We have put together a chart of the leading six CMS’s available on the market. From the Open Source Free platforms to the dedicated Monthly Subscription sites.
| CMSs | Market Share | Pricing | Category | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. WordPress | 63% | Free | Open-Source Blogging | ||
| 2. Shopify | 4.3% | Plans $29-$299 p/m | E-commerce | Fully encompassing e-commerce toolset Offering SSL | Aditional Fees Transaction fees No Email Hosting |
| 3. Joomla | 4% | Free | Open-Source Blogging | ||
| 4. Drupal | 2.7% | Free | Open-Source Blogging | ||
| 5. Wix | 2.4% | Basic = $13 p/m Business = $23 – $500 p/m | Website Builder Paltform | Drag and Drop builder | Poor SEO Hosted Content |
| 6. Squarespace | 2.4% | Basic = $16 p/m Business = $26 p/m | Website Builder Paltform | Drag and Drop builder | Poor SEO Hosted Content |
Things to consider when choosing a CMS?
While selecting the right CMS, you should look for a system that is user-friendly, offering versatile capabilities and support when required.
Keep in mind these common factors:
- Businesss Goals
- Usability
- SEO Friendliness
- Pricing
- Security
- Customizations
- Technical Support
1. WordPress
WordPress is the leader in CMS for two main reasons:
- It’s a free and open-source application, meaning not only can you use it for free but you can customize and tailor the design to your own requirements.
- Wide range of customization options from aesthetics to user interface provided by a large community network offering third-party integrations.
While WordPress offers a number of free themes and plugins, you can also purchase professional versions, reducing your own time and overheads.
WordPress even offers an ecommerce solution from it’s parent company, Automattic, called WooCommerce to help setup online stores without any technical complexities.
The only concern with WordPress due to it’s popularity is Security! These vulnerabilities are mainly due to it’s strengths of open-source plugins. You must actions to ensure these are from reputable developers with up to date code, and you maintain updates regularly.
2. Joomla
Similiar to WordPress CMS for your content strategy that includes a diverse content mix, but comes with a steep learning curve and not so beginner friendly CMS.
3. Shopify
Has the innate ability to integrate with other platforms like WordPress to offer an e-commerce side of the business. It can also be a standalone CMS for e-commerce websites.
Shopify offers a domain name, SSL certificate and hosting service with all their plans. The key aim is to let users without coding or design skills build an online store.
The Shopify interface is a little bit old-fashioned with no drag and drop feature unlike other CMSs. Also the code base is a customized PHP language called Liquid which is used to create shop themes. When adapting these themes it is only possible with professional knowledge of the code.
4. Drupal
This type of CMS is more commonly used across industries. Offering a basic version called Drupal core. It’s well known to not be a beginner friendly CMS because of its features, security, taxonomy and custom post creation. For this reason it is highly recommended to have an experienced web developer manage and update.
5. Squarespace
Best known for its intuitive and ridiculously simple drag and drop website builder. Popular thanks to its omnipresent podcast advertising! Primarily used by entrepreneurs, musicians, restaurants and bloggers.
Squarespace is a hosted product which means you can access the platform from any web browser. Similar to how Wix operates but generally seen as less versatile, but scores better for blogging and responsive features.
It’s weakness comes from it’s requirements which may not suit all as you scale your content efforts in the long run. Squarespace has also suffered for a long time from a reputation of not being SEO friendly.
6. Wix
WIX – Windows Installer XML, a cloud-based web development CMS in the same vien as Squarespace, but you can either build your website up or choose from a repository of ready made templates. Offering a drag and drop system with plugins.
Wix is not strictly speaking a CMS but rather a website building platform. It does have components and applications that function as part of a CMS, but itself is design-driven.
The websites produced by Wix are known to have poor SEO since the user is not in full control. Generated on the fly in a visual editor, creating un-needed code and extra HTML bloat. This lack of functionality will cost any business if it can’t be found.