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A content management system (CMS) allows you to easily create websites without any knowledge of code. There are many options available on the market, which means you may have difficulty finding the right platform for your needs.

Typically, web pages are created in HTML, JavaScript, CSS, etc. If you are building a website without using a CMS, you will need to learn these languages and write a lot of code. Unless, of course, you are looking for a system suitable for developers, which means you already have coding skills.

There are so many CMS platforms to choose from, which one is the best? Before you start comparing, you need to know the following.

  • Easy to use You need a system that makes it easy to create and edit content, which usually means a drag-and-drop interface to add different elements to the page. It should also be quick and straightforward to make changes and updates to the content after the site is published.
  • Design Options The CMS software should provide you with a large number of design templates and enable you to customize them easily, ideally without writing any code.
  • Data Migration A great CMS platform should provide simple and effective tools that allow you to easily export your data and migrate it to other locations. For example, you may choose another hosting company in the future and data portability will allow you to do this easily.
  • Extensions and plug-ins Not all websites are the same, so no CMS platform can meet everyone’s needs. Extensions and plugins can solve this problem, and you can install them on your website for other additional features.
  • Help and support options While CMS platforms are designed to make building a website as easy as possible, you may still run into some problems. Some companies simply offer FAQs and a slow-responding support team, while others have a large support community that can help you at any time.
  • Cost of Use While some CMS platforms are completely free, you will often need to pay for services such as third-party extensions, page design, web hosting, and more. Before choosing a CMS, find out as much as you can about start-up costs to avoid any nasty surprises.

With all these factors in mind, let’s look at the best CMS platforms.

WordPress.org is our preferred CMS platform and the most popular site building system, powering over 30% websites on the Internet. Please note that WordPress.org is not to be confused with WordPress.com, a free open source CMS originally designed for blogs and now used by various websites/shops, and a blog hosting platform. If you are unsure of the difference between the two, check out this detailed comparison.

When we talk about WordPress, we usually mean WordPress.org, specifying WordPress.com when appropriate. with WordPress, you need to host the site yourself, which means finding the right web hosting provider.

Advantages

  • Great flexibility and freedom, allowing you to build almost any type of website, including personal blogs, online stores, auction sites, membership sites and more
  • No technical experience or coding knowledge is required, the block editor makes it easy to create beautiful pages
  • Thousands of themes and plugins are available to add various useful features to the site
  • Designed for search engine optimization, which helps to get more natural search traffic
  • Has a large online support community where you can join relevant discussion groups and seek professional help when you encounter problems
  • Rich extensibility makes it the ideal CMS platform for beginners and developers
  • Allows you to download all content in XML format and easily transfer it to other systems if you wish

Disadvantages

  • You need to set up the domain and hosting and be solely responsible for website updates, security, backups and such
  • The wealth of options and flexibility can be overwhelming, and for this reason many beginners use drag-and-drop page editors to build websites

Joomla is another popular free and open source CMS platform that comes with many different templates and extensions that can be used completely free of charge, however, you will need to deal with the work related to domain names and hosting.

This system was first released in 2005 and, like WordPress, has been widely used for many years. joomla has a large number of features and many web hosts offer a one-click installation service. It is indeed the ideal CMS platform for developers and experienced webmasters, but for beginners, the process of getting started can be challenging.

Advantages

  • Lots of flexibility and multiple options for building complex or custom systems
  • Although Joomla is useful for developers, even if you don’t want to edit any code, you can still use
  • As with WordPress, Joomla is free and open source, so if you get stuck, you can easily get community support
  • With the available extensions, you can use Joomla to run an e-commerce website

Disadvantages

  • Even Joomla fans acknowledge that the system is complex, and depending on the specific features, you may need to hire developers
  • There are not many additional extensions, so if you are used to a CMS like WordPress, you may be disappointed with Joomla.
  • If you install many different extensions and modules, there may be some compatibility issues

This is also an open source CMS platform for certain well-known websites (includingThe Economist(and many universities of higher learning) provide technical support. For developers or business owners who can afford to hire a programmer, Drupal is a good choice that allows you to build a custom site that needs to handle large amounts of data.

You can host your Drupal site on SiteGround and they offer a free installer and can even help you migrate your existing Drupal site.

Advantages

  • Adding content is very easy and custom content types are flexible
  • You can add many different modules to the site
  • Support is available through an online community
  • Has a built-in system where you can create roles and assign permissions

Disadvantages

  • Figuring out how to change the look of your site or add other features is tricky and not as WordPress friendly for beginners
  • Most Drupal sites use custom-made themes, which can be very expensive

WooCommerce is the world’s most popular e-commerce platform and is very flexible and easy to manage. Technically speaking, WooCommerce is not a content management system per se, but runs as a plugin on WordPress, so you need to install WordPress before you can use WooCommerce.

