Speaking about the potential of creating a site on a free CMS, we mean that you already have hosting and a domain purchased for this business. Otherwise, the idea will be futile. Hosting and domain cost - the volume of investments, which is taken as a constant and is not discussed. We will take this option as a zero starting point for creating a site on free CMS.

If you don't have hosting yet, we can recommend AdminVPS web hosting - the minimum price of 69 rubles/month ("Promo" tariff) will be a good offer to start. WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are installed on the hosting in 2 minutes directly from the ISPmanager panel. If you want to practice without investments at all, try to create websites, then it is better to do it on free website builders - there sandboxes are much more convenient for beginners.

As examples, we have chosen the most popular free CMS - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. These are the best platforms, and beginners choose from these engines when entering the field of website building. We compared the possibilities for creating sites in these systems. What can you expect if you invest only in hosting and a domain? Does it even make sense to twitch without a budget and experience? How far can you reach, relying only on your own strength and free add-ons?

WordPress is the most massive free CMS in the world, ideal for beginners

WordPress is a well-known blogging engine, distributed free of charge. Not demanding on hosting resources when using a small number of plugins. In the stock version, the functionality is below average - only blogs and business card sites can be created at an acceptable level. By default, it needs SEO plugins - and there are quite a few free ones. There are plenty of templates - right in the site control panel there is a section with thousands of copies of different levels of quality and purpose. The complexity of mastering is relatively low, so you can do it on your own, relying on guides and video tutorials, without resorting to paid services specialists.

Features of WordPress when using it for free:

1. General functionality: 54 thousand free plugins, among which there are those that will help you create a store, build a landing page, set up SEO and security, introduce a bunch of small amenities and optimizations that are so lacking in the default build of the engine.
2. on the official website, in the control panel and template stores there are a lot of free versions of layouts - another thing is that their Pro versions with advanced settings are often paid, so not every top template can be grabbed in the maximum configuration and without money.
3. Promotion: by default, the engine's capabilities do not shine with tools for SEO optimization, so installing plugins in this direction is highly desirable (for example, YOAST or Jetpack) - this will solve most of the system's inherent problems, although, again, Pro versions of some plugins can cost money.
4. Support: no guarantees on open source software does not happen, therefore, in case of problems, you need to go to the forums and ask, watch videos, read the FAQ, or pay for the services of specialists to solve them.

Limitations of the free WP usage model:

• You will not be able to use some templates with advanced customization settings, because these versions of them often turn out to be paid, while you have to get into the code to radically change the appearance (PHP knowledge is needed), which is unrealistically difficult for beginners;
• Some useful plugins in the free version have limited functionality (for example, the store WooCommerce), so you have to look for more or less decent free counterparts that do not always exist - it depends on the task being solved;
• When using WP, beginners may encounter tasks that cannot be solved at their level of knowledge, so they will either have to contact a specialist and pay, or look for a way out in other ways - studying guides that are not always simple, improving their own skills, etc.

Total, in the environment using WordPress enough pitfalls, which may force a switch from a free to a paid usage model in one form or another. In general, it is quite possible to create and develop a normal blog, business card or landing page on the platform without money, but with larger sites like an online store, problems are likely to arise. Without knowledge of coding and understanding of the nuances of the engine, you will not be able to rework the design in enough, connect and configure some plugins, optimize security and SEO at the proper level. In general, the limitations of WP come down to the skill and quality of the free extensions used.

Joomla is a more flexible and advanced free engine out of the box

Joomla is number 2 in the rankings in the free CMS environment, which leads to a developed ecosystem, the presence of a large number of good quality extensions and training materials. The bonus is that for editing templates and many extensions, it will be enough to know HTML / CSS - the simplest disciplines in coding. Studying them is simple and will give a beginner a decent head start when creating a project on a free basis, as well as eliminate the need for paid contact with specialists in disputable situations. Out of the box, the engine is richer in settings and features relative to WP, additional features come with the installation of templates (they almost always contain modules) and other types of extensions.

Features of Joomla for free use:

1. General functionality: out of the box, the engine is well suited for creating types of sites that use personal user accounts (social network, bulletin board, corporate site or store) - there are a lot of free and fairly high-quality extensions to solve these problems.
2. Design editing and templates: the system does not have a built-in template store, so they need to be downloaded and installed separately - we recommend using decent directories, otherwise you risk bringing a bunch of malicious stuff to the site along with the template.
3. Promotion: Out of the box, there are many SEO optimization settings inside; for simple types of sites, you can even do without additional extensions without losing anything.
4. Support: the user community and numerous training materials are what you should rely on, and there is no centralized user support from developers here, as in any other open source system.

Limitations of the free Joomla usage model:

• The biggest temptation for a beginner is to download and install a premium template from some "left" site. This should not be done if you already liked the top theme and don’t want to look at others - it’s better to buy it, having received a guarantee that the code is clean and there are no problems;
• The same applies to extensions - there is no built-in marketplace, therefore, by downloading premium plugins for free from incomprehensible sites, you get a chance to put your site or introduce viruses. It is better to take a version with limited functionality from the official site than to look for free cheese. Joomla is not resistant to errors in the code - due to conflicts after installing such things, it is quite possible to get a non-working control panel or incomprehensible glitches on the site pages.
• If you are not going to buy a solid template, then you will have to learn how to code, because free templates often poor in customization settings. Or use it as is, practically without changing anything in the design.

In total, Joomla is well adapted for creating stores, corporate sites, forums and ordinary business cards. The limitations of the free approach will not really bother you if the project is technically simple. Especially if you know HTML/CSS. The engine is sensitive to the installation of conflicting extensions, so we do not recommend experimenting with artisanal and downloaded plugins from unreliable sources. Here you can do a lot on your own without resorting to paid help - the code is simple, there are plenty of guides. By the way, Joomla is more suitable for creating a free store than WordPress - this is its main trump card when choosing.

Drupal - free CMS engine for pros, large and structurally complex sites

Drupal is an incredibly powerful and difficult engine to learn for beginners - not for everyone. In his case, the main item of expenditure may be payment for the services of specialists. And they charge more than WP and Joomla experts, because the qualifications and complexity of the tasks are higher here. And the community isn't that big either. To choose this CMS from scratch is nonsense, they come to it after a thorough study of the systems described above. Programming experience and an understanding of the principles of the engine are required for effective work, otherwise huge budgets will be spent on paying hired specialists. Suitable for creating complex sites - portals, shops, corporate and some exclusive, specific tasks.

Drupal features for free use:

1. General functionality: out of the box, the system has a minimum of features, the rest comes with the installation of modules, and many of them come in bundles - to implement some function, you need to install 3-4 extensions in a certain sequence, so here you need to understand the algorithms of the sets of modules, and download them can be from the official catalog.
2. Design editing and templates: More than 2000 templates are posted on the official website, each of which has additional appearance settings, but for deep customization you will have to resort to coding.
3. Promotion: out of the box you will get a rather weak set of inconvenient SEO tools, so it is advisable to install specialized modules like CTool, Metatag and others - this will allow you to overcome many problems, including the creation of duplicates, the main sore of the engine.
4. Support: with all questions you need to go to the community and training materials, no guarantees from developers free engine don't have to wait.

