The Top 11 Content Management Systems (CMS)
Discover the top CMS solutions to help you create, manage, and deliver web content for your audience.
Written by Joel Witts
Technical Review by Laura Iannini
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Adobe Experience Manager Sites
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Contentful
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Contentstack
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Drupal
A web Content Management System (CMS) is a piece of software that’s built to make creating, managing, and publishing web content a simple and efficient task for non-technical users.
Need to create or an update a webpage without coding? No problem. A CMS can handle it for you, with an interface that makes uploading a webpage as easy as uploading a social media post.
How it works: A robust CMS will offer a user-friendly dashboard, an easy-to-use WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) content editor, publishing support, SEO optimization, and built-in security controls.
Yes, but: Not all CMSs are created equally. They come in all shapes and sizes, ranging in features and functions.
Some CMS providers might tailor their offering around a specific industry—like e-commerce, for example.
Types of CMS: There are multiple different types of CMS, including ‘coupled,’ and ‘headless’ CMS. Some are open-source code, others offer a proprietary, license-based product.
Feeling lost? Let us help you find your way.
We’ve hand-picked each solution based on the quality of its offering, the strength of its feature set, and its user reviews. We’ll give some background on each vendor, explore their solution’s key features, and recommend the business size and industry that it would best suit.
To learn more about CMS and how it works, head to our FAQs section at the end of this article.
Wix Studio CMS is a robust content management solution that enables efficient website content management and scaling. It offers dynamic content display and a full suite of SEO options to enhance search engine rankings.
Why We Picked Wix Studio CMS: We like its dynamic pages that maintain consistent layouts while automatically updating content. Its AI-driven features and no-code animations streamline the development process.
Wix Studio CMS Best Features: Key features include dynamic pages, a responsive editor for all screen sizes, seamless integration with dynamic pages, multi-site management with account-level analytics and SSO, an intuitive client dashboard, customizable data collection and management, translation into over 180 languages, and robust permissions and privacy settings. For developers, it combines Wix CMS, Wix Data API, and CRUD Permissions to manage dynamic site visitor inputs with minimal hard-coding.
What’s great:
- Dynamic pages keep layouts consistent with automatic content updates
- Full suite of SEO options enhances search engine rankings
- AI-driven features and no-code animations streamline development
- Seamless integration and multi-site management
- Robust permissions safeguard site edits
Pricing: For detailed pricing, visit the Wix Studio CMS website directly.
Who it’s for: Wix Studio CMS is ideal for designers and developers building and managing complex content-driven websites, enabling safe and easy client content updates.
Adobe Experience Manager Sites
Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) is a leading headless CMS and digital asset management system, powering over 128,000 websites. It offers robust tools for building and managing digital content across multiple channels.
Why We Picked Adobe Experience Manager: We appreciate AEM’s brand-aware generative AI capabilities and its universal drag-and-drop editor, which simplify web content creation.
Adobe Experience Manager Best Features: AEM includes generative AI features, a real-time universal drag-and-drop editor, workflow automation, multi-site and multi-language support, and extensive APIs and integrations with Adobe and third-party services. Its code foundation optimizes web development with clear separation of code, content, and design, supported by an edge-based architecture for reduced latency and faster load times.
What’s great:
- Brand-aware generative AI enhances content creation
- Universal drag-and-drop editor simplifies web content management
- Automates key workflows and integrates with other tools
- Supports multi-site and multi-language for global reach
Pricing: For detailed pricing, contact Adobe directly.
Who it’s for: Adobe Experience Manager is ideal for businesses looking to manage digital content across multiple channels, particularly those with global operations and e-commerce needs.
Adobe Experience Manager Sites
Contentful
Contentful is a headless CMS that enables users to create, manage, and deliver adaptable digital experiences across various channels. It offers a flexible platform for publishing content to any digital platform, ensuring seamless and fast user experiences.
Why We Picked Contentful: We appreciate Contentful’s ability to publish the same content across all digital channels via flexible APIs. Its user-friendly interface simplifies content management and delivery across multiple time zones and locations.
Contentful Best Features: Key features include flexible APIs for content delivery, a modern and easy-to-use interface, role-based access with SSO integration, and the ability to publish content across multiple platforms. Contentful integrates with in-house and third-party applications, tools, and extensions, and offers reliable 24/7 content infrastructure.
What’s great:
- Flexible APIs enable seamless multi-channel content delivery
- User-friendly interface for easy content management
- Role-based access with SSO integration enhances security
- Reliable 24/7 content infrastructure ensures uptime
Pricing: Contentful offers a free plan for individuals, with enterprise pricing available upon request.
Who it’s for: Contentful is ideal for large enterprises across all industries seeking a powerful solution for omni-channel content delivery. It is popular with Fortune 500 companies but also suitable for individual users.
