cms

Best CMS for a website

You have a project to create a website? In this article, we will explain why it is important to choose your CMS and on which criteria to base your choice. We will present you the best CMS to create a website according to us, it is the Wagtail CMS.

Alexis Le BaronAlexis Le Baron

Alexis Le Baron

Web Developer at Snoweb
Published on 13 March 2021 (Updated on 25 February 2022)

1. How to find the best CMS?

First of all, let's remind you that creating a website with a CMS is an excellent solution if you don't know the technical web languages.

Indeed, most of the CMS offer you the possibility to create a website from scratch without necessarily using a technical language to code the back-office of the website (the administration space) and the front-office (the website design).

However, for some CMS, this will not exempt you from having recourse to the expertise of a person qualified in web development.

And for good reason, the installation and configuration of the website and its features are still technical actions.

Among the best CMS for a website, you will often see the following ones neck and neck:

We will go straight to the point: they all have their qualities and their flaws! The important thing is to choose the tool that fits your needs.

👉 Read about it: CMS comparison: the complete guide to create your website

But then, how to choose the right CMS and which is the best among all?

which is the best cms
Learn more about Snoweb CMS, made with Wagtail

A simple and intuitive CMS for anyone who wants to create an online storefront.

  • Customizable theme
  • +600 blocks to create a page
  • Quick installation
  • Optimal referencing
  • Support at your disposal
Discover Snoweb CMS

2. Criteria for choosing the best CMS

The best CMS, as we said above, is the one that meets your needs, your budget and your time issues.

Here is a list of questions to ask yourself to help you understand your needs.

The knowledge required and your technical skills

Do you want to do everything alone or do you want to be accompanied by professionals?

  • In the first case, the best CMS could be Wordpress which remains the most accessible to all beginners.
  • If you don't mind being accompanied, then all CMS are available to you

Type of site

  1. How do you define your future website?
  2. Is it a classic website?
  3. Should it have a blog part?
  4. Do you need to connect it to a third party application?

The functionalities expected on the website

Have you identified any particular needs for your website? What are they?

Take the time to think about the number of pages you will have, but also the features you imagine (an integrated card on your contact page, a contact form, a payment module to get your product in advance...)

To note, some fairly common features for a CMS are the following:

  • Editorial content management
  • Integration of metadata to promote good SEO.
  • Control of user access to the back office.
  • Possibility to upgrade the website by adding modules
  • Update of the tool and additional modules.
  • Translation of the content into several languages

👉 Discover our article: What are the essential features for a CMS?

Your financial and time constraints

Do you have a maximum budget and a deadline for the creation of your website?

Obviously, if your project must be put online quickly, the best CMS will be the one for which you find a professional able to help you and available to accompany you!

Also, the budgetary constraints can play on your choice.

👉 To know more : How much does a website cost ?

The right questions to ask yourself when choosing a CMS
campagne seo concurrence
Your technical knowledge

Do you have enough technical skills to put your website online from a CMS? Or maybe you just want to be accompanied by a professional?

campagne seo structure
The type of website

Do you want a showcase site? A blog? A portfolio? Does it need to connect with other applications? Do you want a fully customizable website?

campagne seo positionnement
The features you want

What are the needs of your website? There are basic functionalities in a CMS but some of your requests will be easier to integrate on this or that CMS.

3. The case of Wagtail

On our side, we think that the best CMS for a website is a tool that is easy to use by its users and especially technically solid.

Our favorite CMS is the Wagtail CMS. We explain to you why.👇🏻

What is CMS Wagtail?

Wagtail is the CMS that we consider the most reliable and the most technically interesting to create a website!

Initially Wagtail was a suite of modules of the Django framework.

The first version of this CMS dates back to 2014 and a stable version was released in 2015. This makes Wagtail a rather young CMS but promised, without a doubt, to a bright future!

Wagtail can be integrated with a CRM or a marketing automation tool. Its uses are multiple.

Among the basic features, we find :

  • simplified editorial management
  • image integration with optimizations
  • creation of forms
  • the possibility to connect an API

Wagtail makes it very easy to extend a website according to the needs of the website.

The Wagtail back-office

Beyond its many technical qualities, what is important to us is to use a tool that is easy to use!

All the websites we create with Wagtail are designed to be used by non-technical users. Their most common need is to have the hand on the content of the pages:

  • modify, add a text on an existing page
  • create a new page and format it
  • write a blog post, put it in draft form and publish it after proofreading

Moreover, the photo and image embedding library stands out for its simplicity and design. Adding new media to a website is done quickly.

