How to choose a CMS? Base it on who will update the site, what you want to publish and how fast and secure the site needs to be. Not on the best-known brand. A CMS (content management system) is the admin area where you edit texts, photos and pages yourself, without writing code.
In this article you'll learn which types exist, what a headless CMS is and which questions help you decide. That way you avoid being stuck in two years' time with a system that no longer suits your business.
What is a CMS and why does the choice matter?
A CMS separates content from technology. You type text into a field, and the system puts it in the right place on your site, in the right style. That sounds simple, but the choice determines a lot. How easily do you and your colleagues work with it? How much maintenance does the site need? How fast do the pages load? And what will it cost later to add something?
Switching CMS is often expensive. You have to move all content, check links and sometimes rebuild the whole design. That's why it pays to think carefully at the start, even if you only have a few pages now.
Which types of CMS are there?
Roughly speaking there are three flavours. Each has its own place and none is always the best.
- Traditional CMS: admin and website in one package. WordPress is the best-known example. There are lots of plugins and themes, so you can get a site online quickly. Downside: every plugin is extra maintenance and a potential security hole.
- Website builder: all-in-one services such as Wix or Squarespace. You pay monthly and click your site together. Handy for a simple start, but you're tied to their features, their hosting and their prices.
- Headless CMS: only the admin part. The website itself is built separately and fetches the content through an API, a fixed link between two systems. Well-known names are Sanity, Strapi, Contentful and Payload.
Mainly torn between an off-the-shelf package and something custom? Then also read WordPress or a custom website.
Headless CMS: what is it and when should you choose one?
With a headless CMS, the admin has no fixed 'head': there's no front end attached to it. The content lives in the CMS, and the website is built separately, for example with a modern framework like Next.js. Read why that's interesting in the benefits of a Next.js website.
A headless CMS has a few clear advantages:
- Speed: the front end can run as light, pre-built pages. That helps with Core Web Vitals, Google's measurements for loading speed and stability.
- Security: the admin is separate from the public site. So there's less for an attacker to hit.
- Reuse: the same content can go to your website, an app or a customer portal.
- Design freedom: you're not tied to a theme that thousands of other sites also use.
There are downsides too. You need a developer to build and change the front end. Adding a new type of block isn't a matter of clicking a plugin. And for a simple five-page site that hardly ever changes, headless is sometimes more than you need. So choose it because it fits your goals, not because it sounds modern.
How to choose a CMS: six questions that help
Don't start with a list of brands. Start with your own situation. These questions usually make the choice clear quickly:
- Who will use it? One person who occasionally edits a text, or a team that publishes every week?
- What do you publish? Only fixed pages, or also blogs, vacancies, case studies, prices or products?
- How many languages do you need? Multilingual support should be built into the CMS, not bolted on top. Read more about a multilingual website.
- Does it need to connect to other systems, such as a CRM, your accounting software or a booking system?
- How important are speed and visibility in Google for your revenue?
- Who handles maintenance and updates, and what can that cost per month?
Write down the answers before you talk to an agency or developer. You'll often see which way it's going by itself, and you can compare quotes better.
Comparing CMS options: what to look for
If you're comparing two or three options, look beyond the demo. A nice dashboard says little about how it works after a year of daily use. Pay particular attention to these points:
- Ease of use: have the people who'll use it create a page themselves. Can they do it without explanation?
- Roles and permissions: can someone write a draft without it going live straight away?
- Preview: can you see what a page looks like before you hit publish?
- Media: can you crop images and fill in an alt text, the description for search engines and screen readers?
- SEO fields: can you set a title, description and clean URL for each page?
- Costs: watch out for licences per user, costs per amount of content and hosting. Tool prices change, so always ask for a current indication.
- Export: can you get your content out again later if you want to switch?
- Privacy: where is your data stored? If you store personal data, the GDPR (AVG in Dutch) comes into play.
Common mistakes when choosing a CMS
We see the same mistakes come up again and again. They're all avoidable once you know them.
- Choosing by name: 'everyone uses it' is no reason. What works for someone else doesn't always suit you.
- Too many plugins: every extension needs updating. After a few years the site is slow and vulnerable. Also read what good website maintenance involves.
- Leaving everything open: if the CMS allows any design, the site looks messy after a year. Fixed blocks with a fixed style work better.
- Forgetting the user: a powerful system nobody understands doesn't get used. Then your site stands still.
- No training: an hour's explanation at handover saves lots of separate questions and mistakes later.
How we choose the CMS for your website
At Violexa we build custom websites and web applications. We choose the CMS together with you, based on the questions above. We often connect a headless CMS to a fast front end, with fixed blocks. That way you create new pages yourself without the design falling apart. Sometimes a simpler solution is better, and then we tell you so.
A custom website with us starts from €1,799 excl. VAT (€2,177 incl. VAT) per project. That includes design, development, a design that works on every screen, basic SEO and Google Analytics, the CMS integration and training. Read more about our approach under having websites and apps built.
Not sure which CMS suits you? Book the free quickscan: a 30-minute conversation, online or at your location. Afterwards you get short written advice with a price indication. You're not committed to anything.
Frequently asked questions
Which CMS is best for a small business?
There's no single best CMS for everyone. For a small site that rarely changes, a simple system works fine. If you publish a lot, need multiple languages or want integrations, a headless CMS with a fast front end is often a better fit.
What's the difference between WordPress and a headless CMS?
With WordPress, admin and website are in one package. With a headless CMS, the admin is separate from the website, which is built on its own and fetches content through an API. That's usually faster and more secure, but you need a developer for changes to the front end.
Can I switch to a different CMS later?
Yes, but switching costs time and money. You have to move content, redirect links and often rebuild the design. So choose a system you can easily export your content from.
Is a headless CMS more expensive than WordPress?
The build is often a bit more expensive, because the front end is custom-made. On the other hand, you have fewer plugins to keep up to date. Calculated over a few years, the difference is often small.