Contentful
Contentstack
Contentstack is a fully customizable headless CMS founded in 2018, designed to empower editors and developers to create engaging web content across multiple channels.
Why We Picked Contentstack: We like Contentstack for its ease of use in creating, editing, and publishing content. Its block-based editing system and real-time live content preview streamline content management.
Contentstack Best Features: Key features include block-based content editing, real-time live preview, collaborative workflows with in-line comments, and the ability to create multiple page variations. For developers, Contentstack offers API-driven content retrieval, supporting multisite and omni-channel delivery. The platform ensures security with role-based access, granular permissions, audit logs, SSO, two-factor authentication, and a 256-bit content store. It integrates seamlessly with third-party applications.
What’s great:
- Intuitive block-based editing simplifies content management
- Real-time live preview across all channels
- Robust security features including 256-bit encryption
- Supports collaborative workflows with in-line comments
- Enables creation of multiple content variations
Pricing: For pricing details, contact Contentstack directly.
Who it’s for: Contentstack is ideal for mid-size to large organizations in e-commerce, hospitality, and finance sectors seeking a cloud-based, headless CMS that facilitates easy content publication across all channels.
Contentstack
Drupal
Drupal is a robust, open-source CMS built on PHP, enabling organizations worldwide to manage and publish dynamic web content effectively.
Why We Picked Drupal: We appreciate Drupal’s extensive customization capabilities through its vast library of modules and themes, alongside its strong multilingual support, which facilitates global content delivery.
Drupal Best Features: Key features include easy content editing, role-based user access, automatic language translation, and a modular design with over 40,000 modules. Drupal supports multilingual content delivery, offers more than 2,500 website themes, and includes sophisticated APIs for content creation across channels. Integrations include thousands of add-ons for enhanced functionality.
What’s great:
- Facilitates multilingual content management with automatic translations
- Highly customizable with extensive module and theme libraries
- Supports personalized user experiences based on behavioral data
- Robust security features including role-based access and database encryption
Pricing: Drupal is open-source and free to use, though costs may arise from hosting and custom development.
Who it’s for: Drupal is ideal for developers, marketers, and brand agencies in sectors like e-commerce, finance, travel, higher education, and government agencies seeking a flexible and customizable CMS.
Drupal
HubSpot CMS Hub
HubSpot CMS is a leading customer relationship management platform that integrates CMS capabilities with tools to help you easily create websites and landing pages. It offers a user-friendly experience for editors and flexibility for developers, making it a versatile choice for businesses looking to enhance their online presence.
Why We Picked HubSpot CMS: We like HubSpot CMS for its ease of use for editors and flexibility for developers. It provides a comprehensive library of 3,500 paid and free landing page templates editable via a simple drag-and-drop editor.
HubSpot CMS Best Features: Key features include a vast library of templates, multi-language content support, personalization options, SEO recommendations, custom reporting, built-in security with role-based access and user permissions, 24/7 monitoring and threat detection, and single sign-on (SSO). It integrates seamlessly with HubSpot’s leading CRM and supports easy integrations with hundreds of third-party apps and tools.
What’s great:
- User-friendly drag-and-drop editor for easy page creation
- Extensive library of customizable landing page templates
- Multi-language content and personalization features
- Robust security measures including 24/7 monitoring
- Seamless integration with HubSpot’s CRM
Pricing: For detailed pricing, visit HubSpot directly.
Who it’s for: HubSpot CMS is best suited for small to mid-sized teams looking to create web pages and landing pages with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor, particularly those already using or considering HubSpot’s CRM.
HubSpot CMS Hub
Joomla!
Joomla! is an open-source, coupled CMS that enables users to create, manage, and publish digital content through a user-friendly platform. It is free to use, with extensive documentation, tutorials, and an active community forum for support.
Why We Picked Joomla!: We appreciate Joomla!’s free and open-source nature, along with its robust feature set that includes easy content editing, SEO optimization, and multilingual support.
Joomla! Best Features: Key features include an easy-to-use drag-and-drop content editor, SEO tools, multilingual capabilities, and over 8,000 extensions for customization. It also offers built-in two-factor authentication and role-based access control for enhanced security. Joomla! is built on a model-view-controller framework, which can be separated from the CMS, and includes TinyMCE as the default WYSIWYG editor.
What’s great:
- Free and open-source with extensive support resources
- Packed with useful features for content management
- Highly customizable with thousands of extensions and templates
- Suitable for non-developers with an intuitive interface
- Offers strong security features like 2FA and access control
Pricing: Joomla! is free to use.
Who it’s for: Joomla! is best suited for teams across various industries, including government, non-profits, publications, e-commerce, and corporates, seeking an easy-to-use, coupled CMS for managing basic websites.
Joomla!
