10 Best Content Management Systems (CMS) Software in 2021

The right content management software (CMS) is key to ensuring that your publishing and marketing team has the right set of content formatting, publishing, and management tools. With several new CMS providers entering the fray in a $62 billion+ market, there are many options for buyers. But with many options comes confusion on the best pick that will give you the right set of features and ROI. In this article, we discuss the must-have features of CMS software, followed by a list of the top 10 best content management systems (CMS) in 2021.

Table of Contents

8 Key Must-Have Features to Look for in Content Management System (CMS) Software 

Today, the options for content management software (CMS) are more than ever, and so are buyers. Due to the global coronavirus lockdown and increased need for remote working based on cloud technology, more and more companies are hunting for a viable cloud-based CMS. In fact, a 2020 Forrester report predicts that the whole CMS market will expand from $62 billion in 2020 to $116 billion by 2025. 

Let’s first take a look at the key must-have features of a CMS in 2021. 

1. Feature-rich content formatting tools 

The number one need for writers and publishers is the need for the right formatting tools that render the content in desired formats. This may include a ‘table of content’ section for publishing long articles, right line spacing customizations (like the value of 1 gap between sentences), right indentation types, option for adding tables and charts, etc. 

Apart from writers and publishers, your customer and user experience (UX) teams may have a set theme for content displayed on the website that matches the overall design and customer experience goals. The CMS needs to be format-rich and customizable enough to incorporate these brand requirements to affect the overall user and customer experience, even beyond reading a content piece.

2. Simple publishing UX

A CMS is typically used by a wide range of stakeholders, including developers and IT managers, especially if your whole site is based on a single CMS. However, the most frequent user will still be your content publishers.

A CMS should require the least amount of developer intervention to input content and its various types. A good-fit CMS will typically have the tools that your team will mostly use – easily identifiable and accessible by any employee without technical expertise on the software end of the CMS. 

Some of these UX features include:

• Drag-and-drop for content elements during the publication.
• Easy accessibility of the most commonly used tools in a single click (avoiding layered features).
• Site category/section selection.
• Automation of tasks such as URL generation which should be further customizable.

3. Multilingual page support 

If your business serves users who speak more than one language or come from different geographies with different languages, then a multilingual website will be key to tap into these potential buyers for expanding your business. 

CMS software can help you automatically present different language versions of the same page to users across geographies based on their IP addresses. Additionally, you can also provide an option on the website for users to select other languages, especially if it is a multilingual mixed market (same geography but different languages). 

This greatly reduces the need for coders and expands the reach of your hosted content. This, in turn, potentially expands business across languages and geographies where you want to sell — a necessity for global companies or companies with global ambitions.

Learn More: What Is a Content Management System (CMS)? Definition, Key Functions, Best Practices With ExamplesOpens a new window

4. The flexibility to host content on-premise or on the cloud 

There is no denying that we are living in a SaaS world. Most of our software licenses are moving to a subscription format, eliminating the need to host services on a physical or private data center near you. But content management is an area where the option to stay on-premise is important. For example, a bank or a health insurance company might not want to store all its data and data governance systems remotely on the cloud. 

An on-premise CMS software will also let developers push website updates more quickly, which can be helpful in peak traffic scenarios. This makes “on-premise or cloud” flexibility one of the most important features for content management systemsOpens a new window . 

5. Insightful data on content engagement 

The best content management systems out there address both marketing and developer use cases. Engagement data is a vital marketing need, which is why your CMS software should be able to display trends, metrics, and KPIs on website activity. This can happen in two ways: 

• The CMS includes a built-in dashboard for analytics – e.g., Site Dashboard on Pantheon. 
• You integrate an extension, adding third-party analytics capabilities to your CMS – e.g., this Google Analytics plugin for Joomla. 

The latter is more popular for open source CMS software like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. 

Learn More: Solidify Your Brand with a Content Management System Opens a new window

6. Secure plug-in support and troubleshooting resources

One of the most important features of your CMS should be the availability of additional free plug-in options- that are regularly scanned by the provider for malware and should be secure to install and uninstall when needed.

Some of these external plug-ins that your team may require can be based on content themes, adding special page sections or specific back-end actions that may otherwise need a developer to customize.

