping timelines short relative to self-hosted DXPs.

HubSpot developers command a moderate premium — below Sitecore/AEM specialists but above WordPress generalists — driven mainly by proprietary HubL templating that doesn't transfer. Free HubSpot Academy certification and a 2–4 week learning curve for experienced developers keep the premium contained, with certified developers available at $100–200/hr through the partner network. Not lower because mainstream HTML/CSS/JS skills carry over and training is free.

Hosting is fully included in the subscription at every tier including Free — CDN, SSL, backups, security patching, and uptime management are all handled by HubSpot with zero additional infrastructure spend. The subscription is the hosting cost; there are no separate cloud provider invoices. The only caveat is that custom backends, middleware, or external APIs HubSpot doesn't provide may require additional infrastructure.

Fully managed SaaS with near-zero ops overhead for the CMS itself — no servers, databases, patching, or scaling to manage. Ongoing effort is limited to admin tasks like user management and permissions; no dedicated technical operations role is required. For organizations migrating off self-hosted CMS platforms this is a dramatic reduction in operational burden.

Severe lock-in remains: HubL templates and custom modules are entirely proprietary and worthless outside HubSpot, and content export loses module structure, smart-content rules, and CRM associations. A maturing ecosystem of third-party exit specialists (RobotoStudio, MigrateLab) and realistic 6–10 week migration timelines — plus the fact the CRM can be retained when the site leaves — marginally ease exit versus prior estimates. Raised slightly from prior because migration tooling/services now exist; still low because HubL portability is zero.

HubSpot introduces many proprietary concepts: HubL templating, the module/template/theme/partial hierarchy, portal architecture, Design Manager vs local CLI dev duality, HubDB vs CRM custom objects, smart content rules, and CMS React's islands/getServerSideProps + HubSpot GraphQL paradigm as an alternative. The MCP Server (GA Feb 2026) and AI-assisted dev aid productivity but do not reduce the underlying concept count. Not higher because the total concept surface remains significant and requires real re-learning; not lower because individual concepts are individually approachable.

HubSpot Academy remains industry-leading for structured learning with a free CMS Developer certification, interactive exercises, and sandbox environments. Documentation now covers both HubL and the CMS React quickstart (local dev server with browser preview at hslocal.net:3000), and the MCP Server (GA Feb 2026) provides AI-assisted onboarding across VS Code, Claude Code, Cursor, and Gemini CLI. Not higher because React-specific onboarding content is still less mature than the long-established HubL resources; not lower because the breadth of official and community training is exceptional.

CMS React is GA and lets developers build modules and templates in React/TypeScript via `npx @hubspot/create-cms-theme@latest`, but it remains HubSpot-flavored React: HubSpot project structure, islands architecture, HubSpot-specific data fetching (getServerSideProps + HubSpot GraphQL), and deployment within HubSpot infrastructure. There is still no first-class Next.js, Astro, or SvelteKit support, and the older cms-react SPA boilerplate is now archived. Not higher because both the HubL and React paths are heavily platform-constrained proprietary patterns; not lower because React familiarity meaningfully lowers the curve vs HubL-only.

Official starter tooling is polished: `npx @hubspot/create-cms-theme@latest` bootstraps a CMS React project with a 'Getting started with CMS React' template, the Elevate theme (Spring 2025) is the default with customizable templates and modules, and the marketplace offers free and paid themes. Starters are vendor-maintained with example content and deploy via auto-deploy on build. Not higher because starters remain HubSpot-ecosystem-only — there are no Next.js/Astro headless starters and the legacy SPA boilerplate is archived; not lower because the official CLI-driven starter tooling is well-maintained and complete.

CLI setup is straightforward (`npm install -g @hubspot/cli@latest`, `hs init`, single `hubspot.config.yml`), and content sync to a CMS Developer Sandbox plus the MCP Server (GA Feb 2026, with programmatic test-account creation) streamline setup. However, config-as-code remains limited — most configuration lives in the portal GUI and isn't version-controlled — and 2026 CLI sandbox changes (production→standard-sandbox sync removed from the CLI, legacy standard sandboxes sunset April 30 2026) add some workflow churn. Not higher because GUI-dependent config and Enterprise-only sandboxes persist; not lower because the developer tooling ecosystem is well-integrated.

CRM custom objects provide flexibility (many-to-many relationships, association limits raised to 250k records, custom labels), but fundamental constraints persist: fixed content types (blog, page, landing page) cannot be extended, API/property names are permanent once created, property-type changes require data migration, and there is no content-model migration tooling. HubDB is CMS-only and capped (10,000 rows/table, 1,000 tables/account), and custom objects require an Enterprise subscription. Not higher because core schema evolution remains rigid and refactoring is costly; not lower because custom objects and HubDB cover most modeling needs.

For HubSpot-hosted pages, preview is effectively plug-and-play — the page editor IS the preview with real-time rendering of design changes, draft and scheduled content preview, per-segment smart content preview, and mobile-specific layout customization. CMS React modules render in the design previewer via the local dev server, and content sync enables previewing against production content in a sandbox. The preview story still breaks down for decoupled/headless frontends — there is no preview framework for external sites. Not higher because headless preview is absent; not lower because the integrated hosted experience is excellent.

CMS React reduces the HubL dependency — React/TypeScript developers can build modules and templates without learning HubL — and the MCP Server (GA) plus AI-assisted dev accelerate ramp-up. However, developers still need HubSpot-specific knowledge: project structure, deployment model, islands architecture, HubSpot GraphQL, and the module/template/theme system. No certification is required to ship. The bar remains 'learn proprietary platform patterns, using a familiar language.' Not higher because meaningful HubSpot-specific knowledge is still required; not lower because CMS React and MCP tooling cut ramp-up time considerably.