Kontent.ai
Kontent.ai, formerly Kontent by Kentico, is a SaaS-based headless CMS that simplifies content creation, modification, and publishing for editors while offering developers high flexibility. It enables seamless content delivery across all digital channels via API.
Why We Picked Kontent.ai: We appreciate Kontent.ai‘s ability to build powerful pages with modular content and its seamless content delivery across all channels via API.
Kontent.ai Best Features: Key features include modular content building, seamless multi-channel content delivery via RESTful API, built-in content scheduling, editorial calendars, asset management, personalization capabilities, real-time collaboration, and an intuitive dashboard. Developers can use their preferred software for creating websites and apps, with content still delivered seamlessly. Integrations include compatibility with various digital platforms.
What’s great:
- Enables easy creation of powerful pages with modular content
- Seamless content delivery across all digital channels
- Intuitive dashboard for real-time collaboration and editing
- Built-in content scheduling and editorial calendars
- SOC2, ISO27001, and 27017 certifications ensure security
Pricing: For pricing details, visit Kontent.ai directly.
Who it’s for: Kontent.ai is best suited for larger organizations across all industries seeking an advanced, headless CMS for omnichannel content delivery.
Kontent.ai
Shopify
Shopify is a leading e-commerce platform that combines a CMS with tools for managing online businesses, including order and inventory management, and Point-of-Sale (POS) systems.
Why We Picked Shopify: We appreciate Shopify’s user-friendly design that allows setup and management without deep technical knowledge. Its comprehensive dashboard simplifies managing web pages, blogs, products, orders, and analytics.
Shopify Best Features: Key features include a unified dashboard, advanced reporting for customer analytics and sales, over 70 e-commerce templates, built-in SEO tools, support for international businesses with translations into 50+ languages and local currencies/tax rates. For developers, it offers a headless CMS, level 1 PCI compliance, role-based access, 128-bit SSL encryption, and over 6,000 third-party apps via the Shopify API.
What’s great:
- User-friendly with no technical expertise required
- Comprehensive dashboard for all business aspects
- Robust international business support
- Strong security features and compliance
- Extensive third-party app ecosystem
Pricing: For detailed pricing, visit Shopify directly.
Who it’s for: Shopify is ideal for SMBs seeking a scalable, easy-to-use e-commerce solution that supports growth and peak shopping periods without performance issues.
Shopify
Sitecore Experience Manager (XM)
Sitecore Experience Manager (XM) is a robust digital experience platform that empowers organizations to create and manage personalized, omnichannel user experiences without requiring technical expertise. It is part of the Sitecore Experience Cloud, which includes four products that can be used independently or together.
Why We Picked Sitecore XM: We like that Sitecore XM enables editors to easily create and manage content while delivering a fast and seamless digital experience across all channels. Its user-friendly interface and extensive integration capabilities make it a versatile choice for organizations.
Sitecore XM Best Features: Key features include a drag-and-drop page builder with a WYSIWYG editor, support for multiple websites, locations, and languages, and a library of over 100 customizable components, templates, and layouts. It integrates with Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma, and Sketch for digital asset management and supports multisite, multilingual publishing. XM can be deployed via the cloud or on-premises and integrates with numerous third-party tools, applications, and plugins.
What’s great:
- User-friendly interface with drag-and-drop functionality
- Extensive integration capabilities with popular design tools
- Supports multiple websites, languages, and locations
- Offers a vast library of customizable components
- Enables fast and seamless digital experiences across channels
Pricing: For pricing information, please contact Sitecore directly.
Who it’s for: Sitecore XM is best suited for mid-sized and large organizations, particularly in the commercial, financial, travel, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors, looking to enhance customer experience through personalized, omnichannel digital interactions.
Sitecore Experience Manager (XM)
WordPress
WordPress is the leading content management system (CMS), powering 43.2% of all websites. It offers an open-source, free-to-use platform for hosting and managing web content.
Why We Picked WordPress: We appreciate WordPress’s user-friendly interface for editors and its high degree of flexibility for developers. It supports a vast range of content types, including webpages, images, and videos.
WordPress Standout Features: Key features include a highly flexible and user-friendly platform, an extensive library of over 57,000 plugins and 31,000 themes, an intuitive user dashboard, drag-and-drop editor, live preview functionality, role-based access permissions, and regular updates. It conforms to W3C standards, ensuring browser compatibility.
What’s Great:
- Easy to use for both developers and non-technical users
- Thousands of plugins and themes for customization
- Intuitive dashboard for content management and analytics
- Drag-and-drop editor with live preview
- Open-source, allowing free use and modification
What To Consider:
- Extensive customization may require technical expertise
- Security depends on proper configuration and updates
Pricing: WordPress is free to use, with costs for hosting and premium themes/plugins.
