These days, there are a vast variety of content management systems available for building websites. But how do you determine which is the best one to use for your business? Let’s take a closer look at some of the more popular content management systems (CMS) to help you decide which one to go with:
WordPress
If you’re new to the world of CMS’s, you may not know that WordPress is actually the #1 most widely used platform out of them all. And even if you’re not new to the CMS world, chances are you’ve at least heard of WordPress before, as it powers 43% of all websites on the internet.
WordPress is a highly-extensible, open-source platform which makes it great for developers to build unique and custom websites to satisfy just about any use case or scenario while still making things easy for content editors to make changes to their site’s content. Whether it be a simple 5-page site, or a highly complex website build, WordPress is usually considered the “go-to” for many website developers.
However, due to it’s popularity, this also makes WordPress a prime target for website hackers and spambots, so it’s important that your WordPress site has all the necessary security measures in place and is maintained on a monthly basis to keep all your plugins and code up to date.
Drupal
While a slightly steeper learning curve than WordPress, Drupal still shines (and even excels) in some areas. Like WordPress, Drupal is also open-source and allows developers to extend the functionality via third-party modules that can be installed on the site.
What makes Drupal great is the customization and flexibility that comes with it out-of-the-box. For example, Drupal comes with the ability to create custom “content types” and content fields by default, whereas with WordPress, you typically have to install a third-party plugin or write custom code to enable that type of functionality in your site’s back-end.
Additionally, many government agencies and organizations tend to prefer Drupal considering that the platform is more secure and adapts better to security measures such as PCI compliance.
Shopify
Although both WordPress and Drupal support e-commerce functionality, Shopify tends to be the go-to platform for online stores and e-commerce sites. Straight out of the box, many Shopify themes are optimized for website speed, performance, and conversions. Additionally, Shopify automatically handles the security side of things, including SSL certificates and PCI compliance, which can be a burden on WordPress users who need to manage these aspects themselves.
However, because of all the features that come with Shopify and minimal configuration required, this does come with a slight cost. While WordPress and Drupal are free to develop with, Shopify requires a paid subscription, starting at $39.99 a month (or $29/month if you pay annually) for the most basic plan.
While these are just some of the 3 most popular content management systems, there are a wide variety of CMS platforms out there. Which one you choose just depends on your business objectives, feature requirements, and extensibility. Not sure which CMS is best for your business? Get in touch with us today and we’ll help you determine the best approach!