Want To Save Your Content, And Your Money? Here Are The 7 Best Open Source Content Management Systems

      Comments Off on Want To Save Your Content, And Your Money? Here Are The 7 Best Open Source Content Management Systems
best open source content management systems

Do your eyes glaze over when people start getting technical about web development? If you don’t know your HTML from your CSS, you need an easier solution like a content management system.

More than a quarter of websites now run on WordPress, making it the most well known CMS in use. But, is WordPress the only open source CMS worth considering?

Well, actually, no! There are many different CMS platforms that are free, easy to use, and can be set up for both personal and business use.

Interested? Let’s run through the seven best open source content management systems available for you to use today. 

WordPress

We can’t talk about the best CMS software to use if we don’t talk about WordPress. As we’ve mentioned already, it’s the most popular CMS in the world with a quarter of websites being powered by it.

It’s more than just a blogging platform. WordPress can power an e-commerce site, a freelancers’ portfolio, a gallery of images for an artist, or a news site for a local paper.

It’s capable of becoming any kind of site you need it to be.

WordPress is designed to be completely customizable, thanks to the wide number of themes and plugins available. Here are 10 WordPress plugins you might need if you decide to build your site around it.

Drupal

WordPress isn’t the only CMS on the block. Drupal may not be as popular as WordPress, but it’s still one of the most popular open source CMS platforms for users.

Drupal is extremely customizable, even more so than the other CMS platforms we’ve listed. It’s quick, with reduced server requirements compared to its competitors.

Installing it is no more complex than a WordPress installation. With so many customizable options, Drupal is ideal for power users looking to create complex websites for businesses or public sector organizations.

If you decide on using Drupal for your site, don’t forget to install these eight Drupal modules to get your new CMS running as smooth as possible.

Joomla!

The second most popular CMS for users is Joomla! It offers a good balance of features and customization for new and power users alike, but it doesn’t have quite the simplicity that WordPress offers in its user management.

One benefit of Joomla!, however, is that unlike WordPress, you don’t need an extensive amount of plugins on a fresh installation. It’s filled with a vast selection of features out-of-the-box for users.

It also includes a wide set of languages built-in, so it’s a good option to build non-English sites.

Check out our ultimate beginner’s guide to Joomla to help you get to grips with installing, optimizing and using it for your own website. 

Magento

Running an e-commerce site online? Magento is a popular CMS for online retail businesses. It’s the first on our list to be designed for a specific purpose, rather than general usage.

That means that its features are specifically designed around fulfilling the needs of an online retail business. It’s got support for multiple languages and currencies, and it can be modified with a selection of plugins and themes.

One potential Magento downside is that only their ‘community’ edition is free and open source. Some of the more extensive functionality is only available if you purchase a license for their ‘enterprise’ edition.

A full content management software comparison between these two editions of Magento can be found here.

TYPO3

Most CMS platforms are feature-rich, which can make them hard to maintain, develop and organize. TYPO3 tries to make the experience easier with a very simple, very basic CMS for static web pages.

It’s not a blogging platform. If you’re a business looking to create a landing page for a product or service, it’s the ideal platform to use. It’s secure, but it’s not particularly modern in its design.

A lack of features isn’t a bad thing if you’re looking to create simple business pages, but it’s a niche platform, and you should consider if it’s the right CMS for your requirements.

SilverStripe

If you like the simplicity behind TYPO3, SilverStripe could be a good alternative. It’s another basic CMS allowing you to create static websites around some (fairly basic) web templates.

Simplicity is the aim with SilverStripe. It’s not trying to be anything fancy, which, like TYPO3, could be either a positive or a negative, depending on what you need.

One issue with SilverStripe is that it isn’t hugely customizable. If you want to extend it further, you’ll need some serious web development skills to be able to code your own extensions.

If you’re looking for simple over endless features, SilverStripe could be the platform for you. 

Fork

Fork makes our third basic CMS for simple web design. It’s not as well known, but it makes this list of the best CMS platforms for being so easy to use.

The Fork interface doesn’t bombard you with hundreds of features or options. The developers maintain and update it on a regular basis. Fork keeps it simple and makes it easy to set up your website the way you want it. 

That means that extensions and themes are lacking compared to a bigger platform like Drupal. If you know a little bit of PHP, however, you can extend Fork yourself.

The Fork CMS does have a few killer features for marketers, however. It includes analytical tools and extensions and is optimized for search engines to find and rank your site.

Build Your Website with the Best Open Source Content Management Systems

Whether your site is for business or pleasure, you should consider building it with one of the best open source content management systems available.

They give you the flexibility of a powerful and customizable website without needing to be an HTML or CSS expert. CMS platforms like these can create the most basic 2-page sites or powerful e-commerce platforms for businesses.

Want to find out more about CMS platforms? Our guides to CMS basics should help you learn more.