Limitations of Drupal's free usage model:

• For Drupal, there are ready-made builds - engine configurations for certain tasks, but it is better not to use them, because, despite the convenience, their support is quickly terminated, and your site will inevitably begin to technically lag behind the main system development branch;
• Do not download extensions from anywhere, even if they look very valuable - try to avoid free versions from the official site;
• The free templates here tend to be simple;
• The engine is greedy for hosting and difficult to administer, so try to get by with only the necessary modules, otherwise, most likely, difficulties will arise and you will have to allocate a budget to pay for the services of a specialist who can clear the rubble.

In summary, in the case of Drupal, the limitations rest on the average quality of free templates and the user's skill. Lack of knowledge or excessive complication of the site with modules can lead to the need to pay. It makes sense to use the engine to create large sites, structurally / content-complex - like shops, information portals and other things. The store of templates and modules here is quite rich, but clearly inferior to the assortment of WordPress and Joomla, especially in terms of templates. Drupal is for professionals, they will be able to use it without money, but beginners are unlikely to.

The limitations of free use of CMS rest on the range of plug-ins / templates, the user's competence and the complexity of the task before him. It is clear that a large project will require more extensions and professionalism of the performer. Everything that is not enough, you will have to look for, install and pay for - templates, modules or services.

On WordPress and Joomla, you can easily keep an average site alive without attachments with moderate skill. You can't say the same about Drupal - here you need the skills of a self-confident website developer, otherwise there can be no question of any free of charge.

If you are not faced with the task of learning to be a programmer, layout designer or a professional in the field of site building, but you just need a good modern site with a minimum of gestures / money / time to promote your business / services on the Internet, earn money on advertising / affiliate programs - use online website builders, which already come with hosting, domain and CMS with an intuitive interface adapted for beginners.

We present another selection - TOP-10 best CMS for an online store.

You have decided to start trading online. This is a great solution that will take your business to the next level. To sell online, you need a platform - an online store. This will be your “shopping point”, where you will attract potential buyers and offer them your products.

What you need to decide right away - on the basis of what your site will work. There are two ways out - development from scratch or creating a site on CMS.

The latter is preferred because:

• website development on CMS, as a rule, cheaper;
• it saves time - create a website on a ready-made CMS faster;
• simpler find a developer who knows how to work with the system;
• turnkey solutions already tested by time and other users, as a rule, stable, and regularly updated.

It remains only to choose a good CMS for your future online store. What are we going to do now!

How and what CMS to choose for the store

First you need to decide on the criteria for evaluating the "heart" of your site. Based on them, you can choose a solution that is ideal for your needs.

1. Price. We have already told, what CMS are paid and free. But in addition to the cost of the program itself, you need to pay attention to the cost of the programmer's work. If, for example, a WordPress specialist can be found inexpensively, then a Drupal specialist will already charge more for his work, since the engine is an order of magnitude more complicated.

2. Pwork speed(meaning adding content). There are engines that are easy to understand, with a clear editor and easy admin panel. There are those in which only those who already know what is what here can work. Also pay attention to such parameters as bulk price changes and card editing in general. Is there any automated solution for this, or do I have to do everything manually.

3. Number of functions. What do you want - a simpler solution or a fancy thing with a lot of things? But look not at your Wishlist, but first of all at the needs of your business. If a description, a few photos and characteristics are enough for the successful sale of your product, there is no need to pay more for a complex system.

4. Import/export of goods. Pay attention to whether it is easy to upload supplier prices to the site and upload them from there. Because you simply cannot edit 1000 positions manually.

5. Integration with third party services . Do you work with warehouse programs, such as 1C, and want to import and export goods from there? There are engines that support this.

6. Easy to maintain and edit templates. If every time you go to add or remove some block, you have to contact a programmer, you will go broke on the support of such a site. See if you can move blocks around, set up pagination, etc. on one's own.

7. Payment and shipping methods availabledefault. The engine should be able to calculate the cost of goods, and by default contain its own modules of popular systems for receiving payments and calculating delivery.

8. Is it available integration with Yandex.Metrica and Google Analytics. The engine must be integrated with these systems in the "Electronic Commerce" mode - this will help you track a lot of useful data on the status of sales and more.

9. Opportunity add administrators with different access rights. You will definitely be working on the site with someone else. And not always this someone else needs full access rights - often it is enough to limit yourself to what he needs for his work, and that's it. If you can configure access rights on the site, this is a huge plus for the engine.

These are the main parameters, the main criteria that you should pay attention to when choosing a CMS.

TOP 10 best CMS for online store

Let's take a look at the top ten CMS on the basis of which you can create an online store.

Mr Automation.

This is a universal paid software solution, on the basis of which you can create various projects. But this engine has a huge advantage - real-time integration with 1C: Enterprise. The online store order management function is well implemented here, it has its own built-in CRM.

Another bonus is automated work with delivery services. The engine allows you to automatically send a request for the delivery of goods and even track the status of the package.

Based on this CMS, you will get an excellent multifunctional online store, but you are unlikely to be able to cope with its support and configuration yourself. Setting it up is quite complicated, as well as editing templates - you can't do without a programmer.

"Mr Flexibility".

A free, open source engine designed specifically for online stores. You can set up automatic backups on it, that is, saving the database - this will protect you from accidental deletion important information. By default, the calculation of the cost of delivery and the cost of the order, including taxes, is available. Various types of payments and settlements can be configured using additional modules.

And in general, a store based on this engine can be turned into anything, and expanded to anything. More than 8.5 thousand paid and free modules are at your service - I don’t want to play. But as for mastering the administrative panel, you can’t call it easy and simple.

"Mr. Ready Solution".

This is a script for an online store, which in its initial, basic version has everything you need for your site to work normally and perform all the functions necessary for sales. In addition, the engine also has additional modules, if you want something else.

Probably, there are few on which engine it is so convenient to manage goods. Here you can create catalogs and disable products in bulk. DownloadCSV to import products, create invoices and shipping receipts, and even sell downloadable products. You can set up integration with CRM systems and analytics systems.

There is everything you need to set up delivery, and the most popular types of payment.

At the same time, you can configure access rights to the system for different administrators.

The engine is stable, secure and constantly developed by enthusiasts from all over the world.

"Mr Clarity"

A universal free engine on which, thanks to the WooCommerce module, you can create a fully functional online store. Very clear and simple admin. Templates and everything else can be configured independently. Easily integrates with almost any system. You can configure access rights for different users.

One big minus of the engine is that for almost everything you need to connect separate plugins, extensions (but there are a huge number of them, and you can find a ready-made solution for almost any Wishlist). And if you hang a lot of them, it can start to slow down.

Joomla!

"Mr Simplicity"

Also a universal and free engine that can be transformed into an online store using the VirtueMart extension.

More than eight thousand different extensions are offered for this engine. So it can be turned into anything. There is a differentiation of access rights for different users. It is easy to set up and manage, has a clear and understandable structure.

But this engine needs to be constantly updated, and it will not be suitable for difficult decisions or a store with a rich feature set. It is better to stop the choice on it if you have a small project so far.

MODX

"Mr Liberty"

A freely distributed engine, on the basis of which you can create anything, including an online store with many products. In the basic version, it supports popular payment systems. The administrative panel is simple and clear, despite huge set functions. You can set up document control.

Of the minuses - a small set of templates, that is, you can’t really get creative with the design. But if you have a good programmer in your team, he can do anything on this engine, even rewrite the administrative panel for himself.