A solo developer can build and ship a HubSpot CMS site using marketplace/Elevate themes with minor customizations; a developer plus designer is the minimum viable team for custom-designed sites. Content authors are self-sufficient after brief onboarding, and the SaaS model eliminates backend/DevOps roles. AI-assisted dev via the MCP Server increases individual velocity without changing minimum team composition. Not higher because custom implementations still need 2–3 people; not lower because the SaaS model removes ops roles entirely.

Content authors and marketers are highly self-sufficient: the drag-and-drop editor is intuitive with real-time layout updates, header/footer switching is flexible, mobile-specific content customization is in-editor, embeddable HubSpot forms reduce developer involvement, and HubSpot Academy provides role-specific training. Authors become productive after 1–2 hours. Not higher because new module/template creation still requires developer intervention; not lower because marketer self-service is among the best in the Traditional CMS category.

SaaS auto-updates mean zero customer-side platform upgrades for the core CMS. The developer platform moved to date-based versioning with 2026.03 reaching GA March 30, 2026, and the hs project migrate tool now migrates eligible 2025.2/2025.1/2023.3 projects forward. However, version migrations still require manual work (directory restructuring, the new src/app/functions/ layout, schema updates) and the tooling doesn't cover every case. Not higher because dev-platform version migrations remain a real burden for teams with custom apps and functions.

SaaS model means security patches are applied automatically across all customers with zero intervention, and HubSpot patched the latest critical core-engine flaw rapidly — CVE-2026-25526 (CVSS 9.8 Jinjava sandbox-bypass RCE) was remediated across all infrastructure by the afternoon of Jan 30, 2026, with the recommended Jinjava update to v2.8.3. This is the second critical Jinjava sandbox bypass in roughly five months (after CVE-2025-59340, patched v2.8.1 Sep 2025), exposing a recurring weakness in the core template engine. Not higher because the back-to-back 9.8 RCEs in HubSpot's rendering engine show the SaaS platform still carries real, recurring risk even though customers bear no patching effort.

Volume of concurrent forced migrations remains high: Projects 2025.1 end-of-support Aug 1, 2026 (AWS Lambda Node 20 deprecation), legacy CRM card framework sunset Oct 31, 2026, and twice-yearly date-based API versioning (March/September) with 18-month support windows. HubSpot did reduce the pain of the CRM-card cutover by shipping the Legacy CRM Card View Swapping Tool on April 21, 2026, letting developers migrate to UI Extension App Cards without disrupting live customer CRM views. Not higher because SaaS leaves no option to delay any of these forced changes and the simultaneous volume is still burdensome.

Near-zero runtime dependency management for the core SaaS platform. Custom themes may use npm build tools (PostCSS, Sass) but these are dev-side only, and serverless functions on 2026.03 use npm packages with a small footprint. The unified project schema standardizes configuration across versions, reducing per-project dependency confusion. Not higher because the developer platform still requires awareness of Node.js version requirements (the Node 20 deprecation forcing the 2025.1 sunset) and project schema changes.

Built-in platform monitoring via status.hubspot.com and traffic analytics provide basic visibility, serverless function error logging exists, and no external infrastructure monitoring is required. However, there is still no built-in APM, no content-health alerting (broken links, stale content), no integration monitoring for custom API connections, and API rate-limit tracking requires manual attention. No new monitoring capabilities were introduced in the Spring 2026 releases. Not higher because teams running serverless functions or custom integrations still need external monitoring.

Content governance still relies heavily on manual editorial discipline. The Spring 2026 Spotlight expanded creation tooling — Breeze Assistant with brand-aware output, AI visual generation (beta), Brand Voice, in-app screen/webcam recording, and AEO for AI-answer visibility — but none of these address hygiene: there is still no automatic broken-link detection, no orphan-page alerts, and no content-expiry workflows below Enterprise. Content approvals and activity logging remain locked behind the Enterprise tier. Not higher because the new AI tools accelerate creation but do nothing for content governance or cleanup.

Performance is largely vendor-managed — CDN, image optimization, and server-side rendering are handled automatically with no caching configuration needed, and users report reduced maintenance burden versus self-hosted alternatives like WordPress. However, there is still no built-in page-speed monitoring dashboard, so teams need external tools for performance auditing, and poorly built custom HubL templates can degrade performance with no platform-side warnings. Not higher because performance visibility still requires external tooling.

Support tiers range from community-only (Free) to priority routing (Enterprise), with phone/email/chat on Professional. However, public review sentiment remains poor through mid-2026 — Trustpilot reviews continue to report unreachable phone support, customers passed between teams without resolution, surprise/auto-renewal billing charges, and difficulty cancelling. CMS-specific technical support stays inconsistent; agents handle marketing/CRM questions better than HubL or developer-platform debugging. Not higher because reasonable CMS developer support effectively requires Enterprise or partner involvement and recent sentiment shows no improvement.

Community forums at community.hubspot.com remain active with HubSpot staff and community champions participating, the developer Slack provides real-time help, and a Developer Feedback Tool introduced in early 2026 gathers structured input from the developer community. However, the community still skews heavily toward marketing practitioners — deep CMS/developer-platform questions get fewer quality responses — and Stack Overflow coverage for HubSpot CMS development is only moderate. Not higher because CMS developer community depth is limited compared with the marketing community.

Critical issues are fixed and deployed fast via SaaS — the CVE-2026-25526 Jinjava RCE was patched across all infrastructure within hours on Jan 30, 2026, and the 2026.03 platform release shipped on its 6-month cadence. However, lower-priority bugs and feature requests still languish, and forum posts continue to show developer frustration with API issues (e.g., file-upload 403 / MISSING_SCOPES errors) that take time to resolve, with no published hotfix SLA. Not higher because systematic feature-request neglect persists despite fast critical-fix turnaround and a predictable release cadence.

