SPHub compared with SharePoint Online out of the box
Yes, you can build an intranet in plain SharePoint Online, and for some organisations you should. The difference with SPHub is not capability. It is who assembles the intranet, and who keeps it working afterwards.
SharePoint is the platform. SPHub is a defined assembly on top of it, so the two are not rivals. This page is for anyone weighing a SharePoint intranet template against starting from a blank tenant. Other comparisons are collected under Compare, or read SPHub and the SharePoint app in Teams.
What SharePoint Online gives you on its own
SharePoint Online gives you the parts of an intranet: sites, pages, lists, libraries, navigation, search, permissions and first-party web parts.
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Content owners can run it
A communication site is designed to be edited by content owners rather than developers. News, pages and links need no code.
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Lists cover many processes
Microsoft Lists ships ready-made templates, among them Issue tracker, Travel requests and Asset manager. They are a sound starting point for a single process.
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Search and permissions are built in
Search and permissions come with SharePoint Online, and whatever you build inherits them.
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You can build an intranet this way
People build a SharePoint intranet from these parts every day. Nothing here requires a third-party package.
What SPHub adds on top
SPHub adds an assembly: a defined set of lists, fields, pages and a site menu, created by a wizard in one run, plus modules for processes such as leave, expenses and contracts, shipped as working modules rather than bare lists.
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One run instead of a build project
You upload one package and run setup on your site, as the install page describes. A full install creates 24 SharePoint lists and 153 custom fields, and lists are created only for the modules you enable. The structure arrives complete rather than being assembled.
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Working modules, not bare lists
SPHub ships annual leave, expenses, recruitment, contract management, procurement and vehicle assignment as working modules: lists with their fields, forms and views, created together, rather than a bare list you still have to design. There are 27 web parts in all; see the web part list.
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Still ordinary SharePoint
Content stays in SharePoint lists you can open, export and audit. Existing permissions apply unchanged, and SPHub adds no permission model. This is a SharePoint intranet without custom development on your side: it runs on modern pages and needs no custom script.
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Safe to run again
Setup skips anything that already exists, so a re-run does not duplicate a list.
What you are really choosing between
You are choosing between three costs: build time, consistency across modules, and who owns the result in two years.
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Build time
Building from a blank tenant means designing each list, its fields and its pages yourself. With SPHub the structure is created in one setup run, and your time goes into content and configuration instead.
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Consistency across modules
Lists built one at a time by different people tend to drift in naming, layout and behaviour. SPHub ships its modules together and applies a site-wide brand colour, which a per-web-part setting can override.
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Who owns it in two years
A custom build belongs to whoever built it, and their knowledge leaves when they do. A packaged assembly means you depend on its publisher instead. Neither is free.
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Cost
Cost is set out on the pricing page: $1.22 to $6.11 per user per month, depending on headcount.
When SPHub is the wrong choice
SPHub is the wrong choice if you already have the people and the design to build exactly what you want.
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You have SharePoint developers
A team that already builds on SharePoint can assemble lists, pages and web parts to fit your organisation precisely. Paying for a ready-made structure you would rebuild anyway makes little sense.
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You have an established design system
SPHub applies a site-wide brand colour and presets, and a colour or preset set on one web part overrides them. If your intranet must match a design system down to the component, check that those settings reach that far before you commit.
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Your process is genuinely unusual
SPHub's modules cover common processes in a common way. If yours works differently and the difference matters, a purpose-built solution will fit better than a configured one.
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You only need a few pages
If the need is news, a few links and a document library, a communication site does that today. Installing a package for it adds nothing.
How to find out cheaply
The quickest test is to install SPHub on a development site and see whether its structure matches what you would have built.
The steps are on the install page. Because the data sits in ordinary SharePoint lists, nothing you create is locked in.
See what the setup run creates
Install it on a development site and compare the result with what you would have built.