What a CMS does
A CMS separates the content of a site (words, pictures, products) from its design and code. You log in, open a page, change a paragraph or swap a photo, and publish. The CMS stores the content in a database and assembles it into the finished page using templates the developer built. Without a CMS every change is a code edit, which is how websites worked in the early 2000s and how some still do.
The common choices
- WordPress: open-source software you install on your own hosting. Runs roughly four in ten websites. Flexible, huge plugin ecosystem, you own everything. Needs maintenance. See is WordPress free.
- Shopify: a hosted CMS built for online stores. You pay monthly, Shopify runs the servers and the checkout.
- Squarespace, Wix, Webflow: hosted website builders with a design-first editor. Easy to start, limited when you need something they do not offer, and the site cannot be moved off the platform.
- Headless CMS (Contentful, Sanity, Strapi, headless WordPress): stores content only; a separate React or Next.js front end displays it. Used for custom and high-performance builds.
Do you need one?
Almost every business website should have a CMS, because you will want to change things without calling a developer. The exception is a small custom React or Next.js site whose content rarely changes, where the developer updates it as part of maintenance. Which CMS fits depends on what the site has to do; the guide to picking a website platform walks through the decision.