HubSpot's drag-and-drop page builder is purpose-built for marketing landing pages with an extensive template library. The AI Website Generator now builds full landing pages and multi-page sites from a text prompt, and Breeze Content Agent generates landing pages from uploaded assets with automated meta descriptions and internal linking; the unified builder flow combines manual and AI-powered workflows with template-first selection. Content Remix with template support and Brand Voice integration make this best-in-class among CMS platforms for marketer self-service.

Campaigns tool organizes multi-channel assets (emails, landing pages, blogs, social, CTAs) with unified analytics and attribution. Content Remix transforms single assets into 10+ content types including social, email, landing pages, and podcasts. Campaign Goals Tracker (2025) provides smarter goal setting, tracking, and reporting on campaign performance. Full campaign orchestration requires Marketing Hub + Content Hub (bundled as HubSpot for Marketers); Content Hub alone provides scheduling but not full campaign management.

Built-in SEO remains a genuine differentiator with on-page scoring, Topic Clusters, automatic sitemap generation, canonical URLs, 301 redirect manager, and robots.txt customization. The AI Blog Writer now integrates Semrush data for SEO-informed topic suggestions and automatic internal linking. AEO tooling has fully matured following HubSpot's 2026 acquisition of XFunnel and the Spring 2026 launch: AI Search Optimization tracks daily brand visibility across AI engines (ChatGPT/GPT-5.2, Perplexity, Gemini) with share-of-voice and competitor monitoring, the free AEO Grader scores five visibility dimensions, and AEO Sensor surfaces AI-search trend data. Schema support continues expanding beyond blog BlogPosting JSON-LD to FAQ, How-To, and Articles. Best-in-class SEO/AEO depth among CMS platforms.

Forms are first-class — embedded, popup, and chatbot forms feed directly into the CRM with progressive profiling. CTA builder with AI-personalized variants and A/B testing now GA (Professional/Enterprise). Full-funnel attribution from first page view to closed deal, ad tracking for Google/Facebook/LinkedIn, and dual lead scoring (manual + predictive at Enterprise tier). The native CRM integration providing closed-loop reporting is a genuine competitive advantage no other CMS matches. Limited by feature gating (Professional/Enterprise for advanced capabilities).

Smart Content delivers rule-based personalization using lifecycle stage, list membership, device type, geographic location, and referral source — no external CDP required, with per-module smart triggers for known and unknown visitors. Breeze Personalization Agent analyzes CRM data to identify audience segments and generate tailored content variants. Adaptive testing (Enterprise) continuously shifts traffic to winning variants. The deep CRM foundation gives HubSpot a natural advantage in behavioral targeting compared to all other CMS platforms. Gap is the absence of real-time anonymous behavioral decisioning beyond list/segment membership.

Native A/B testing on pages and emails with up to 5 variations simultaneously, with statistical reporting and auto-winner selection. Adaptive testing (AI-infused) is now the primary AI experimentation vehicle — it tests up to 5 variants, splits traffic evenly at first, then automatically reallocates toward better-performing variants. The standalone AI-generated A/B test for landing pages is being sunset (April 30, 2026), after which AI-assisted A/B variants must be created manually, but adaptive testing fully covers AI-driven optimization. Best-in-class among CMS platforms for native experimentation — limited only by absence of multivariate/factorial testing and the need for Professional tier or above.

Breeze Content Agent generates full pages from uploaded briefs with automated meta descriptions, internal links, and pre-publish QA. Drag-and-drop builder with template cloning enables sub-hour page creation. Content Remix repurposes a single asset into 10+ formats in one workflow. Brand Voice enforces consistency without human review cycles. Approval workflows with Slack/Teams notifications (Feb 2026) reduce coordination overhead. This is genuinely best-in-class for marketer-driven content velocity.

Content Remix transforms assets into web pages, emails, social posts, podcasts, case studies, and landing pages — genuine multi-format publishing. Email and social publishing require Marketing Hub (not Content Hub standalone). Web, blog, and landing page are native to Content Hub. The HubSpot for Marketers bundle delivers web + email + social + ads in a unified authoring environment. CMS-only teams cannot publish to social or email without Marketing Hub. Does not deliver to push, SMS, or in-app natively.

Native reporting dashboards within HubSpot surface page-level analytics, blog performance, SEO insights, campaign attribution, and content decay signals — no external tool required for core metrics. The matured AI Search Optimization dashboard (post-XFunnel) tracks brand mention frequency and share of voice across AI engines, with competitor benchmarking. GA4 integration available via standard tag insertion. Site Speed Dashboard provides Core Web Vitals monitoring. Attribution reporting connects content engagement to CRM pipeline stages. The native analytics depth surpasses all other CMS platforms; limitation is dependence on GA4 for event-level analytics beyond HubSpot's standard metrics.

Brand Voice enforces tone, vocabulary, and style across all AI-generated content. Brand Kit centralizes logos, colors, and fonts applied automatically to Breeze-generated assets. Theme-level design tokens lock typography and color palettes at the portal level. Global content modules (header, footer) enforce structural consistency. Marketers can self-serve within guardrails without design review for AI-assisted content. Limitation is that custom-coded pages can bypass theme constraints, and no formal design system with versioned component specs exists.

OG and Twitter card meta tag management are native to all pages and blog posts. Social publishing via HubSpot Social (Marketing Hub) enables scheduled posting to LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and X from the same platform. Content Remix generates social copy variants from source content. Social monitoring and engagement are part of Marketing Hub. The limitation is that Social is a Marketing Hub feature — Content Hub standalone does not include social scheduling. For teams on the full HubSpot platform, social integration is strong.

