🌐 Site vs Subsite in SharePoint: What’s the Difference?

When working with SharePoint Online, one of the most common questions is:
What’s the difference between a Site and a Subsite?

Both support collaboration, document management, and customization—but they play very different roles in SharePoint architecture. Understanding this distinction is critical when designing a modern intranet or digital workplace.

🏗️ What Is a SharePoint Site?

A SharePoint Site is a top-level, independent workspace. It serves as a foundation for collaboration, content storage, and communication.

In modern SharePoint, most sites are:

Created as Team Sites or Communication Sites
Often connected to a Microsoft 365 Group

This group connection enables seamless integration with:

Microsoft Teams
Outlook
Planner
OneDrive

Key characteristics of a Site:

Has its own permissions by default
Own branding, libraries, lists, and settings
Scales independently
Fits perfectly into modern governance models

Sites are the recommended building blocks of modern SharePoint architecture.

📂 What Is a Subsite?

A Subsite is a site created under another site (parent site). Traditionally, subsites were used to organize content hierarchically.

Subsites:

Inherit permissions and navigation from the parent site by default
Can break inheritance (which often increases complexity)
Are not connected to Microsoft 365 Groups

While subsites still exist, they are largely considered a legacy design pattern, mainly used in older SharePoint implementations.

🔍 Site vs Subsite: Detailed Comparison

Feature	Site	Subsite
Hierarchy	Top-level, independent	Lives under a parent site
Permissions	Own permissions by default	Inherits from parent (can be broken)
Microsoft 365 Group	Usually group-connected	Not group-connected
Integration	Teams, Outlook, Planner	Limited
Governance	Easy to manage	Can become complex
Scalability	High	Limited
Modern Recommendation	✅ Yes	❌ Only for legacy use

📌 When Should You Use Sites vs Subsites?

✅ Use a Site when:

You need independence and scalability
Microsoft 365 integration is required
Governance and permissions must be clean
You’re building modern department or project workspaces

⚠️ Use a Subsite only when:

Maintaining legacy SharePoint structures
A small section must strictly inherit parent permissions
Migration or redesign is not currently possible

🚀 The Modern SharePoint Approach

Microsoft strongly recommends using separate sites instead of subsites.

With Hub Sites, you can:

Connect related sites logically
Share navigation and branding
Roll up content like news and search results

This approach replaces deep subsite hierarchies with a flat, scalable architecture that’s easier to manage and future-proof.

🧠 Final Thoughts

While both Sites and Subsites enable collaboration, modern SharePoint clearly favors Sites.

Sites offer flexibility, scalability, and full Microsoft 365 integration
Subsites still exist, but their use is limited and discouraged for new designs

By choosing Sites and connecting them with Hub Sites, you build a SharePoint environment that is clean, governable, and ready for the future.

What is a site vs a subsite?