What is a Content Management System (CMS)?
A content management system (CMS) is the software that sits behind your website and gives you a dashboard to create pages, publish blogs, manage products and update images without needing to touch code every time.
At Smart Web Agency we treat the CMS as the foundation of your digital strategy. The right choice will make content updates easy, keep developers happy, integrate neatly with the rest of your tech stack and give you room to grow for years.
Below is a practical guide to the main CMS platforms we work with most often, how they compare, and where each one makes sense.
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What We Look At When Choosing A CMS?
When we recommend a CMS for a project, we usually start with
Once we know those, the shortlist usually becomes obvious.
CMS Comparison Table
We’ve created this comprehensive comparison table to help you choose the right CMS quickly and confidently, based on our real-world experience across hundreds of projects.
CMS
Typical use cases
Main positives
Main negatives
Cost level (licence + hosting)
Typical development time
Flexibility (design & features)
Scalability (traffic & content)
Hosting model
No-code friendliness for editors
WordPress
Marketing sites, blogs, content hubs, membership, simple e-commerce with add-ons
Open source, huge plugin/theme ecosystem, excellent for SEO, easy to find talent, can be extended in many ways
Needs proper hosting, security and updates; too many options can be confusing without guidance
Software free; managed hosting from low monthly fees
4–12 weeks for most marketing sites
Very high
High
Self-hosted / managed WordPress hosting
Very good once the editor is set up well
WooCommerce (on WordPress)
Online shops, subscriptions, content plus commerce, multi-branch or marketplace-style setups
Deeply integrated with WordPress, huge extensions library, ideal when content and commerce live together
Needs good infrastructure and monitoring as orders grow; complex setups require experienced developers
Plugin free; extra extensions and hosting required
6–16 weeks depending on shop complexity
Very high
High (with the right hosting stack)
Self-hosted / managed WooCommerce hosting
Product and content management is friendly
Shopify
Product-led online shops, DTC brands, retailers
Hosted and PCI compliant out of the box, quick to launch, strong checkout, good app ecosystem
Custom logic and unusual workflows can be harder; monthly app costs add up; content side is improving but basic
Monthly licence plus apps; hosting included
3–10 weeks for most stores
High within Shopify’s framework
Very high
Fully hosted by Shopify
Very good for day-to-day shop management
Squarespace
Small business sites, portfolios, hospitality, simple e-commerce
Very polished templates, easy visual editor, hosting included
Limited integrations; harder to build complex structures or custom workflows; some lock-in
Monthly subscription; hosting included
2–6 weeks for straightforward sites
Medium
Medium
Fully hosted by Squarespace
Excellent for simple edits
Wix
Micro-businesses, freelancers, simple brochure sites
Drag-and-drop builder, fast to get something live, lots of small add-ons
Can become messy if over-customised; moving away later is harder; performance and SEO need care
Monthly subscription; hosting included
1–4 weeks for small sites
Medium
Medium
Fully hosted by Wix
Very high for simple content
Joomla
Legacy sites, some multilingual and community portals
Strong multilingual features, more structure than some older CMSs
Smaller plugin/theme ecosystem; less beginner-friendly; many teams now plan to migrate away
Software free; standard PHP hosting
Varies, often longer due to legacy set-ups
Medium
High with careful architecture
Self-hosted
Reasonable but needs training
Drupal
Government, universities, large structured content, complex permissions
Very powerful content modelling and permissions, good for multi-language and large editorial teams
Developer-heavy; upgrades can be expensive; smaller ecosystem than WordPress
Software free; higher-end hosting usually required
3–9 months for larger builds
Very high
Very high
Self-hosted / specialist Drupal hosting
Editors need training; not a DIY platform
Strapi
Headless CMS for websites, apps and internal tools
API-first, great for multi-channel content, modern developer experience, technology-agnostic front ends
Always needs development resource; no “site” out of the box; editors rely on front-end team for layout changes
Community edition free; paid cloud options available
2–6 months for full multi-channel solutions
High on content model; front end is custom
Very high
Self-hosted or Strapi Cloud
Good for content; layout handled elsewhere
Statamic
Flat-file or database-backed CMS focused on performance and flexibility
Fast, secure, version-controlled content, great for developers, nice authoring experience once set up
Smaller ecosystem; fewer off-the-shelf themes/plugins; usually part of a custom build
Commercial licence plus hosting
6–16 weeks depending on design complexity
Very high
High
Self-hosted (often on Laravel-friendly hosts)
Good; more structured than many legacy CMSs
CMS Comparison Table
We’ve created this comprehensive comparison table to help you choose the right CMS quickly and confidently, based on our real-world experience across hundreds of projects.
