Which CMS Is the Best
for Your Website?

CMSs, or content management systems, are ready-made tools for creating blogs, corporate websites, and simple online stores. They have a simple interface, basic functionality, and numerous plugins for various tasks. The simplicity of such out-of-the-box solutions is quite attractive for beginners in online business, as it promises a quick start and cost savings. But can these platforms be enough to create a full-fledged web resource, and which CMS should you choose for your website?

Let's evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of popular CMSs for online projects.

What are content management systems?

At the dawn of the Internet, creating a website was a laborious process that required specific knowledge. Content management systems have become a convenient constructor for blogs, where you can add text and images, select menu items, design templates, and publish them online without technical knowledge. At first, these were primitive tools, but open source changed the game. Developers could collaborate on and improve it, and feature-rich platforms such as WordPress, Opencart, and Drupal emerged. The CMS was customized to owners' needs as much as possible, thanks to the additional involvement of IT specialists in the projects.

Today, a CMS is a set of software components that interact with each other:

1. The core includes the essential functionality for managing content and users.
2. A database that keeps track of all information related to customers and website content (texts, images, videos, etc.).
3. The visual presentation is influenced by page structure, design, element layout, animation, and themes.
4. A set of modules that can enhance the functions (such as forums, galleries, and online stores) or integrate with other systems.
5. The admin panel is an interface that allows the user to manage the website and all its elements.

The technical structure of a CMS is complex, and when combined with plugins, it can be disjointed due to the mix of different code components. However, from the user’s perspective, it appears as a straightforward, ready-made solution.

Let’s examine the attractiveness of CMS for beginners in online business and the cases in which they are beneficial.

Which CMS is suitable for your project?

CMSs were developed to democratize the web, enabling individuals to easily create blogs. These systems continue to prioritize ease of use and accessibility of features.

Popular CMSs are constantly evolving and competing. Their core features for websites and online stores include content customization, design selection, and essential functions like product catalogs or blogs. Most additional features are integrated into the central architecture via plugins — pre-built code modules. These plugins enable you to add features such as:

• a blog for store articles and news;
• product and service subscriptions;
• social media authorization;
• customization options for products before purchase;
• delivery cost recalculation based on weight, size, location, etc.;
• online booking for various services;
• access restrictions for different user groups;
• advanced reporting and analytics;
• package deals, discounts, and promotions;
• user feedback management;
• integration with payment systems and delivery services;
• multilingual and multicurrency support;

With intuitive CMS interfaces, most plugins can be easily connected, especially with no heightened security requirements. Launching a website takes just a few hours if you don't need a unique design, complex features, or integrations.

Let’s examine website platforms, comparing their differences and their slogans.

WordPress: “Code is poetry.”

WordPress, originally designed for blogs, remains one of the best platforms for blogging. Among CMS systems, it has the best tools for managing categories, publishing articles, and interacting with visitors. Additionally, the new WooCommerce plugin has made WordPress an e-commerce platform with a wide range of features. LearnDash or LifterLMS are convenient for creating online courses, while bbPress or BuddyPress can be used to develop social networks. Popular WordPress sites include:

• TechCrunch: a well-known technology news portal.
• Harvard Gazette: the website of the Harvard University newspaper.
• The Hill: a popular news site in the United States.

Opencart: “The best free and open-source e-Commerce platform.”

OpenCart is unique among other CMSs because of its simplicity and focus on e-commerce. Famous sites:

• CXRacing: an online store of car parts and accessories.
• Hobbii: an online store of goods for needlework and knitting.

Drupal: “Come for the code, stay for the community.”

A flexible and powerful CMS for a website. Deviating from the principles of CMS, it has a complex interface and requires technical knowledge to set up. Famous web resource:

• NASA: the official website of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the United States.
• The New York Times: an influential and prestigious American newspaper.

Magento: “The world's most flexible e-Commerce platform.”

Magento specializes in creating online stores with extensive functionality but requires technical knowledge. It is a resource-intensive platform that requires powerful servers to function effectively. Popular sites include:

• Helly Hansen: a Norwegian brand of sportswear and equipment.
• Olympus: a manufacturer of photography equipment.

Shopify: “The platform commerce is built on.”

Shopify is a cloud-based solution known for its ease of use and integrated payment processing capabilities. Famous online stores on Shopify include:

• Allbirds: a shoe brand famous for its eco-friendly models.
• Gymshark: a popular brand of sportswear and accessories.
• Kylie Cosmetics: a cosmetics brand founded by Kylie Jenner.

Wix: “Create your website today.”

Wix’s interfaces feature drag-and-drop builders that simplify customization and design, making it very popular. This cloud-based solution also includes built-in SEO tools and integration with social media. You can find a wide range of examples on the Wix site.

Horoshop: specializing in Ukrainian e-Commerce

Horoshop was designed to serve the Ukrainian market, offering tools for creating local online stores and integrating with popular Ukrainian payment systems and delivery services. The most popular sites are:

• MasterZoo: a chain of pet stores.
• Zhuk.ua: a Ukrainian clothing and footwear brand.
• Termincin: an online store of stylish stationery, office equipment, and printing services.

Keep in mind that most online businesses have IT teams to refine web projects, enhance security, and design unique interfaces. While CMS-based sites might only need minimal support, they’re often not ideal for new projects and can be pricier than custom development. Why? Let’s dive in.

Which types of websites are unsuitable for CMSs?

