The content management system market has exploded over the last few years.
This means that if you’re in search of a new content management system you may struggle to choose the best one to fit your needs.
So, in order to help you out, we will go through the 10 best and most popular CMS platforms in 2021.
1 WordPress.org
Of course, we all know WordPress. There is nowhere else to start. However, it’s important to not confuse WordPress.org with WordPress.com.
WordPress.org is the one you’ve heard of. It is the world’s most popular CMS platform and is used by around half of the world’s websites. It is a free and open-sourced CMS that was originally built for blogging and is not used in ecommerce as a host for online stores.
Pricing: WordPress.org is free yet if you want a domain name it will cost $15 a year and hosting an account with a web host ends to be around $7.99 a month.
2 HubSpot CMS Hub
HubSpot CMS Hub is an integrated CMS that was designed for marketers and businesses owners and was built on top of HubSpot’s CRM platform.
It includes everything from marketing automation, sales, service, and operations tools, rounding it out into an ideal solution for businesses that are growing in addition to enterprises that are looking for an all-in-one system solution.
Pricing: HubSpot CMS Hub has three pricing tiers: Starter, Professional, and Enterprise. Starter plans begin at $25 per month with the higher tiers better suited to the building of more complex web apps.
Joomla
Another popular, open-source CMS platform that is also free, Joomla comes with a lot of template options and extensions.
Like WordPress, Joomla has been around for a while, being released back in 2005. It offers plenty of 1-click web hosting installations. Yet it is really an ideal CMS for experienced web creators and developers, so if you’re inexperienced or a beginner to CMSs then perhaps look elsewhere.
Pricing: Free yet you need to pay for a domain name as well as web hosting.
4 WooCommerce
It’s little surprise that if WordPress is the most popular CMS on earth, then WooCommerce is the world’s most popular ecommerce platform (it is WordPress’s native ecommerce extension.
Like its content brother, is it very easy to use and if you’re already using WordPress then installing it is very simple.
Pricing: as a WordPress plugin, WooCommerce is free, yet you will pay for extra plugins for your online store.
5 Drupal
Yet another open-source CMS platform, Drupal powers websites for some major brands and names, such as multiple universities and the magazine The Economist.
Drupal has a technical level of entry so it is a good option for developers or for those that can hire a developer. In particular, Drupal is good if you’re wanting to build a very customized website with the capability to hold lots of data.
Price: free with paid plans.
6 Wix
Wix is an increasingly popular content management system that comes with a handful of limitations.
It is a beginner-friendly CMS that features easy-to-use drag-and-drop functionality to create professional-looking websites.
Price: free with paid plans.
7 BigCommerce
As a fully-hosted ecommerce platform, BigCommerce can also be called an all-in-one platform, and is ideal for those that don’t have too much experience.
You don’t have to worry about hosting the site yourself since BigCommerce does that for you. In addition to that, it takes care of site security and backups.
Pricing: there is a monthly subscription, with the cheapest plan being $29.95 per month and the most expensive $249.85 per month.
8 Shopify
Another all-in-one CMS platform, Shopify has become more and more popular over the years. One good thing about Shopify is that you don’t need to buy hosting, or manage updates and backups, or install software.
Plus, it has a simple drag-and-drop interface and also supports in-store sales. This makes it ideal for businesses that have a physical store as well as an online store.
Pricing: similar to BigCommerce, with the cheapest plan being $29 a month with the most expensive one being $299 a month.
9 WordPress.com
The other WordPress that touched on earlier. It is the commercial brother of the .org version, and is an all-in-one CMS platform that is hosted for you.
Pricing: free, yet if you want your own domain name then there are paid plans for that. The cheapest is $4 per month while the ecommerce plan is $45 per month.
10 Ghost
A CMS that was specifically designed for bloggers. It is also the only headless content management system on the list. Which enables content to be shown not only on a website but on a mobile app or any digital sign.
Pricing: free, yet you will need to pay for a domain name and web hosting. Their basic plan is $36 a month with the most expensive plan being $249 per month.
