Whether you need a content management system for the creation of a blog, a forum, or an e-commerce site, its choice is not without consequences. If he does not contribute to the content as such, he nevertheless makes possible its organization, its management and shapes its presentation.

The number of CMS on the market can make you dizzy and greatly complicate decision-making when choosing the lucky one. As it would be difficult to address them all one by one, we will focus on the most popular ones and see how these can be a good choice for you.

The different content management systems

Hosted CMS or Managed CMS?

Before looking at the different types of CMS in more detail, let’s start by distinguishing between the two categories of CMS: the hosted CMS and the managed CMS. What exactly are we referring to? The hosted CMS refers to obtaining your own CMS, while a managed CMS is an all-inclusive formula offered by an external provider who takes care of the technicalities (such as WordPress and Shopify in particular) as well as the necessary updates. to the development of the CMS.

WordPress

It is of course the CMS designated for the creation of a blog, a website, or the establishment of an e-commerce site. WordPress is generally popular for the wide variety of themes it makes available. However, although this tool is often recommended for novices, it should still be noted that it requires greater computer skills than a CMS like Shopify. Nevertheless, it remains relatively easy to use due to its intuitive interface.

Moreover, its installation can be altogether a bit complicated, especially since you will have to install plugins to personalize your site and ensure that it can meet your needs. It should be noted that WordPress must imperatively turn to external plugins for the management of multilingual content. If the integration of plugins is a relatively easy task to perform, you should know that they sometimes have security flaws, which require vigilance.

Although its general performance is altogether satisfactory, it should still be remembered that WordPress can have some difficulty supporting high traffic. Also, the updates necessary for its optimization are frequent, leading to a sometimes considerable administrative burden.

As nothing is perfect, remember that the taxonomy system of WordPress could gain in flexibility and that the customization of its posts is not as advanced as that offered by Drupal.

Shopify

Its name is probably no stranger to you, especially since its popularity is constantly growing. There are many reasons for this enviable favorite position: an easy-to-configure interface, easy management of features, and efficient assistance in the event of a problem (by email, telephone, or video). On this point, note that the features are particularly easy to use, which is a major advantage.

Let’s conclude by talking about the fact that you will be able to create your e-commerce platform thanks to Shopify without ever needing to resort to another site for its development.

Drupal

This faithful competitor of WordPress is a CMS used more for large commercial projects. We generally appreciate the fact that the types of personalized content it offers to provide more possibilities than those offered by WordPress. Its taxonomy system (i.e., the way of grouping content) is particularly flexible, which allows it to easily process a large amount of content.

Do you need a CMS?

In terms of access controls and rights, it should be noted that Drupal has an integrated access control system making it possible to create roles with individual permissions. In addition, remember that the site’s functionalities are integrated directly into the core of the CMS, which is not the case with all content management systems.

What else to say about this CMS which is also among the great favorites? First, let’s highlight the fact that Drupal offers a wide choice of extensions and it offers support for multi-domain management. It must be said that its configuration is a complex task to perform and that the basic version requires the installation of plugins.

Joomla

Although its use is declining, it should still be mentioned that it is a good choice for managing a site or a blog without having advanced programming skills. It recognizes the advantage of offering a very large number of extensions, some of which are paid while others are not. However, these sometimes have to be updated manually, which is a point against it. Also, rights management is only partial, which is also one of its weak points.

As for its installation itself, we can say that it is relatively easy. Moreover, a large number of features are already available at the time of installation. Easy to use and offering a very large number of neatly designed themes, Joomla, it is often said that the performance of Joomla is comparable to that of Drupal, while its use is as easy as that of WordPress.