At some point, every business needs an online presence, which means creating and promoting a website. Today, we’ll talk about one of the fundamental aspects: how to choose the right CMS (Content Management System) for easy content management and successful long-term promotion. The future of your website depends largely on this choice.
Paid vs free CMS platforms
Let’s start by comparing paid and free CMS platforms.
Paid CMS platforms generally offer numerous advantages, such as advanced extensions, live technical support, free updates, ready-made solutions for specific industries, SEO-friendly structures, and higher performance speed. Among the paid CMS platforms we’ve worked with are Simpla, Image CMS, and Bitrix. The average cost for these CMS platforms is usually around $400–$700.
Free CMS platforms are readily available for download and installation. However, they come with their own pros and cons. On the plus side, they’re easy to test, can be used to build simple sites quickly, and offer pre-built templates and plugins. On the downside, they can lack complex tools, be difficult to customize, and not all web studios are willing to work with them. They can also be less secure and may struggle under heavy traffic. From our experience, we recommend Joomla and WordPress for free CMS platforms. Others often pose challenges for SEO optimization. The cost of creating a website with a free CMS ranges from $300 to $1,000.
☝ Advice. If you’re building a simple website for a small business, a free CMS is a good choice.
If you need a site with a complex structure, product uploads from 1C, real-time inventory, and more, a paid CMS is the way to go.
➊ Wordpress – Ideal for blogs and business card websites.
➋ Joomla – Suitable for online stores and informational websites.
➌ Drupal – Great for informational websites.
Be cautious when reviewing CMS rankings, as many of them are sponsored.
Paid CMS platforms fall into two categories:
👉 CMS platforms with ready-made templates and processes;
👉 Custom-built systems, designed either for the client’s specific needs or provided by a web studio.
Popular paid CMS:
- Prom.ua - Ideal for small online stores that don’t prioritize design, as most sites look similar.
- Horoshop - Great for online stores needing a more customized design.
- Shop Express - unlike the previous two, this is the next level, which is ideal for online stores, and which takes into account many aspects, right down to consent modes;
- Tilda - Popular for landing pages, especially in international markets.
The main advantage of paid CMS platforms with ready-made templates is that they’re already integrated with various services (analytics codes, pixels, etc.), which reduces costs and simplifies implementation. However, they may struggle to scale for large projects, as they are built for mid-size, typical clients.
Custom CMS solutions
For larger online stores with over 40,000 products, multi-layer filtering, real-time inventory, SMS notifications, and 1C integration, a custom CMS is often required. Off-the-shelf systems may not handle the workload. In these cases, a custom-built system developed by a private company is more effective.
Key factors for custom CMS platforms
When choosing a custom CMS, focus on the web studio: its founders, experience, staff turnover, portfolio, and ability to improve the site over time. A custom website typically costs at least $3,000.
However, be aware that custom CMS platforms often require ongoing development. They usually start with a basic version, followed by continuous improvements. This process can take years, so it’s important to ask about the cost of future work. In our experience, the cost of these improvements can end up being as much as the original website. On average, expect to pay $10–$20 per hour for a developer in Ukraine.
Another huge nuance of custom and ready-made CMS
Custom CMS platforms are developed by small teams, often just 1–5 developers, while CMS platforms like WordPress are supported by hundreds or even thousands of developers and tested globally. This means that some features may be easier (or even free) to implement on ready-made CMS platforms compared to custom systems, where development can be more complex and costly.
How to identify a competitor's CMS?
If you want to find out what CMS your competitor is using, you can analyze their site’s code. In popular CMS platforms, the system name is often mentioned in file paths or scripts. If you're unsure how to do this, it’s best to ask a knowledgeable person to help you.
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