Ultimate CMS Comparison Between The Best 17 Blog CMSs In The Market

Comparing content management systems (CMS) is essential for any business owner looking to create or maintain a website. With a range of options available, it can be tough to know which is best for your unique needs. In this post, we will review the top CMS platforms to help you make an informed decision. We will also touch upon various benefits of blogging for business. Get ready to dive into the top-rated CMS platforms and take your website to the next level.

What Is A CMS?

CMS (Content Management System) platforms are essential tools for individuals who want to create a website without having to delve into the complexities of coding. These platforms offer easy-to-use interfaces that allow users to develop dynamic and responsive websites without the need for coding knowledge. Thanks to the intuitive nature of CMS platforms, users can create web pages effortlessly.

This way, you can focus on website content and design, rather than getting bogged down in the technical details of web development languages. The wide variety of CMS platforms cater to different needs, such as blogging, e-commerce, company websites, and community websites. Let me give you a brief overview of some popular CMS platforms.

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The 4 Types Of Content Management Solutions In The Market

1. Web Content Management

In CMS comparison, I would like to share that if you are planning to create a classic content publishing site that is different from a blog, news publishing, or social networking site, you will need a CMS that offers the capability of multiple editors' access to the backend, an optimized process for multimedia content publishing, user role management, full-text search options, and multilingual support. Web content management systems are designed to meet the requirements of a classic web content management site, which are quite extensive compared to blogging or community publishing sites.

2. Blog or News Publishing

As a CMS comparison specialist, I know that if you aim to build a blog or news publishing site, you must opt for a solution that provides easy content preparation templates, a straightforward method for engaging with readers and categorizing content, the ability to allow and manage guest posting, link building, and a robust social sharing option. These features are essential for creating a successful blog or news publishing site.

In the realm of CMS comparison, social networking sites demand more functionality than blogging sites. When creating a social networking site, you need to manage an active community with user-generated content in addition to your own content. The performance, speed, and flexibility of your social networking site must be superior to cater to the needs of your users effectively.

4. eCommerce Store or Multivendor Marketplace

Among all the various types of sites, eCommerce sites are the most intricate. In addition to features required by typical blogs, news, or social sites, you need additional functionality like payment gateways, delivery options, shipping integrations, and more for an eCommerce store or multivendor marketplace. To establish your own eCommerce store or multivendor marketplace, you must select a versatile CMS that can meet all your needs and requirements.

Why Use A CMS To Create A Website?

Handmade websites, built without a content management system (CMS), require the involvement of software developers familiar with various programming languages such as HTML, PHP, and JavaScript. Creating a website this way allows for a more complex and tailored site, but it can take a long time and expertise to develop.

Globally, approximately 6 out of 10 websites rely on a CMS. These systems offer numerous advantages, including

Ease of Use

CMS platforms typically include a back-office with clear ergonomics, making it easier to create websites and pages using a WYSIWYG editor that shows the final result right away.

User-friendly and Mobile-friendly

Each CMS offers templates to create responsive websites that work on all devices, adapting to our changing browsing behaviors primarily done on smartphones.

Multi-user Management: Teams can work together to design and develop websites by assigning roles to contributors for editing permissions, code access, and more.

Advanced Customization

CMS platforms offer plugins for adding extra features like subscription forms, social media buttons, and more.

Community

Active communities in popular CMS platforms provide opinions and advice to improve websites.

SEO

CMS platforms improve content presentation, webpage performance, and search engine ranking.

Ultimate CMS Comparison Between The Best 17 Blog CMSs In The Market

1. Feather

Feather is an SEO-friendly blog that allows you to publish blog content through Notion, and it requires no coding or design skills. Feather allows companies to write blog content on Notion and automatically publish it to their Feather blog. Feather allows you to setup a Subfolder blog (domain.com/blog instead of blog.domain.com, because subfolder is better for SEO).

Feather enables companies to get the HubSpot experience through Notion by allowing them to manage all of their CRM and website blog management through Notion. We also offer options to change design with custom CSS, collect Emails, and much more. Write on Notion, and automatically get that published to SEO-friendly blog – Collaborate with the entire team easily during the publishing process

Try Feather’s notion to blog software for free today — create a new account and go from notion to blog in minutes!

