Building or redesigning a website can be complex. The technical aspects, branding alignment, user experience optimization, and the overwhelming choice of themes are common obstacles. Luckily, the best HubSpot themes are designed to simplify this process.

HubSpot themes are designed to help businesses like yours alleviate the pain points, making the process of building a visually appealing, user-friendly, and brand-consistent website much more manageable. But before diving into the sea of HubSpot CMS themes, it's essential to understand the difference between a theme and a template in the HubSpot ecosystem.

What is the difference between a theme and a template in Hubspot?

The main difference between a theme and a template in HubSpot lies in their purpose and design capabilities.

What is a website template?

A template is the basic building block of a website. A template is a pre-built, customizable HTML and CSS file that can be used to create web pages on a website. Templates are suitable for creating all types of web pages, from simple landing pages to fully-featured e-commerce websites. However, templates rely more on developers from the start. Editing and customization of templates can be a challenge when you have limited technical knowledge.

What is a website theme?

In contrast, a theme is a collection of design elements and settings that control the look and feel of a website. It is a set of colors and fonts, background images, layout structures, and other design elements that maintain consistency throughout a website's design. HubSpot themes are designed to streamline and simplify web design. They offer a complete set of design elements and settings so that users can create a professional-looking, consistent website without having to manually code it. A HubSpot theme consists of 3 core elements:

  1. Coded templates;
  2. Modules;
  3. Theme settings. Themes from HubSpot are built for marketers and content creators rather than developers using best practices in web design and include a variety of customizable elements such as logos, colors, fonts, and layout structures. HubSpot CMS requires no in-depth coding experience or expertise. HubSpot website themes are based on a drag-and-drop page builder, allowing users to add elements such as text boxes, images, and calls-to-action with a single click. To sum up, templates are less customizable and accessible as compared to themes. HubSpot CMS themes are a shift to a more advanced, user-friendly web design approach that is highly adaptable to various industries and requirements.

4 important things to take into account before selecting a HubSpot CMS Theme

First of all, you need to define the purpose of your website: What is the company trying to accomplish by establishing a website? Generate leads? Attract more customers? Get more sales? Secondly, you should determine the type of your business. Different types of businesses require different types of themes or templates. For instance, a business selling products would need a theme that showcases its products prominently and makes it easy for customers to quickly search, browse, and purchase. On the other hand, an online consulting firm would need a theme that emphasizes the services they provide, rather than selling products. Thirdly, a business should consider its target audience. Different themes and templates can appeal to different types of people, so businesses should consider their customer base when selecting a theme or template. For instance, a business targeting millennials may need to choose a modern, hip theme that appeals to their demographic. Finally, businesses should consider the technical capabilities of their websites. It is important to make sure that the theme or template they choose can be implemented easily and smoothly without any technical know-how. This includes making sure that the website is compatible with all modern browsers, operating systems, and mobile devices. Overall, businesses need to take into account many factors before choosing a HubSpot theme or template. It is important to consider the purpose of the website, the type of business, the target audience, and the technical capabilities of the website to make an informed decision.

Best HubSpot CMS Themes

The advantages of using HubSpot CMS themes for a website include:

  • The ability to quickly create, customize, and launch a website;

  • Flexible, modular design system to create tailored pages;

  • Easy integration with HubSpot's marketing and sales tools;

  • Content management and customization options for SEO, social media, and more;

  • A/B testing, analytics tracking, and reporting tools to measure effectiveness.

If you are deciding to opt for HubSpot CMS, actively looking to change your current HubSpot theme, or want to look for fresh options, here are 5 HubSpot themes that you might want to consider:

| Functionality | Realize by Resonate | CLEAN Pro | Power Pro | Elements | Generator | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Performance testing using PageSpeed Insights | Desktop | | | | | | | Mobile | | | | | | | | No coding skills required | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | | Customization | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | | Mobile image optimization | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | | Migration to a customized theme | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | | Created | Oct 29, 2021 | May 29, 2020 | Nov 21, 2020 | May 17, 2021 | March 9, 2022 | | | Recent update** | Dec 11, 2023 (v.28) | Nov 27, 2023 (v.78) | Dec 21, 2023 (v.35) | May 24, 2023 (v.16) | Dec 28, 2023 (v.14) | | | Price | $99 | $997 | $997 | $999 | $845 | |

  • at the time of publication.

Performance testing

First of all, we decided to apply performance testing to effectively measure most popular HubSpot themes across desktop and mobile devices. Page speed is important because it affects the user experience. Poor page speed can lead to a drop in page views, longer loading times, and lower conversion rates. Each theme got its PageSpeed score according to several parameters (tests were done on January, 9th 2024):

  • Performance

  • Accessibility

  • Best practises

  • SEO

Learn more about web performance using PageSpeed Insights. The results below show how each theme performs in various scenarios. Realize Theme: realize-general-new CLEAN Pro: clean-pro-general-new Power Pro: power-pro-general Elements: elements-general Generator: generator-general

HubSpot Realize Theme

This HubSpot CMS theme combines the utmost flexibility and good value to meet your business and SEO challenges. It strikes a good balance between features, design, and customization. Here are some of the best options in Realize that you definitely should try out:

  • Flexible and consistent editor mode

  • Highly customizable templates and modules, unlimited design variations

  • Mobile image optimization. Retina support

  • No duplicated modules: easy to find what you need

  • Unlimited page layouts

  • Deep integration with HubSpot: from HubSpot Video, Drag’n’drop.

  • Compatible with any edition of CMS Hub (Starter, Pro, Enterprise) or Marketing Hub (Pro/Enterprise)

  • Unlimited email support and FREE pre-purchase consultation

Launch your new website, blog, landing page, or microsite in days, not weeks! Do you need extra functionality? Ask for HubDB, Custom objects, or 100% custom design (a subject of extra custom development costs). You will get a flexible framework tailored to meet your brand guidelines.:

  • HubSpot theme adapted for your website;

  • Ability to edit, update, and expand your website over time;

  • Monthly updates to predict the future needs into the website build.

Demo websites built with Realize: