A content management system (CMS) is the heartbeat of any website, whether a small independent blog or multinational ecommerce site.
If you’re in the market for a new CMS, you’ve probably considered Umbraco and how it compares to other leading content management systems. This guide covers some of the key pros and cons of Umbraco and other leading CMS options, including WordPress, Drupal, and Squarespace.
What are the pros and cons of Umbraco?
Pros of using Umbraco
Umbraco is an open source content management system that is simple to use and easy to update, even without any technical knowledge.
As far as building in Umbraco goes, that’s also relatively straightforward and easy to learn, especially if you’re familiar with if you know ASP.NET and it makes full use of the Framework
As an open source CMS, it is very customizable and flexible to the needs of any business and makes great use of plugins for ease of use. It is also perfect for media hosting and has a powerful range of publishing tools.
Umbraco has a great online support network and community.
Cons of using Umbraco
If you’re not up to speed with ASP.NET, you may struggle with the complexity of Umbraco – since it’s free out-of-the-box, it might take some specialist expertise to set up.
If you have an older website with thousands of pages, content can load relatively slowly, and slow page speed can impact click through and SEO.
What are the pros and cons of WordPress?
Pros of using WordPress
WordPress has an easy to use back end that makes great use of plugins and widgets that can help with all elements of your website without having to get deep into the coding.
The vast array of the themes available mean that designing any website is relatively straightforward, and you can instantly change the look and feel of your site by simply switching themes.
There are a range of analytics plugins available with a GUI interface for at-a-glance analysis of your website’s performance.
Cons of using WordPress
Potential security issues with certain themes, plugins and widgets – if you’re unsure about security, it’s worth getting advice from a WordPress expert. You might also have security issues if you don’t regularly install the necessary updates and work from the latest version.
The range of plugins, themes and widgets can actually offer too much choice in some instances, meaning it’s not always easy to find the right solution.
Poor support is often cited as an issue, although there is a free message board, it can be quite hit-and-miss and nowhere near as efficient as the Umbraco community.
What are the pros and cons of Drupal?
Pros of using Drupal
Drupal is customizable, search engine friendly, and fully scalable – although an extremely powerful CMS, it can be easily scaled down to work as well for simple websites.
It also has a robust support community that can quickly and efficiently help with any issues.
Cons of using Drupal
It’s not easy to use at first, and most find there is a very steep learning curve – but it’s worthwhile once you get to grips with the system and it becomes easier to use.
Steep learning curve (but easy to use once you learn the system).
There are a number of poorly written or unsupported plug-ins that can cause security issues.
Regular security and new release notifications can be a hassle as they seem to happen too often, but are essential to keep your site secure.
What are the pros and cons of Squarespace?
Pros of using Squarespace
Squarespace has a drag-and-drop interface that is very easy to use and has a range of extensive and well-designed elements, including fonts and templates. Images and videos are easy to integrate and are well-presented.
You can create and maintain your website via a desktop or mobile app, and the user interface is easy to understand and requires very little learning and/or trial and error.
Cons of using Squarespace
Although Squarespace has an ecommerce functionality, there are better content management systems available for online shops and it isn’t as robust as something like Shopify.
Changing templates to see how content may look isn’t seamless.
Whatever type of business you run, and whatever type of website you need, it’s important to find the right CMS to suit your needs. If you need assistance, speak to the experts at a trusted web design company.
