The term CMS plays an important role in web development and is an abbreviation for Content Management System, which in Swedish is sometimes translated as content management system.
Simply put, CMS is a technical platform for writing, editing and publishing content on a website in an easy-to-use way without having to work with complicated codes.
A CMS includes both administration tools and a ready-made visual structure for front-end development. In addition, a CMS enables the use of ready-made functions called plugins or modules, which usually reduces development costs. These functions can range from ready-made contact forms to chat or search functions.
Two of the most popular CMSs are WordPress and Drupal.
Which CMSs are there?
WordPress
The world’s most popular CMS is WordPress, which is used by nearly 40% of the Internet’s websites. A big reason why WordPress has become so popular is that it is free and open source, which means that it is free to use and modify.
For those who are not knowledgeable in web development, WordPress is a good alternative because of its user-friendliness.
In addition, WordPress has more than 58,000 plugin functions and over 5,000 themes, which means that there are many choices. You can add these functions and themes to your web solution to achieve the desired look and function.
Among other things, there is the e-commerce function WooCommerce, which makes it easy and user-friendly to start and run e-commerce.
Drupal
In addition to WordPress, there are several other CMSs that are popular, including Drupal, which, like WordPress, is a free CMS based on open source.
Drupal is good at processing large amounts of content and thus allows for a high degree of flexibility and freedom when developing web solutions. However, this usually means that a developer is required to create the web solution.
Even in Drupal, the user can easily add additional functions to the intended web solution using the 39,000 modules, and change the appearance thanks to 2,500 different themes.
Optimizely (formerly Episerver)
Unlike WordPress and Drupal, Swedish-developed Optimizely is a commercial CMS, which means that it is not based on open source code. Instead, the user must pay a license fee to use the publishing system, but even then has access to support and service.
Optimizely is well suited for medium-sized and large companies that require high performance, flexibility and personalization for their web solutions.
Magento
Unlike the other CMSs above, Magento is an e-commerce CMS based on open source code. Magento offers high security and performance, but is not as user-friendly as WordPress’s e-commerce function WooCommerce.
Therefore, Magento is suitable for companies whose e-commerce stores have a lot of traffic, a large product range and therefore require high performance.
Which is the best CMS?
This is a question that is completely impossible to answer, as it always depends on the type of web solution to be developed. Regardless of the project, it is always essential to start from what to be developed and choose technology accordingly.
WordPress is the world’s most used CMS and therefore a safe choice due to its user-friendliness and choice of plugins and themes. The user-friendliness and ready-made functions allow for fast and cost-effective development.
However, WordPress is absolutely best suited to simpler web solutions such as websites that do not handle large amounts of data.
Drupal, on the other hand, usually requires more development time than WordPress and is not as user-friendly for administrators. At the same time, Drupal is more free and offers more flexibility during the development phase than WordPress. Therefore, Drupal is suitable for slightly more advanced solutions than just websites.
Optimizely (formerly Episerver) is a commercial CMS that is best suited for medium-sized and large companies that require high performance, flexibility and personalization for their web solutions. Companies develop web solutions in Optimizely because it is not based on open source code, which allows for personal service and support from the CMS organization.
Although the question is difficult to answer as the answer depends entirely on what is to be developed, it can be simply said that WordPress is a good alternative for the vast majority of websites. However, if a web solution is to be developed that is a borderline case between a website and a system, Drupal is usually a better alternative.