It is therefore essential that the back office is simple and intuitive. With Wagtail, this is obviously the case.

Indeed, all Wagtail websites are organized in a hierarchical way: it means that a page can contain several pages. This is why the home page will contain all the other pages of the website. If you have a "Products" page, all the different product categories will be contained under this "Products" page. For example "Pants" "Coats"...

This feature is finally very intuitive because it is precisely logical and very useful to create blog posts with distinct categories for example!

Take care of your SEO with Wagtail

Finally, to ensure that your website is well optimized for search engines, Wagtail allows you to create a "Natural referencing" section on all content pages.

The user can add metadata without using an external module. In addition, other useful options for SEO are available natively: link structure and URLS, generate a sitemap.

Remember that for a good natural referencing, the important thing is to have an HTML code accessible to search engines. This is commonplace with Wagtail.

Technical performance

From a technical point of view, Wagtail distinguishes itself from all other CMS by the possibility to easily improve the performance of the pages.

Websites developed under Wagtail can have very short loading times thanks to existing modules.

For developers, powerful features are very useful tools to build a website. For example database migrations, a versioning system or unit tests.

Customizations

Wagtail embarks with it a community of developers who can easily adapt a website according to your needs.

In conclusion, for us, Wagtail is without a doubt the best CMS to create a website!

  1. Although still scarcely used today, it is undoubtedly an advantage for your website. First of all for its performance and for its infinite possibilities of evolution.
  2. And because offering you an accessible tool is our priority, we salute its back-office which is elegant, minimalist and easy to use.

4. Conclusion

The Wagtail CMS is an excellent marketing tool for your company. For SEO campaigns, it is formidable against its opponents such as Wordpress or Wix.

Its strong customization allows to make the difference on technical optimizations.

The tool is also easy to use and ergonomic.

A few minutes to discover page creation with Wagtail

The Snoweb CMS with which this blog is created uses Wagtail. On this video discover the simplicity of its use.

Comparative table of the most used CMS

In this table, we summarize the strengths of 3 most used CMS: Wordpress, Wix and Wagtail (our favorite)

WORDPRESS

Today, it is estimated that more than 40% of sites use Wordpress for blogs, websites or e-commerce. Thanks to its large community, there are many ready-to-use themes for people who want to create a site.

Discover Wordpress
USING
Simplicity

When there are many extensions installed, it is complicated to modify some elements

Live edition on the page No
Technical assistance No
User documentation

According to the theme

FEATURES
Responsive page Yes
Management of multiple sites

Extension with integrated purchases

Creation of personalized forms

Extension with integrated purchases

Personalized error page

Extension with integrated purchases

Exit Pop-up

Extension with integrated purchases

Internet search engine to the website

Extension with integrated purchases

User permissions Yes
Modification of the source code of the website Yes
CMS-connected API

Extension with integrated purchases

Management of sitemap files

Extension with integrated purchases

Management of robots.txt files

Extension with integrated purchases

Cache management

Extension with integrated purchases

Possibility to connect an e-commerce

Extension with integrated purchases

PAGE MANAGEMENT
Copy

Extension with integrated purchases

Move No
Unpublish Yes
Historic Yes
Page publication programming

Extension with integrated purchases

MULTILINGUAL
monsite.com/en/ and monsite.com/fr/ Yes
fr.monsite.com and en.monsite.com Yes
monsite.com and monsite.fr Yes
Translation of extensions

⚠️ All extensions are not translated/translatable

DESIGN
Theme

+100k free and paid themes

Dark mode management

Depending on the theme. The extensions are not necessarily compatible

Colors personalization

Yes, but sometimes it's hard to change certain colors depending on the theme.

Typography personalization

Modification in the theme code

Icons library No
SEO
Page loading speed

On average > 1 second

Page code optimization No
Image weight optimization

Extension with integrated purchases

Adding new generation images (webP)

Extension with integrated purchases

Adding titles and meta descriptions Yes
Adding Google schemas

Extension with integrated purchases

User experience

It depends on the theme and the extensions used

Pages health No
NOTIFICATIONS
Mailing Yes
Slack No
CMS mobile application No
SECURITY
Hacking

Easy and frequent if the theme / CMS is not update

Weekly backups

Extension with integrated purchases

Weekly updates

Extension with integrated purchases

Authentication system Yes
HTTPS

Not free

ONLINE DEPLOYMENT
Domain name configuration No
Installation duration

5-10 minutes

User documentation

Depending of the theme

Technical assistance No
PRICE
Buy a theme

Paying according to the theme

Monthly subscription

From 4 to 50 € (excluding theme and extensions)

SNOWEB CMS

An efficient CMS is the promise of a successful website. Snoweb CMS allows you to create web pages easily for different types of websites; shop window, blog, e-commerce, portfolio, etc.

