There are different types of CMS that help you create a customized website without the need for programming knowledge.
Choose the most suitable CMS For you it depends on many factors, such as your budget, the type of website you want to create or the knowledge of your team. To help you, in this article we have compiled the best CMS for websites and online stores.
What is a CMS and how to choose yours?
CMS stands for “Content Management System”. These types of tools help you manage your website, make changes and upload content, all in an easy and intuitive way and without the need to have code knowledge.
In general, we could say that a CMS has three functions main:
-
Create websites, including generating the pages, storing and accessing the resources used and customizing the appearance of the site.
-
Manage and maintain websites. With a CMS, we can easily update or maintain the contents of a website, a functionality that is especially useful if we do content marketing.
-
Manage websites. CMS makes it possible to manage different website functionalities, such as the URL structure or the image storage system.
Today there are many different CMS on the market. These are some important factors to take into account when choosing yours:
-
Price. You can find everything from completely free CMS to advanced solutions with a subscription model. Sometimes the basic software is free, but you will have to pay for templates, plugins or extensions. It is also possible that there are different pricing plans within the same CMS depending on your needs.
-
Easy to use. The great advantage of CMS is that they allow you to create and manage websites without the need for programming knowledge. Some CMSs put a lot of emphasis on ease of use; others require more advanced users, but in exchange offer more functionality.
-
Personalization. CMSs vary greatly in their complexity and the customization options they offer. Think about what features you need on your site and how much you want to adapt the design to your brand.
-
Customer Support. Advanced payment CMSs may offer 24/7 support, while others will require you to resolve issues yourself. Before deciding, research carefully what the case is.
-
SEO. A CMS should include the necessary tools to position your site in search engines, either natively or through plugins. Additionally, some CMSs tend to generate higher-ranking pages than others.
-
Updates. Ideally, your CMS should have an active development community and release updates frequently. It’s also a good idea to make sure it has a good variety of add-ons and plugins to add custom functionality.
-
Security. Some CMSs have native functionality to protect your site, while others will have you taking care of security yourself.
The main types of CMS
CMS for websites
WordPress
WordPress is the most used CMS worldwide. Its market share is 64.2%, that is, almost two out of every three websites that use a CMS are made with WordPress.
Among its advantages is that it is quite easy to use and very flexible, since it has thousands of templates and plugins so you can personalize your site. In addition, it is very well designed from an SEO point of view and has very powerful plugins to optimize your website for search engines.
Drupal
Drupal is a CMS particularly suitable for large sites that manage a large amount of data. It is open source and has a market share of 2.4%. The website of The Economist and some large universities is based on Drupal.
As is often the case with CMSs with a very high level of customization, it is not as beginner-friendly as other CMSs, although adding content and managing users is very easy.
Joomla
Joomla is an open source CMS, which stands out for its flexibility and its large number of templates and extensions. It is a very interesting option for complex websites or those with a high level of customization. Its current market share is 3.5%.
The flip side of this complexity is that it can be a little difficult to use for novice users, so it’s best for teams that already have CMS experience or can count on a programmer to support them.
Wix
Wix is a CMS that stands out for its simplicity for beginners and has a market share of 2.4%.
Its use is very simple, as it has drag and drop tools and many pre-designed and mobile-friendly templates.
Of course, you must keep in mind that it has several important limitations, such as that you cannot change the template once you have chosen it. Its free version includes ads and cannot be used for online stores.
Blogger
Another CMS that stands out for its simplicity. It is a free tool from Google and, as its name suggests, it is especially suitable for creating blogs. It currently occupies a market share of 1.6%.
The great advantage of Blogger is undoubtedly its ease of use, since it allows you to create a blog in a few minutes and without the need for any technical knowledge. Its main drawbacks are that it offers limited flexibility and that it is not very appropriate if your website is not a blog.
CMS for online stores
Shopify
This CMS specialized in ecommerce is very popular, with a 5.2% market share (only surpassed by WordPress).
Shopify includes everything you need to create your online store, including performance metrics and SEO optimization features. In addition, it is very easy to use thanks to its drag and drop functions.
As limitations, it should be mentioned that additional transaction fees sometimes apply and that the selection of free themes is limited.
Magento
Magento is one of the favorite CMS for large companies, used by clients such as Burger King or Nespresso. Its current market share is 1.2%.
Its great advantage is that it is an “all-in-one” solution for your online store, with practically all the functions you may need. In general, it is a very powerful tool, although it is better for users with previous experience.
It offers a free installation option, downloading it from its website and installing it on your server, and a paid one that uses the Magento hosted service.
Prestashop
Prestashop is the most used ecommerce platform in Spain, although globally it only occupies seventh place (with a 0.8% market share).
This CMS is very easy to use for novice users, since you just have to install the plugin and start setting up your own ecommerce. The stock management and maintenance functionalities are also very easy.
Its main drawback is that it is not as appropriate for large ecommerce, so if your project grows a lot, you may have to look for another solution.
WooCommerce
This ecommerce platform is the most popular for WordPress users and the second in Spain. If you already use WordPress, just install a free plugin to set up your own store.
It has a basic version with functionalities such as inventory management, VAT, shipping cost calculation and coupons. In addition, it has more than 330 different extensions to add additional functionality, which gives it a lot of flexibility.
BigCommerce
BigCommerce is a platform specially designed for medium and large brands, with a market share of 0.4%.
When targeting large online stores, it has advanced features, such as SEO options and multi-channel selling with Channel Manager (to connect your store to different online sales sites and manage all your inventory from a single site).
Comprehensive inbound marketing solution: HubSpot
Finally, we are going to talk about a CMS that goes beyond the functionalities of these tools, since it is part of a broader marketing ecosystem: the HubSpot CMS.
HubSpot is a comprehensive inbound marketing solution which has different modules to satisfy all your marketing needs, such as CRM or sales.
HubSpot’s CMS allows you to create websites, blogs, landing pages and emails from one place, with drag-and-drop or code templates. It has a marketplace with professional and configurable themes, modules and templates, both free and paid.
If you already use other HubSpot modules to manage your inbound marketing or are considering doing so, it makes a lot of sense to also use their CMS solution to be able to manage your website from the same place and in an integrated way.