best CMS platforms

5 best CMS platforms for 2021

Are you looking for Content Management System (CMS) platforms? Welcome on board! CMS platforms are a great way to build a website without being an expert on programming or writing codes.

The only issue is that variety is massive already. To pick well is the key to save you time, effort, and money. Moving from one to another is possible, but it will delay your online success. 

Let’s narrow the menu for you not to be dizzy! 

Word Press

Open-source available since 2003. Based on MySQL (database) and PHP, a scripting language for managing dynamic content. You can build from a blog to a big e-shop with it.

Advantages:

  • It’s free.
  • Available in more than sixty languages.
  • Robust infrastructure to build any type of site.
  • Flexible. There are literally thousands of native Word Press but also third-party apps, themes, plugins… Free, paid ones compatible and available for installing. Customization for your website has massive possibilities.
  • It downloads all your content in XML format, in case you want to migrate to a different system. 
  • SEO friendly. 
  • Big and supportive community.

Disadvantages:

  • New additions are making it a heavy platform and a bit confusing.
  • They limited out-of-the-box functionality. Additional plugins are needed.

Drupal

CMS open-source since 2001. Popular and powerful PHP-written CMS. 

Advantages:

  • It’s free.
  • Built-in system to make things easier.
  • Its flexible and modular structure allows many different modules (plugins) for you to customize as much as you want. 
  • Plenty of plugins (Drupal native and third-party too) are available for expanding your website’s functionality.
  • It supports lots of data. 
  • SEO friendly.
  • Active community, ready to help.

Disadvantages:

  • Some modules require manual configuration via FTP. Not compatible extensions with the backend will require a process to be updated. It can be a bit complex for beginners.  
  • If your business needs are demanding, the basic Drupal installation will need a lot of additions. 

Joomla

It was released in 2005. It’s a reliable and popular open-source CMS. PHP and MySQL based.

Advantages: 

  • It’s free.
  • Robust and flexible infrastructure. Any kind of website can be built with it, maintain, and scale.
  • Thousands of free and paid extensions are compatible and available to increase your website’s functionality. What to add totally depends on your business’ needs.
  • Built-in multilingual support. 
  • Multi theme use.
  • Wide and helpful community.

Disadvantages:

  • Managing the whole system’s possibilities could be a challenge for beginners. You can need guidance.
  • Available extensions are thousands, but less than for otherCMSs.

Ghost

Open-source specifically for blogging. Written in JavaScript. Ideal CMS for big companies and individuals. Available since 2013.

Advantages:

  • It’s free. 
  • A friendly, neat editor that allows text formatting even when adding special characters.
  • Built-in SEO’s optimization.
  • The necessary tools for charging users to get your content (subscriptions) are available.

Disadvantages.:

  • Less flexible than other CMSs if you change the kind of business.
  • It’s a popular CMS but still not compatible with all hosting providers, like more used CMSs.
  • For advanced functions, a bit of code must be understood.

Magento

Released in 2008, Magento is a reliable open-source for e-Commerce. Written in PHP, a powerful CMS. 

Advantages:

  • Free and paid versions. We’ll talk about the free one. 
  • Pretty customizable.
  • Flexible, a lot of third-party extensions can be added to expand your site’s functionality.
  • It allows you to build all shop sizes, managing plenty of customers and products. There’s room for your business to grow.
  • Choices for getting payments, money transfers are many, and some are already built-in.

Disadvantages:

  • It can be hard for beginners. Building an e-shop from scratch is a big task. 
  • Just the paid version (expensive) includes customer support. Getting the free one, you rely on Magento’s community.

Conclusion

These 5 best CMS platforms are top-notch. They power really big online e-shops, government institutions, publishers, and more. Remember, the software is free, but you still need a hosting provider to run them.