7. Support and service from a vendor

Any protracted issue with your CMS will lead to website downtime, which in turn, interrupts business continuity. That’s why solid support should be among the determining features when shopping for the best content management systems for your company. 

Open-source systems are backed by a huge community of developers who have faced nearly every issue imaginable and have come up with a solution. On the downside, they don’t always employ dedicated experts like a 24/7 support team or a customer success team that we find in typical SaaS offerings. 

However, paid platforms come with robust support to solve your CMS issues based on their severity, like Contentful. 

Learn More: What is Content-as-a-Service? Definition, Examples, and Top 15 CaaS Vendors in 2020Opens a new window

8. De-index, Redirection, and SEO essentials 

There will be certain web pages that you will want to be viewed only by certain people, such as landing pages for email campaigns that need to be hosted on the site but are only relevant to a specific project or campaign. These pages may also adversely interfere with your SEO rankings if indexed by search engines. Such pages will need a no-index tag in their page code, which can also be done using a simple app in the CMS or a supporting plug-in.

Similarly, if you need to redirect an old content page to a new one, the CRM tool should be able to do this – whether through a built-in tool or external plug-in support.

Furthermore, it should have basic SEO sections needed by search engines such as meta description, title, and H Tag setting (at least up to H4, if you publish very long articles with deep sub-sections, then up to H6).

9. Integration suites

One of the primary features to ensure in a CMS in a suite of compatible integration APIs, such as that with a CRM or your marketing automation tools. The key benefit of integrating your CMS with other customer experience enabling software- is having your customer data unified. This means that, rather than having customer information in silos, you can ensure that your staff sees the latest and integrated information about a customer from any given platform through integration.

For example, if a sales executive wants to check customer engagement details in the CRM, this should include all brand engagements, including content engagement, such as downloading an ebook from your site. This data is typically stored in the CMS and needs to be automatically passed to the CRM for sales teams’ access without switching software.

10. Role-based access for stringent security 

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that your CMS is responsible for the online face of your company. 

Therefore, it is critical to restrict access to CMS tools so that no unapproved users can get in. This could range from accidental vulnerabilities like letting visitors export data in bulk to more severe issues. For example, Joomla recently suffered a data breach that impacted 2,700 individuals, including potentially personally identifiable information.

To prevent this, it is recommended to opt for a paid platform with dedicated support (see point 6) or work with a content-as-a-service vendor who can assume end-to-end accountability. 

Learn More: 4 Essential Features in a Business-grade Content Management SystemOpens a new window

What’s on the Priority List for 2021 and Beyond? 

The world of online content is evolving rapidly. New forms of content – like AR/VR – and new consumption channels – like wearables – target a whole new generation of website visitors. But research done by Magnolia surveying 400 CMS power users suggests that both marketers and IT professionals continue to prioritize the fundamentals of content management software systems: 

• Flexibility (priority #2 for IT and #4 for marketing) 
• Integration (priority #3 for IT and #5 for marketing) 
• Ease of use (priority #4 for IT and #3 for marketing)

The best content management systems will get these basics right and continue to grow at the market’s pace to incorporate the latest trends. If you are eager to know which CMS software platforms make the cut, read on for our top 10 CMS recommendations for 2021. 

Top 10 Content Management Systems (CMS) for 2021

Below is an alphabetically ordered list of the top 10 content management systems (CMS) in 2021, based on user reviews and publicly available information. It aims to help mid-to-large scale organizations shortlist their software options. Every buyer is encouraged to conduct thorough software testing and evaluation before making the final decision.

1. Adobe Experience Cloud – Opens a world of possibilities 

Content management systems software is just the starting line with Adobe. 

• For those in search of a foundational CMS, AOpens a new window dobe has a headless CMS offering that decouples your back-end from the front-end interface.
• By partnering with Adobe, you can gain from the company’s rich analytics and customer targeting expertise, not to mention its smartly-designed Experience Manager. The Experience Manager has a 4.2/5 rating on Capterra. It is used by some of the world’s largest companies, including MasterCard.
• And, if (or when) you want to scale up to a fully integrated content management and marketing automation solution, Adobe Experience Cloud has you covered.