HubSpot has no native DAM. The built-in Files tool provides basic image storage with folder organization and image transforms (crop, resize) but no tagging taxonomy, no rights management, no usage tracking, and no version control for marketing assets. Brandfolder and other DAM vendors offer marketplace integrations that allow drag-and-drop asset insertion with automatic version propagation into HubSpot pages and emails — but these are third-party paid integrations. The gap is significant for organizations managing large marketing asset volumes.

60+ language variants with AI-powered translation via Breeze (DeepL and Google Translate) available at Professional/Enterprise. Global Content Editor centralizes headers and footers across all language variants. Automatic hreflang tag and XML sitemap generation handles SEO for localized content. Locale-specific campaign scheduling and regional content variants are supported. Cookie consent and GDPR tools adapt to regional compliance requirements. Gap is limited workflow tooling for transcreation — AI translation is available but human review routing and locale-specific approval chains are basic.

HubSpot IS a MarTech platform — native CRM, Marketing Hub (MAP), Sales Hub, and Service Hub provide the full stack natively. Pre-built integrations cover Salesforce CRM, Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, Google Analytics, and hundreds of MarTech tools via the HubSpot App Marketplace. The 2026 ChatGPT connector exposes campaigns, landing pages, website pages, blog posts, and team data to external AI orchestration. Workflow triggers and webhook-based event orchestration connect content actions to downstream systems. HubSpot's native CRM data enriches personalization across the entire stack. No other CMS platform can match the native MarTech breadth. Minor gap: enterprise CDP integrations (Segment, mParticle) require custom configuration.

CRM Products object is designed for deal association and quoting, not rich product content delivery. No PIM capabilities, no variant/SKU modeling beyond custom properties, no product-specific media management, no attribute/facet system. CMS Enterprise can build basic eCommerce functions but doesn't scale well beyond ~20 products. Teams almost always use a dedicated commerce platform (Shopify, BigCommerce) for product content with HubSpot handling marketing automation.

No merchandising capability. No category/collection management, no promotional content scheduling, no cross-sell/upsell tooling, no search merchandising. Content-driven discovery through blog topics is marketing content strategy, not merchandising. For any merchandising need, a dedicated commerce platform is required. HubSpot is simply not designed for this use case.

Shopify integration syncs customer, order, and product data to HubSpot CRM for marketing automation — abandoned cart emails, post-purchase nurture, purchase-based segmentation. Shopify UI elements (scroller, wishlist) can embed in Content Hub pages. The Shopify Overview CRM card auto-displays on contact records (since Nov 2025). However, the integration remains CRM-marketing-centric: product data doesn't natively populate CMS pages for rich product content rendering, and there is no deep commercetools or SFCC integration at the content layer.

HubSpot can produce editorial content (buying guides, blog posts) that references products and links to Shopify pages, but this is manual assembly rather than a native shoppable content authoring pattern. No product reference picker in the content editor, no inline purchase CTA with live inventory awareness, no lookbook or shop-the-look template. The Shopify scroller module embeds a product feed widget but does not enable true editorial-commerce blending at the authoring level. Teams building content-commerce experiences on HubSpot rely heavily on custom development.

HubSpot has no CMS control over checkout or cart content. Checkout flows live entirely in Shopify (or whatever commerce platform is used). HubSpot cannot inject trust badges, upsell banners, or shipping callouts into transactional flows without custom Shopify theme development outside HubSpot. The CMS and the checkout exist in completely separate systems with no authoring bridge.

Post-purchase email sequences (order confirmation, delivery tracking, review solicitation, loyalty content) can be built in Marketing Hub triggered by Shopify order events — this is one of the stronger points of the HubSpot-Shopify integration. CRM workflows automate purchase-based email nurture. However, post-purchase landing pages with personalized onboarding content, product setup guides, or loyalty program portals require custom build. The strength is in email-based post-purchase; web-based post-purchase content delivery is limited.

CMS Memberships and CRM-based access rules can gate product documentation and spec sheets for specific accounts — a rudimentary B2B gating mechanism. Account-based marketing (ABM) in Marketing Hub enables account-specific nurture. Quotes are managed natively in Sales Hub. However, there is no account-specific pricing display on content pages, no catalog segmentation by buyer account, no buyer portal with personalized product views, and no RFQ or configurator content. HubSpot's B2B commerce content tooling is sparse.

HubSpot's native site search is basic — keyword-based search across blog and landing page content. No faceted filtering, no product-content blending in search results, no synonym management, no search landing pages with editorial content, and no search analytics beyond query volume. Commerce search (faceted product discovery) is entirely handled by the commerce platform (Shopify). For any meaningful search and discovery experience, Elasticsearch or Algolia integration is required.

Smart Content modules can display personalized promotional banners based on contact list membership or lifecycle stage — e.g., showing a discount banner to contacts who viewed a product page. Scheduled publishing handles time-based content activation. However, there are no native countdown timers, no promo code messaging modules, no tiered pricing table components, and no channel-specific promotional targeting beyond Smart Content rules. Time-activated promotional content is possible via scheduling but lacks the dedicated tooling of commerce-native platforms.

Content Hub Enterprise supports up to 10 root domains with separate themes, navigation, permissions, and analytics — which can theoretically serve multiple storefronts. However, product content does not flow from a shared CMS to multiple Shopify storefronts; each storefront's product catalog is managed separately in Shopify. Shared editorial content (brand story pages, buying guides) can be published across domains but storefront-specific product content requires duplication or custom integration. This is not a native multi-storefront content architecture.