Best suited for: WordPress is ideal for SMBs and enterprises across all industries, particularly popular with blogs and publishing websites.
WordPress
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why do I need a CMS?
Some of the key benefits of using a CMS to manage your web content include:
- Easy content creation without needing to know how to code
- Built-in SEO optimization
- Keeping cost down
- Built-in security features
- Easy collaboration and workflows
- 24/7 access and remote editing
- Content scheduling capabilities
- Easy integrations with existing tools and applications
- Community and developer support
Can anyone use a CMS?
In theory, yes. CMSs are designed to help anyone—whether they have deep technical knowledge, or not—to easily create and publish content. But the type of CMS that you invest in does factor into how easily you’ll be able to manage it.
If you choose a coupled CMS, then non-technical users—such as marketers and content editors—should have no issue with creating, modifying and publishing content without needing to engage developers. But if you go with a decoupled or headless CMS, then you’ll usually find that non-technical users can still easily create and manage content, but you’ll need a developer or two on hand to help with building and connecting to your frontend display.
What’s the difference between coupled, decoupled, and headless CMSs?
To answer this question, we need to get a little more technical—so bear with us.
A website is generally built up of two core components. These are the frontend, which is the forward-facing part of your site that visitors will be able to see and interact with, and the backend, which is hidden from visitors and is where you can edit, store, and arrange content. The backend is also where your databases, APIs, servers, and operating systems live.
A coupled CMS, as the name suggests, is one that couples the frontend and backend together on one system. A decoupled CMS, on the other hand, separates the frontend and backend into two different systems which connect to each other via API. And a headless CMS lacks a frontend altogether, but can connect to any system on any channel via API.
You’ll often see the terms “decoupled” and “headless” used interchangeably—but they aren’t quite the same thing. Headless is actually a subset of decoupled. So, a headless CMS is always decoupled, but a decoupled CMS isn’t necessarily always headless.
Do I need a coupled, decoupled, or headless CMS?
As with all types of software, there are advantages and disadvantages to whichever CMS you end up choosing.
Coupled: Because the frontend and backend are wrapped up into one system, using this type of CMS will enable you to easily modify and manage how content looks on the frontend. But the main disadvantage is that it’s designed to deliver to web browsers, and so will struggle to convert content for omnichannel, multi-device viewing.
This type of CMS is great for more basic websites, or smaller organizations that don’t have a technical team to support the website.
Decoupled: Because the frontend and backend are decoupled, this type of CMS facilitates omnichannel delivery and allows a higher degree of flexibility. A decoupled CMS is also frontend agnostic but does come with a built-in frontend, which is optional to use. A key disadvantage is that this type of CMS is more complex to use and configure.
We recommend this type of CMS for growing websites that need a product that can scale alongside them and that have a developer or two on hand to support the platform.
Headless: Because this type of CMS doesn’t come with a frontend, content will exist in raw form on the backend. But what’s great about that is that it means it can be delivered to any channel or device via API. Key disadvantages of using a headless CMS are that you’ll need developer help as well as another system to act as your frontend. Headless CMS also often won’t allow live previews of content before it goes live, or personalization of the user experience.
Headless CMSs work best for organizations looking to deliver content across a range of channels—including apps and IoT devices—as opposed to creating complex websites. We’d recommend this type of CMS larger organizations that have a team of developers on side to support the project.
What’s the difference between an open source and proprietary CMS?
Every piece of software you come across is based on a source code. This essentially functions as instructions for an application or solution, telling it how to work and act. And, if you want a piece of software to behave differently, then making changes to the source code will do the trick.
An open source CMS is one that’s built on source code that’s not only free for anyone to use, but also free to modify and share. Open source software is popular because it often comes with a community of developers that contribute to the platform, and it’s also a lot more flexible in terms of the control you have over your website.
A proprietary/closed source CMS, on the other hand, means that the source code legally belongs to an organization or individual, can only be used under license, and can’t be modified or shared. Proprietary software is great if you’re looking for a stable, easy-to-use piece of software that’s under the responsibility of the provider to fix if anything goes wrong.
Written By
Joel Witts is the Content Director at Expert Insights, meaning he oversees all articles published and topics covered. He is an experienced journalist and writer, specialising in identity and access management, Zero Trust, cloud business technologies, and cybersecurity. Joel is a co-host of the Expert Insights Podcast and conducts regular interviews with leading B2B tech industry experts, including directors at Microsoft and Google. Joel holds a First Class Honours degree in Journalism from Cardiff University.
Technical Review
Laura Iannini is an Information Security Engineer. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity from the University of West Florida. Laura has experience with a variety of cybersecurity platforms and leads technical reviews of leading solutions. She conducts thorough product tests to ensure that Expert Insights’ reviews are definitive and insightful.