"Mr Smart".

Paid domestic CMS, which is constantly evolving and acquiring new features. It has wide functionality, easily connects to various CRM and analytics systems.

To create an online store, this engine has separate module- "Internet store". It allows you to integrate with 1C and My Warehouse, configure different kinds delivery, settlement currency, automatically adjusts the exchange rate of the Central Bank, allows you to export goods for Yandex.Market, print sales slips, and much more.

As a result, you get a great online store with all the features you need.

"Mr. Comfort".

Another popular CMS, a feature of which is the ease of site management for the end user. Even a complete teapot will be able to understand the administrative panel. As a result, you can save on site support - you will not need to involve a developer every time to solve elementary tasks.

The system has huge opportunities for customizing the design for every taste, and a large selection of ready-made templates. There is also a unique opportunity to edit content directly on the site.

Among the advantages of the engine are integration with Yandex.Market, 1C:Enterprise, My Warehouse. There is a free mobile app for owners of online stores, which will help you manage orders directly from your smartphone.

"Mr Security"

This is a professional system for managing an online store. It boasts a simple administrative panel, high resistance to loads and hacks. There are built-in opportunities for holding promotions. The system easily integrates with 1C, allows you to import and export price lists, configure and restrict access rights, independently manage individual blocks without the help of a developer, and much more. There is everything you need to set up payments and delivery. Integrates with analytics systems.

If you are serious about selling online, this is a great solution.

"Mr. All-in-One".

This is a constructor that has everything you need to create an online store. In addition to the cloud solution, there is also a full-fledged engine. Equipped with detailed sales reports, you can accept payments online and offline, there is everything for SEO promotion.

The engine is free for developers only.

There are applications for iOS and Android, built-in CRM, delivery cost calculation, integration with 1C, My Warehouse, Yandex.Delivery and Yandex.Market, and much more.

Summary

As you can see, the choice of CMS for an online store is huge. And each system has its own advantages over the others.

However, it is possible to choose at least two leaders for yourself. If you want a simple, small online store that is inexpensive to maintain, choose WordPress or Joomla!. If you have your own developer (or you are a developer yourself and like to mess around with code) - MODX is for you. If ease of site management is important to you, opt for CS-Cart or UMI.CMS. Appreciate functionality? For you Shop-Script 7, NetCat or PrestaShop. OpenCart and 1C Bitrix are suitable for large "outlets".

Now it remains only to decide who you like better. While you are thinking, save this collection for yourself so as not to lose it!

The article was updated on 01/18/2018 and is fully up to date.
Almost every beginner faced the issue of choosing a CMS for their website or blog. It is understandable, because it is impossible to know everything in advance. And a lot of different content management systems have already appeared. IN this review only free solutions are collected. They are in no way inferior to paid counterparts, and sometimes even compare favorably against their background. After all, it is much easier to make amendments to open source, therefore, all vulnerabilities found are fixed faster. And also all new and bold ideas are the first to appear here.

To begin with, it is necessary to conditionally divide the systems according to their orientation. There are CMSs designed exclusively for creating blogs, as well as more flexible systems that allow you to create full-fledged sites and media portals. At the same time, blogging systems can be designed to create a whole series of projects, for example, for an entire enterprise. It is also worth noting the platform development period (the longer it is, the better the system is developed and contains fewer errors), the presence of a community (it will help if you encounter difficulties in installing, debugging or using the system), performance (not all systems are suitable for high-load projects). So, Now let's look at each CMS in more detail.

Official site .

This is one of the fairly old and well-established engines. It is great for e-commerce and online sales. Many plugins, such as VirtueMart, allow you to open a store very quickly and in a short time. True, in order to understand everything from scratch, you will have to sit a little behind the manuals, reading the documentation and forums. Fortunately, Joomla has very good support and a huge community in several languages, including Russian.

The advantages of the system can be safely attributed to the presence of the following functions "out of the box":

• user authentication, including through OpenID;
• visual editor of articles;
• convenient file management;
• comment system and protection against spam in them;
• plugin and extension manager.

In fact, there are many more advantages, it is very difficult to simply list all of them in one article. That is why it occupies a leading position in the ratings and tops of CMS. But, it was not without its drawbacks: due to its flexibility and many settings, a beginner will have to spend more than one day to understand all this diversity. Also, its functionality may be redundant for many simple business card sites. But it is suitable for online stores and showcases of goods.

TYPO3

Official site .

Not so long ago, a rather old CMS - TYPO3 - began to gain popularity on the Internet, and now it is firmly seated in the TOP 5. The site structure here is represented by a tree of pages. Each of them can contain standard content elements: text, pictures, tables, and so on. This content management system is based on templates that you can either download ready-made or write your own in TypoScript.

TYPO3 pros:

• the ability to fine-tune user rights;
• ease of maintaining several sites at the same time;
• the ability to use extensions from TER (TYPO3 extension repository);
• high safety requirements;
• advanced text editor with spell check, preview, change history.

The disadvantages of this system:

• the complexity of editing the site structure using a template engine;
• slow rendering of large pages with a variety of content (tables, pictures);
• few ready-made solutions for online stores

Recommended for use inside large industrial companies and banks. Young and small sites will most likely not be suitable, or the development and support costs will be incommensurable with the benefits of using it.

Drupal

Official site .

Also a very popular and widespread CMS, which is used to create websites by very large enterprises, such as Sony Music. They choose Drupal because of the large set of features for building internal and external sites for the corporate network at once. There is a huge database of tools for managing a single user base. Well suited for organizing a system of blogs, forums. Drupal has a very active developer community, a huge knowledge base, and a lively forum. It's easy enough to find answers to questions about installing, deploying sites and modules.

Advantages of Drupal:

• excellent support from the user and developer community;
• more than 6000 modules that facilitate the expansion of functionality;
• easy to manage user rights, create collective blogs and forums.

System disadvantages:

• can be overly complex for simple sites;
• total lack of beautiful and functional themes;
• difficulty in mastering for an unprepared user.

For business card sites, choosing this CMS is categorically not recommended, but for organizing medium and large portals, where users will add their material and comment on it, Drupal is suitable like no other.

MODX

Official site .

One of the youngest CMS (developed since 2004), which appeared at the very beginning of the formation of the so-called Web 2.0. The idea was to involve users in editing and adding content to the site. For example, writing reviews, testimonials, and even entire articles. Therefore, there is good system user registration, site search on AJAX (without reloading the page), you can quickly deploy a news feed, a collective blog. The disadvantages include frequent problems with the Russian encoding, which have not been fully resolved, although they appeared a very long time ago; lack of ready-made modules and solutions for organizing a gallery, a forum, an electronic store.

WordPress

Official site .

If anyone else doubts that WordPress has long outgrown the “blogging system” stage, then these doubts should be discarded. A great variety of sites are developed on this CMS, including social networks, company sites, online stores and product showcases, forums, as well as simple business card sites.

With thousands of ready-made themes, plugins, and even ready-made builds for different needs, WordPress has a well-deserved place in the TOP 5. There is an active developer community that generates lessons and information materials.

Pros of WordPress:

• large developer community and well-structured documentation;
• thousands of free plugins and themes for the site;
• convenient admin.

Disadvantages of WordPress

• the starting functionality immediately after installation is quite modest, you need to supplement it with at least 4-5 plugins;
• after a simple installation, a refinement in terms of security is needed.

