Recent years have seen an increasing interest in hybrid constructed wetland (HCW) systems for domestic sewage treatment. This paper is focused on kinetics of removal of the main pollutants occurring in wastewater i.e. organics expressed as chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand and total nitrogen. The purpose of the article is to compare different HCW configurations in terms of mass removal rates (MRR) and removal rate coefficients (kA and kv). Analysed data have been collected at two wetland systems, each composed by two subsurface flow beds: horizontal flow (HF) and vertical flow (VF). Reliable evaluation was achieved by using the same composition of influent wastewater in both HCWs. Performance of opposite configurations HF + VF vs. VF + HF was compared after each stage and the overall HCW system. The average mass removal rates of COD, BOD5 and TN in both systems were similar, respectively: 2.30, 0.98 and 0.40 g m−2 d−1. However, removal rates differ between single wetland beds after each treatment stage.