CMS, or Content Management System, is the software that enables the website owner to create, edit, and publish content on that particular site in different forms of text or multimedia. As a rule, the user isn’t obliged to have any knowledge or experience in programming or hire a website developer since most CMS providers are easy to use. So, find the most reliable and advantageous open-source CMS provider and design and upgrade your website on your own.
Depending on what you are going to use the service for or what features are the core ones for your specific project, you need to choose a respective software type. CMSs are built with various programming languages. The most popular ones, such as Drupal, WordPress, etc, are based on PHP while others are written in Python, Java, or JavaScript. Apparently, the language used for setting up the system affects the way it handles content. Therefore, some platforms are better for certain website types than others.
Nowadays, the market offers several hundred CMSs to choose from. Your choice will have a direct impact on the final look and functionality of your website. Therefore, make a thoughtful decision.
1. WordPress
| Product Name: | WordPress |
| Official Website: | wordpress.org |
| Founded: | 2003 |
| Active websites created: | over 30 million |
| Test Plan: | Free to download |
| Cheapest Plan: | $2.95/mo for hosting |
| Refund: | 30 days |
WordPress – is with no doubts the world’s leading open-source CMS which was first created for blogging. However, it quickly grew into a complete content management system regularly used in numerous blog-friendly and publishing industries. WordPress offers an easy-to-use interface and themes, hence it’s best particularly for smaller businesses. On the other hand, thanks to the multiple available plugins and personalization tools, tech-savvy editors will find WordPress CMS a great platform, too.
Other perks of this open-source system include more than 14,000 free design templates, over 18, 000 extensions, search engine-friendly URLs, amazing customization options, simple and functional user interface, easy installation, easy and smooth SEO integration. Currently, WordPress uses the Gutenberg Editor. This is a block-based editor that allows users to create sites of content blocks. This update makes the platform appropriate for both tech-savvy and non-proficient users.
What concerns the non-beneficial sides of WordPress, here we have to point out a couple of cons – the core functions of the CMS required additional extensions to perform per needed and frequent security updates might cause administration problems.
WordPress suggests starting a new business, running a store, or simply sharing your ideas through a blog easily, affordably, and effectively. However, for this, you need a dependable hosting provider.
2. Joomla
| Product Name: | Joomla |
| Official Website: | joomla.org |
| Founded: | 2005 |
| Active websites created: | 1, 460, 000 |
| Test Plan: | Joomla is free of charge |
| Cheapest Plan: | Free |
| Refund: | No |
Joomla – is another outstanding name in the industry of open-source CMS. Yielding in popularity and ease of use to WordPress, Joomla, yet, offers better functionality without even having to install extensions. However, it still offers around 7,400 plugins to be used either in the frontend or backend. Other advantages of this CMS include user-friendly template creation, plenty of available designs and blog sites, a vast array of customization possibilities, and reliable support.
On the other hand, Joomla’s most extensions are offered for money, the platform is actually more difficult to use than WordPress and most extensions are to be implemented manually. Furthermore, as your business grows, you will have to apply constant updates and changes. These are the only downsides Joomla users interfere with.
Joomla is said to be established with both design professionals and newbies in mind, and yet, we’d recommend using Joomla through a host to make it a one-click installation if you have no idea about SQL and PHP databases.
When it comes to pricing, Joomla shines brighter than most other CMSs. You see, due to the open-source nature of Joomla, it comes completely for free. You can create your site, modify it, and use the open-source code entirely for free. No worries about licensing or fees. Just pay for those extensions you find your website needs.
Depending on what your purposes of CMS usage are, Joomla may or may not be an appropriate option. You see, it’s great particularly for creating a website portfolio or a business project. You still can use it for a web store, but other CMSs reviewed in this article will fit the role better.