In fact, this is one of the simplest and most loyal to beginners system. It allows you to create websites without understanding anything in programming (read mine). Highly recommended as a first CMS. In the future, if its functionality is limited for you, then you can easily transfer the site to another engine of your choice.
[ In most cases, it is these 5 CMS that I reviewed in this article that occupy the top.

When answering the question “what CMS to choose for the site”, you should pay attention to the fact that popular engines are constantly under attack. Their code is open for use by everyone, including not entirely honest people who can look for vulnerabilities in it and use them for their own selfish purposes. The danger can be avoided if the engine is timely updated to latest version. At the same time, if you use a less common content management system, then if you encounter difficulties, you may not be able to find help anywhere and you can only rely on yourself. Consider this factor as well. Good luck!

Free CMS (Content Management System - "content management system") are in high demand. Any of them can be simply downloaded, installed on the hosting and launched the site. But they are all so different that, having mastered a couple, it is not a fact that the third one on the list will be initially understandable. This is especially true for specialized platforms for an online store. Most do not have a common basis in the interface, and approaches to the formation of the structure and functionality of pages differ significantly.

Beginners who want to master any CMS should understand why and what it should be. To avoid misfires and wasted time. List of TOP 10 for your attention.

Rating of the best free CMS 2019:

Our choice!

1. WordPress / Wordpress → detailed overview

WordPress is the most famous and popular CMS in the world, a kind of niche symbol. It was written to create blogs, but in the process turned into a universal engine thanks to the developers of plugins, templates and community activity. The control panel has built-in libraries of plug-ins and templates with an immense assortment. Everything has reviews, ratings, instructions, ratings. You can sort by various criteria - it's easy to choose. Many studios draw templates for this system. Mountains of videos with lessons and kilometers of discussion forums are included. Learning to use it is easier than many others.

WordPress operates on two types of content - page and article. The button for creating a post is placed separately, you can publish a post directly from the site - everything is geared towards the convenience and speed of publishing a news feed. SEO is implemented through plugins, as well as speed optimization, security, and much more. To create stores, landing pages, forums, and other things, there are many specialized, powerful plug-ins, resembling a separate, full-fledged software in terms of capabilities. It also exists in the format of a website builder for those who are more comfortable using a ready-made boxed version.

Pros:

• Popularity: a large number of developers work in the WordPress ecosystem, constantly expanding / improving the range of plugins and templates;
• There are many hostings that have a separate tariff with settings optimized for this CMS;
• A huge number of available educational materials of any format;
• Relative ease of development, more or less suitable for beginners;
• A large number of high-quality and useful free plugins;
• Most templates have fairly detailed customization settings without the need to edit the code;
• Able to withstand huge traffic with decent hosting;
• Versatility due to plugins, suitable for creating voluminous sites.

Minuses:

• More than a third of all sites in the world are powered by WordPress, which makes this system one of the main targets for attackers and inexperienced developers;
• Out of the box, the system is suitable for creating simple blog or business cards
• Creates a considerable load on the server, hosting must be good;
• Produces duplicate pages, although this can be fixed with a plugin.

2. Joomla / Joomla → detailed overview

Joomla is the second most popular CMS in the list. Extensive community, many plugins and templates. It is best suited for creating small and medium-sized informational sites. It shows itself especially well when creating types of resources that users themselves fill with content - bulletin boards, forums, and even social networks. There are well-designed plugins for all this. Out of the box, the functionality is relatively rich (many general, subtle and SEO settings). Difficulty of development - average. The logic of interaction with the system is peculiar. Out of habit, you can get confused in the modules, cells of the template for displaying content and the relationships between them. If you get used to it, it will no longer seem confusing and complicated.

Joomla allows you to create quite complex types of sites with simple types of content. Here is a great interface for administering a large number of articles. E-Commerce developed due to plugins, although it is better not to make a big store here - the engine has an average performance, a lot depends on optimization and hosting quality. There are an infinite number of templates (both paid for $30-60, and so on), they contain a variety of functionality: some contain more than a hundred built-in modules with kilometers of settings screens. What's good is that the templates are easy to edit with code - it's based on HTML and CSS. Knowing them, you can modify almost everything. Flexible, interesting mass CMS.

Pros:

• Suitable for creating any type of sites, the main thing is not to overload the engine with modules and the volume of the database (content), otherwise with weak hosting there will definitely be problems with page loading speed;
• Adaptability to run social networks of a decent level - not too many engines can do this;
• Powerful ecosystem, information and experienced developers in abundance;
• There are many templates, plus they have a huge range of functionality;
• The richest selection of plug-ins and components, among which a significant part are free;
• Full access to the code, minimal editing skills required.

Minuses:

• The control panel is confusing, in the eyes of the average beginner it looks complicated;
• The speed of work is average, although this gap is filled by fast hosting, optimization by plugins and settings;
• Powerful template instances are hard to set up - rarely get around without reading the instructions;
• The level of security out of the box is mediocre, needs to be improved by plugins and hands;
• Engine updates do not always work correctly, can lead to failures up to the inability to enter the control panel or data loss.

3. Drupal / Drupal → detailed overview

Drupal is an engine focused exclusively on experienced developers. It is categorically not suitable for beginners as the first CMS, it is not even worth trying. The level of difficulty of development is high. It is well suited for creating voluminous sites with a complex organization of the data structure. Allows you to create as many custom content types as you want, which can be displayed through modules at any point in the frontend of the site. No layout or content restrictions. Thanks to the CCK (Content Construction Kit) plugin, you can embed various types of content in documents, bypassing the taxonomy mechanism specific to this system.

The engine is universal, it will allow you to create at least a business card, at least a portal, a store or a dating site. It features a high level of security out of the box and speed of operation. However, it creates heavy load on databases, so it needs more or less fast hosting. There are enough SEO settings even without installing additional plugins, of which there are a lot of written for the system. Characteristic features - excellent scalability, optimization, as well as the need for programming knowledge for effective use. There are many templates (paid for $50-60, on average), but the process of installing them is relatively complicated. You need to copy files by directories, and then manually activate the modules. Not for beginners system.

Pros:

• True versatility, flexibility across the board;
• Ability to create and implement an infinite number of content types;
• Powerful SEO, security, and modest appetite for hardware out of the box;
• Extensive community, many guides, documentation and competent developers within the ecosystem;
• A rich set of modules that extend the basic functionality;
• The ability to use hooks - procedure processing modifiers to simplify large-scale changes to engine algorithms;
• High level of standardization - almost all code is written by developers in uniform style, the community is comfortable to work with.

Minuses:

• Not suitable for ordinary users due to the sheer difficulty of learning and using;
• Without programming knowledge, it will not be possible to configure most of the modules;
• For a stable and fast site, you need a powerful server.

4. OpenCart / OpenCart → detailed overview

OpenCart is one of the most popular E-commerce platforms. Designed exclusively for creating online stores and already out of the box it contains an impressive set of features: a visual template editor, no restrictions on the number of products, categories, manufacturers, pages, etc., supports multilingualism, discounts, reviews, delivery options, tax calculation, product ratings and etc. The engine system is modular, that is, you can expand the store indefinitely. There is a built-in statistics collector (views, sales report, popularity rating, etc.), but out of the box SEO optimization is lame. You will have to use a third-party and, most likely, a paid module.

