Pros and Cons of a Content Management System (CMS)

A Content Management System, or CMS for its acronym in English, allows you to create and manage your website as you please, ideal for companies and news portals, for example, where content must be published frequently.

You may be wondering, do I need to use a CMS to create my website? Perhaps you will get an answer by looking at our video, and in the text below, the advantages and disadvantages of these.

Advantages of a CMS

One of the great advantages is that a person who does not program can update their own content.
Updating the content is quite simple. After the initial learning curve of the CMS, you will find it quite easy to update your content.
If you have content on your website that changes regularly, like weekly specials, an updated calendar, or a blog, publishing your own content could save you a lot of money in the long run. The alternative to making your own updates is to pay your developer monthly maintenance or hourly rate for changes which can be quite expensive.

Disadvantages of a CMS

A CMS is a huge security risk unless it is regularly maintained and updated. Although most CMS release updates/fixes/patches regularly, widely used content management systems generally invite more hackers than websites that do not use a content management system or encrypted websites.
Due to its need to constantly update, your hosting company may shut down your unmaintained website, as a security hole in your website may cause other sites on the server to be compromised. This is now standard practice for hosting companies.
The need for skilled technicians to maintain and update software means that content management systems can be expensive to maintain.
You must learn the CMS. As with any new tool or resource, time should be spent learning how to get the most out of the tool. This will vary, depending on your comfort level with computers.

What are the advantages of WordPress as a CMS?

WordPress is an open-source website builder that is easy to use and does not require any in-depth knowledge of coding or programming. This comprehensive platform is written in PHP, a scripting language used specifically for web development. WordPress has the platform and tools to power all kinds of media, especially blogs and standard websites.

Advantages of WordPress

Ease of use – WordPress is much easier to use, especially for non-developers who want to run their own website.
Extensibility – WordPress third-party theme and plugin communities make it equally easy to extend WordPress without the need for custom development. Some people even claim that with the right plugins, WordPress can do everything Drupal can.
Easy to Get Help – Having a global community of developers that is growing every day makes WordPress an easy CMS to get answers and help with any questions or issues that come up.
Lower development costs – WordPress offers more “out of the box” solutions, and WordPress developers are often more affordable than Drupal developers.

What are some CMS that are similar to Drupal?

If Drupal is not the best option to create and manage your website, these five options similar to this CMS can help you get exactly what you need for your project or content portal.

Drupal-like options

WordPress

WordPress is an all-inclusive website builder that is open source, free, and easy to manage on the back end. It has gone from being a popular blogging platform to the best option for almost any type of site. With WordPress, you can edit pages, maintain an SEO-focused blog, create a store, create forms and landing pages, and much more.

Weebly

While it offers a long-term free plan on a smaller scale than WordPress or Drupal, Weebly is a super affordable paid solution. For $6 a month, it gives you access to several features and capabilities that rival more expensive options.

Weebly has always remained easy to use, offering an intuitive and foolproof editing system. From content management to eCommerce, Weebly lets you design your site just the way you need it on an existing framework. It also has many free templates to choose from to create the website of your dreams.

Wix

Another intuitive and easy-to-use CMS, Wix offers many features in a low-cost package. Due to its drag-and-drop editing platform and easy-to-use, no-coding control panel, Wix is the ideal choice for content managers and new site builders, especially when they don't have extensive programming knowledge.

Even after you build your site, it's easy to maintain. You can easily implement your marketing plan as Wix offers SEO tools, analytics, contact forms, and many more features to successfully promote your site.

HubSpot-CMS

A CMS built by marketers for people who need a marketing-focused builder. HubSpot CMS is a complete content management system. One of its biggest drawbacks is its price, starting at $400 per month, plus a mandatory $1,000 onboarding fee. But it comes with dedicated support and some pretty amazing features, making it worth its price.

HubSpot is designed to be easy to use for creatives, marketers, and small business owners. It comes with tons of features, including the ability to A/B test web pages.

Kentico

Kentico is incredibly adaptable and efficiently scales with your business as you grow from a small endeavor to a larger enterprise. You only need minimal coding knowledge to create custom pages. Kentico has a ton of useful features, including multiple user permissions, a customizable dashboard, Google integrations, customer support team apps, and much more.

What is the difference between a self-hosted CMS and a cloud-based CMS?

A self-hosted CMS, such as WordPress.org, is installed and managed on the user's server, offering greater control and customization. A cloud-based CMS, such as WordPress.com or Shopify, is managed by a service provider and requires less technical maintenance from the user.

Pros and Cons of a Content Management System (CMS)