In today’s age of technological advancement, the need to own and maintain a website is more prevalent than ever. While companies ranging from large to small work to increase their web presence, the market has likewise expanded their platform offerings. Today, there are thousands of content management systems (CMS) available for purchase, which raises the question -- which CMS is best for my business?
A CMS or content management system is a software platform that controls the front-end manipulation of a website’s content and elements. The user experience of each of these platforms can drastically vary, as some are catered toward a DIY experience while others require more heavy-lifting through the assistance of a developer. While simply choosing the platform with the easiest editing experience may seem like the right move, there are several other factors to consider when deciding what CMS is right for you.
The most obvious consideration outside of ease-of-use is, of course, cost and budgetary restrictions. Most established CMS platforms provide a range of pricing tiers to better serve a larger scope of businesses; however, these options may actually hinder the decision-making process as additional options can further dilute the pool of choices. While considering cost, it is often beneficial to step back from the numbers and look at which platform or platform tier will provide the best functionality to meet your business goals. Furthermore, while immediate business needs often dictate these goals, future, long-term goals should also be considered. This concept of scalability often takes a back seat to cost; however, the ability to keep your website growing in tandem with your business is invaluable.
Laid out below are the top 8 CMS platforms (and a few honorable mentions) based on these considerations. Each platform will be evaluated according to their:
Built and designed specifically around the concept of inbound marketing, the Hubspot CMS is a robust platform catered toward business owners and marketers. It offers a large range of functionality out-of-the-box, as well as installation of pre-built themes and the opportunity for custom-built components. Additionally, the platform was built on top of their Hubspot CMS, which further enables a range of advanced functionality and can be used as an all-in-one solution to eliminate the need for a bloated tech stack.
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One of the longest-standing CMS platforms, WordPress has been a popular choice for both large and small businesses since 2003. As the most utilized open-source CMS platform, WordPress has accumulated a large selection of themes and plugins which can be further customized to meet user goals. WordPress has also compiled extensive documentation regarding support and capabilities; however, like most CMS platforms, they require the independent purchase of a domain name and hosting.
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Similar to WordPress, Joomla is another open-source platform that was launched in the mid-2000s. Joomla offers a variety of extensions and premium templates to enhance the CMS experience. In addition to these front-end add-ons, Joomla also offers native tools for performance management including built-in caching controls.
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Drupal is a strong contender when considering a CMS for a complex or data-heavy site. Slightly older than WordPress, Drupal likewise has a large community of support. Drupal has also made site security a strong priority, conducting frequent tests and regularly posting security reports on their website.
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Built on a .net core, Sitefinity is one of the few non-open-source platforms listed. This means their community support is more limited; however, since the CMS add-ons are all professionally built and have been extensively tested. Internal and external security is also increased due to the .net framework.
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Kentico is a headless CMS, meaning it is a cloud-based CMS that feeds up content through an API, allowing it to be delivered onto multiple digital platforms. Kentico is known to bring marketing initiatives, e-commerce functionality and reporting together through their CMS integrations. Their subscription prices are some of the highest in the market; however, with the increased cost comes more robust security and support.
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Another headless CMS, Contentful is another popular CMS for larger businesses looking to connect their digital platforms. As a newer website CMS, their tools require a little more technical knowledge, particularly because they use content models rather than the page-centric, template-based framework that a majority of other platforms follow.
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Launched in the late 90s, Typo3’s CMS has stayed strong due to its scalability. The platform is known for its enterprise capabilities (internal/intranet sites) in addition to both large and small business websites. However, while its functionality has remained competitive, its user experience is a little more complex than newer CMS platforms.
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Wix is an increasingly popular website builder that was created to solve the problem of high website costs and low usability. It is included as an honorable mention in this list because, while it has components that function similarly to a CMS, it is first and foremost a design-driven website builder. Website builders differ from CMS platforms because they are catered toward non-technical, design-driven development, whereas a CMS may have website builder capabilities, but often requires custom development for advanced functionality. While this website-building concept has become extremely popular with small businesses and users who are looking for a personal web presence, it often has limitations when it comes to scalability and functionality. However, many website builders are increasing their platform capabilities to allow for custom code and advanced functionality, striving to increase their target market to larger businesses.
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Squarespace is another website builder that has gained an increasing amount of visibility as the market has turned to more usable website solutions. They are popular with small businesses similar to Wix but are likewise expanding their industry offerings. They also offer a library of templates, as well as website analytics and their pricing is competitive with both CMS platforms and other website builders.
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