3. Magento OS
| Product Name: | Magento |
| Official Website: | magento.com |
| Founded: | 2007 |
| Active websites created: | 187, 000 |
| Test Plan: | Free, Commerce plan |
| Cheapest Plan: | Free |
| Refund: | 30 days for Commerce plan |
Magento – is the best CMS you can find for e-commerce sites. It comes in two forms – an open-source free option with all the basic features necessary for establishing your own eCommerce platform, blog sites, etc., and the premium version that completes what’s absent in the free one, yet comes at a certain price. Apparently, Magento is a flexible CMS with such benefits as site search, dependable security, ready-to-use extensions, integrated checkout, as well as payment and shipping, and data analysis.
What concerns the cons of this CMS platform, users complain that it takes up much time to cache and resource optimization and cleanup. Another downside we have come across is the online support which doesn’t appear to be of much help, and you have to Google a lot eventually.
Magento makes up a great option for those users who don’t have a deep understanding of coding nuances. And yet, you still have to be aware of programming nuances to some extent to perform appropriate website code editing.
As we’ve mentioned, Magento comes completely for free. The free package includes mobile-optimized shopping, catalog management, site search, instant purchase, integrated checkout, payment, and shipping tools. If this doesn’t suffice you, you can schedule a demo version of the Magento Commerce option to see how the system performs in its full force. The Commerce plan involves all the tools that Magento has, yet the price isn’t mentioned. It is to be decided upon what features you want to be included or which template suits your business the most.
4. Drupal
| Product Name: | Drupal |
| Official Website: | drupal.org |
| Founded: | 2001 |
| Active websites created: | Around 600, 000 |
| Test Plan: | Free |
| Cheapest Plan: | Free |
| Refund: | 14 days |
Drupal – is a CMS built with the simplicity of installations and extendability of modules in mind. By choosing Drupal you get a modular layout with impressive flexibility and much room for customization. Despite the slim installation, you get provided with over 36, 000 modules via extensions. Other perks are such community functions as tag clouds, weblogs, and forums, multi-domain management, user-generated content, impressive security, etc.
What concerns the cons of Drupal CMS, here users state that the core slim installation implies multiple further installations, the use of this platform isn’t as user-friendly as inexperienced users might expect.
Nevertheless, despite the few cons of Drupal, it is still one of the most beneficial CMSs in the industry nowadays. The platform is especially suitable for small and medium-sized businesses, yet those large site owners who need to showcase content from the same source yet in various ways will find it expedient, too.
To new users, Drupal suggests trying out the demo version completely for free. Once you are sure this open-source software is what your online business needs for effective functioning, you need to download it straight to your PC. Just like other open-source platforms, Drupal is free to use. However, once you want to install some premium plugins and themes, obtain hosting and a domain name, you face some fees and payments. Prices for themes, certain functions, etc. are all different.
5. Concrete5
| Product Name: | Concrete5 |
| Official Website: | concretecms.com |
| Founded: | 2018 |
| Active websites created: | Around 60, 000 |
| Test Plan: | Yes |
| Cheapest Plan: | Free |
| Refund: | No |
Concrete5 – is an underestimated open-source CMS in the market. It’s a really hidden blogging gem with a drag-and-drop editor. With Concrete5, website building is no longer a daunting task thanks to its WYSIWYG content editor, as well as the in-built commenting system, and the virtual form builder, which you won’t find in an ordinary WCM. Therefore, Concrete5 can be used to build everything from simple blogs to CMS-based intranets. The key features include robust support with tutorials, a high level of security, mobile responsiveness, flexibility, and user-friendliness.
The downsides of Concrete5, meanwhile, include the relatively smaller array of add-ons, a smaller community, and the obligation to install per domain you are using it for.
Concrete5 is very flexible. You will like the inline editing, in-built blocks such as forms, image-sliders, SEO tools, layout columns in pages, theming, user roles and permissions, and page versioning. It allows users to create custom blocks in order to control the look and feel of the site.
As far as you are concerned about the pricing of Concrete5, just like other open-source platforms, this CMS is free of charge. The prices come once you add expedient extensions to achieve a final satisfying result.