Pros

User-friendly content management

Open-source and free

Countless extensions and plug-ins

Large community and plenty of support documentation

Suitable for any project

Cons

Steeper learning curve than newer, easier-to-use CMSs

Sometimes overkill for smaller projects

Vulnerable to hackers owing to userbase size

2. Drupal

Drupal is a versatile, open-source CMS that helps its users create everything from basic blogs to social networks. Setup is slightly more complicated than WordPress, and you will likely want to change some default settings.

With that said, Drupal is well-suited for experienced developers looking to bring more detailed websites to life. As an open-source CMS, Drupal is free. Since it's a self-hosted CMS, you will have to pay separately for hosting, a domain, securing your website, and more.

Pros

Free, open-source CMS

Versatile, developer-friendly, and great for detailed projects

Can be enhanced with various modules

Cons

Designed for pros

Setup more complicated than WordPress

Many modules must be paid for

3. Wix

Wix is an easy-to-use cloud-based website builder. It’s the brainchild of 3 founders:

Avishai Abrahami

Nadav Abrahami

Giora Kaplan

They founded Wix in 2006. Now Wix powers more than 3.4% of all CMS websites. And this number is gradually growing up. For beginners who want an all-in-one solution for creating a website from scratch, Wix will be a top choice to consider. With Wix, you can create a website, edit your content, and publish everything on the web without writing a single line of code.

Even if you don’t have any design or development skills, you can build a Wix website in minutes.

Pros

Easy to set up and configure, even for the beginners

Allows to design websites by using drag and drop system

Availability of more than 500 ready-to-use Wix templates

Regularly publish new tools and designs

Dedicated team to support you with regular lessons via phone or email

Cons

If you are using the Wix free version, you’ll have a Wix subdomain in your URL

Once you’ve chosen a template on Wix, you can’t change to a different one

You can’t run an eCommerce store on Wix unless you upgrade to a paid plan, and even then, you can only accept payments using PayPal or Authorize.net

4. Squarespace

Squarespace is another popular website builder on our list. In 2004, Casalena officially launched Squarespace, and over the years, the company has grown steadily, raising $38.5 million in 2010 and $40 million in 2014.

As of now Squarespace powers more than 3% of all CMS websites. Squarespace is used to build creative and professional websites. If you don’t have any technical knowledge or prior website designing experience, you can still create your online presence with Squarespace.

Pros

Extremely easy to use

Over 130+ responsive all-purpose templates (optimized for desktops, tablets, and mobile devices)

Free SSL included with all plans

Unlimited storage and bandwidth

Strong eCommerce platform

Cons

Customization limitation which means you’ll only be able to customize within your template’s preset rows

There is no support for third-party apps, plugins, or extensions

5. Joomla

Joomla is another popular free open-source CMS platform that comes with lots of different templates and extensions. It’s free to use, but you’ll need hosting and a domain name. Joomla powers 1.72% of all websites. It was first released in 2005, so like WordPress, it’s been going for years.

Joomla is packed with features, and many web hosts offer a 1 click installation. It’s really an ideal CMS platform for developers and experienced website creators, so it’s not such a good option for beginners.

Pros

Joomla gives you lots of flexibility and plenty of options.

Although Joomla is particularly useful for developers, you can still use it even if you don’t want to ever touch a line of code.

Joomla is open source, and there’s lots of community support available if you get stuck.

Cons

Joomla can be pretty complex.

There aren’t that many options for additional extensions. If you’re used to a CMS like WordPress, which has thousands of available themes and plugins that extend the core functionality, you might be disappointed by Joomla.

There can be some compatibility issues if you have a lot of different extensions and modules installed.

6. BigCommerce

BigCommerce is a fully hosted eCommerce platform, which is sometimes called an all-in-one platform. It’s easy to get started with if you’re a beginner. BigCommerce hosts your site for you, as well as providing the actual CMS platform itself. It also handles security, backups, and caching for you.

Pros

There’s a trial plan, so you can give BigCommerce a go before committing.

You can use a free domain name from BigCommerce, which will look something like mystore.mybigcommerce.com, or you can pay for a custom domain name.

There are lots of different ways you can take payments through BigCommerce. Customers can use digital wallets like PayPal, Apple Pay, and Amazon Pay, or they can pay by credit or debit card.

BigCommerce has support options that you can access straight from your dashboard, 24/7.

You can use BigCommerce with WordPress if you want to, which can give you the best of both CMS platforms.

Cons

BigCommerce doesn’t give you as much control over your store as WooCommerce. There are limited themes and integrations which may hold you back from using a third-party service to grow your business.

Once your sales reach a certain threshold per year, you’ll be automatically moved up to the next level of the pricing plan. This could be difficult for you if you have a lot of expenses.

