What Is the Most Common Type of CMS?

by Nick Brems | Last Updated: Mar 30, 2023

Did you know over 78 million websites have been built using a content management system (CMS)? Long gone are the days of needing a developer to build your landing pages or websites. With the proper CMS, you can build thorough and meaningful digital experiences with limited technical knowledge necessary.

What Is a CMS?

A CMS is a software marketers use to store, manage, and edit digital content, most commonly for managing a website. Imagine a depository for all images, documents, videos and other content required to build digital experiences, such as landing pages, websites, microsites, and more. That is a CMS.

What Is the Most Common Type of CMS?

There are hundreds of CMS solutions available today. You need to be aware of the three types of content management system solutions:

Open Source: An open source content management system is a CMS maintained by a community of developers, rather than one single entity. Some systems include Wordpress, Drupal, and Django CMS. Having a large base of developers means the system is constantly iterated and becomes a better product over time. A drawback to open source CMS is security. With more developers having access to the same code, there is a higher potential for security breaches.
Proprietary SaaS: A proprietary CMS, is a CMS built and maintained by a single entity rather than a community. This organization owns the system and others will often pay a monthly fee to use it. If you are looking for a proprietary CMS, you would want to check out Lumavate, Sitecore, or Adobe Experience Manager. The benefit to a proprietary CMS is some CMS solutions are tailored towards a specific industry. This gives you the tools you need without being overwhelming. One major drawback to this type of CMS is once you go with a specific proprietor, it’s not as easy to move to a different system. There is one exception to this rule however, with Lumavate, you can use Lumavate’s CMS, integrate to a third-party CMS, or use a combination of the two options.

Headless: A headless CMS separates where content is stored from where it is presented. Some of the best headless CMS tools include Strapi and Contentful. The benefit of a headless CMS is that it provides a higher degree of flexibility when it comes to integrating with other systems. With a traditional CMS, you are often limited to the templates and plugins that are available for that particular system. But with a headless CMS, you can easily integrate with any number of different systems, using any number of different technologies.

What Are 3 Content Management Systems?

To better understand what to look for in a CMS take a look at some specific examples of each type of content management system.

WordPress (Open Source): WordPress is the most popular CMS on the market to date. 63.4 percent of CMS users use the WordPress content management system. WordPress is free to download, and the only payment you have is hosting your domain by a third-party. This CMS is easy for beginners to pick up, and has different plugins created by developers. This helps you optimize your digital experience just how you want.
ContentStack (Headless): Contentstack is an API-based CMS that allows developers and content managers to create and manage independent digital experiences simultaneously. Without a front-end (head), ContentStack provides you the freedom to choose which front-end web developer you desire. This CMS can help scale your business and provide flexibility when writing, editing, and creating your digital content.
Lumavate (Proprietary SaaS): While Lumavate is considered a proprietary SaaS CMS, the digital experience platform (DXP) offers a lot more flexibility for creating digital content. Lumavate can be the front-end of your headless CMS, you can integrate with your current third-party CMS with the platform, or you can do both.

What Are Examples of a CMS?

Whether you want a headless, proprietary, or open source, there are a lot of options to explore. Here are five leading CMS solutions:

Adobe Experience Manager: Often referred to as AEM, it is used by enterprise organizations because it is easy to scale up and work with a large number of sites.
Drupal: A free and open-source web content management system. It is commonly used by large and complex organizations that have high-traffic sites.
Contentful: The headless CMS is API-centric, meaning users can pull data in and out of Contentful using API calls.
Craft: A flexible CMS that requires coding.
Lumavate: A digital experience platform (DXP) with a broad suite of functionality, including a CMS that enables us to use Lumavate’s CMS, integrate with a third-party CMS, or a combination of both.

As you constantly iterate your digital content, it is important to find a CMS as flexible as you are. Doing this will set your business up for success and help you provide the best digital content for your customers. Take a tour of the Lumavate platform and start managing your online content today.

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