6. Django CMS
| Product Name: | Django CMS |
| Official Website: | django-cms.org |
| Founded: | 2007 |
| Active websites created: | Over 30, 000 |
| Test Plan: | Free |
| Cheapest Plan: | Free |
| Refund: | No |
Django CMS – is a veteran in the industry of content management systems. Despite yielding to other services in popularity, Django, yet, is a premium option in terms of performance and usability. It offers its users a wide array of sought-after features like drag-and-drop content management, multi-site capacity, scheduled publishing, user-friendly frontend editing tools, intuitive site content editor tools, robust security protection, fast processing, effective SEO tools, a wide range of plugins, etc. You see, unlike with many other CMSs, here you can use ready-made packages to add functionalities instead of writing the code. This makes the platform appropriate for new users, too. The CMS is written in Python, which is widely known for its flexibility. This ensures dynamism to website developers to configure the sites right on the go whenever they find it expedient.
On the other hand, if you want to use the whole force of the Python SQL toolbox, know that the ORM system used by Django won’t let that. Furthermore, Django isn’t the best option for small business projects. You see, the CMS’s features come with much coding which takes the server’s processing and time. Low-end websites will face many difficulties with this whereas they can run great on small bandwidth. So, if you aim to build a static one-page website or such, you won’t find Django useful.
Django offers a completely free version to use. To get one, request a demo. Generally, pricing at Django is calculated per feature that you add. It starts at $0.01. To get the full list of features with their prices, contact Support.
7. Textpattern
| Product Name: | Textpattern |
| Official Website: | textpattern.com |
| Founded: | 2003 |
| Active websites created: | Over 2,000 |
| Test Plan: | Yes |
| Cheapest Plan: | Free |
| Refund: | No |
Textpattern – is another reliable and flexible open-source CMSs. This platform might be as powerful as those reviewed above, yet it features some advantages that make Textpattern a worthwhile choice. The platform has such beneficial features as an impressive array of pre-made templates to choose from (they are all mobile-responsive), tons of modifications and plugins all offered for free, interface available in 50 languages. Textpattern features a flexible approach to how you form your content. It enables users to organize their site content into categories and sections while readers can subscribe to certain RSS feeds.
With all these advantages in mind, let’s review the main drawbacks that might repel you as a new user. First of all, one can’t find any one-click installation processes for a Textpattern site. This means that unlike with other CMS platforms, here you have to be skilled enough to set up a database on the web host and use FTP to upload the software.
Furthermore, the platform isn’t as popular as those described above and it may be somewhat complicated to hire a developer familiar with it. If you are OK with all this, you can try the demo version or pass straight to the full version by downloading the client from the official website. To use the services of Textpattern, one must have a domain name and a web hosting account.
8. TYPO3
| Product Name: | TYPO3 |
| Official Website: | typo3.com |
| Founded: | 1998 |
| Active websites created: | Around 286, 000 |
| Test Plan: | Yes |
| Cheapest Plan: | Free |
| Refund: | No |
TYPO3 – is a dependable open-source CMS platform that offers users to run an online business on one platform – the actual CMS, website hosting, security, and backups. It’s especially convenient for beginners due to its user-friendly interface. If we accumulate all the pros in one place, we get a multilingual and scalable service packed with great security, a huge community, LTS and ELTS, SEO friendly tools, central brand management, a series of core features, modular extendability, a multi-page system, and amazing upgrade tools. TYPO3 is a very handy tool, but it has its share of downsides as well. And the basic disadvantage of the platform lies in the difficulty to handle the platform if you don’t have any background knowledge about CMS. Indeed, it allows users to create sites with no HTML knowledge, the customization proceeds with some practice required.
Apparently, the company’s association counts over 900 members while the number of active websites serviced is almost 286, 000. The diversity of niches and scales involved is mind-blowing. TYPO3 is the choice of one-room startups and multinational brands, forward-thinking agencies, and local eCommerce stores.
Like an honorable open-source CMS, TYPO3 is free of charge. And yet, if you need to add any integration, that may cost you some additional expenses. For instance, adding Matomo Analytics to your TYPO3 specs will cost you $19 per month just like the Chatwee messaging app.