7. Adobe Commerce (Magento)

This e-commerce solution quickly became a major leader on an international scale. Robust and highly configurable, it is mainly suited to complex and ambitious projects that require a high degree of customization and a certain technical expertise. There is a learning curve involved in its administration interface.

A strong infrastructure will also be required to realise its full potential. Unlike our managed web hosting solutions, which come with one-click installation of a CMS like PrestaShop or WordPress, installing a Magento solution requires some solid technical knowledge. You can choose to deploy Magento on a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or a dedicated server.

Pros

Magento is highly customizable, with lots of third-party extensions available that you can use to add extra features.

With Magento, you can handle lots of products and customers. It lets your business grow easily, without your site slowing down. (You’ll likely need to upgrade your hosting plan, though.)

There are some really big name brands using Magento, including Nike, Ford, and Coca Cola.

You can connect different payment gateways to Magento. It also comes with certain options, like PayPal, cash on delivery, and bank transfer already built-in.

Cons

If you’re just starting out in eCommerce, Magento might seem overwhelming.

It can be tricky to find good developers for Magento projects, and it can be very expensive to hire them.

The support available can vary, particularly if you’re using Magento Open Source and relying on online forums for help.

8. Blogger

Blogger has been around since 1999. As you can tell from the name, it’s a CMS platform that’s specifically geared up for blogging. It’s a free service provided by Google. Blogs on Blogger normally have blogspot in the domain, though it’s possible to use your own domain name instead.

Pros

Blogger is easy to get started with. You can set up a blog in minutes, and it’s well designed for writing and publishing posts

There are a number of gadgets that you can add to your blog for free so that you can include things like a contact form and even ads on your blog.

Your blog is hosted by Google. You don’t need to install anything, update anything, or pay for hosting.

Blogger offers a generous amount of space. There’s no limit on how many posts you can have per blog, and you can have up to 20 static pages. Your images are stored in Google Drive, so they’ll count towards your 15GB limit there.

Cons

If you want to run a website that isn’t a blog, Blogger won’t be the best CMS platform for you. It doesn’t have any eCommerce features, for instance.

While all the themes available are free, they’re pretty basic. You can modify them a bit, but you can’t create your own themes. If you want something more specialized, you’d need to hire a designer.

While you can export your posts if you want to switch from Blogger to WordPress, you’ll need to copy your pages over manually.

9. Medium

Medium is famous as a blogging and content-sharing platform. If you want to create a blog or news publishing site, Medium could be one of the best CMS solutions. Not only that, Medium was selected as the top 3rd blogging platform in a survey of the Slant community.

Pros

Reader-friendly interface

Minimalist pages

Easy setup and easier publishing process

Stats on views, complete reads, shares, etc.

Cons

Limited editing with WYSIWYG

Poor commenting system

The user interface isn't so good according to some experts

10. TYPO3

TYPO3 is a free, open source CMS platform that has been around even longer than Blogger. It was originally released in 1998. It’s an enterprise CMS, which means it’s useful for intranet sites (internal company sites) as well as websites. There are a number of extensions available for TYPO3 that offer extra functionality, too.

Pros

TYPO3 can handle really large websites, including ones that have multiple websites in different languages. It’s a good option for large international companies.

Because it’s open-source, TYPO3 can be extended you want, if you’re willing to hire a developer to work for you.

You can easily modify the access rights of different individuals and groups who work on your site.

There are over 6,000 extensions and applications that you can add to your TYPO3 site to include new features.

Cons

There aren’t all that many themes available, so you’ll likely have to hire someone to create one for you.

You’ll need a pretty high degree of technical expertise to get TYPO3 up and running, and to maintain it.

11. PrestaShop

A favourite for many online retailers, PrestaShop is undoubtedly one of the most famous e-commerce solutions on the market. It is relatively easy to set up and configure, and stands out with its rich catalogue of add-ons.

This French platform offers the opportunity to create an online store at a low cost and in record time. Although it sets itself apart with its tailor-made projects, its intrinsic qualities have managed to attract leading brands. Without any doubt, this is a must-have solution for anyone looking to get started in e-commerce.

Pros

There’s a large PrestaShop community. This includes an official forum where tips and tutorials are shared, plus lots of other groups.

You won’t have to pay extra as your shop grows (unless you need to upgrade your hosting plan).

There are loads of PrestaShop modules, so you can add new features easily.