According to What W3Techs saysIf you count WooCommerce as a CMS platform, it would account for 7.2% of market share, which is a pretty large user base.

Advantages

  • WooCommerce is completely free and open source, but you’ll need hosting and a domain name to use it
  • There are many beautiful themes available so that you can easily adapt the site to meet specific needs
  • A large number of free and paid add-ons to add additional functionality to the site
  • Allows you to sell physical or digital products, and even affiliate products through affiliate links
  • Fully manage inventory with WooCommerce to easily track the real-time status of your inventory
  • By default, WooCommerce comes with PayPal and Stripe payment methods, you can also add other payment gateways

Disadvantages

  • The options are very rich and may discourage newcomers
  • Technically, WooCommerce can be used with any WordPress theme, but you should stick to themes made for eCommerce purposes

BigCommerce is an all-in-one eCommerce platform that offers a one-stop solution and is easy to get started with if you are a beginner. They will host your website for you, provide you with the actual CMS system, and can handle security and backups for you.

Advantages

  • You can try it for free before you pay
  • You can use the free domain name provided by BigCommerce with a name similar to mystore.mybigcommerce.com, or you can pay a fee to connect to a custom domain name
  • Supports a wide range of payment methods: PayPal, Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, credit/debit cards, etc.
  • You can access 24/7 customer support directly from the dashboard, including live chat, email, phone, community
  • If needed, you can use BigCommerce in combination with WordPress to get the advantages of both CMS platforms

Disadvantages

  • Compared to WooCommerce, BigCommerce gives you less control over your store. Themes and integrations are limited, and you may not be able to use third-party services to grow your business
  • After sales reach a certain threshold, you will be forced to automatically upgrade to a higher pricing plan

Shopify is our preferred eCommerce website building platform, you don’t need to buy hosting, install software, manage updates, or backup data. They offer a clean and easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor and support offline sales, which is a great option if you have both a physical and online store.

Advantages

  • You can accept credit/debit card payments through the integrated Shopify Payments, or you can use the popular PayPal
  • Rich themes and extensions to add various features to the online store
  • Shopify offers 24/7 customer support via live chat, email, phone, Twitter, plus an online forum and lots of helpful documentation

Disadvantages

  • The final cost can be high, especially if you plan to add a lot of third-party apps to the store
  • Compared to the thousands of plugins available for WordPress, the Shopify application is relatively limited in its functionality

WordPress.com is a commercially hosted version of WordPress and is easily confused with WordPress.org, which is an open source software, if you are not sure about the difference between them you can find more information here. With WordPress.com, you’ll get a fully hosted, one-stop CMS platform.

Advantages

  • Very easy to get started, very simple to add and edit content
  • You can use it for free, however, in order to connect a custom domain, you need to subscribe to at least the cheapest package
  • A range of different theme designs that you can easily switch between in the dashboard
  • As your website grows in size, you can upgrade to a higher plan
  • If you decide to switch to a more powerful and flexible CMS, switching from WordPress.com to WordPress.org in the future is simple
  • Built-in statistical analysis functions

Disadvantages

  • Limited profitability options, even with subscription business plans
  • Custom domains cannot be connected unless they are paid for
  • Compared to WordPress.org, the plugins you can install on the WordPress.com site are very limited
  • You don’t have full control of your site like WordPress.org does

Ghost is a CMS platform created specifically for blogging purposes and does not force content to be displayed in a specific way. The data you produce can be displayed on a website, sent to a mobile app or any other platform. If you are not a developer or just want to use Ghost for blogging, you do not need to know these technical details.

Advantages

  • Allows you to use Markdown Writing code in the editor
  • A content editor with card support, which is a bit like the block in the WordPress editor
  • Powerful built-in support for search engine optimization, so you don’t need to add additional plug-ins for that
  • Creating a paid content site is easy

Disadvantages

  • Does not provide the same functionality and flexibility as WordPress
  • Although originally designed for blogging only, there are still many people who think Ghost has become too complex

Magento is the open source e-commerce platform from the large software company Adobe, and you can download a free version and install it on your own web host called Magento Open Source, and to use it in this way, SiteGround Magento hosting is the easiest way to get started. You can also pay for the commercial version of Magento for full customer support if you wish, but it is very expensive.