HubSpot's media capabilities are limited to standard images and video embeds. No 360-degree product views, no AR/3D model support, no image hotspot functionality, no commerce-grade zoom. The Files tool provides basic image management. Video hosting requires Vidyard or YouTube embedding. For commerce-grade visual experiences, dedicated media services (Cloudinary, Scene7) are needed via third-party integration. This is significantly below the threshold for commerce use cases.

HubSpot has no marketplace content management capability. No seller profiles, no seller-contributed product descriptions, no content quality moderation at scale, no review aggregation. The platform is designed for single-brand marketing, not multi-vendor marketplace content operations. Any marketplace content need requires a fully custom implementation outside HubSpot's tooling.

HubSpot's generic localization (60+ languages, AI translation) can be applied to product-related editorial content — buying guides, category landing pages, brand story pages. Currency display on product content pages depends on the commerce platform (Shopify handles currency). EU labeling, CA Prop 65, and other regulatory content can be added manually to locale variants. No locale-specific promo calendars or market-specific product description workflows native to the CMS. Adequate for marketing-facing localization, insufficient for true commerce content localization.

HubSpot's full-funnel attribution model connects content page engagement to CRM contact records and closed deals — enabling content-assisted conversion tracking through the sales cycle. Shopify integration surfaces purchase events on contact records, enabling revenue attribution to content touchpoints for online purchases. Campaign attribution dashboards link email, landing page, and blog content to pipeline. This is stronger than most CMS platforms because the native CRM bridges content and commercial outcomes. Gap is in pure eCommerce revenue-to-content attribution outside HubSpot's CRM-centric model.

Memberships feature (Professional+) gates content via access groups for knowledge base, blog, and landing pages. SSO uses OIDC exclusively (JWT sunset Feb 2025). SSO with segments allows identity-provider-based access combined with segment memberships. CRM-based access rules restrict content by contact list membership. Customer portal provides login-protected ticket management. Department-level access control, granular organizational hierarchy-based visibility, and sophisticated audience filtering remain limited — adequate for basic gated content, insufficient for enterprise intranet access hierarchies.

Knowledge Base feature in Service Hub provides a searchable article library with categories, search, and basic analytics — capable of up to 25 knowledge bases with 10,000 articles at Enterprise tier. Access groups can restrict KB articles. AI-assisted article generation (Breeze) is available. However, the KB is designed for customer-facing support content, not internal employee knowledge management. No enterprise taxonomy, no content lifecycle management (review dates, archival, staleness detection), no sophisticated tagging hierarchy, and no ownership-based freshness enforcement.

HubSpot is not designed for employee-facing intranet experiences. CMS Memberships can create employee-only areas with SSO, but there are no portal/intranet features, no notification system for internal content, no social features, no employee directory integration, no personalized dashboards, and no dedicated mobile app for internal content. No intranet-related features were added in 2025–2026 product updates. For any real intranet need, dedicated platforms (SharePoint, Confluence, LumApps) are far more appropriate.

No internal communications features. HubSpot's email and CMS capabilities are outbound/customer-facing by design. There is no targeted internal announcement system, no department-level news feeds, no read receipts, no acknowledgment tracking, and no mandatory-read workflows. CMS Memberships can technically make a gated 'announcements' page for employees, but this is manual HTML content with no internal comms tooling. For internal communications, dedicated tools (SharePoint, Staffbase, Simpplr) are required.

HubSpot CRM Contacts can serve as a basic employee database with custom properties for role, department, or skills, but this requires significant custom configuration and is designed for customer/prospect records, not employee directories. No org chart visualization, no team page templates, no HR system integration (Workday, BambooHR), and no skills/expertise profiles. Building a functional employee directory on HubSpot requires extensive custom development that no standard implementation includes.

No policy or document management features. The Knowledge Base (Service Hub) could theoretically host policy articles, but there is no version control with audit trail, no mandatory acknowledgment tracking, no automated review/expiry reminders, and no approval workflow for policy updates. Any policy management on HubSpot requires manual processes outside the platform. Dedicated tools (SharePoint, Confluence, PolicyTech) are required for enterprise policy management.

CMS Memberships can gate new-hire onboarding content pages, and HubSpot Sequences (Sales Hub) can deliver email-based onboarding over 30/60/90 day windows. However, there are no structured onboarding journey builders, no role-specific content path logic, no progressive disclosure controls, no task checklists, and no HR-triggered new-hire portal automation. The email + gated page combination is a manual workaround, not a purpose-built onboarding capability.

HubSpot's native site search covers blog, knowledge base, and CMS pages with basic keyword matching. No federated search across connected systems (SharePoint, Confluence, Google Drive), no AI-powered relevance ranking, no faceted filtering for internal content types, and no failed search term analytics for intranet optimization. Search quality degrades with content volume beyond a few hundred articles. For enterprise intranet search needs, dedicated search platforms (Coveo, Elastic, Glean) are required.

All HubSpot CMS pages are mobile-responsive by default. The HubSpot mobile app provides CRM access for sales/service reps but does not serve as an intranet content delivery app for frontline workers. No dedicated intranet mobile app, no offline content support, no push notifications for new internal content, and no kiosk or shared-device mode. Frontline workers accessing HubSpot-based intranet content receive a mobile browser experience without native app features.

No LMS integration and no native learning features. HubSpot Academy is an external training platform for HubSpot users — it is not an LMS that can be embedded or integrated with for internal employee training delivery. Content Hub cannot track course completion, certifications, or learning paths. Any learning and training delivery requires a dedicated LMS (Cornerstone, Workday Learning, Docebo) with no native HubSpot integration path.

No employee social or collaboration features. HubSpot CMS pages have no comment system, no reactions, no discussion forums, no peer recognition, no polls or surveys, and no community spaces for departments or interest groups. The platform's social features (Social tool in Marketing Hub) are outbound-only — publishing to external social networks. Building any internal social layer on HubSpot requires fully custom frontend development.

