For our buying guide of the best content management system (CMS) software, we evaluated the top performers as well as programs that occupy a specific industry niche. We sought out services that go beyond just uploading and managing content. We looked for platforms that offer customization, including plug-ins for eCommerce and SEO optimization,
so your website does what you want it to do, and it shows up high in search engine rankings. We also looked for applications that allow multiple users to upload content and that allow you to customize security settings for different users of the software.

Best Overall CMS

While it may have started as a blogging platform, WordPress is one of the largest and most widely used CMS platforms today. It’s estimated that nearly 60 percent of websites that use a CMS choose WordPress. By its own estimate, 24 percent of the web operates through WordPress. Major websites that use WordPress include The New Yorker, Best Buy and Xerox.

WordPress is open source, which means that you don’t need to purchase alicense to operate it. In addition, open source software is constantly being enhanced by a community of contributors, including web developers, who create plug-ins and themes for the software. This makes it a good choice regardless of whether or not you know how to code or have a web developer or a team of developers. The software can be customized to fit your needs.

WordPressis one of the most popular content management systems, servicing thousands of users and websites because it offers flexibility of tools with an easy-to-use interface. While it lacks in basic web creation tools, it still has extremely useful native and third-party business add-ons to quickly create functional eCommerce sites.

Its content-approval tools, SSL compatibility and granular privileges secure your content by limiting access according to administrative levels you set. WordPress has email verification, automatic problem-notification features and captcha tools to keep the site secure on the user side as well.

WordPress has a fair amount of standard add-ons that should be included with any content management program, such as blogs, email help forms and site maps. It is also one of the few CMS programs we reviewed that has graph and chart generators. In addition, it offers thousands of native or third-party plugins and add-ons for small businesses, including shopping carts, inventory management, affiliate tracking and point-of-sale systems. Using the clearly labeled dashboard, you can customize any of these tools to fit your personal business needs. WordPress offers a sandbox to test content changes without having to publish it first.

It offers content, document and project management, file distribution and project tracking. However, it doesn’t support database reports, and lacks search engines.

WordPress is simple to use. It offers drag-and-drop functions, a spellchecker and quick undo tools so you don’t have to delete large sections of your work and start over. The interface is intuitive, but this CMS program lacks site and style wizards that provide step-by-step instruction for novice users.

Because WordPress is so popular, there is a large web presence of community users. It offers blogs, web pages and social media posts concerning common – and uncommon – problems using the CMS software. You can also find source codes for features you may need. WordPress itself has user guides and discussion forums on its website and offers email support.

WordPress is a powerful content management system with easy-to-use web-development tools for both standard web pages and interactive business sites. It lacks a couple of common CMS tools, but the app section is vast as is the community of users who are willing to share tips and code to help you make a powerful business website.

If you have an online store, what you need from a CMS will differ from that of a standard website. Many CMS applications have plug-ins for eCommerce, but there are also those that are developed specifically for eCommerce sites. Magento rates as one of the best, with an open source platform and a variety of different options for eCommerce businesses of all sizes. Prominent clients include Burger King, Nestle and Zumiez.

Magento Community Edition is the basic platform, well suited for small businesses or tech-savvy entrepreneurs just starting out who want to build a webstore from scratch. If you don’t know how to code, there is a community of users creating extensions with new features that you can add on to your store. Magento also supports multiple currencies and
languages, which makes it a good choice if you have international customers.

Enterprise and Enterprise Cloud Edition are options for larger-scale sites. The Cloud Edition includes webhosting. There are costs associated with these options, but they include assistance with installation and troubleshooting.

The Magento content management system (CMS) is geared toward creating attractive and powerful eCommerce websites. It offers out-of-the box capabilities with ready-made themes while allowing for unlimited ability to
customize with your own code. Thus, it’s a good choice for growing businesses.