Suppose you are buying earphones from an E-commerce website. Or maybe read about which earphones are the best from a blog. Or even just check out the official website of the earphone company. Chances are high that each of these websites was created using a Content Management System! That’s the popularity of CMS! Many companies prefer to use a content management system to create their websites. And that’s why this article tells you the most popular content management systems now so that you can make an informed choice about using one of them.
Table of Content
What is a CMS Platform?
What is a Content Management System you ask? Well, a CMS is an application that allows people without any advanced technical knowledge to create and maintain websites without writing code from scratch. You can create any website you want including an E-commerce website, blog, personal website, etc. with any layout and design you prefer. Obviously, this makes content management systems very popular. In fact, 37% of all the websites on the internet use WordPress, which is the most popular CMS.
So now, let’s check out the top content management systems to consider in the year 2022 and beyond and understand their pros and cons. Then you can make a decision about which CMS you prefer and want to use for your website.
List of 10 Best Content Management Systems (CMS):
WordPress
WordPress.org is the most popular content management system in the world currently. Keep in mind that wordpress.org is different from wordpress.com which is a platform to host your blogs. While WordPress.org also started as just a platform for creating blogs and now it has become a CMS for websites, blogs, online stores, and basically whatever else you want! Another good thing is that it is specially designed with search engine optimization with many plugins that also help.
Features
- Has a large community of users all over the world so it is easy to get any help that you need along the way.
- Wordpress has an intuitive and easy-to-navigate interface
- 58,000 plugins available which allows users to extend the functionality of their websites without any coding knowledge
Drupal
Drupal is a frequently used content management system that is behind websites in industries like education, eCommerce, entertainment, sports, journalism, etc. It has more than a million subscribers with many plugins and additional modules to extend its functionality. Drupal is a great option for developers as it has a steep learning curve like Joomla which does not make it ideal for beginners.
Features
- It offers its user's website support, security features, custom website options, scaling, content authoring, wider accessibility, etc.
- Drupal is also a free and open-source content management system
Joomla
Joomla is also a very popular content management system that is almost as old as WordPress. This is a diverse CMS with a wide variety of features for creating websites and thousands of extensions. Because of its complexity, Joomla is ideal for experienced programmers who want to create websites for specific requirements and not something generic.
Features
- Joomla comes with built-in SEO tools that help optimize websites for search engines.
- Known for its built-in multilingual support making it ideal choice for global business
- Provides a amazing user management system with multiple levels of permissions
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a Content Management System that is specifically targeted toward eCommerce companies (as the name implies!) It is an open SaaS platform that provides multiple templates to create your custom Ecommerce site. It also provides custom checkout pages with flexible APIs and support for Google Cloud. BigCommerce also provides customer support in case you run into any problems.
Features
- Provides comprehensive analytics and reporting tools that offer insights into customer behavior, sales trends, and website performance.
- Supports seamless integration with multiple sales channels.
- Provides comprehensive analytics and reporting tools that offer insights into customer behavior, sales trends, etc
Shopify
Shopify is also a content management system for e-commerce sites like BigCommerce. It is very easy to create websites using Shopify as it provides an intuitive interface with support for extensions, hosting, backups, etc. There are also many third-party extensions that you can buy to add extra features to your website. Another advantage of Shopify is that it also provides options for credit and debit cards along with PayPal, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, etc.
Features
- Has a vast app store with over 6,000 applications and integrations.
- Provides built-in SEO features to help improve search engine rankings.
- Known for its robust security features, including SSL certification and PCI compliance, ensuring that customer data and transactions are protected
Wix
Wix is a perfect content management system for beginners. It offers an intuitive drag-and-drop interface with multiple templates that beginners can use to create the website they want. All these are interactive templates that provide a great look and function for the website both on computer and phone screens. You can also customize your website and optimize it for SEO so that it gets maximum visibility.
Features
- Has an extensive library of over 800 designer-made templates, catering to various industries and purposes
- Provides comprehensive App Market with over 250 applications and services that users can integrate into their websites
- Includes built-in SEO tools that help users optimize their websites for search engines
Squarespace
Squarespace is a content management system you can use to create your online presence in the form of a website. You can select any website template and third-party extensions that are necessary for your website. Squarespace is so popular among bloggers, musicians, entrepreneurs, etc. because of its ease of usage and its simple drag-and-drop interface. It is comparatively very easy to create websites using this CMS as it provides all the components for a website like its domain name, SSL certificate, web hosting, etc. on a single platform.
Features
- Squarespace provides a wide range of professionally designed, mobile-responsive templates
- Includes built-in SEO features that help optimize your content for search engines
- Offers robust e-commerce functionality, allowing users to set up and manage online stores
Ghost
If you are a blogger then Ghost is the best CMS for you. It is often called "Headless CMS" due to the policy of not forcing to publish content in a specific manner. The data which you create can be shown on the website, along with that you can also send it on the mobile application too. People with no technical knowledge can also use Ghost as it is a very easy-to-use and flexible platform.
Features
- Offers a clean and intuitive interface that makes content creation and management straightforward
- It’s designed to handle high traffic volumes and offers fast page load times
- Includes built-in SEO tools that help users optimize their content for search engines
HubSpot CMS
HubSpot is another fully integrated content management system, which is specially designed keeping in mind the business and market owners. In this CMS, you will get all sorts of content management systems, sales, automation, operations, service, and marketing tools making it an ideal solution for developing businesses. It is a very useful management system as it also helps big companies in looking after their website by providing an all-in-one system.
Features
- HubSpot's CMS is tightly integrated with its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system
- Provides built-in SEO tools that help users optimize their content for search engines.
- Includes content strategy and analytics tools that allow users to plan, execute, and measure the performance of their content
Contentful
Contentful is a very known content management platform that is used globally by numerous people for creating, managing, and delivering content. It provides a seamless, and adaptable digital experience across all channels making it one of the best. This particular product has been created for the developers as its cloud-based platform allows the same content to be published around all channels through flexible APIs.
Features
- Contentful is built to handle large volumes of content and high traffic loads.
- Supports multichannel publishing, allowing users to distribute content seamlessly across different channels.
- Offers a highly customizable content model
CMS Comparison:
Check out the significant comparison between some of the most popular CMS below:
- Shopify vs WordPress
- Drupal vs Shopify
- Shopify vs Joomla
- BigCommerce vs Shopify
- BigCommerce vs Squarespace
- Drupal vs Squarespace
Conclusion
There are many types of content management systems given above. However, you should choose a CMS based on your specific requirements. If you need to create an eCommerce website, then BigCommerce and Shopify are the best options. Otherwise, if you are an experienced developer or can afford to hire a developer, then maybe you should choose Drupal and Joomla. If you are a relative newcomer, then WordPress, Wix, and Squarespace might be better options. It is also important to consider the price of these CMSs. If you need free or very nominally priced options, then WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are good choices and if you can afford to spend money, then consider BigCommerce, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, etc. Almost all these content management systems provide support if you are stuck so you don’t need to worry about that. You should just make your choice keeping in mind your content strategy and the type of website you need, couple with your financial condition.