Many of the content management software (CMS) you use today began as basic blogging platforms. Nowadays, the finest CMS platforms serve as website builders, web hosting, and e-commerce platforms.

A CMS’s primary function is to assist you in managing website content and media, but it should also give additional value in the form of affordable monthly expenses, search engine optimization (SEO) tools, and customization choices. We examined the leading brands in content management software to help you select the finest solution for your individual requirements, whether you’re selling things online, offering services or information to clients, or promoting a blog.

What Is Content Management Software?

A content management system (CMS) is software that allows you to generate and alter digital content for a website, such as text, audio, video, and infographics, without having to know how to code. CMS platforms make it simple to create and publish content owing to their theme and template library. The content management software handles all of the technical tasks for you. So, instead of spending a lot of time producing web pages or storing photos and videos, you can use that time to create text content or other tasks that will help your business expand.

The best content management systems make it easy for multiple teams, such as content strategy, content writing, marketing and analytics teams, to work together on your website content. You can also integrate with other third-party software that your business uses, such as digital asset management, content marketing and analytics. That way, you can gain complete website management.

Types of CMS

As technology progresses, a variety of CMS arise. These content management systems, while occasionally identical, differ in feature, capacity, operation, and even the sorts of people they serve. However, these are the most prevalent.

All-in-One Website Builders

These are comparable to turnkey solutions in that they include everything you need to get started and maintain your website and content. The top website builders offer easy-to-use CMS systems for managing SEO, a blog, files, your site’s design and feel, and backend functions. These are great for new and small business owners who do not need a lot of customisation.

Open Source CMS Systems

An open source CMS system allows you significantly more flexibility and control over the appearance and functioning of your website. However, it is far more difficult to learn and utilise. These are better suited to web developers or major enterprises who want or prefer a custom solution and can afford the higher development costs.

Cloud-Based CMS

A third-party supplier hosts a cloud-based CMS, which is classified into two types: full cloud and partial cloud. Cloud-based CMS types are for organisations who desire someone else to manage their CMS infrastructure, either completely or partially. Users cannot tailor the complete cloud CMS to their unique requirements, but the partial cloud CMS, which is hosted on each user’s cloud-based server, allows for changes via source code or specialised modules. Cloud-based CMS typically require continual upkeep.

Enterprise CMS

Larger institutions frequently utilise an enterprise CMS, which has extensive features and capabilities and can handle large amounts of material and users. It gathers and organises an organization’s unstructured data, such as emails and reports, and enables it to offer relevant information to its target consumers.

Headless CMS

This type allows you to create and publish content without a front-end user interface. With it, you can manage your content seamlessly, delivering various categories and types of content to web platforms, mobile devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) products.

How to Choose a CMS Platform

It’s acceptable that many companies and independent contractors lack the knowledge or time to study HTML, CSS, and JavaScript sufficiently to be able to code a website from start. You can quickly and simply build a personalised website that offers smooth experiences for both users and visitors on the front end with the correct tools. Website builders and CMS systems are the two main categories into which these technologies are divided. Although they both include pre-designed templates, extensions, and built-in capabilities to enable users to create personalised sites without the need for coding knowledge, they provide two quite different approaches to website creation and management. In order to help you choose which tool is best for your website, let’s examine these two strategies in more detail below.

CMS vs. Website Builder

Use a website builder if you’re searching for web hosting and website building tools all in one location. You may build sophisticated multimedia pages with scroll effects and animations, get a custom domain, and alter the look of your website. Your hosting platform will handle site maintenance, security, backups, and more while you concentrate on content and design.

You have to give up some flexibility in return for this convenience of usage. The extensive functionality, customisation possibilities, and content management features found in CMS platforms are absent from website builders. Therefore, agencies, artists, restaurants, and other user types that want to quickly create image-rich websites will find website builders to be perfect.

Use a CMS if you want more sophisticated features and customizability. You may add multimedia to your postings, manage numerous users, manage your site’s core code, organise your content by tags and categories, and much more with a content management system (CMS). You will be able to develop and administer a more complicated, larger website that can expand over time, but the setup and launch process will take longer.

Once you’ve made the decision to create a website using a content management system (CMS), you may use the following criteria to further refine your choices.

5 Criteria for Choosing a CMS

Your site’s objectives and needs will be met by the CMS platform that is best for your company. Simpleness of use, adaptability, safety, cost, and market share are a few of the most crucial elements to take into account. Which brands make use of them?

A platform isn’t the greatest option if it has all the features you need but is prohibitively expensive. However, it’s also not the best idea to use a cheap platform that will need a lot of upkeep and extensions to suit your needs.

Below, let’s examine each of these requirements in more detail.

Ease of Use

Because it has a significant impact on your workforce’s workflows and adoption rate, ease of use is a crucial consideration when choosing a content management system. A perfect platform will be simple to use for all team members.

