SharePoint hub sites vs subsites: which should a small team use?
A subsite sits inside a parent site and is part of its site collection. A hub site links separate sites with shared navigation and search. Microsoft recommends hub sites for new setups.
What is the difference between a hub site and a subsite?
A subsite lives inside a parent site, and its place shows in the web address. If you move your business around, those addresses and links break. Features such as retention and classification apply to every site in the site collection, whether you want that or not.
A hub site is different. It does not hold other sites. It links them. Microsoft says hub sites model relationships as links, not as a hierarchy or ownership. Each linked site stays its own site collection, with its own permissions.
What does a hub site give you?
Microsoft lists three things a hub gives you:
- Shared navigation and brand.
- A roll-up of content and search across the linked sites.
- A home page for the hub.
What does a hub site not do?
A hub does not change permissions. If you link a site with restricted access, only people who already have access see its content on the hub. What shows on the hub is security trimmed.
Microsoft also says news flows up from a linked site to the hub, not down. Each site can join only one hub. Content from one site can still appear on more than one hub.
Does Microsoft still support subsites?
Yes. Microsoft says subsites will continue to be supported as a classic feature. Its advice is to use hub sites going forward to organize the sites in your intranet.
Microsoft also says hub sites solve most of the cases where people used subsites in the past.
Which one fits a small team?
Start with how many sites you have. One site for one team needs neither. If you have a few sites that belong together, such as a project tracker, a team site, and a news site, a hub can link them. Our guide on Teams vs SharePoint can help you decide what each tool is for.
This next point is advice, not a Microsoft rule. Keep each tracker in its own site or list, and use the hub only for navigation. A list can be moved later with the steps in copy a SharePoint list to another site. It is easier to move a list between sites than to unpick a tangle of nested subsites.
Is a hub worth it for a handful of sites?
Microsoft says you would not set up a hub when the only goal is a shared theme. It says a hub makes sense when you want shared navigation, a roll-up of news and activity, or a search scope across related sites.
Microsoft also notes there is no need for more than one hub. If outside guests use one of the sites, see our guide on sharing a list with external users. A single hub gives every linked site the same top navigation, but you lose the chance to roll up just one group, such as only HR news.
What are the limits to know?
- An organization can have up to 2,000 hub sites.
- Hub navigation can have up to three levels.
- Microsoft says to keep a hub to 100 sites or fewer if you list every site in the navigation.
- The Sites web part can show up to 99 sites from a hub.
- Creating a hub needs a SharePoint site administrator or above. Admins can limit which site owners may link their sites to it.
Need help setting up your sites?
I am Al Davies at 250 High Street LLC. I build SharePoint and Power Automate trackers for small teams, working remotely. The first call is free. See past work if you want to see what a finished tracker looks like.
FAQ
Can a site belong to two hubs?
No. Microsoft says a site can be associated with only one hub, though its content can show on more than one hub.
Does joining a hub change who can see my site?
No. Hub association does not change a site's permissions.
Are subsites going away?
Microsoft says subsites will continue to be supported as a classic feature, but it recommends hub sites for new setups.