Learn More: Web Content Management – Does Your System Measure Up?Opens a new window

2. Acquia – Superior experiences for websites running on Drupal 

Acquia is a platform that wears many hats. It has also won mentions by Forrester Research on choosing a customer data platform – in other words, it brings a valley of capabilities under a single umbrella.

• Acquia is built on Drupal (a popular open-source CMS software itself), which allows a good amount of customization, particularly in comparison to WordPress. 
• Acquia has a 4.5/5 rating on Capterra, with cross-industry use across Verizon, Panasonic, Wendy’s, Pinterest, and others.

3. CMS Hub – A content management software system from marketing giant HubSpot 

CMS Hub emerged as a leader on the G2 Grid for WCM for Spring 2020, leaving behind competitors like WordPress and Sitecore by a significant margin. CMS Hub addresses the composite needs of marketers, developers, and IT teams, helping companies build engaging websites, design conversion-friendly content, and maintain website uptime. 

It has an impressive list of features to serve all of these use cases. Here are the highlights:

• Multilingual support (the website is available in English, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese, French, and Chinese).
• Serverless functions to give developers maximum flexibility.
• Custom CDN configurations in the enterprise version.
• CMS Hub is used by Randstad, Coca-Cola, and several other global giants. This could be the CMS software for you if your company is already deep into the HubSpot ecosystem. Finally, on Capterra, CMS Hub has a stellar rating of 4.9/5.

Learn More: 4 Essential Features in a Business-grade Content Management SystemOpens a new window

4. Drupal

Drupal is another free and open-source CMS software that is commonly used across industries, such as fintech, sports, entertainment, education, healthcare, e-commerce, media and publishing, and NGOs. 

• The Drupal community has 1.39 million members, out of which 117,000 active contributors have built over 44,000 free modules (third-party integrations) and 2,800 free themes to extend the website’s functionality.
• The basic version of Drupal, known as Drupal core, offers basic CMS features and can be used to build blogs, online forums, or user-generated content websites.
• Although Drupal is infamous for not being beginner-friendly, some of its features such as security, taxonomy system, multilingual site support, and custom post creation are too powerful to be ignored. It is recommended to have an experienced web developer to manage the Drupal website as it can be a bit difficult to manage and update it from a technical standpoint.
• Drupal’s enterprise-level security has gained its adoption among government users, including whitehouse.gov.
• Drupal offers integration with marketing and sales products such as Tableau, Salesforce, Mailchimp, HubSpot, Google Analytics, and Shopify.

5. Joomla

Similar to WordPress and Drupal, Joomla is another widely-used free and open-source CMS. Over 2 million websites use Joomla as its CMS. Joomla has a community of 1,500+ active volunteers that have developed more than 10,000 extensions and templates.

• Joomla is a powerful CMS if your content strategy involves a diverse content mix.
• The CMS is mobile-friendly, supports multilingual websites, provides multi-level user permissions, and can provide a thorough set of features without the need for third-party integrations/extensions.
• Compared to WordPress and other CMS such as Squarespace or Wix, Joomla comes with a steep learning curve and is not a beginner-friendly CMS. However, Joomla provides comprehensive documentation/user manual and video training classes if you are willing to learn on your own.

6. Oracle WebCenter Content – The go-to solution for unstructured content Opens a new window

Oracle finds recognition from some leading analysts today – it was named a WCM Leader by Gartner MQ 2018 and 2019, as well as a High Performer on the G2 Grid for WCM, Spring 2020. Its WebCenter solution is mainly designed for internal use, owing to its support for unstructured documents like PDFs, images, and reports.

You can use Oracle WebCenter Content to:

• Capture data from unstructured documents and link to business process automation. 
• Publish content on websites with role-based access.
• Build a repository of digital assets for marketing.
• Apply record management policies to maintain compliance.

This CMS software makes perfect sense for companies with a strong Oracle reliance on HR or ERP systems. It is currently rated 4.5/5 on Capterra.

7. Squarespace

Squarespace is known for its intuitive and ridiculously simple drag-and-drop website builder that lets you build an aesthetic website interface. The CMS is used primarily by SMBs, entrepreneurs, musicians, restaurants, and bloggers. 