| CMS | Typical use cases | Main positives | Main negatives |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | Marketing sites, blogs, content hubs, membership, simple e-commerce with add-ons | Open source, huge plugin/theme ecosystem, excellent for SEO, easy to find talent, can be extended in many ways | Needs proper hosting, security and updates; too many options can be confusing without guidance |
| WooCommerce (on WordPress) | Online shops, subscriptions, content plus commerce, multi-branch or marketplace-style setups | Deeply integrated with WordPress, huge extensions library, ideal when content and commerce live together | Needs good infrastructure and monitoring as orders grow; complex setups require experienced developers |
| Shopify | Product-led online shops, DTC brands, retailers | Hosted and PCI compliant out of the box, quick to launch, strong checkout, good app ecosystem | Custom logic and unusual workflows can be harder; monthly app costs add up; content side is improving but basic |
| Squarespace | Small business sites, portfolios, hospitality, simple e-commerce | Very polished templates, easy visual editor, hosting included | Limited integrations; harder to build complex structures or custom workflows; some lock-in |
| Wix | Micro-businesses, freelancers, simple brochure sites | Drag-and-drop builder, fast to get something live, lots of small add-ons | Can become messy if over-customised; moving away later is harder; performance and SEO need care |
| Joomla | Legacy sites, some multilingual and community portals | Strong multilingual features, more structure than some older CMSs | Smaller plugin/theme ecosystem; less beginner-friendly; many teams now plan to migrate away |
| Drupal | Government, universities, large structured content, complex permissions | Very powerful content modelling and permissions, good for multi-language and large editorial teams | Developer-heavy; upgrades can be expensive; smaller ecosystem than WordPress |
| Strapi | Headless CMS for websites, apps and internal tools | API-first, great for multi-channel content, modern developer experience, technology-agnostic front ends | Always needs development resource; no “site” out of the box; editors rely on front-end team for layout changes |
| Statamic | Flat-file or database-backed CMS focused on performance and flexibility | Fast, secure, version-controlled content, great for developers, nice authoring experience once set up | Smaller ecosystem; fewer off-the-shelf themes/plugins; usually part of a custom build |
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WordPress development
For most content-driven projects we start with WordPress. We have completed 500+ Websites on WordPress that included brochure sites, CRM systems and big membership platforms. Its our bread and butter. We have created plugins and mobile apps connected with WordPress API. We are working on Headless CMS system as well. It gives our clients a familiar editor, strong SEO foundations and huge flexibility for future features.
We have used WordPress for everything from national sports and events websites with complex booking forms through to multi-location service businesses that need fast local landing pages and blog content.
On top of this we usually add:
- Custom theme work so it matches your brand rather than a generic template
- Performance optimisation, caching and image handling
- Security hardening, staging environments and regular updates
WooCommerce development
When a project needs serious content and a serious shop in one place, WooCommerce on WordPress is often the right choice.
We use it for:
- Retailers with multiple locations and mixed delivery / click-and-collect rules
- Subscription and membership products
- Complex Stripe integrations including split payments and multi-vendor models
We usually build custom product templates, checkout flows and reporting dashboards so finance and operations teams can actually use the data.
Shopify development
If your main goal is to sell products online with the minimum of infrastructure to worry about, Shopify is hard to beat.
We help clients:
- Launch new brands quickly on Shopify with a well-chosen theme
- Customise the front end so it feels like a brand, not a template
- Security hardening, staging environments and regular updatesIntegrate with apps for fulfilment, marketing, subscriptions and wholesale
- Connect Shopify with CRM and email platforms
Once the shop is live, we focus on CRO, performance and automation rather than re-inventing the platform.
Squarespace website development
Squarespace works well when design and simplicity are more important than heavy integrations. Check our recent project on Squarespace – Plan Your Career https://www.plan-your-career.com/ .
