My CMS picks for a B2B marketing team

If I have a developer to help build a B2B marketing site, I want Payload. I’ve used every tool in this list, and what I care about most is who can change the site without breaking it.

Payload lets a developer set up the content structure and give editors an actual admin login. Permissions can be limited by role, so a content contractor can work on the words without getting the keys to everything else. It still needs a developer to build it properly, which is fine with me. I’d rather give them that work than ask a marketer to become one on a Friday afternoon.

For a personal blog, I’d use Ghost or Hugo. Ghost gives me a publishing interface, while Hugo lets me keep posts in Markdown and publish a static site. I use Hugo for this blog because I just want somewhere to publish writing, and I don’t need a conventional CMS for that.

Webflow is my fallback if I cannot get developer time but still need to build and change a marketing site myself. Its CMS collections give you room to structure content. I’d use it in that situation and hate myself a little while maintaining it. Give me a developer and Payload instead.

WordPress is near the bottom. An intern with an unrestricted plugin drawer and a page builder can wreck your page load stats before anyone notices. A careful team can keep WordPress fast, but I don’t want every landing-page change to become a discussion about what got installed this week.

HubSpot is last. The CMS product is now called Content Hub, separate from Marketing Hub, and both sit around a CRM I find mediocre. I find the whole stack parasitic because another content need becomes another reason to buy further into the suite. HubSpot itself explains how to put its forms on an external site. I can keep the integration without giving it my website too.

This post isn’t sponsored by anyone, I just can’t stand HubSpot Content Hub. It sucks.