Advantages

  • Highly customizable with rich third-party extensions
  • Can handle a large number of products and customers, making it easy to grow your business without slowing down your website
  • Some of the internationally renowned brands using Magento include Nike, Ford, Coca-Cola and many more.
  • Provides built-in support for payment methods such as PayPal, cash on delivery, bank transfer, etc., and allows you to connect to other payment gateways

Disadvantages

  • If you’re just starting out in e-commerce, you may find Magento very complicated
  • Finding good developers can be tricky and hiring them can be very expensive
  • Technical support can be unfortunate, especially if you use the free open source version and rely on online forums for help

Textpattern is a simple and easy-to-use CMS platform that has been popular since 2003. Open source means you can use it for free, plus there’s plenty of documentation to help you get started.

Advantages

  • Lots of plugins and templates, all available for free
  • The method of organizing content (including sections and categories) is very flexible, and readers can subscribe to RSS feeds for specific parts of the site

Disadvantages

  • Few hosting providers offer Textpattern one-click installers
  • Not as popular as other CMS platforms (e.g. WordPress), you may have difficulty hiring skilled developers

Wix is a popular CMS platform that powers over 160 million websites with an excellent drag-and-drop editor to help you create small websites. They take care of things like web hosting and registering domains (free and paid) throughApplication MarketYou can easily add additional features such as photo galleries, e-commerce and more.

Advantages

  • Drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to create ideal-looking pages
  • You can choose from a large selection of preset templates that are fully responsive and look great on both mobile and computer
  • You can add applications to your website from the Wix Application Marketplace, which is similar to the WordPress plugin

Disadvantages

  • Once the site is published, it cannot be changed to another template
  • You can’t run an e-commerce site unless you upgrade to a paid plan
  • With the free plan, you will have Wix-branded domains and ads on your website that make money for Wix (not you)

Blogger has been around since 1999 and, as can be easily seen from the name, is a CMS platform dedicated to blogging and a free service provided by Google. Blogs hosted on it usually use a second-level domain called blogspot.com, although custom domains can be used instead.

Advantages

  • It’s easy to get started and you can set up a blog in minutes
  • You can add many widgets for free in order to show contact information and other information
  • Your blog is hosted by Google and you don’t need to install anything, update software or pay for hosting
  • Ample storage space, no limit to the number of articles, images stored inGoogle Cloud DriveMedium

Disadvantages

  • If you want to start a non-blog site, Blogger is not the right place
  • Although all themes are free, the functionality is very simple, and for a more professional product you need to hire your own designer
  • Switching from Blogger to WordPress is very difficult

Bitrix24 is a business tool with a CMS platform in addition to offering specific features (such as task, project, communication management, etc.). The starter plan allows you to use it for free, providing an all-in-one solution for small businesses. If you need a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool, this could be a good choice.

Advantages

  • It’s free to use, which means you can take the time to try it out
  • Includes a wide range of features to provide you with everything you need to manage a small to medium-sized company
  • Website editor with a drag-and-drop interface, including landing pages, e-commerce and other features

Disadvantages

  • If you don’t want CRM functionality, getting a CMS platform will be quite complicated
  • With so many features, you may find the user interface difficult to navigate

TYPO3 is a free open source CMS platform that predates Blogger – originally created in 1998. As an enterprise CMS, TYPO3 is useful for both internal company sites and online sites. One of the great things about open source software is that it is very rich in extensions, which helps to provide you with additional functionality.

Advantages

  • Can easily handle large websites (including multilingual sites), which is a good choice for well-known international companies
  • If you are willing to hire developers, feel free to extend TYPO3
  • Access rights for different individuals and groups can be easily modified
  • Over 6000 extensions to choose from

Disadvantages

  • There are not too many available themes
  • You’ll need extensive expertise to get TYPO3 up and running, and post-maintenance can be challenging.

PrestaShop is a free and open source e-commerce platform that requires you to host it yourself, so it can be installed on any supported web host. Of course, as with other self-hosted CMS, we recommend using SiteGround’s web hosting.

Advantages

  • Has a large PrestaShop community, including an official forum for sharing tips and tutorials, as well as many other groups
  • As the store grows in size, you may not have to pay additional fees (unless you upgrade your hosting plan)
  • Many modules are available so you can easily add new features
  • Very low initial cost, especially with inexpensive shared hosting plans

Disadvantages

  • Requires a lot of time and effort to learn
  • Despite the large number of theme designs, not all options are perfect. You may have to spend a long time scrutinizing them before you finally find something that suits you

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