Choosing a CMS is essential for online business owners because they want a cost-effective and professional-looking website. This is true if the site or online store is small and doesn’t require special functionality. However, you may encounter unpleasant surprises such as additional licenses, modules, and specialist support costs if you plan on expanding. As time passes, a site loaded with plugins and tweaks might struggle to handle new traffic spikes and seasonal sales.

There are as many drawbacks to using a CMS for websites as there are advantages. Think of these platforms like a prefab house: they can be set up quickly and are cost-effective, covering all the basics. But over time, as things accumulate, the house starts to crack, and the number of visitors keeps growing daily. You set up new floors, an outbuilding, and terraces with different teams of contractors working without a cohesive plan. Worst, the walls and foundation were not built to handle this load. One day, this “Frankenstein” collapses, and no team undertakes to repair it. It’s more convenient to rebuild from the ground up, on a solid foundation, and have a proper project considering all future loads and expansions. So, is the prefab house in this example more economical than building from the ground up? No, because it can’t even be used as a foundation for a new version of the house. Does this mean a prefab house is unsuitable? No, it’s perfectly fine for specific situations.

For simple websites and online stores, CMSs are adequate. Problems arise as the business starts to grow. The platforms struggle with increased traffic or the addition of features. The weakness of CMSs is the plugins themselves. They are often written inconsistently by third-party developers and contain errors. The more functions your website or online store requires, the more plugins you need. Such redundancy usually negatively affects the loading speed and SEO ranking. Therefore, plugins need to be checked, updated, or deactivated occasionally. In short, this can lead to a lot of headaches for the site owner.

However, this does not guarantee the site’s smooth operation because one of the main problems with CMS plugins is the lack of testing during the development. This isn't always due to a lack of diligence; developers often have limited resources and tight deadlines. Moreover, they need to be tested for compatibility with different CMS versions and other plugins, which is difficult due to their large number. As a result, these independent code blocks often conflict with each other due to lack of isolation, different coding standards, overlapping functions, and requests to the same CMS files. It's also worth noting that plugin developers do not have personal responsibility for code quality to the site owner, unlike in custom development.

CMS simplifies website creation and management, but it isn't a universal solution and don't always allow the site owner to operate without professional help. Here are a few reasons why involving an IT team might be necessary:

• Setting up complex business processes, such as order processing and email distribution, often requires developing special scripts and integrating with various systems.
• Unique functionality that goes beyond the standard CMS capabilities is a challenging task. CMSs offer many templates and modules, but the framework has its limitations. Besides, they are recognizable. If you don’t want your website to have the same design as hundreds of other (often low-quality) websites, it’s time to consider customizing your template.
• Even top-tier CMSs cannot meet high-security requirements due to vulnerabilities from irregular updates and unreliable plugins. That's why cybersecurity specialists are necessary.
• You will likely need to optimize page loading speed, since performance is crucial for user experience and SEO. The IT team often fine-tunes caching, image compression, and other parameters.
• As the business grows, new features must be developed, often through custom plugins, and the system needs stabilization.
• Eliminating website errors is only accessible to a person with technical knowledge. Sometimes, it requires complex technical actions, such as analyzing logs or debugging the code.

Finally, any website needs support and maintenance, which includes regular updates, data backups, security monitoring, and site recovery from attacks.

You can manage independently with a simple website that has minimal functionality. In all other cases, you require specialist involvement, which negates the main advantages of off-the-shelf platforms. However, it's not a cure-all because the CMS codebase can limit further custom development.

To understand this, let's return to the original purpose of CMSs — lightweight, user-friendly blogging tools. Today, they aim to cover complex areas such as e-commerce, corporate websites, and social networks. However, building something complex with a CMS comes with risks and potential pitfalls that today’s businesses often can’t afford.

One might think that a CMS-based site could be a starting point, with the option to transition to a framework as the business grows — but that’s not the case. Initially, CMS is a boxed solution with an established framework. Improving its architecture is impossible or more expensive than building from scratch. It's much more logical to contact a web development company immediately. But why do this if it's more costly, and you don't know what functions the site will need in the future? Because there's an excellent alternative to CMS — MVP.

MVP: an alternative to CMS

The MVP concept is to create a minimum viable product with only the essential features necessary to meet user needs. This allows you to quickly bring the product to market, collect feedback, and continue its development based on the data received, all while maintaining a solid code foundation. It’s cheaper and faster than developing a full-fledged website from scratch, primarily when you use a framework like Laravel. Alternatively, you can use a ready-made design and layout and create only the backend, which will take much less time.

Like a CMS, Laravel has a vast ecosystem of ready-made solutions to implement all functional requirements. However, it retains complete freedom, flexibility, and control over the code. Laravel offers a convenient admin panel with all the necessary functions, without the unnecessary overload often found in ready-made platforms. The fundamental difference with CMS is that Laravel's ready-made code modules are developed with high responsibility for their interaction and are tailored to specific tasks. High security and advanced technologies are ideal for complex, scalable web applications. The MVP approach allows you to quickly adapt to market changes and effectively respond to user needs, which ensures your business’s stable growth and development.

To summarize

When choosing a CMS for deploying websites, we recommend that you first evaluate the functionality and security of the platforms, marketing opportunities, and plugin reviews. Creating a website based on the Laravel framework has numerous advantages for a full-fledged web project and individual business logic. More concise development models, such as MVP, also allow you to quickly develop a website that can be gradually expanded while maintaining a solid foundation. Contact us, and we will find the best solution for you!