The level of difficulty of development is medium. The system is logically built, but the store has a lot of obvious and subtle settings. It will not be easy for a beginner, but if there is motivation, there is a considerable chance to bring the project to mind. Stores of modules and templates are built right into the control panel, you can search by filters. The interface of the design editor is user-friendly, with syntax highlighting. For many templates, you can visual editor tune appearance and functionality. Within one admin panel, you can manage several stores at once. And before downloading the update, the system scans installed extensions for compatibility in order to avoid conflicts that can disable the store. This is a big plus.

Pros:

• Can be learned and used effectively by the beginner;
• Advanced functionality - almost everything important for the store is out of the box;
• Convenient user interface for making purchases;
• High performance and relatively low hosting speed requirements;
• Lots of quality templates and useful modules;
• Developed ecosystem: a lot of information and active developers;
• Detailed built-in statistics of sales and attendance of the store;
• Simple code, which makes it easy to make improvements;
• There is a detailed setting of access rights (for managers, for example);

Minuses:

• Weak SEO out of the box (few settings, problems with page indexing, production of their duplicates, errors in the formation of CNC), the problem is solved by installing extensions;
• Inconvenient image loader;
• No quick checkout out of the box;
• There is no live search for products (by the first letters of the name);
• It is impossible to sort articles into categories to design them as a news feed, for example;
• Engine updates are pretty infrequent;
• A fairly large number of minor bugs and inconveniences (for example, the button to add items to the cart that are out of stock is always active).

5. MODX / MODEKS → detailed overview

MODX Revolution is a flexible system that is closer in its properties to frameworks than to CMS. Suitable for creating all types of sites, easily scalable. However, voluminous sites are not very convenient to administer because of the chaos in displaying the tree structure of pages and elements. The problem is treated by a module like "Collections". The module installer with search is located right in the admin panel, there are ratings, you can read the descriptions of the extensions. In general, out of the box, the engine is lightweight and does not shine with detailed functionality. Requires mandatory installation of a gentleman's set of modules, at least.

The level of difficulty of mastering is medium, provided that the user is fluent in HTML/CSS. The control panel has a clean, pleasant design and a relatively clear structure. Can be used by beginners, but based on training materials. Out of the box, you get powerful SEO tools and a high level of security. The engine does not have specially tailored ready-made designs, but it allows you to put any HTML template on the site. The range of those is huge, but to edit within the system, you will have to learn its specific syntax, which is not used anywhere else.

Pros:

• High level of flexibility, it is possible to build structures and elements of any complexity;
• Great optimization of code and settings to meet requirements search engines;
• Undemanding to the quality of hosting, high site performance;
• High level of security, flexible authorization settings for user groups;
• Good implementation of multilingualism, high quality Russian localization of interface elements;
• A sufficient set of ready-made modules available for installation directly from the admin panel;
• Pleasant to the eye and more or less understandable initially interface;
• Detailed official documentation in Russian.

Minuses:

• Inconvenient approach to installing templates;
• Non-standard engine syntax;
• Without programming skills, it is impossible to work productively with the engine;
• There are few adapted templates, usually manual and code modifications are required to optimize HTML layouts and display them correctly;
• There are an order of magnitude fewer training materials than the more popular CMS.

6. Magento / Magento → detailed overview

Magento is the most popular store engine in the world, owned by Adobe Inc. Very powerful CMS with a developed community. But not in RuNet. You can download the Community Edition for free, but it is not at all adapted to our market, it does not have Russian localization. A raw, potentially advanced product that needs to be improved by hand - code. There are assemblies for use in Runet (localization, integration of our social networks, payment systems etc.), but they are paid. Generally, this free system has a high level of monetization: templates, modules, developer services, licenses - almost everything is paid.

This engine should be used only if there is a decent budget. The cost of developing stores on Magento is high, especially when purchasing an Enterprise license (from $15,000 per year). The functionality is excellent, the control panel is informative, relatively convenient. A lot of statistical summaries, a built-in rating system for evaluating products and commenting, discounts, user rights adjustment, a good level of SEO optimization and security out of the box, an advanced caching algorithm to speed up page loading - all this and much more is there out of the box.

Pros:

• Good functionality out of the box, suitable for creating huge stores;
• Many templates, although most of them are paid and not cheap;
• Efficient caching system that greatly improves page loading speed;
• You can manage multiple stores from one admin panel;
• Everything related to search engine optimization and website security is well implemented.

Minuses:

• Demanding quality of hosting;
• Difficulty of use, starting with the installation process and ending with code improvements;
• A relatively small number of ready-made extensions, and the services of qualified developers are very expensive;
• The overall high cost of stores, despite the formal existence of a free version;
• The original version is not at all adapted for use in Runet, and the assembly, optimized for our market, costs from 8,000 rubles.

7. ImageCMS / ImageCMS → detailed overview

ImageCMS is a platform for creating online stores, a hybrid of WordPress, Premmerce and WooCommerce. Ready-to-box combination requiring the installation of a minimum number of additional modules. The level of functionality and flexibility is average, the complexity of mastering is average, but without knowledge of at least HTML/CSS you won't go far. There are only four ready-made templates, there is a cosmetic design customizer, so in order to get a unique look for the store, you must either order a design development or carefully redo the existing one by hand. One is expensive, the other is difficult to implement and almost impossible for beginners. But there are integrations with MySklad, 1C, Nova Poshta, RetailCRM and other popular services out of the box. A lot of things have been done for SEO-optimization.

The control panel is similar to that of WordPress, the only difference is the number of extensions pre-installed out of the box. There are a lot of them here, which makes the admin panel look oversaturated. In fact, this CMS is an assembly that requires modifications to meet the requirements of a specific task. There is no direct compatibility with WordPress plugins, developer services for optimization are expensive. It makes sense to use this system only if you have enough functionality out of the box. After all, templates, improvements and self-written plugins will cost more than it's worth. Shops here are good only if there is a sufficient budget.

Pros:

• The core of the system is the well-known WordPress, understandable and convenient;
• A rich built-in set of plugins that cover most of the requirements for running a store;
• Full arsenal of WooCommerce features available;
• There is a quality built-in blog.

Minuses:

• There are few native extensions, it is not easy to find a programmer, and the cost of services will be overpriced;
• You can not manually set the order of output of individual products and other useful little things;
• There are few ready-made templates, and an individual design from a developer costs from $2000;
• High server load poor performance with a large database;
• Weak ecosystem - there is quite a bit of information on the product, discussions and other things.

8. TYPO3 / TypoTri → detailed overview

TYPO3 is an advanced development environment for advanced users. It is not easy to learn, and it is also difficult to maintain. Definitely not for beginners. Programming knowledge and website development experience is required for normal use. It shows itself most advantageously in creating blogs, portals, online magazines / newspapers of a strong average volume (up to 5-6k pages). For example, the creation of a store or a social network is also possible, although it is associated with unprofitable difficulties - many plugins and improvements will be required. You also need to have a budget to be successful. Good hosting, programmer services, modules - you have to spend money.

The interface of this CMS is by no means simple, moreover, a special internal language - TypoScript - is used to customize the site. Without mastering it, success cannot be achieved. This implies the high cost of specialist services - the profile is narrow, not everyone can help. Out of the box, the system does not have sufficient functionality to implement serious sites. Many plugins can be downloaded from the repository for free. The level of their quality is curated by the CMS community. Multiple projects can be managed from one control panel. Templavoila template engine will help you turn any HTML template into a compatible one. There is also a visual editor for making cosmetic changes. Flexible, powerful, specific engine for pros.