It doesn’t cost much to get started with PrestaShop, especially if you’re on a cheap shared hosting plan.

Cons

PrestaShop can have quite a steep learning curve to begin with.

There are plenty of themes (designs) available from PrestaShop, but a lot of these aren’t very good. You may have to spend a long time looking through them to find something that’ll work for your online store.

12. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce platform in the world. It’s really flexible and it’s easy to manage. WooCommerce isn’t technically a CMS platform itself. Instead, it runs as a plugin on WordPress, so you’ll need to have WordPress on your site in order to install WooCommerce.

Pros

WooCommerce is available as free software, but you’ll need WooCommerce hosting and domain name to get started.

There are lots of WooCommerce themes available, which makes it really easy to get your eCommerce site looking exactly how you want.

WooCommerce has lots of available extensions (known as WooCommerce plugins) that let you add extra functionality to your site.

You can sell physical or digital products using WooCommerce. You can even sell affiliate products through affiliate links.

You can fully manage your inventory through WooCommerce, making it easy to keep track of what you have in stock.

WooCommerce comes with PayPal and Stripe payments by default. You can also add any other payment gateways through extensions and add-ons.

Cons

There are a lot of different options in WooCommerce, which can be a bit daunting when you’re new to setting up a website.

WooCommerce technically works with any WordPress theme, but you may want to stick with themes made specifically for WooCommerce for extended support.

13. Optimizely

Best known for its A/B testing features, Optimizely has been steadily expanding their tools for marketers. After being acquired by Episer the two have combined their strengths to create the Optimizely content cloud. This tool allows editors to create and share visually appealing content with ease and also provides developers with a means to quickly create and launch new pages and sites.

Pros

Compatible with several programming languages so you’re not forced to use just one

Emphasizes speed with features like “publish everywhere” and decreases the time it takes to go to market with a new project

Headless content management model allows for flexibility

Has separate backend and front-end management systems

Con

The multiple package offerings all work together, you may not get everything you need in just one.

14. Bitrix24

Bitrix24 is a business tool that offers a CMS platform alongside other features like the ability to manage your tasks, projects, communications, and customer relationships. It’s free at the basic level (which offers up to 5GB of online storage and 12 user accounts) and offers an all-in-one solution for small businesses. If you want a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tool, it could be a good choice.

Pros

The basic level of Bitrix24 is free, meaning you can try it out without committing anything.

There are a huge number of features included with Bitrix24, giving you everything you need to manage a small to medium-sized company.

The website builder has a drag and drop interface that includes landing pages and even eCommerce stores.

Your website hosting is free (if you’re on the free plan).

Cons

Bitrix24 is really geared up for use as a CRM, so if you’ve already got a CRM you’re happy with or you don’t want that functionality, it’s a rather complicated way to get a CMS platform.

As there are so many features, you may find the Bitrix24 interface confusing or tricky to navigate.

15. Textpattern

Textpattern is a simple, straightforward CMS platform that’s been available since 2003. It’s open source and has plenty of documentation to help you get started.

Pros

There are lots of Textpattern modifications, plugins, and templates (designs) available completely for free.

Textpattern has a flexible approach to how you structure your content. You can use “sections” and “categories” to organize it, and readers can subscribe to specific RSS feeds for different parts of your site.

Cons

There’s no 1-click installation process for Textpattern with any of the major web hosts. It’s not too tricky to install, but you will have to be comfortable with creating a database on your web host and using FTP to upload the software.

Textpattern isn’t particularly well known, and it’s much less popular than other CMS platforms like WordPress. You might find it hard to hire authors or developers who are familiar with it.

16. Ghost

Ghost is a CMS platform specifically designed for bloggers. You’ll often hear it described as a “headless CMS,” which might sound quite odd. This just means that the CMS platform doesn’t force content to be delivered in a specific way.

So, the content or data you produce could be shown on a website, but it could also be sent to a mobile app or something else entirely. If you’re not a developer, though, or you just want to use Ghost for blogging, you don’t need to worry about this.

Pros

You can use Markdown when you’re writing in the Ghost editor. Markdown is a way of formatting text where you add special characters around words to make them bold, italic, and so on.

Ghost has a content editor that uses cards. These work a bit like WordPress’s blocks in the block editor.

There’s great support for SEO (search engine optimization) built into Ghost. You don’t need to add any plugins to deliver this.

Ghost is well set up for charging for content, so if you want to run an online magazine or publication that people pay for, you can do this easily.