We tend to recommend it for:
- Independent professionals, studios and small hospitality businesses
- Image-led portfolios where content is mainly pages and galleries
We design within Squarespace’s system, tidy the structure and make sure SEO basics are properly configured so you do not outgrow it too quickly.
WIX Web Development
Wix is a good fit for very small businesses that need something online quickly, but still want it to look considered. Our most recent project is a website for London City Lionesses on WIX https://www.londoncitylionesses.com/ .
Our role is usually to:
- Re-structure an existing DIY Wix site so it feels professional
- Improve speed, accessibility and on-page SEO
- Set up simple forms, booking widgets and basic automations
It can also be a stepping stone before moving to WordPress or Shopify later.
Joomla Development
There are still many solid websites running on Joomla, especially in education and membership-style organisations. Check our project on Joomla https://www.alra.co.uk/ .
We support those teams by:
- Stabilising and updating older Joomla builds
- Improving templates and navigation without breaking existing content
- Planning structured migrations to WordPress when the time is right
Drupal development
For organisations with complex permissions, strict governance and heavy content structures, Drupal is sometimes the best place to be.
We help by:
- Auditing existing Drupal setups for performance and security
- Simplifying content types and workflows so editors are less overwhelmed
- Building custom modules or integrations where required
- Planning long-term roadmaps, including potential headless front ends
Strapi development
Strapi comes into play when you want your content to feed more than just a website. Our recent project with Strapi https://www.markelyagency.com/ .
Typical scenarios:
- A marketing website, mobile app and internal dashboard all drawing on the same content store
- Role-based content workflows where multiple teams publish into different channels
- Modern front ends built in React, Next.js or Nuxt, talking to Strapi via APIs
We design the content model, build the APIs, connect your front ends and train your team to use the Strapi admin.
Statamic development
Statamic is a great choice when you want a high-performance CMS with version-controlled content and a lot of design freedom.
We use it when:
- The site needs to be extremely fast and secure, sometimes even running from flat files
- Developers want tight control and the ability to store content alongside code in Git
- Editors still need a clear, modern control panel rather than markdown files alone
It often suits medium-sized marketing sites that want a more opinionated, developer-friendly alternative to traditional CMSs.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
A CMS is the system you log into to manage your website. You write pages, upload images and click publish; the CMS turns that into the web pages visitors see.
A website builder (like basic Wix or GoDaddy tools) is usually an all-in-one service aimed at very small sites, with limited flexibility. A CMS is a deeper platform that can power anything from a simple site to a complex application, often with more control over hosting, performance and integrations.
WordPress is still the dominant CMS on the web by a long way. It runs everything from tiny blogs to large media brands and enterprise sites.
If you want something that teaches you transferable skills, a well-set-up WordPress site is a strong option. If you just need a very small site as quickly as possible, Wix or Squarespace can be enough to get started.
For simple pages and images, hosted platforms like Squarespace, Wix and Shopify feel very straightforward. With the right editor setup, WordPress is also easy to use, especially once we’ve tailored the admin screens for your team.
A modern CMS is designed for beginners. A developer is still useful to set things up properly, connect other systems and keep everything secure, but editors do not need to depend on them for everyday content changes.
A CMS item is one unit of content: a blog post, a product, an event, a testimonial, a case study, a FAQ entry or a team profile. Each item has fields such as title, body text, images, price, date and so on.
Broadly there are three: traditional CMS (one system controls both editing and front end), hosted CMS (the provider runs everything for you) and headless CMS (content is stored in one place and delivered by APIs to multiple front ends).
For serious projects, self-hosted WordPress is usually the best “free” CMS because the software itself has no licence fee and the ecosystem is huge. You still need to pay for hosting and a domain.
ChatGPT can help with architecture, content and even code, but you still need a CMS or some other framework to host and run the site. Think of AI as an assistant that speeds up each step, not a replacement for a proper platform.
For public-facing business websites, Wix is normally the better option because it has more layout control, templates and apps. Google Sites is fine for simple internal pages but limited for branding and SEO.
If you tell us what you are trying to achieve, how big your team is and which tools you already use, we can usually narrow the options down to one or two CMS platforms very quickly and give you a realistic budget and timeline for each.
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