Pros:

• High-quality localization of the engine interface;
• Using the Templavoila/TypoScript bundle allows you to do whatever you want with the design;
• High degree of site scalability;
• Support for page caching, which significantly speeds up their loading;
• A sufficient set of extensions collected in a reliable single source - TYPO3 Extension Repository;
• Great for creating websites of large corporations, industry giants.

Minuses:

• The community is predominantly English-speaking, there is little Russified documentation;
• Creates a large load on the hosting, takes up a lot of space;
• Difficult to learn, categorically not suitable for beginners;
• Suitable for creating sites in which only the administrator will publish information, that is, projects without user content;
• The high cost of maintaining the site.

9. CMS Made Simple / Made Simple → detailed review

CMS Made Simple is a system designed to be used by beginners. Indeed, there is a visual design editor, similar to those found in cloud-based website builders. Easy Installation to the server easy setup, a nice set of available extensions that are easy to use. Suitable primarily for creating business card sites and online stores, but it is impossible to achieve a unique design using the editor - only cosmetic changes. Deep customization will require code changes (PHP, HTML, CSS), which negates all the simplicity, convenience and puts the system on a par with other CMS in terms of the complexity of effective use.

The interface is partially Russified, there is little documentation in the native and mighty - for full mastering it is necessary to navigate in English. The engine works quickly and does not require super-hosting even to launch a store. There are few built-in templates, they are written in an accessible HTML / CSS format, which allows you to adapt third party themes design for use within the system. The API is open, the developers have written more than 200 plugins of different levels of quality and usefulness. Optimization is excellent due to the lightness of the engine and the built-in page caching mechanism. Security is implemented at a good level out of the box. Not a bad engine, but its potential is revealed only in the hands of experienced developers.

Pros:

• Relative simplicity of the control panel;
• Ease of making cosmetic changes to templates;
• Good level of SEO-optimization and security;
• It is beneficial to use for creating small stores with a limited budget;
• Low quality hosting requirements;
• A sufficient set of ready-made plugins for solving typical tasks;
• Regular updates.

Minuses:

• Small and mostly English-speaking community;
• A meager amount of training materials, including video lessons in Russian;
• Without intervention in the code, it is impossible to obtain a unique design;
• Sometimes, during updates, previously perfectly working plugins “fall off”;
• Without knowledge of the English language and, at least, the basics of programming, it will not be possible to reveal the potential of the system.

10. Concrete5 / Concrete 5 → detailed review

Concrete5 is a popular CMS, similar in mechanics of interaction with website builders based on a visual editor. Distinctive feature and the reason for the demand for the system is a really simple interface within which you can create quite complex sites. By adding elements (widgets), the user collects pages. Then they can be edited by changing the content of the blocks, colors, backgrounds, fonts, navigation, and more. The editor allows you to carry out simple customization of any elements without getting into the code. If you need more - please, this is a CMS, the code is completely open.

Templates can be downloaded for free and purchased ($30-45) in the marketplace of the system's official website. To expand the functionality, you can use plugins by downloading them there. The choice is decent, although it does not reach the leaders in terms of popularity, of course. This CMS is great for creating company websites, information portals, blogs. To a lesser extent - for online stores, since out of the box there are no integrations of payment systems important for Runet, deliveries and other things. Basic SEO capabilities out of the box, paid plugins start at $30.

Pros:

• Interface in the manner of designers with a visual editor;
• Suitable for use by beginners;
• Centralized plugin and theme stores with many free options;
• Moderate average cost of templates and paid plugins;
• The engine supports multilanguage.

Minuses:

• Weak adaptation of the system to the needs of the Runet: few extensions with important service integrations for us, a small community, sluggish discussions on forums, dead groups on social networks, documentation in English.

In details, the process will differ depending on the CMS used: which plugin to download, where to click, how to install and configure the template, what texts should be - all this and much more are nuances that depend on the choice of engine and the task that you solve with it .

FAQ (Question - Answer)

• Is it possible to make a website on CMS by yourself?

Creating websites on CMS requires preparation. The person should be an experienced PC user in general and understand entry-level coding (HTML/CSS). Also important is the ability to perceive training materials and then apply them in practice.

Few people can from scratch, without preparation and tips, just sit down and ride the same relatively simple wordpress or a very simple Concrete5. You need to have an understanding of the process and / or be able to learn. These things are not intuitive by default.

In general, yes, it’s possible to create a site on a CMS yourself. But, depending on what and who will do. Some can, many others can't and never will. It is a fact. The task is not for everyone. From scratch, many succeed in the presence of sustainable motivation. The rest pay third-party developers or use website builders - the easiest option.

• What is the best CMS to choose?

The easiest way is to choose a profile system for the type of site you are creating. For example, creating a good store based on Woocommerce + WordPress is the best way for beginners. It is quite possible to implement a full-fledged online store on your own, as many do. It will be easier for an experienced webmaster to create a store on Opencart than on WP in combination with the Woocommerce plugin. This is because it is a specialized CMS for an online store, containing a solid layer of necessary functionality out of the box. Informational sites go well with Joomla, blogs with WP, large company sites, portals, etc. with Drupal, Typo3 and MODX.

In addition to the specialization of the engine, it is necessary to take into account the cost and quality of the plugins that will be needed to implement the idea. The popularity of the system also plays a role. The more in demand the engine, the more information, extensions, templates and developers who can help at a moderate fee. This will affect the comfort of work and the cost of the project, ultimately. In general, when you decide on the type of site (business card, store, blog, portal, etc.), read / look at reviews, ratings for profile CMS. Choose from them the most popular in Runet - this is a common recipe, justified in most cases.

• Is it possible to make a website on CMS for free?

Definitely not. The engine itself may be free, but the hosting and domain are definitely not. Is that you will create a site on the local for yourself. There are many paid plugins for any system, and templates too. Entire studios and development teams capitalize on these ecosystems. That is, the free CMS means that there is no need to pay the cost of the license of the engine and open access to its API for everyone. Meanwhile, the cost of building/maintaining a website can be hefty depending on a number of factors.

In fairness, we note that in initially paid ecosystems, the average prices for extensions are often higher, and there are fewer free ones - both plugins and templates. The cost of developer services depends on the popularity of the system and its complexity. The cost of hosting, as well as the requirements for it for a specific CMS and type of site, also vary. All these and many other factors affect the project budget. One thing is for sure - you will have to invest money in any case. But how much is an individual question.

If there is no money at all for the content of the site, you can use the uCoz constructor - on free plan it gives you the opportunity to get hosting and a domain for free: 400+ Mb of space on the server, a site on a subdomain (such as *.ucoz.net, *.ucoz.org, etc. or free domains *.tk, *.ml, *.ga ), access to HTML/CSS/JS source code, and more.

There are many free CMS. They have varying degrees of popularity and features. There are profile ones, there are universal ones due to the structure and extensions. Monetization takes place around any system in demand - developers write plugins, provide services, draw, make up and sell templates. Life inside such ecosystems is in full swing, people work and earn money in them. Websites always cost money, there are no free ones.