Discover Snoweb CMS
USING
Simplicity Yes
Live edition on the page No
Technical assistance

7j/7 - 24h/24

User documentation Yes
FEATURES
Responsive page Yes
Management of multiple sites Yes
Creation of personalized forms Yes
Personalized error page Yes
Exit Pop-up Yes
Internet search engine to the website Yes
User permissions Yes
Modification of the source code of the website Yes
CMS-connected API Yes
Management of sitemap files Yes
Management of robots.txt files Yes
Cache management Yes
Possibility to connect an e-commerce Yes
PAGE MANAGEMENT
Copy Yes
Move Yes
Unpublish Yes
Historic Yes
Page publication programming Yes
MULTILINGUAL
monsite.com/en/ and monsite.com/fr/ Yes
fr.monsite.com and en.monsite.com Yes
monsite.com and monsite.fr Yes
Translation of extensions Yes
DESIGN
Theme

1 customizable theme with +600 free blocks

Dark mode management Yes
Colors personalization Yes
Typography personalization Yes
Icons library Yes
SEO
Page loading speed

< 1 seconde

Page code optimization Yes
Image weight optimization Yes
Adding new generation images (webP) Yes
Adding titles and meta descriptions Yes
Adding Google schemas Yes
User experience

Simple and intuitive

Pages health

Robots check daily all the pages

NOTIFICATIONS
Mailing Yes
Slack Yes
CMS mobile application No
SECURITY
Hacking

Secure

Weekly backups

Automatic and weekly

Weekly updates

Automatic and weekly

Authentication system Yes
HTTPS

Included

ONLINE DEPLOYMENT
Domain name configuration

Included

Installation duration

1 hour

User documentation Yes
Technical assistance

7j/7 - 24h/24

PRICE
Buy a theme

Free

Monthly subscription

Starting at 50 €

WIX

Wix is not strictly speaking a CMS. It is a website building platform that uses components and applications that are added to the website. It is estimated that 1.5% of websites worldwide use Wix. Wix is perfect for beginners!

Discover Wix
USING
Simplicity Yes
Live edition on the page Yes
Technical assistance

FAQ + Blog

User documentation

FAQ + Blog

FEATURES
Responsive page Yes
Management of multiple sites

Requires a paid subscription

Creation of personalized forms Yes
Personalized error page Yes
Exit Pop-up

Requires a paid subscription

Internet search engine to the website Yes
User permissions Yes
Modification of the source code of the website Yes
CMS-connected API Yes
Management of sitemap files Yes
Management of robots.txt files Yes
Cache management

Requires a paid subscription

Possibility to connect an e-commerce No
PAGE MANAGEMENT
Copy Yes
Move Yes
Unpublish Yes
Historic Yes
Page publication programming Yes
MULTILINGUAL
monsite.com/en/ and monsite.com/fr/ No
fr.monsite.com and en.monsite.com Yes
monsite.com and monsite.fr Yes
Translation of extensions

Automatic and manual translation

DESIGN
Theme

+500 free themes

Dark mode management No
Colors personalization Yes
Typography personalization Yes
Icons library Yes
SEO
Page loading speed

On average > 1 second

Page code optimization No
Image weight optimization Yes
Adding new generation images (webP) Yes
Adding titles and meta descriptions Yes
Adding Google schemas Yes
User experience

It depends on the theme and the extensions used

Pages health No
NOTIFICATIONS
Mailing Yes
Slack No
CMS mobile application Yes
SECURITY
Hacking

Secure

Weekly backups

Automatic

Weekly updates

Automatic

Authentication system Yes
HTTPS

Included

ONLINE DEPLOYMENT
Domain name configuration

Requires a paid subscription

Installation duration

1 hour

User documentation No
Technical assistance

FAQ + Blog

PRICE
Buy a theme

Free

Monthly subscription

From 10 to 30 € (excluding any promotional offers)

Create my website withWagtail
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