CMS is the engine that drives your website content. The primary function of the CMS platform is to assist in creating, managing, and modification of content in your digital space. You’ve probably read about the best and worst CMS platforms over the internet many times, but our comic book references make this one super-heroic interesting.  

All the open-source and even paid CMS platforms claim to offer you the easiest and robust way to manage your digital content. While some of them are more efficient than the others, it depends majorly on what is your website’s core purpose. And, if your preferences match with the features of the available platform, Voila! 

We’ll list out the major CMS features and benefits, their pros and cons and what kind of customers they cater the most. 

WordPress  

WordPress is the popular kid in the town that everybody loves and knows about. One of the top CMS platforms, WordPress allows you to build a feature-rich website with loads of free plugins, pre-made third-party themes designed for all types of industries. It also helps in the easy setup of the on-page SEO of your website. 

Whether you want a blog website, a small business website, a portfolio website, a user-profile based website, WordPress is your one-shoe-fits-all CMS. It's like Superman, it’s fast like Flash, bulletproof like Iron Man, Flies like Thor, actually better than Thor and from another planet like Wonder Woman. You get the idea.

 

Top Pros of WordPress

Plugins: If you are on WordPress, be nice to Plugins as you have to deal with them a lot. The other way to look at it is they solve most of the developing problems. You can transform your regular website into a forum-based website using a plugin, with minor tweaks from an expert developer of course.  

SEO: WordPress helps you set your website’s on-page by improving content on the page, inserting the right keywords maintaining the density. And, if similar keywords are repeating on several pages it does point out that issue as well.  

Themes: The popularity of the platform doesn’t need proof when there’s a large community of developers continuously developing free and paid themes. There are businesses running solely selling WordPress themes and support services.

Top Cons of WordPress  

Updates: Kryptonite is Superman’s weakness and Our Super CMS, WordPress, has its weaknesses too. Installing updates is hectic as it brings problems to a website every time an update is installed. Some plugins might stop working and those plugins might be handling the most important functionality on your website. And, installing the updates becomes mandatory to use for your website’s overall health.  

Hacks: The second con or the Doomsday for our Superman its vulnerability. However, this is an issue with every open-source platform. Websites built on these platforms are prone to hacks. If you have a dedicated team of developers constantly checking the site’s backend for security, then you are covered. 

Unnecessary Code: WordPress free themes contain heavy unnecessary codes that make the website slow. So, an expert developer is what you need to clean the code. 

Drupal  

A go-to CMS platform for e-commerce websites, small businesses, and personal websites, Drupal is mentioned with equal weight as WordPress is. The advanced functionality in Drupal is easily available at your fingertips. Drupal is like Jarvis that does whatever you tell him to do and he is loaded with technological functions. Guess what, if you use Drupal, this puts you in the Iron Man suit.   

Top Pros of Drupal

Multiple Content Types: Managing multiple content types such as polls, podcasts, user management, videos, statistics among others is easy with Drupal. You can segment the pages through paths, website URLs making your categories and lists. This feature makes it easy to use, re-use, search and structure the webpage content.  

Plugins: Plugins is the superpower that almost every open source CMS has, and Drupal is no exception.  

Element Customization: With pre-designed themes and page functions configurations, tweaking them as per your requirement becomes easy regardless of the complications in it. In addition to that, rapid prototyping fastens your work a lot.  

Secure: Jarvis knows how to protect himself from Ultron. Unlike WordPress, Drupal is more secure as it has regular security updates.

Top Cons of Drupal

Learning the Platform: Learning Drupal development methods can be tough just like developing Jarvis A.I., but it’s subjective and depends on how you take the learning curve of the platform. If you are ready to put yourself in the Iron Man suit, you can crack Jarvis’ code easily.  

Updates: Updating the modules with every Drupal update is another area that makes the job tedious for the developers. Developers have to rewrite the modules to support the newer versions of the CMS. More third-party modules you add, slower it becomes. It is primarily because the third-party tools are not coded well, and optimization of the codes eats up a lot of time of the developers.  

Scalability: Drupal has a plus point of security over WordPress, but when it comes efficiency and scalability, Drupal loses a few points to WordPress.  

Installation: Jarvis is advanced and so is Drupal. Therefore, you have to be an advanced level developer to work on it. The installation script is tough and not user-friendly as compared to that of WordPress.  