9. PrestaShop CMS
| Product Name: | PrestaShop |
| Official Website: | prestashop.com |
| Founded: | 2007 |
| Active websites created: | 310, 000 |
| Test Plan: | Yes (14 days) |
| Cheapest Plan: | Free |
| Refund: | No |
PrestaShop – is a well-known open-source CMS chosen by over 300, 000 merchants worldwide. You see, it’s primarily built for setting up eCommerce stores. With its forthright drag-and-drop interface, PrestaShop has become the favorite CMS for startups and new business owners. The installation and further customization as per the user’s specifications are all conducted easily. PrestaShop allows you to either download the completely hosted o a self-hosted variant both of which are offered for free. The choice should mostly depend on your tech skills.
So, if you have a physical store and want to offer the inventory online, be aware that PrestaShop supports in-store sales. The key benefits of this CMS platform are a plethora of extensions and third-party apps, round-the-clock customer support, easy installation for inexperienced users, the lightweight structure appropriate for deploying in slow internet connection, too, as well as a huge diversity of themes catered to businesses of various spheres, growth possibilities, robust SEO tools, support of multiple currencies and languages, etc.
As far as you are interested in the cons of PrestaShop, the first downside that strikes the eye is the absence of a multi-store feature. As an eCommerce-focused CMS, it should rethink this. The design structure isn’t the thing PrestaShop users are satisfied with, either.
With all this in mind, PrestaShop is a great choice for those users who seek a reliable CMS with robust features and easy setup. Being an open-source CMS, PrestaShop is free to use. Yet, you may as well try out the demo version before stopping your final choice on this platform.
10. Ghost
| Product Name: | Ghost |
| Official Website: | ghost.org |
| Founded: | 2013 |
| Active websites created: | 44, 000 |
| Test Plan: | Yes (14 days) |
| Cheapest Plan: | $9 per month |
| Refund: | No |
Ghost – is the unique open-source CMS platform catered to bloggers. In the market, you might have come across such a description of Ghost CMS as “the headless CMS”. This implies that this system doesn’t demand delivering the content in a specific way. Therefore, whatever content you produce can be displayed not only on your website but also on the mobile app, etc.
The major benefits of this CMS are as follows: the platform features a content editor which uses cards just the way the blocks of WordPress work in the lock editor; with the built-in search optimization tools you don’t need any SEO plugins; Ghost editor allows for using Markdown text formatting style; Ghost allows to charge your website visitors for your content (convenient for online magazines and publications).
Though initially built as a CMS for blogging, Ghost has expanded its features. This is definitely an advancement, yet old users complain the system has become overly complicated. Another feature that is definitely a downside is the inappropriateness for inexperienced website users who have no coding background. And finally, Ghost is suitable only for consistent writers who publish works at least on a weekly basis. If not, the platform will appear rather expensive. You see, Ghost offers a two-week free plan to test one of its four available price tiers. The cheapest plan is the Ghost Starter priced at $9 per month. The other plans are Ghost Creator, Ghost Team, and Ghost Business.
Verdict
Now you are well informed on which CMS platforms are currently leading the market. All the reviewed options have proven reliable, effective, and sensibly priced. Ghost and WordPress are moderately priced with the latter also offering a free plan. Drupal, Magento, Concrete5, PrestaShop, and Django are all free of charge yet lack functionality.
You can choose any of these CMSs with peace of mind, yet we strongly believe that WordPress.org is the best content management system and website builder of all. More than 42% of the websites in the world are WordPress powered. This doesn’t come for no reason. WordPress has all the features that a user will seek in a perfect CMS platform. It is user-friendly while the functionality can be extended thanks to the diversity of available plugins. The collaboration with the most powerful hosting companies allows for one-click WordPress installations. With all this in mind, WordPress is great for running an eCommerce store, LMS, online forum, membership site, marketplace, blog, and generally anything one can think of. Just make sure you are using an officially recommended hosting provider for your WordPress site.