Creating a website on CMS is not a task for everyone. It is much easier for the average PC user to solve it with the right website builder. It makes sense to turn to CMS when there are plans to link your activities and income with this type of system. Or just very interesting to know what and how it is. Many engines long time remain the domain of pros and gifted beginners. And it is no coincidence that they are complex. General advice for beginners, taking into account all factors: use WordPress or website builders.

If you want to try out what and how, then the easiest way is to go to any free hosting, install WordPress or Joomla automatically, and then go through them with an inexperienced eye, try to create pages, edit the standard template, and so on. Without being tied to the result, just look and understand how it happens. It is advisable to support the voyage by watching a couple of basic training videos to make it a little more interesting.

Systems like Drupal, MODX, Magento, TYPO3 are definitely complex and not suitable for the role of the first CMS. They, if necessary, need to be addressed after mastering another, more accessible system in terms of understanding. Usually we are talking about WordPress - the most obvious and practical for the first steps. Either OpenCart is number one for creating the first store. Joomla is good for those who want to learn the basics of programming in practice relatively easily and create a business card or information portal. The templates are pure HTML/CSS and are pretty easy to edit.

CMS (popularly called the engine) is a website content management system. It is the backbone upon which everything is built. The convenience of filling the site, its "friendliness" for search engine promotion, the ability to connect additional services depends on the engine.

We gathered specialists from the Development and Internet Marketing Departments of WebCanape and passionately interviewed them about what are good and bad things about different CMS. This article will help you choose an engine so that it won't hurt you later.

Engine universe: variety of species

All existing CMS can be divided into 4 large categories:

1. self-written
2. Boxed
3. Constructors
4. Studio

1. Self-written CMS

A self-written CMS is a content management system that is written from scratch for the tasks of a particular business. This is a non-serial solution. It is created for one project and is not replicated.

☺ Full compliance with your business objectives

Out-of-the-box engines and builders have sets of modules to expand the functionality of the site, but ready-made solutions always have limitations, and you have to make compromises.

A custom control system will fully meet the tasks specified in the TOR, because it is not developed in order to be sold to a motley audience later. The developer keeps only your needs in mind.

☺ Integration of the latest achievements

Technology is constantly outpacing the market. Even if you buy the latest version of a boxed CMS, you cannot be sure that it has implemented all the achievements available at the moment. By creating an engine for you, the developer has access to the latest programming technologies and, if you are lucky, will apply them to work on your project.

☺ Exclusivity

You can boast that you are the owner of an exclusive solution, unique functionality, breakthrough development. Honor and respect of colleagues, indignation and envy of competitors, bewilderment of knowledgeable people are provided to you.

× Raw technology

Serial solutions are being worked out on thousands of sites (for example, more than 2000 projects have already been created on Canape CMS). In each next build, the bugs found in previous versions. This means you don't have to stuff your own bumps.

If your site is built on a self-written (that is, non-serial) CMS, you will be a pioneer. Tuning processes, adjusting algorithms and programming the necessary modules from scratch will fall on the shoulders of your developer. And he will have to deal with mistakes himself.

× No technical support

All problems will have to be solved on their own. And the forums, most likely, will not help.

× Difficulties in SEO promotion

Usually in such systems, if there is any SEO functionality, then it is presented rather poorly, because programmers and SEO specialists are creatures from different worlds. Much will have to be added in the process.

× Complete dependence on the developer

When agreeing to a self-written engine, tune in to be with the developer for centuries, in sorrow and in joy, until death separates you, and further on in the text ... We strongly do not recommend quarreling, since the viability of a self-written site depends on the author of the code.

Usually there is no regulated technical documentation for such engines, and if you suddenly decide to change the development team, there is a high probability that the site will have to be redone on a different engine. Digging into someone else's code is a dubious and costly pleasure.

2. Boxed CMS

Boxed CMS is a ready-made software product. Such a system can be downloaded (in the case of free solutions) or bought (commercial engines). It would be incorrect to compare free and commercial products, as they have fundamental differences that are important for business.

Free engines out of the box

Examples: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Opencart, Magento and others like them.

☺ Free relationship with the developer

Thanks to the freeware, many people know about such products. So, it will not be difficult for you to find a developer. And it will not be a problem to replace it if your paths diverge.

☺ Cheap (if you make compromises)

Creating websites on such engines is relatively inexpensive. Basic functionality is usually free. You can find a huge number of plug-ins for a variety of tasks, and many of them are also free.

☺ Design change in 2 clicks

In boxed engines, it is possible to add design templates - if you are tired of the design, you can download / buy a new one and put it on the site. Sometimes this is done in 2 clicks.

× Lack of a single standard

Open source solutions do not have a single development standard, so even despite the huge army of WordPress developers, every next specialist will want to remake your CMS for themselves.

× Module selection problem

A large selection of modules can also turn into a problem. Since completely different people can create them, a huge number of solutions for the same tasks are proliferating on the network. It can be difficult to determine which module is suitable for a particular task. When connecting, it is better to cross your fingers, it may not be compatible with your version of the engine.

Scarecrow for the night:

Sometimes free modules are created solely for the purpose of spreading viruses. That is, the plugin seems to be useful, but in fact it is a loophole for infection. Many free templates for WordPress and Joomla sin with this, template developers use them to post links and even viruses to make money. Here Joomla-Master.org, they say, especially a lot of templates with links.

× Vulnerability

Vulnerability is the price you have to pay when choosing a free open source engine. Due to (or because of) the popularity of such solutions, sites on them are hacked much more often. Even in source code and there are no viruses, but it costs nothing for attackers to hack the site and infect. You have to develop countless patches to get around the problem.

× Non-compliance with the requirements of the laws of the Russian Federation

Free boxed products, as a rule, are not produced in Russia. Nobody adapts them to Russian realities, and the requirements of Russian legislation are also not taken into account in them.

× No support

But there is a large community of developers, and the forums will most likely help you. But there is no tech support. That is, it may take a very long time to find a solution, and the effect is not guaranteed.

Output: conclude a technical support contract with a contractor company that developed the site on a free engine.

× SEO restrictions

It is difficult to promote such sites. Either it is not possible to edit meta tags (you need to connect a plugin in WordPress), or rel="canonical" cannot be registered on some templates.

Joomla, for example, is notorious for messy code. It creates several duplicates for each page of the site, so it will be extremely difficult for you to break into the top of the issue. Because sites on Joomla are poorly indexed. And loaded slowly for the same reason.

Drupal also generates a lot of extra stuff. If you finally figure out what modules you need for SEO, then get ready to puzzle over how to get rid of the extra technical pages that the system will spawn.

× Inconvenient to edit content

In many free CMS (hello, Joomla), to make minimal improvements to the display of one page, sometimes you can not do without the help of a developer, not free.

Commercial boxed CMS

Examples: 1C-Bitrix, NetCat, HostCMS, UMI.CMS, CS-Cart, etc.

☺ Easy to choose and change developers

You can easily find a developer to work with popular paid solutions (as well as popular free ones).

☺ Specialization

Many commercial serial engines are tailored to solve specific groups of tasks. For example, there are CMSs that are convenient for building online stores (Amiro CMS, CS-Cart).

☺ Compliance with Russian realities

Paid engines popular in Russia are adapted for Russian business. And 1C-Bitrix is ​​generally a Russian development, which a priori takes into account all the requirements.