These are the major pros and cons of Drupal that Computan developers faced while working on Drupal.  

HubSpot  

There can be a whole ebook written on HubSpot, maybe more than one, but I will try to mention the important points on this pillar page. CMS is one of many service domains that HubSpot covers. We have discussed two open-source platforms. Now, it’s time to bring in a paid one. So, which superhero is HubSpot? I know I used Iron Man Reference before, but HubSpot is Iron Man. 

 

Imagine what’s Iron Man without his suit - Genius, Billionaire, Playboy, Philanthropist.  

And, what’s HubSpot if not a CMS – a CRM tool, Marketing Software, Sales Software, and it has its service Hub as well.  

 

You not only get a CMS but a fully built-in inbound marketing package that covers your email marketing, blogs, social media marketing, landing pages and Call to Actions. From day one it starts giving you features to capture leads and grow business. So, you know why it is paid.  

If you are not tech-savvy and avoid heavy coding, HubSpot is for you. Drag and drop options with easy customization are a delight for the developers. 24/7 live chat/call/email facility doesn’t let you wait long for resolving any issue.  

One cannot deny Computan’s Love for HubSpot as we are HubSpot partnered agency. However, we will still give you an honest review and list its cons as well.   

When it comes to large enterprises or building eCommerce websites, HubSpot is not a wise choice. And, because it is paid, the cost tends to go up when your business grows and you want to unlock more features, add more team members. The cost factor is subjective as businesses that are generating leads with the HubSpot platform don’t mind paying for extra features.   

WIX  

WIX has been around since 2006, but it recently covered a massive market because of its rapid site building abilities, which are catering to the startup ecosystem and infopreneurs.

If any CMS platform has made drag and drop interface easy for desktop as well as for mobile customization then that is WIX. And, everything can be coded for customization. WIX is a publicly traded company so you can expect the product standards. It scores high in reputation and safety.  

But, WIX seems to leverage the reputation by not allowing even their paid users to transfer their websites. In the free version of WIX, you are forced to use WIX’s branding.  

This scenario might not be good for websites with multiple expansion plans, but those with limited offerings and want to stick to business profile and blogging, WIX is a good option.  

For me WIX is Batman! The cape crusader is liked by some and hated by some. And, as Bruce Wayne manages his alter ego Batman pretty well, WIX entertains the drag and drop DIY website builders and code-loving developers both.

 

Top Pros of WIX  

  • A Reputed platform for developers of all levels WIX offers business-centric customization.  
  • One-click SSL certified. No manual installation and it promises speed and security.  
  • Batman has Alfred, Wix has its Customer Support who is always there to resolve your issues.  
  • Easy backend options and beautiful layout.  
  • Batman doesn’t have superpowers. That's a con. Wix too has its cons. Let’s look at some.  

Top Cons on Wix  

  • If you don’t have design knowledge, you can drag dan drop elements anywhere and make your website look ugly.  
  • It pushes you to use their own branding on the free version of the site.  
  • Non-transferable websites. You have to manually copy paste your website data to the new site.  
  • Wix’s app market doesn’t have many authentic solutions or apps, unlike other app stores.  
  • It has faced wrath from the SEO professionals due to its non-seo-friendly websites.  
  • It lacks some technicalities and scalability. After all, Batman is human and mortal.  

Squarespace  

A decent one, I would say, not difficult to use, but not intuitive as well. In comparison with other CMS platforms, Squarespace has a better customer support system and blogging features and it portrays itself as the website builder for eCommerce websites, portfolio sites, and blogs.  

Squarespace looks fresh and out-of-the-box for a website builder. One might face a few usability issues in the beginning, but once you get hold of the platform, you can play around and develop remarkable websites.  

Users can even do the website editing through the Squarespace’s mobile app, which is, however available only for iOS. Squarespace does offer you ample templates, but they score low on the page speed test.  

Squarespace is like Wonder Woman – beautiful, powerful, and can save you the day. However, as we see in the wonder woman movie, she learns about today’s world slowly, Squarespace websites do respond a little late because of the speed issues.

 

Top Pros of Squarespace  

Detailing: Squarespace gives a lot of attention to the details of the elements for different screen resolutions. Images and font sizes easily fit into desktop, tablets, and phones. If you intend to make changes in the images and font size  

Blogging: For small businesses, Squarespace is a great option because it offers a feature-rich functionality and support for the blogs. Taking it a step further, you can even add your podcasts on your Squarespace website.  

