Mentioned vs HubSpot CMS: AI Visibility for Trade Contractors

When You Might Compare These Two

You're probably here because you're building a website or tracking visibility, and you've seen both tools mentioned. Here's the honest take: they're not competitors. They do different things. But a lot of contractors end up needing both eventually.

What HubSpot CMS Does Well

HubSpot CMS is a solid website builder. Free tier includes:

• Hosted website (no separate hosting bill)
• Built-in SEO suggestions (title, meta, keyword)
• Email + form capture integration
• CMS for managing pages without code
• Mobile-responsive templates out of the box
• Google-ranking SEO fundamentals (site structure, speed, mobile)

If you need a fast, free website with basic SEO, HubSpot CMS gets you 80% of the way there. The free tier is genuinely usable — no artificial limitations on pages or submissions. For contractors who need a site up in a day, it works.

The catch: HubSpot's SEO suggestions are standard (Google ranking factors). They don't tell you if homeowners can actually find you when they ask ChatGPT or Claude for a recommendation.

Where Mentioned Is Different

Mentioned solves a different problem: AI search visibility. When a homeowner asks ChatGPT, "What's the best plumber in Denver?" — do you show up?

That's the question Mentioned answers. It scores your visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google's AI Overview (the new AI results in Google Search itself).

The data:

• 137 contractors audited in our CC-BY-4.0 dataset
• Median score: 32/100 (most contractors are invisible)
• Top performer: 79/100 (even the best aren't dominant)
• 47-point gap between median and top (room to move the needle)

The free audit takes 90 seconds. You see your actual score. If it's low, you know you have an AI visibility problem. That's information HubSpot CMS doesn't give you.

Mentioned is tracking, not a website. It tells you if the traffic source exists. HubSpot CMS helps you build a site. One finds the visibility gap. The other builds the site once you know the gap matters.

Best For — Side-by-Side

Can You Use Both?

Yes. In fact, you probably should. Here's how:

1. Step 1: Run your free Mentioned audit. Find out your AI visibility score. If it's below 40, you have a problem worth solving.
2. Step 2: Build or upgrade your website on HubSpot CMS (or whatever). Make sure it's fast, well-structured, and mobile-responsive. Google ranking is table stakes.
3. Step 3: Subscribe to Mentioned ($297/mo) to track your score monthly. It tells you if your website improvements are actually showing up in AI search — or if the gap is still there.

HubSpot CMS is the tool. Mentioned is the measurement. One is required. The other is optional but smart if AI search is going to be 20-30% of your lead flow (which it will be by 2027).

What Makes Mentioned Different

• Open dataset. All audit data is CC-BY-4.0 public. You can see competitor scores for your trade.
• Trades-specific. Built for HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing, and other local service businesses — not agencies or SaaS.
• Honest methodology. We tell you which AI engines we're tracking and how the score is calculated. No black box.
• Founder pricing locked until July 4. $297/mo annual or $1,497 lifetime. After July 4, pricing moves up.

Next Steps

Free 90-second audit: Run your audit at mentionedinai.com

You'll see your AI visibility score across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overview. No email required.

If your score is below 50, AI visibility is a lead source problem for you. Subscribe to track it monthly and see what moves the needle. If it's above 70, you're already winning in AI search — you're probably the exception in your trade.