When creating your website, one of the first decisions you’ll typically face is which CMS to choose.
Your CMS is essentially the system you build your website on—and the choice depends on many factors. Different CMS platforms are better suited for different types of websites.
The different CMS platforms you can choose
Here, I’ll mention the most popular CMS platforms and highlight the strengths of each.
For simple websites
If you’re building a very simple website, such as your own blog, there are several great options. Wix and Squarespace are very easy to use because you can design your website using a drag-and-drop builder, and there are a wide range of themes to choose from.
A more advanced version of Wix and Squarespace could be Webflow, a newer CMS that allows you to both code and design exactly the way you want.
And of course, there’s the world’s most popular CMS, WordPress, which is always a safe choice. The advantage of WordPress is that it’s open source, so anyone can develop themes and plugins for it—and it’s constantly being updated.
For example, this website is built using WordPress.
For your online store
If you want to build an online store, I’d consider three CMS platforms: Shopify, WordPress (with WooCommerce), and Magento.
Shopify
Shopify is the first CMS I’d look at if I were building a webshop myself and knew it wouldn’t have thousands of products. It’s an intuitive system with plenty of beautiful themes, easy setup, and powerful features built right in.
WordPress
WordPress, which I mentioned earlier, is also a solid option. With its e-commerce module, WooCommerce, you can transform your website into a webshop with just a few clicks.
However, it’s worth noting that WordPress is primarily designed for blogs—so it’s not the system I’d recommend if you need a large webshop with many products.
Magento
Magento is the CMS I’d choose if I had a developer available 30 hours a week and needed a large online store with multiple custom integrations. It’s a heavy system to get started with—but in return, it offers nearly unlimited flexibility. It just takes time and requires either you or someone else to know how to code.
This was a quick overview of different CMS platforms for different purposes. What’s right for you specifically is something I can’t definitively answer—but hopefully, this article helps you along the way.
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