Customer Support: If you ever get stuck anywhere while building your website, the 24/7 customer support from Squarespace can give you instant solutions.  

Editing Through Mobile App: Squarespace’s core app, which is only available for iOS allows you to edit almost every element of the website through the app.

Top Cons of Squarespace  

No Autosave: Manually autosaving your work is acceptable, but the developers would appreciate an autosave feature.  

Instant Publishing: All the saved changes are published immediately. This is a bit inappropriate while saving large updates.  

Better Menus: Mega menus or websites with larger menus are difficult to accomplish on Squarespace.  

Low Page Speed: This is a major con as this affects your overall SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and user-friendliness of the website.

DotNetNuke (DNN)  

Microsoft backed open source Content Management System, DNN (DotNetNuke) is widely used to create and manage the content of commercial websites for small- and large-scale businesses.  

Being a Microsoft product, the scalability options are huge with DNN. Whether you look at the structure or security, DNN has its pros in those areas.  

However, manual configuration from the starting stage, expensive modules, and not adequate customer support are a few of the cons of DNN. 

 

Top Pros of DotNetNuke  

Scalability: DotNetNuke is backed by Microsoft just like Spiderman is backed by Tony Stark. And, the good scalability options are a no surprise.  

Security: Microsoft has made sure that DNN users get regular security updates just like Tony Stark upgrades Spiderman’s suits.  

Structure: The portal structure of the DNN allows the users to bring multiple websites under one parent website.

Top Cons of DotNetNuke  

Starting from Scratch: In 2020 when you have code-free platforms, DotNetNuke gives you a blank page, to begin with. You will have to manually configure all the elements and extensions.  

Support: Tony Stark doesn’t always come to rescue Spiderman. Such is the case with DNN. Even after being backed by Microsoft, DNN lacks good customer support.  

Paid-Free-Paid: Unlike WordPress that offers free plugins, the modules in DotNetNuke are not free. The basic ones do come free, but beyond the basic ones, the modules which you require for a feature-rich website are paid.  

Umbraco  

Looking for a WordPress alternate with more flexibility in design and data architecture? Switch to Umbraco. Developed on ASP.NET, you get more control over customization and better workflow with Umbraco just like DotNetNuke.  

This is one I am leaving it on you, let me know in the comment section which Superhero you feel Umbraco is.

 

Top Pros of Umbraco  

Great Data Structure: Employees, companies, friends, information about companies, it doesn’t matter what type of data you want to save. It’s easy as pie with Umbraco.  

Complete Control: With ASP.NET being the core platform along with CSS, HTML, you practically take complete control of the website appearance.  

Large Community: As Umbraco is a popular CMS so a huge community is expected along with many extensions to the basic features and functionality solutions.

Top Cons of Umbraco

Complex: Working on Umbraco isn’t easy. The developers need to customize the platform for every project. So, there’s a learning curve. One simply can’t install it and start developing a website.  

Plugins: before Umbraco 8, there weren’t many plugins available and the ones that are available now are not 100% reliable.  

Coding: All the changes you need to do requires coding knowledge. So, the non-coders will have a tough time with Umbraco.

 

HubSpot or WordPress – The Quick CMS Comparison  

Multiple factors decide which CMS platform is best for you. Once Computan developers receive the project brief, they can guide you well. However, at this stage following points can incline you toward one.  

 

  • - HubSpot is not too technical as compared to WordPress. Hence, finding good HubSpot developers is easy. One can build lead generating websites easily that have adequate functionality and looks good too. If this is what you are looking for, go for HubSpot.  
  • WordPress is rich in functionality and feature and it opens doors for a new set of categories such as eCommerce which is not available in HubSpot.
  • HubSpot offers you complete inbound marketing solutions while WordPress covers on-page SEO factors.
  • WordPress is open-source but that also makes it an easy target for hackers. HubSpot is proprietary CMS so you get an extra layer of security for extra bucks. And, to save your company’s data and sensitive information in the digital space, security features cannot be neglected. 

Let's wind up this bigger chunk of content piece listing pros and cons of the top CMS platforms. Share your thoughts and do let me know which superhero Umbraco is.