Callum Wilson gave Eddie Howe's side the lead inside the opening three minutes, but Lucas Paquetá levelled for the visitors, who climbed a place to 16th in the table with their point on Tyneside.
Newcastle thought they had the lead within seconds of the first whistle when Joe Willock drilled beyond Lucasz Fabianski but the celebrations were cut short when VAR flagged that the ball had just gone out of play as Miguel Almirón cut back from the byline for the former Arsenal midfielder.
Moments later, though, the ball was in the West Ham net again and this time it did count. Sean Longstaff, United's two-goal cup hero in midweek, split the Hammers defence with a perfect through ball and Wilson slotted home his tenth goal in 12 career appearances against the East London outfit.
It ended a ten-match barren run in front of goal for the England striker and Newcastle could have added to their lead in the 24th minute when Dan Burn flicked the ball on from a free kick and Fabian Schär got to it before Fabianski, but his flicked effort dropped agonisingly wide.
That let-off seemed to give the visitors confidence, with Saïd Benrahma firing over after a well-worked move before Paqueta saw a shot deflected just the wrong side - or the right side from a black and white perspective - of the post.
But the Brazilian stabbed home from the resulting corner, which was taken by Declan Rice and fell perfectly for Paqueta to stab home from close range in the 32nd minute.
West Ham ended the half on top, with Benrahma dragging wide after cutting inside from the left and, in the 45th minute, Nayef Aguerd heading off target from Vladimír Coufal's free kick.
Coufal was involved at the other end in the 54th minute, blocking Allan Saint-Maximin's shot. Anthony Gordon was introduced in place of Saint-Maximin for his Magpies debut in the 69th minute and the January signing from Everton was positive and exciting during his cameo, injecting fresh ideas and energy.
His pass sent Wilson in on goal but the forward was denied his second of the game by a superb last-ditch tackle from Aguerd. Then Wilson met Trippier's free kick but his header was too close to Fabianski, who was able to keep the ball out.
Gordon saw a shot from the edge of the box blocked bravely by Jarrod Bowen after a corner was half-cleared as far as the ex-Everton man.
But while the new addition's lively display was a big plus for head coach Howe, who also brought on Elliot Anderson and Jacob Murphy to try and fashion a winning goal, it ended all square in front of 52,256.