Cons

Ghost doesn’t offer the same amount of power and flexibility as WordPress.

Although Ghost started off as a CMS platform designed just for blogging, some users feel it’s become overly complicated as it now offers things like paid subscriptions for your site’s readers.

17. HubSpot CMS Hub

HubSpot CMS Hub is a fully integrated content management system that is specifically designed for marketers and business owners. Because it is built on top of HubSpot’s CRM platform which includes all sorts of marketing automation, sales, service, and operations tools, CMS Hub is an ideal solution for growing businesses as well as large enterprises looking for an all-in-one system to manage their website.

Pros

HubSpot website builder is easy to use even if you have little to no technical skills. Their drag-and-drop editor, built-in SEO tools, and contact attribution all makes it easy to create and optimize your web content.

They have smart content features to personalize your website page to specific visitors or larger segments.

For developers, there are serverless functions, flexible theme options, and command line tools, so you can make changes and customize assets faster.

Cons

There is a free version, but it requires you to have HubSpot branding on your site.

HubSpot CMS isn’t as well suited for eCommerce websites. The good news is that it easily integrates with WordPress and WooCommerce.

Complete Step-by-Step Guide On How To Create A Blog for Your Website on Notion with Feather

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5 Criteria For Choosing A CMS

1. Ease of Use

Ease of use is crucial when choosing a CMS. It has a significant impact on the adoption rate and workflows of your workforce. The ideal platform should be user-friendly for everyone involved in your team.

2. Customizability

While ease of use is essential, you will ideally want a CMS that offers both ease of use and customizability. A CMS with extensive customization options and flexibility can scale with your business as it grows.

3. Security

Security is paramount when choosing a CMS. You need a platform that will keep your content, users, and front-end visitors safe. Evaluate what role the platform assumes and what role you must take in protecting your site

4. Pricing

Budget plays a crucial role in choosing a CMS. You want a solution that meets your needs, visitor expectations, and budget. Many platforms offer different tiers of plans with resources that scale up at each price point.

5. Prevalence in the Market

To narrow down your options, consider the list of successful customers using a particular CMS. If reputable brands in similar industries are using a particular CMS, it indicates the platform's features are valuable and can expand with a growing company.

Use Notion As Your Blog CMS With Feather

Feather is an innovative SEO-friendly blog platform that seamlessly integrates with Notion, allowing you to effortlessly publish your blog content without the need for coding or design expertise. With Feather, you can write your blog posts on Notion and have them automatically published to your Feather blog, streamlining the content creation process.

One of the standout features of Feather is its capability to set up a Subfolder blog, which enhances SEO by integrating your blog into your main website domain (e.g., domain.com/blog) rather than creating a separate subdomain. This approach can significantly improve your website's search engine ranking by keeping all your content under one roof.

Enhanced CRM and Blog Management with Feather

Feather offers an excellent opportunity for companies to leverage the power of Notion for seamless CRM and website blog management. By linking Notion with Feather, you can centralize your content creation and customer relationship management, replicating the HubSpot experience without the need for additional tools.

This integration allows you to manage all aspects of your CRM and blog content through Notion, providing a comprehensive solution for your business needs. As a result, you can streamline your workflows, improve collaboration, and enhance productivity.

Customization and Additional Features of Feather

Feather goes beyond basic blog publishing by offering customization options through custom CSS. This feature enables you to personalize your blog's design according to your brand identity, creating a unique online presence.

Feather allows you to collect email addresses directly from your blog, enabling you to build an email list and engage with your audience more effectively. By providing these additional features, Feather ensures that you have a comprehensive blogging solution that meets your specific requirements.

Seamless Team Collaboration with Feather

Feather facilitates seamless collaboration among your team members during the blog publishing process. By writing your content on Notion and automatically publishing it to Feather, you can easily involve all stakeholders in the content creation and review process.

This feature enhances transparency, streamlines communication, and fosters teamwork, resulting in high-quality blog content that resonates with your target audience. Feather's user-friendly interface and intuitive workflow make it easy for team members to contribute to the blog without any technical barriers.

Try Feather Today!

If you are looking for a user-friendly, SEO-friendly blog platform that seamlessly integrates with Notion, Feather is the perfect solution for your business. With Feather, you can create, manage, and publish blog content effortlessly, without the need for coding or design skills. Experience the power of Feather's notion-to-blog software by creating a new account today and transforming your content creation process within minutes.

Start your Feather journey today and unlock a world of possibilities for your blog!