Content approval workflow notifications now route directly to Slack and Teams (Feb 2026), providing a meaningful integration touchpoint for publishing workflows. HubSpot's Slack integration supports deal/contact notifications and @HubSpot bot queries. Microsoft Teams integration delivers similar CRM notifications. However, these are CRM/workflow notification integrations — not embedded content cards, content previews in Teams, or single-pane intranet experiences. For a true workplace tool integration (content browsable within Teams), dedicated intranet tools are needed.

No content lifecycle management features for intranet use. There are no automated review date reminders, no stale content flagging, no archival workflows, and no ownership assignment for content freshness. Blog and landing page content can be manually unpublished, but this requires human initiative with no system prompting. For intranet content quality maintenance, where stale policies and outdated procedures are a compliance risk, HubSpot provides no tooling.

HubSpot page analytics provide basic view counts and engagement metrics per page, which can be filtered to understand internal content performance. However, there are no department-segmented analytics, no failed intranet search term reporting, no engagement heatmaps, and no adoption dashboards for intranet ROI measurement. Attribution reporting is CRM-centric (external lead generation) rather than intranet engagement measurement. Basic page views are all that's available for internal content analysis.

Brands provide brand-level separation for marketing assets within a single portal — landing pages, emails, forms, and blogs assigned to specific brands with contact partitioning, supporting up to 100 brands per account. Content Hub Enterprise supports 10 root domains (with additional domains purchasable as add-ons) with separate themes, navigation, permissions, and analytics. Multi-Account Management allows separate HubSpot accounts to share assets selectively. CMS content within a single portal still lives in a shared pool — architecture remains fundamentally single-tenant with brand separation tooling.

Modules can be shared across themes within a portal, and global content modules (header, footer) work across pages and domains. Multi-Account Management enables asset sharing across separate HubSpot accounts, improving cross-brand component reuse. However, there is no formal shared component library with brand-specific overrides, no design system management, and themes are per-domain. For organizations wanting a central design system with brand variants, tooling remains limited.

Portal-level admin with content partitioning by teams and centralized user roles, supporting up to 300 teams (region, business unit, or brand). Content approval workflows now ping directly in Slack and Teams (Feb 2026), improving cross-team coordination. Multi-Account Management provides some cross-account oversight. However, cross-brand approval workflows remain absent, no global policy enforcement across brands, and only Super Admins can create/edit Brands — a bottleneck in large organizations. Gartner notes HubSpot implementations 'tend to support fewer users and fewer brands.'

Multi-brand economics remain poor. Content Hub Enterprise pricing at $1,500/mo (5 seats, additional seats $75 each), a weak value proposition for multi-brand deployments. The 10 root domains included with Enterprise is unchanged, with additional domains purchasable as add-ons. Separate portals still require their own subscriptions with costs multiplying linearly. Per-seat pricing compounds across brand teams. For organizations with 5+ brands, total cost is significant compared to platforms with native multi-tenant architectures.

Each root domain (up to 10 on Enterprise) can have its own theme with separate typography, color palette, logo treatment, and navigation — providing CSS/config-based per-brand theming. Brand Kit centralizes brand assets (logo, colors, fonts) at the portal level, applied per-brand through theme assignment. Multi-brand voice management (Enterprise) applies different tone and style settings per brand for AI-generated content. However, brands share the same underlying module library — there is no component-level brand isolation with separate versioning. Theming is domain-level config, not true design system isolation.

Language variants can be created per-domain/brand with AI translation available (DeepL/Google via Breeze). However, there are no brand-specific translation approval workflows — all translation management uses the same portal-level workflow. No per-brand locale strategy enforcement, no regional legal content governance distinguishing brand-specific regulatory requirements, and no brand-locale matrix for managing the intersection of multiple brands across multiple markets. Basic localization applies uniformly across brands without brand-aware governance.

Per-domain analytics are available within a single portal — each root domain has its own traffic, engagement, and SEO metrics. However, there is no portfolio dashboard aggregating performance across all brands and domains, no cross-brand content velocity comparison, no publishing cadence benchmarking across the brand portfolio, and no brand performance benchmarking report. Aggregate reporting requires manual data export and external tooling (Looker, Tableau). The analytics architecture is single-brand per view, not portfolio-level.

Team-based approval workflows can be configured per brand team — each brand can have its own content review chain using HubSpot's approval workflow engine. Approval notifications now deliver to Slack and Teams (Feb 2026), improving visibility. Teams (up to 300) organize reviewers by brand/region. However, workflow configuration is not independently isolated per brand — workflows are portal-level definitions that teams can be assigned to, not brand-native workflow engines. Central audit visibility across all brand workflows is limited.

Global content modules (header, footer, global content blocks) propagate changes across all domains that use them — providing a basic corporate-to-brand content push for structural elements. Multi-Account Management enables asset sharing across separate portals. However, there is no content syndication system that pushes a press release or product announcement to multiple brand sites with controlled override points, no version control for syndicated content, and no workflow for brands to adapt centrally-pushed content within defined parameters.

HubSpot provides GDPR consent tools (cookie banner, consent records, data processing agreements) and basic cookie policy management applicable across the portal. Each domain can have its own cookie consent configuration. However, compliance settings are not enforced as brand-level publishing guardrails — a non-compliant page can be published without system intervention. No per-brand data residency configuration, no accessibility standard enforcement at publish time, and no brand-specific regulatory content guardrails preventing non-compliant publishing.

Themes provide a shared component and design token foundation for all domains within a portal. Global modules and design tokens give some consistency. However, there is no formal design system management with versioning, no update propagation mechanism that notifies brand teams of core component changes, no brand-level extension capability that maintains the base model, and no design system governance tooling. Updating a shared module propagates to all domains using it, but this is a blunt instrument rather than a managed design system.

