The Myth of the Best CMS

As much as web developers shout from rooftops, no one CMS (content management system) is “the best”. Not a single one.

What these developers are really doing in all their shouting, is endorsing a product they know very well that has likely served them (and their clients probably) very well in 99% of cases. I’ve been guilty of this as well. Hey, people can change!

What they forget is that there really isn’t such a thing as one-size fits all. Not in the real world, and not in the web development world. That’s because while a lot of sites may have a lot in common as far as structure and publishing or management needs go, there are plenty that have unique needs or even simpler needs where that go-to CMS doesn’t make sense.

It boils down to the client’s requirements and needs.

Take for example, a client who has the following requirements:

• Just a few pages on the site
• Wants the ability to change text if the need arises
• Wants to be able to add testimonials
• Doesn’t plan on blogging

In that case even WordPress would be overkill. Craft or Statamic make more sense here (though both are capable of much more).

Or how about the client that needs these things:

• Two or three “static” pages
• A blog with multiple authors, categories, and tags
• A products section where they will need to not only sell inventory, but keep track of it via their point of sale system and tie that into the website

A more robust CMS solution like ExpressionEngine (and one of its third-party e-commerce add-ones) makes sense here. It may even require custom programming to tie the site into their point of sale system.

In either case, ExpressionEngine would work. But so would WordPress. Or Drupal. Or a custom CMS.

The point is, you need the right tool for the job. It’s up to us web professionals – not our clients – to know which CMS is best for a client’s project.