Cms in Russian which is better. Comparison of free CMS: Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, etc. Which is better, paid or free CMS

When we talk about the potential of creating a website on a free CMS, we mean that you already have purchased hosting and a domain for this purpose. Otherwise, the idea will be futile. Hosting and domain costs - the volume of investments, which we take as a constant and do not discuss. We will take this option as the zero starting point for creating a website using free CMS.

If you don’t have hosting yet, we can recommend AdminVPS web hosting - the minimum price of 69 rubles/month ("Promo" tariff) will be a good deal to start with. WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are installed on your hosting in 2 minutes directly from the ISPmanager panel. If you want to practice without investing at all, try to create websites, then it is better to do this on free website builders - sandboxes there are much more convenient for beginners.

As examples, we chose the most popular free CMS - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. These are the best platforms, and beginners, when entering the field of website building, choose from these engines. We compared the capabilities of creating websites in these systems. What can you expect if you invest only in hosting and a domain? Is there any point in twitching without a budget and experience? How far can you get by relying only on your own strength and free add-ons?

WordPress is the most popular free CMS in the world, ideal for beginners

WordPress is a well-known blogging engine and is distributed free of charge. It is not demanding on hosting resources when using a small number of plugins. In the stock version, the functionality is below average - only blogs and business card sites can be created at an acceptable level. By default, it requires SEO plugins - and there are many free ones. There are plenty of templates - right in the sites control panel there is a section with thousands of copies of different levels of quality and purpose. The difficulty of mastering is relatively low, so you can do it on your own, relying on guides and video lessons, without resorting to paid services specialists.

Free WordPress Features:

1. General functionality: 54 thousand free plugins, including those that will help you create a store, build a landing page, set up SEO and security, introduce a bunch of small amenities and optimizations that are so lacking in the default engine build.
2. the official website, control panel and template stores are full of free versions of layouts - another thing is that their Pro versions with advanced settings are often paid, so not every top template can be grabbed in the maximum configuration and without money.
3. Promotion: By default, the engine's capabilities do not offer tools for SEO optimization, so installing plugins in this direction is highly desirable (for example, YOAST or Jetpack) - this will solve most of the inherent problems of the system, although, again, Pro versions of some plugins may cost money.
4. Technical support: no guarantees for open source software does not happen, so if problems arise, you need to go to the forums and ask, watch videos, read the FAQ, or pay for the services of specialists to solve them.

Limitations of the free WP model:

• You will not be able to use some templates with advanced customization settings, because these versions often turn out to be paid, and you will have to go into the code to radically change the appearance (you need knowledge of PHP), which is incredibly difficult for beginners;
• Some useful plugins in the free version have limited functionality (for example, WooCommerce store), so you will have to look for more or less decent free analogues, which do not always exist - it depends on the task at hand;
• When using WP, beginners may encounter problems that cannot be solved given their level of knowledge, so they will either have to contact a specialist and pay, or look for a way out in other ways - studying not always simple guides, improving their own qualifications, etc.

In summary, there are enough pitfalls in the WordPress usage environment that may force you to switch from a free model of use to a paid one in one form or another. In general, on the platform it is quite possible to create and develop a normal blog, business card or landing page without money, but with larger sites like an online store, problems are likely to arise. Without knowledge of coding and understanding of the nuances of the engine, you will not be able to rework the design to a sufficient extent, connect and configure some plugins, optimize security and SEO at the proper level. In general, WP's limitations depend on the skill and quality of the free extensions used.

Joomla is a more flexible and advanced free engine out of the box.

Joomla is number 2 in the table of ranks among free CMSs, which leads to a developed ecosystem and the presence of a large number of extensions good quality and training materials. The bonus is that to edit templates and many extensions, knowledge of HTML/CSS - the simplest disciplines in coding - will be enough. Studying them is not difficult and will give a beginner a decent head start when creating a project on a free basis, and will also eliminate the need for paid contact with specialists in controversial situations. Out of the box, the engine is richer in settings and capabilities compared to WP; additional features come with the installation of templates (they almost always contain protection modules) and other types of extensions.