Let’s say that everyone will be working in the CMS backend, from developers to content marketers. Then, you require content management system capabilities that facilitate each of these team members’ daily activities. Seek for a platform that provides modules for developers to swiftly add custom code, and a WYSIWYG editor for editorial members to quickly produce and amend material.

Customizability

Even if you might value usability more than customisation, the optimal solution should include both. A content management system that offers ample customisation choices and adaptability, such as CMS Hub, may expand with your company.

Examine how many extensions are accessible, what customisation options are integrated directly into the dashboard, and whether source code editing is possible while considering a CMS. Most content management systems (CMS) let you select a pre-made theme and tailor it to your brand if you need to build a website quickly and with no development resources. Nevertheless, many CMS platforms also provide coding possibilities, so you may add more sophisticated features to your website if you employ a developer.

Security

You want a platform that will safeguard your users, your content, and your front-end visitors. Think about the roles that the platform and you will need to play in safeguarding your website when comparing various options. Does your website require a manual backup? Reinstall the programme? Put in place security addons? Acquire an SSL certificate?

These are but a handful of the inquiries to make while examining various CMS platforms. Generally speaking, if you lack the time or knowledge to properly secure your website, you should use a platform that has strong security features, teams, and protocols in place to maintain your website safe.

Pricing

Almost every business decision you make involves some consideration of the budget. You want a content management system (CMS) that satisfies your requirements, your visitors’ expectations, and your financial constraints. Fortunately, many platforms—like HubSpot’s free CMS—offer levels of plans with resources that increase at each price point. These upgrade options, like customisation choices, show that the CMS can expand to meet the needs of your expanding company.

Prevalence in the Market

Looking at the CMS system’s current list of really successful clients, such as well-known companies or rivals, is another excellent method to limit it down. If reputable companies in related industries use a particular CMS, it may indicate that the platform’s capabilities are worthwhile and can develop with your business. Even if you currently use a CMS, you can feel that it isn’t helping you achieve your objectives or you might wish to stay up to date with the CMS tactics employed by other well-known companies.

Additionally, you can get ideas for your own content strategy by visiting websites and content management systems used by companies in your sector.

Although your decision process may give different weight to different considerations, each is crucial for choosing a CMS that will support and expand with your company. Below, we’ll examine the usability, security, customizability, and cost of some of the top content management systems to assist you in making this crucial choice.

Best CMS Systems

1. WordPress: Known for its versatility and vast ecosystem of plugins and themes, making it suitable for blogs, websites, and even e-commerce stores with its WooCommerce integration.
2. CMS Hub: Provides robust tools for inbound marketing, content management, and customer relationship management (CRM), making it ideal for businesses focused on lead generation and customer engagement.
3. Drupal: Renowned for its flexibility and scalability, suitable for building complex websites and applications with extensive customization options.
4. Joomla: Offers a balance between ease of use and functionality, making it suitable for creating community-driven websites, forums, and e-commerce platforms.
5. Shopify: Specializes in e-commerce, providing a user-friendly interface, extensive customization options, and seamless integration with various payment gateways.
6. Magento: Known for its advanced e-commerce features, scalability, and flexibility, making it suitable for mid-sized to large enterprises with complex product catalogs.
7. Magnolia: Offers a headless CMS approach with strong digital experience capabilities, catering to businesses requiring omnichannel content delivery and personalization.
8. Optimizely: Provides experimentation and optimization tools for enhancing digital experiences, making it ideal for businesses focused on data-driven decision-making and improving conversion rates.
9. PrestaShop: Offers a lightweight and easy-to-use e-commerce solution, suitable for small to medium-sized businesses looking to establish an online presence quickly.
10. TYPO3: Known for its enterprise-level features, scalability, and multilingual capabilities, making it suitable for large organizations and multinational companies.
11. Crownpeak: Offers a cloud-based digital experience platform with robust content management and digital governance features, catering to enterprise-level businesses with complex digital requirements.
12. Contentful: Specializes in headless CMS, providing developers with flexibility and agility in content delivery across various channels and devices.
13. Storyblok: Focuses on providing a visual content editing experience and headless CMS capabilities, making it suitable for developers and content creators seeking seamless collaboration.
14. Concrete5: Offers a user-friendly interface and intuitive content editing experience, making it ideal for small to medium-sized businesses and content-focused websites.
15. Contentstack: Specializes in headless CMS with a focus on enterprise-level content management, offering scalability, security, and flexibility for global businesses.
16. Webflow: Known for its powerful visual website builder and comprehensive design capabilities, making it suitable for designers and developers aiming to create custom, responsive websites without coding.

Picking the Best CMS for Your Business

You can identify the best CMS for your company even though there isn’t “The Best CMS” or a single solution that works best for all websites. Your dream platform should include all the CMS features you require, enhance team content management, and allow you to give users of your website a pleasurable experience.