The Portal Fit Score: Six Questions on Where Your Portal Should Live
Six questions about your client portal, and which of five homes fits it: HubSpot memberships, its support portal, app cards, your own app, or a stack you own.
·3 min read
Most client portals get their platform before anyone has said what they have to do. This score asks the six questions from Custom Client Portal or HubSpot? 5 Options Compared and names the home that fits, in about two minutes.
Answer for the portal you have or the one you’re planning. Each answer scores 1 to 5, and the total, from 6 to 30, measures how much control the portal needs. Who logs in and what it creates decide whether one of HubSpot’s own homes fits; the total decides the rest. Nothing is gated, and the result is yours the moment you answer the sixth question.
Score your portal
0/6 rated
Three of the five homes are HubSpot’s, and the score gives them their due: a staff tool, a gated resource area and a ticket-only portal can all stay inside HubSpot. The comparison table sets the five side by side. If your portal is already live on HubSpot and the score says it belongs somewhere else, start with what that build is up against.
A two-minute self-assessment built on Lynton's Five Homes framework for client portals and other custom web apps. It asks six questions: who logs in, what the app creates, how often it will change, what it connects to, what an auditor will ask and how long it has to last. It names the home that fits: HubSpot memberships, HubSpot's support portal, app cards inside HubSpot, your own app beside HubSpot's CRM, or a stack you own, with off-the-shelf portal software as an option for standard jobs.
Each answer scores 1 (little control needed) to 5 (the app needs to be yours), for a total of 6 to 30. Two answers decide first. If only your staff log in, the result is app cards. If the portal only publishes content, it's memberships, and if clients only need their tickets, it's the support portal. A portal that shares standard files and messages, without frequent change, many connections or a demanding auditor, should price portal software first. Every other portal needs an app you control, and a total of 26 or more means it's core enough to weigh a stack you own.
Yes, when it gates content, shows clients their tickets, or serves only your staff. HubSpot's memberships, support portal and app cards each do one of those jobs well. When the portal lets outside people in and keeps records such as requests, approvals and histories, it needs its own sign-in, its own database and a full copy to test changes on, and HubSpot CMS provides none of the three.