Joomla features when used for free:

1. General functionality: The engine out of the box is well suited for creating types of sites that use personal accounts users (social network, bulletin board, corporate website or store) - there are a lot of free and fairly high-quality extensions to solve these problems.
2. Design editing and templates: The system does not have a built-in template store, so they need to be downloaded and installed separately - we recommend using decent catalogs, otherwise you risk bringing a bunch of malicious junk to the site along with the template.
3. Promotion: out of the box there are quite a few settings for SEO optimization inside; for simple types of sites you can even do without additional extensions without losing anything.
4. Technical support: a community of users and numerous training materials are what you should rely on, but there is no centralized user support from developers here, as in any other open source system.

Limitations of the free Joomla model:

• The biggest temptation for a beginner is to download and install a premium template from some “crazy” site. This should not be done if you really like the top theme and don’t want to look at others - it’s better to buy it, receiving a guarantee that the code will be clean and free of problems;
• The same applies to extensions - there is no built-in marketplace, so by downloading premium plugins for free from obscure sites, you get a chance to crash your website or introduce viruses. It is better to take a version with limited functionality from the official website than to search free cheese. Joomla is not resistant to errors in the code - due to conflicts after installing such things, it is quite possible to get a non-working control panel or incomprehensible glitches on the site pages.
• If you are not going to buy a good template, then you will have to learn to code, since free templates are often poor in customization settings. Or use it as is, without changing anything in the design.

In total, Joomla is well adapted for creating stores, corporate websites, forums and regular business cards. The limitations of the free approach will not bother you much if the project is not technically complex. Especially if you know HTML/CSS. The engine is sensitive to installing conflicting extensions, so we do not recommend experimenting with homemade plugins or plugins downloaded from unreliable sources. Here you can do a lot yourself, without resorting to paid help - the code is simple, there are plenty of guides. By the way, Joomla is more suitable for creating a free store than WordPress - this is its main trump card when choosing.

Drupal is a free CMS engine for professionals, large and structurally complex sites

Drupal is an incredibly powerful and difficult engine for beginners to learn, but it's not for everyone. In his case, the main expense item may be payment for the services of specialists. And they charge more than WP and Joomla experts, because the qualifications and complexity of the tasks are higher here. And the community is not nearly as extensive. Choosing this CMS from scratch is nonsense; one comes to it after a thorough study of the systems described above. Programming experience and understanding of the engine operating principles are required. efficient work, otherwise huge budgets will be spent on paying hired specialists. Suitable for creating complex websites - portals, stores, corporate and some exclusive, specific tasks.

Free Drupal features:

1. General functionality: out of the box the system has a minimum of capabilities, the rest comes with the installation of modules, and many of them come in bundles - to implement a function you need to install 3-4 extensions in a certain sequence, so here you need to understand the algorithms for how sets of modules work and download them available from the official catalogue.
2. Design editing and templates: More than 2,000 templates are posted on the official website, each of which has additional appearance settings, but for deep customization you will have to resort to coding.
3. Promotion: out of the box you will get a rather weak set of inconvenient SEO tools, so it is advisable to install specialized modules like CTool, Metatag and others - this will allow you to overcome many problems, including the creation of duplicates, the main problem of the engine.
4. Technical support: With all questions you need to go to the community and training materials; you can’t expect any guarantees from the developers of the free engine.

Limitations of the free Drupal model:

• There are ready-made assemblies for Drupal - engine configurations for specific tasks, but it is better not to use them, because, despite their convenience, their support is quickly discontinued, and your site will inevitably begin to technically lag behind the main development branch of the system;
• You shouldn’t download extensions from anywhere, even if they look very valuable - try to get by free versions from the official website;
• The free templates here are usually simple;
• The engine is hungry for hosting and difficult to administer, so try to make do with only the necessary modules, otherwise, most likely, difficulties will arise and you will have to allocate a budget to pay for the services of a specialist who can clear away the rubble.

Overall, in the case of Drupal, the limitations are limited to average quality free templates and user skill. Lack of knowledge or excessive complexity of the site with modules may lead to the need to pay. The engine makes sense to use for creating large sites that are structurally/content complex - such as stores, information portals, and so on. The store of templates and modules here is quite rich, but is clearly inferior in the range of WordPress and Joomla, especially in terms of templates. Drupal is for professionals, they will be able to use it without money, but beginners are unlikely to.