☺ Serious technical support

You will not be left in trouble if you have questions about the integration of services, problems with connecting modules or software bugs.

× Annual royalties

You will have to renew your license. Without buying a license for the next year, you will not be able to update the CMS to the latest version and it will be much more difficult to fulfill the requirements of search engines, for example.

× The need for improvements

If you change the developer, you still have to finish it.

× Content editor unfriendly

Usually in such CMS there are problems with content, it is difficult to figure it out without a developer. Content managers scare children with stories about sites on 1C-Bitrix.

A riddle for the little ones: which button you need to press so that your three-hour work on the calculation is preserved.

And here you have to think hard to find the right page for editing.

× Paid technical support

They will help you, but not for free.

3. Website builders

The constructor is an online platform for creating websites. To build a simple site on the constructor, you don't need to mess around with code, databases, or hosting. No download or installation required. You register on the platform, specify the necessary settings, select a template - the site is ready. This is a cheap and often beautiful solution for one-pagers and simple sites.

Examples: Tilda, Nethouse, Wix, uKit, Weebly, etc.

☺ Quickly (and on your own)

The constructor allows you to quickly (and on your own) concoct a landing page or a simple website.

Most of the time no special knowledge is required. You can make a website to run ads on it in a day.

☺ Popular

If you don’t want to do it yourself or you need to “file” something, you can easily find a developer for the site on a popular constructor.

True, improvements are possible only in terms of frontend and content. Don't worry about functional improvements.

☺ Cheap

On Wix or Tilda, you can build a beautiful one-pager or a simple site for cheap that can collect applications.

× Forget complex functionality

If complex software improvements are required, compromises will have to be made. For example, using Tilda's tools, it will not be possible to ensure that the responses about applications come to additional mail. The technical support service will answer that there is no such functionality, but it may be added in the future. Or it won't.

× Captured by someone else's hosting

By choosing a SaaS solution to create a website, you become dependent on someone else's hosting. The possibility of transferring to another hosting is only in rare constructors, and if there is, it costs a lot.

In addition, if the pricing policy of the designer suddenly becomes not close to you (the subscription fee, say, will grow 4 times), you will have to redo the site in another place, either on a different constructor, or already on a CMS.

× Incompatibility with Russian realities

Many designers are foreign-made, they are not adapted to Russian realities. There is a fresh story about how Yandex stopped indexing sites on the Wix constructor due to javascript errors.

In addition, usually the offer agreement with the owners of the constructors is drawn up in such a way that the company does not bear any responsibility to you:

• not for hosting downtime,
• not for system failures,
• not for non-compliance with the law,
• not for "sudden" updates,
• not for blocking.
• These are all your risks, reputational and financial.

× Subdomain name

On many constructors (for example, on Tilda) on a free plan, you will be offered to register a site name on a subdomain of the site.tilda.ws type. This will not add confidence to the site on the part of users, although search engines hardly care about such trifles.

4. Studio CMS

Many web studios develop their own engines to build websites for their clients on them. Some of these control systems are sold as a stand-alone product, which means that any third-party developer can buy such a solution to implement their own projects. However, such cases are rare.

Examples: Canape CMS, UralCMS, Argilla, MediaPublisher, etc.

☺ Detailed technical documentation

Unlike self-written CMS, working with a studio engine, a third-party developer will be able to easily understand the code, since for Canape CMS, for example, there is a detailed tech. documentation that is supplemented and updated from release to release.

☺ There is a support service

Web studios usually have closer contacts with clients, which is why technical support for studio CMS is usually more responsive. They will always answer you, help, prompt if there are problems.

How Canape CMS Help Desk Works

☺ SEO friendly functionality

If the studio that developed the engine provides search engine promotion services, it is highly likely that the CMS meets all the requirements of search engines and has the necessary functionality for SEO. When developing a site on Canape CMS, the default basic SEO parameters are configured, and all possibilities are provided for further promotion in search engines.

☺ Customization for business tasks

Working with engines out of the box is like carving a sculpture out of a stone block. You take a hard product, cut off unnecessary things, mold additional modules. Things don't always work out as planned.

With studio CMS, everything is different - they collect the necessary functionality for your business requirements with the possibility of expanding and scaling it.

☺ Test sites

This is a design standard that is not always followed in constructors, for example. Canape CMS has a test site where developers can test the implementation of a particular solution on a studio engine. This is safe for a "combat" site and useful if developers are involved from outside.

☺ Focus on the client, not the developer

If boxed solutions are focused on the developer, who is their target buyer, then studio solutions are created with an eye on the end user - the company for which the site is being created.

Studio CMS to a greater extent take into account the individual needs of the business, and usually have a specialization (online stores, information portals, etc.)

different types sites built on Canape CMS

☺ Security

The security of such engines is many times higher than free or popular paid solutions. Not many people are familiar with the studio CMS code, so they are hacked much less often.

WordPress, for example, breaks quite often. An attacker will easily gain access to the admin panel if the user is not very experienced. Sites are usually hacked to extort money from the owner or hang on him malicious code. The same situation occurs with OpenCart and MODX.

× Challenges for Third Party Developers

Such solutions are less replicated, and a third-party developer has to understand someone else's code (Canape CMS has test platforms and technical documentation, and the code is open and standardized, so the problem is not too big).

× Dependence on studio services

There may not be integration with popular services, as studios usually have their own alternatives. Therefore, if it is necessary to introduce a popular CRM, the site will have to be slightly modified programmatically.

× No one is immune from an untimely death

If the studio closes or abandons its CMS, then the engine will stop updating.

However, users of popular engines are not immune from this either. Although the likelihood of such an outcome is lower.

The easiest way not to make a mistake in choosing an engine

The mistake many business owners make is hyper-engagement. If you are not at all versed in either programming or SEO, entrust the choice to someone who will promote the site. At the same time, it is very desirable that one contractor or contractors who work in conjunction should be involved in the development and promotion. Anyone who does not promote sites himself can hardly foresee everything at the development stage, and a company working with specific CMS has accurately studied all their possibilities and will surely be able to use them to your advantage.

If you write a site in one place, and then you decide to take it to another web studio for promotion, be prepared for unforeseen expenses:

• You will have to pay for connecting additional modules or third-party development of the necessary functions in order, for example, to be able to edit meta tags. Usually these expenses for the business owner are unexpected.
• You may be asked to move your site to another CMS that is more suitable for promotion (or with which your new contractor is more familiar). In terms of cost, this is often comparable to the development of a new site.
• Promotional activities will be less effective, and much more will be required than if you did everything in one company. That is again a waste.
• Some CMS have extremely inconvenient content editing tools. If you are “lucky” to have a site on one of them, you will have to involve developers, even to change the phone number on the pages.

Regardless of the engine you choose, the easiest way to save money is not to fight with the developer. Even the most popular CMS does not guarantee that the site will not need to be modified when changing contractors. Therefore, you should not be afraid of less popular studio engines. In addition, the implementation of improvements, for example, on Canape CMS will not be a problem for a third-party developer, since the code is standardized and all technical documentation is available.

It shouldn't matter to the manager what CMS the site is built on, if it occupies the top positions in the search results and brings you applications. Choosing an engine is the task of an SEO contractor, from whom you will require specific KPIs for promotion. By imposing your preferences on CMS, you complicate the work of specialists and, most likely, increase your own costs for Internet marketing.