Super Admins manage all users, teams, and brand assignments from a single portal admin interface. Teams (up to 300) can be organized by brand with brand-specific role assignments. SSO via OIDC provides single login across the portal. Multi-Account Management allows a central admin to manage multiple HubSpot accounts. However, autonomous brand team self-management is limited — brands cannot manage their own user permissions independently, and cross-brand contributor roles spanning multiple brands within the same access scope require manual admin configuration.

All brands within a portal share the same content types and module definitions — there is no per-brand content type extension mechanism. Brand A cannot add video fields to a shared product page model without those fields being visible to Brand B. Separate themes per domain provide some visual separation, but the content model itself is portal-wide. Brands requiring distinct content schemas must either use the same model for all (limiting flexibility) or rely on separate HubSpot accounts (expensive and complex). True per-brand content model extension without forking is not supported.

No portfolio-level reporting exists in HubSpot. There is no executive dashboard showing content freshness by brand, publishing SLA adherence across the portfolio, cost allocation per brand, or capacity planning metrics. Per-domain analytics are available individually but must be manually compiled for portfolio views. Multi-Account Management provides some account-level visibility but not content portfolio reporting. Organizations managing 5+ brands on HubSpot require external BI tools for any meaningful portfolio reporting.

DPA available to all customers at legal.hubspot.com/dpa with EU-US Data Privacy Framework, Swiss-US DPF, UK Extension, and SCCs included. EU data residency in Frankfurt (AWS eu-central-1) plus a public sub-processor list with 30-day advance notice. Native GDPR tooling — cookie consent banners, contact consent records, subscription management, and DSR automation in the Privacy module — is deeply integrated, making GDPR a core strength of the marketing-platform orientation.

HubSpot offers an automatic BAA for customers who identify as covered entities/business associates and activate sensitive data settings (GA since 2024), and Content Hub Enterprise is now explicitly among the eligible subscriptions — meaning CMS-collected PHI via Forms and the Forms Submission API falls within covered services. PHI storage on contact/company/deal/ticket properties, CRM activities, and sensitive attachments is supported with field-level permissions and audit logging. Custom Report Builder, Customer Journey Reports, Data Sets, and Snowflake Data Sharing remain excluded, capping the score below the broad-platform ceiling.

CCPA covered with native Consumer Rights Management tools — consent records, deletion requests, do-not-sell mechanisms. UK GDPR via UK IDTA, PIPEDA addressed (Montreal data center), LGPD supported, and CASL/CAN-SPAM compliance tooling built in for marketing. The email/consent regulation coverage is a genuine differentiator, but the absence of FedRAMP, IRAP authorization, and limited industry-specific certifications caps the score.

HubSpot holds SOC 2 Type II attestation covering Security, Availability, and Confidentiality trust service criteria with an annual audit cadence. The Type II report is available to customers under NDA via the Conveyor-powered trust center, and a SOC 3 report is publicly downloadable. Scope covers the full HubSpot platform including Content Hub, CRM, and supporting infrastructure.

HubSpot itself does not hold platform-scope ISO 27001 — the certification belongs to its AWS infrastructure providers, confirmed on legal.hubspot.com/security and the cloud infrastructure FAQ. ISO 27018 status is similarly infrastructure-level only. This is definitively infrastructure-only rather than ISMS-scope, placing the score in the mid-range the prompt prescribes for infra-only ISO 27001.

Beyond SOC 2, HubSpot's additional cert portfolio is moderate: PCI DSS applies to HubSpot Payments specifically rather than the broader platform, and CSA STAR Level 2 is not clearly confirmed in public sources. No FedRAMP, C5, IRAP, or Cyber Essentials Plus. Stronger than most CMS-only vendors given HubSpot's scale, but lacking the government and regional certifications larger DXP vendors hold.

HubSpot operates five data centers across four regions — Virginia (US East), Oregon (US West), Frankfurt (EU/Germany), Montreal (Canada), and Sydney (Australia), the latter three launched February 4, 2025. Contractual residency commitments are available in the DPA and Starter/Pro/Enterprise accounts can self-migrate regions. The five-center US/EU/Canada/APAC footprint meets the multi-region threshold, though the CDN still distributes cached content globally.

Strong native data lifecycle management — retention policies, automated record deletion, and purge workflows are built into the platform, and the Privacy module supports automated DSR fulfillment for access and deletion. Contact data export is self-service and post-termination deletion is documented in the DPA. The 2024 sensitive data tools added data classification and handling controls; CMS content lifecycle follows standard DPA terms.

HubSpot provides audit logging via the Account Activity API (v3) and a centralized audit log UI for super admins on enterprise tiers, capturing admin actions, logins, data changes, CMS publish events, and API access. In-app retention is 30 days with API export to 90 days. SIEM integration requires API polling — no native SIEM push is confirmed — which together with the limited retention slightly caps an otherwise comprehensive logging scope.

HubSpot targets WCAG 2.1 Level AA conformance for its products including the Content Hub authoring interface, with keyboard navigation and screen reader support in the drag-and-drop page and blog editors. An accessibility statement is published at legal.hubspot.com/website-accessibility and an active accessibility team addresses issues. Above average for the marketing-CMS category, though the published statement emphasizes public-facing sites over a formal authoring-UI conformance report.

HubSpot publishes a VPAT/ACR (WCAG Edition) for its products and maintains an accessibility statement at legal.hubspot.com/website-accessibility, available for US enterprise and government procurement. Documentation quality is above average for a combined marketing-platform and CMS vendor. No ATAG 2.0 documented assessment was found.