• Squarespace acts as a one-stop shop for users by providing all essential website ingredients, such as domain name, web hosting, SSL certificate, extensions, etc., right from its basic pricing plans.
• Squarespace comes with a built-in repository of mobile-friendly themes that you can modify using CSS. You can also use the style editor to customize fonts, colors, and other theme settings. 
• Squarespace offers basic image manipulation features to enable image editing on the fly. You can assign multiple contributors and assign different access rights to ensure that website management does not become complicated.

The basic plan starts at $16 per month. If you subscribe to its business ($26 per month) and other advanced plans, you can also set up an e-commerce store that comes with tiered features based on the plan.

While Squarespace is an excellent choice for smaller websites, it may not suit your requirements as you scale your content efforts in the longer run.

8. Progress Sitefinity – ML-led CMS for better personalization and reporting

The G2 Grid for WCM, Spring 2020, calls Progress Sitefinity a leader. According to the 2019 Gartner MQ for WCM, Progress is positioned as a challenger in this space. This means that the company delivers high performance but is yet to realize the full scope of market vision and possibilities.

Progress has a wide range of tools to help you build and maintain your business website. Its CMS software, Sitefinity, is currently in Version 13Opens a new window , gaining several advanced updates:

• Machine learning (ML) analytics for persistent personalizations on your website.
• Image and taxonomy management tools to organize digital assets.
• Connectors for .NET Core and Google Data Studio.

Progress Sitefinity sports a 4/5 rating on G2. You also have the option of extending its capabilities via the Sitefinity Digital Experience Cloud.

Learn More: Thoughts on Content Management SystemsOpens a new window

9. Sitecore – A full feature CMS for online stores 

Sitecore clubs both products and services into its value proposition. Its target audience is eCommerce players, but it works well for other customer-facing companies as well. Gartner named Sitecore in its MQ for WCM in both 2018 and 2019. And, with good reason:

• Sitecore gives you the option of choosing a vanilla CMS, an integrated digital experience platform, a 360-degree content hub (internal), or expanding it via one of its many connectors.
• Sitecore provides a suite of services powered by its solution partners as well as its own Sitecore Business Optimization Strategies (SBOS) team. Whether you need development support or help with CMS implementation, the company will provide full assistance.
• Sitecore boasts of an impressive lineup of customers, including the Ministry of Manpower of Singapore, Subway, L’Oreal, and Cricket Australia, to name a few.

10. WordPress

WordPress.org was launched in 2003 and has simplified website development for everyone. It started as a blogging platform but has now grown into a full-blown CMS platform to the extent that 35% of the active websites now use WordPress. It is also a favorite among bloggers due to its design and easy-to-use framework.

WordPress is the leader in the CMS category for two main reasons:

• It’s a free and open-source application, which means not only can you use it for free, but you can also fine-tune its code to suit your requirements.
• A wide range of customization options right from aesthetics and user interface (UI) to third-party integrations.

While WordPress offers a variety of free themes, you can also buy third-party themes. WordPress lets you use plugins to help you extend its feature set and integrate different applications with the website to automate the workflow. Automattic, the parent company of WordPress, also offers an open-source e-commerce plugin called WooCommerce to help you set up an online store without any technical complexities.

One key concern with WordPress is that it has been notorious for its security vulnerabilities. Therefore, if you choose to go with WordPress, make sure that you update the CMS and plugins regularly.

The company’s USP is its Sitecore Experience Commerce™ (XC) product for eCommerce majors. It currently holds a 4.2/5 rating on Gartner Peer insights.

Closing Thoughts: Should WordPress Be on Your List of Best Content Management Systems for 2021?

WordPress is among the oldest CMSs out there, and a July 2020 reportOpens a new window reveals that 37.6% of all websites use this technology. However, it does come with some security risks – like the May breach, which targeted over 900,000 WordPress sites. This is inevitable for an open-source system, so most companies choose a paid overlay (like Pantheon) to make it more secure, scalable, and user-friendly.

All of these ten CMS platforms are excellent for the majority of content management scenarios. We’d recommend that you take a look at your unique technical (integration, existing landscape, etc.) and business (selling, site traffic, etc.) needs before making a decision.

Have you tried any of these top CMS platforms for 2021? Comment and let us know on FacebookOpens a new window , LinkedIn, Opens a new window and TwitterOpens a new window ! We would love to hear your views!