Choose the right CMS for your website in 2019

If you are convinced about the benefits of a CMS, you naturally have to make a choice from the many options. We go through the most popular platforms so you can make the best choice.

WordPress

WordPress has dominated the CMS market for years and has become pretty much the benchmark for CMS. It’s a very user-friendly and popular system, with thousands of (both free and paying) plugins and themes. You will undoubtedly find a theme that appeals to you and integration with other services is usually very smooth. In many cases, the platform is the best choice. If you want to integrate e-commerce into your website, it is also good to know that WordPress has a very handy and popular plugin for this: the WooCommerce plugin. Attention! Wordpress has 2 variants: wordpress.org and wordpress.com:

• The .org version can be downloaded for free. You then purchase your domain name and hosting yourself.
• The .com variant is more an all-in-one, paying package that includes hosting and domain name. If you don’t know anything about hosting, we recommend that you use the .com version. Furthermore, the cost price of both variants is very dependent on the theme that you install.

Drupal

Drupal offers largely the same functionality as WordPress, but generally has more options for configuring. So it gives you more flexibility and is usually the ideal choice for scalability. As a result, it is often more reserved for the somewhat larger companies. The configuration options come with the cost that the system is more complicated and it may take a little longer before you get used to it. Does this not scare you? Then go for Drupal!

Joomla

Joomla is the oldest platform we are discussing here and has long been the most popular CMS. Although it is an excellent platform, it has lost a lot of market share over the years to the other CMS. Joomla has fewer plugins and extensions available, and many of them are now obsolete. Rumor has it that Joomla would also be less good for SEO. It is probably wiser to look further for a solution that is more “future-proof”.

Wix

Another popular CMS on the rise is Wix. It’s an all-in platform that can be purchased with hosting. It is an intuitive system that allows you to create websites using a ”drag and drop interface”. In terms of ease of use, this is a good choice.

Note that the functionalities are very limited and you’ll most likely need to upgrade to the premium plan if you want your own domain name, plugins and remove unwanted ads.

Magento, Shopify

Magento and Shopify are 2 completely separate CMS platforms, but both are very focused on e-commerce. They distinguish themselves by offering more functionality for e-commerce and therefore offer a way out if you need more advanced features for your online store.

The difference between the two is that Magento can be used fully open-source, and therefore free. Shopify is a paying platform, but is more user-friendly and therefore easier to set up. Magento is the more advanced of the two, where Shopify is more entry-level.

Our choice

If you really need a Content Management System, we recommend WordPress in most cases. It remains a versatile platform, which is enormously popular that will certainly remain for the time being.

Need help setting up a WordPress website? Contact me