Breeze Content Agent (GA) autonomously drafts blog posts, landing pages, case studies, and email copy with a brand voice profile trained on existing content; Content Remix (GA) repurposes content across formats and AI Blog Writer integrates Semrush keywords. As of January 2026 Breeze Studio agents default to GPT-5, and 80+ AI capabilities are woven across the platform. Not higher because custom prompt template governance remains limited vs. enterprise CMS leaders.

AI Image Generator (GA) creates images directly inside the Content Hub editor via text-to-image prompts, now backed by multiple models (Stability AI Stable Diffusion 3 Large in Amazon Bedrock and GPT Image for text-heavy rendering). No confirmed native auto-alt-text generation or AI DAM bulk processing (smart crop, bulk alt text) — the File Manager does not enforce alt text on upload, so the asset workflow integration that would justify 70+ is absent.

Native DeepL-powered machine translation built into Content Hub (GA), supporting 60+ languages with one-click translation of pages and posts; multi-language variants are a native CMS concept. Brand voice preservation across locales is not explicitly documented — scoring 68 rather than 70+ because bulk quality scoring and TMS-level controls are absent.

AI Meta Description Generator (GA) auto-generates SEO meta descriptions per page; Content Hub surfaces on-page SEO signals, keyword gaps, and content cluster health natively. The AEO Grader tool assesses visibility in AI search engines. Not 70+ because automated taxonomy tagging, schema markup suggestions, and OG tag generation are not confirmed as native features.

Content Remix (GA) automates repurposing across formats and Breeze Copilot assists with content ops tasks across the UI. The Run Agent workflow action remains in private beta, allowing teams to trigger AI agents within HubSpot workflows. Multiple AI assists are woven into editorial, but bulk enrichment and duplicate detection are not confirmed native features.

HubSpot now offers 20+ Breeze Agents and assistants with three core agents (Customer, Prospecting, Data) in GA; Breeze Studio (GA) enables custom agent building with a marketplace of prebuilt agents (Deal Loss, Customer Health, Customer Handoff, Social Post). Studio agents default to GPT-5 since January 2026 and audit cards trace all agent actions. Scoring 75 rather than 80+ because agentic CMS content-pipeline depth (approval gates, multi-step versioned document generation) is less mature than specialist platforms.

Content Hub provides content cluster health, SEO gap identification, and keyword performance natively; Breeze Intelligence Buyer Intent (Public Beta) surfaces high-intent account signals and Content Agent offers audience-aware topic selection. No dedicated AI content intelligence dashboard with ROI attribution or stale-content detection found — scoring reflects solid but not leading content intelligence.

Brand Identity feature (GA) automatically learns brand voice, tone, and visual style from existing content and applies it across AI-generated assets; the AEO Grader audits AI search-engine visibility and Content Hub SEO recommendations cover on-page quality signals. No evidence of native AI-powered accessibility scanning or thin-content detection at scale — scoring 45 for partial coverage across brand voice and SEO quality dimensions.

No native vector search, semantic search product, or RAG-ready content indexing API found for HubSpot Content Hub. The AEO Grader optimizes content for external AI search engines but does not provide on-site semantic search; semantic understanding is embedded in Breeze agent reasoning rather than exposed as a developer endpoint. External integration is required for true semantic/RAG search.

A named Personalization Agent plus real-time AI personalization (GA) adapt homepage headlines, CTAs, images, and offers based on visitor CRM segment/persona; predictive send-time optimization and predictive lead scoring per recipient are GA, with Breeze-powered segments updating dynamically as contact behavior changes. Not 70+ because this is CRM-data-backed AI personalization rather than a dedicated standalone ML personalization engine.

The Remote HubSpot MCP Server (mcp.hubspot.com) reached general availability on April 13, 2026, with OAuth 2.1 auth, permission-respecting access, and write capabilities for CRM records (contacts, companies, deals, tickets, line items, products) and activities, plus read access to marketing content objects (blog posts, landing pages, site pages, campaigns). Self-Service MCP Auth Apps let partners build connectors. Scores 65 — an official production server in GA — rather than 75+ because content/CMS write/publish operations are still read-only (write is CRM-focused).

Custom LLM workflow actions (GA across Enterprise tiers including Content Hub Enterprise as of January 11, 2026) let users supply their own API keys for OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, xAI, and Google Gemini — five confirmed providers with configurable model, prompt, temperature, and reasoning effort. BYOK is workflow-scoped, not platform-wide; Breeze core features use HubSpot's vetted providers. Scores 58 for genuine multi-provider BYOK in GA, limited to the workflow context.

Standard REST APIs for CRM and content are available, the now-GA MCP server provides machine-readable schema access, Breeze Studio enables custom agent building, and custom LLM workflow actions are developer-configurable across five LLM providers. No dedicated AI SDK, official LangChain/LlamaIndex/CrewAI integration guides, or RAG-ready content delivery endpoints found — AI tooling is accessible via standard API but lacks AI-first developer tooling.

Comprehensive governance: permission-scoped AI respecting CRM user roles, per-action audit cards for all Breeze agent actions (GA), zero-data-retention policy with AI sub-processors, published Model Cards, GDPR/CCPA compliance, and a public AI Trust page; Super Admin activity logs trace AI-triggered record changes and credit usage caps are enforceable. Not 75+ because hallucination detection/confidence scoring and IP indemnification specifics are not confirmed.

The HubSpot Credits system (replaced Breeze Intelligence Credits June 2025) provides a universal consumption-based model with real-time dashboards, historical usage trends, and predictive consumption estimates; Super Admins can set monthly credit caps with email/in-app alerts and tiered allocations by plan, while per-agent audit cards give action-level traceability. Not 60+ because per-user/team AI consumption breakdowns and prompt effectiveness analytics are not confirmed.