Limitations of free use of a CMS depend on the range of plugins/templates, the competence of the user and the complexity of the task facing him. It is clear that a large project will require more extensions and professionalism of the performer. Everything that is not enough will have to be found, additionally installed and paid for - templates, modules or services.

On WordPress and Joomla, you can easily support the life of an average website without investment with moderate skill. The same cannot be said about Drupal - it requires the skills of a self-confident website developer, otherwise there can be no talk of any freeness.

If you are not faced with the task of learning to be a programmer, layout designer or a professional in the field of website building, but just need a good modern website with a minimum of effort/money/time to promote your business/services on the Internet, make money from advertising/affiliate programs - use online website builders. which already come complete with hosting, domain and CMS with an intuitive interface adapted for beginners.

Authors:Natalya Meshcheryakova AndVictor Medvedev , SEO specialists of the Internet agency "Original Works »

At the site development stage, one of the first questions that arises before the owner is which engine to choose? It seems that everything is simple - I read the reviews and chose the best one. But in reality there are so many details, so many contradictory articles and opinions that the question turns into an acute problem with a claim to in-depth research. Calm down, we have already conducted the research and are sharing the results.

Can you not bother?

Spoiler: no, you can't. There are so many heated debates regarding CMS not out of nowhere - the choice of engine affects the possibility of making SEO edits and the further success of the project as a whole. Competent planning of the future site and a comprehensive analysis of the engines offered on the market are the basis for successfully choosing a CMS.

Let's consider a trivial example: you are the owner of a future online store. At the development stage, you were not very involved in the process, and the developer chose the CMS that he was used to working with. The site was rolled out, began to develop, gain traffic and orders. Over time, caring about the convenience of customers, you decide to add new functionality to the site (for example, a filter). And this is where the problems begin - purchasing additional modules, setting them up, all sorts of bugs and wasted nerves.

There are many similar situations when you hit the limit of the capabilities of the selected engine (expansion of the range, new functionality, edits by your SEO and much more). And there is only one way out: moving to another CMS with all the consequences - loss of traffic, positions, money. Taking the time to research now will save resources in the future.

The number of offers on the website management platform market exceeds 300 items from different price categories. Most popular solutions are comparable in their functionality, the attitude of webmasters, innovative developments and other quality characteristics, which makes it even more difficult to make a choice in favor of one or another CMS without experience working with them.

Let's consider several criteria that will allow you to narrow down the range of proposed solutions to those that are most suitable for your project.

Criteria for choosing the right CMS

In general, it is enough to analyze a number of parameters that will help you approach your choice more consciously and better navigate the variety of all offers. Among them:

• Site type and topic

You should have a clear idea of ​​what type of site you want to get (online store, service site, business card, forum, etc.). The situation is similar with the theme. This information is the first step in understanding the functionality that will need to be implemented on the site. Starting to make a website for services and ending up with an online store is just a story.

• Site functionality

This point follows from the previous one. Depending on the topic and type of site, you need to decide on the main functionality (cart integration, filtering, blog, etc.) and the type of content that should be presented on the site (listings, videos, comments, etc.). We study the websites of potential competitors or call a SEO specialist.

• Volume

It is important to understand the volume of the trade offer (for an online store) and the content component of the site (for information resource or service website). If you are planning a full-fledged store with a wide range of items, then you can exclude from consideration the unreliable Joomla and various designers with a cloud service. In addition, it is important to understand the scale - a regional service website and a large project with subdomains across all major cities of Russia will require different resources.

• Ability to make edits (including SEO edits)

All the variety of engines on the market is often not able to satisfy the needs of each site, therefore the ability to adapt the CMS to the needs of the user is important. It’s also worth looking at how SEO-friendly the CMS is (allows you to make changes as part of internal site optimization). Even if you don’t plan to promote now, you should definitely provide for such an opportunity. This will save you headaches later. From the main one:

1. Meta tags (Title, Description). They determine the snippet and title of your site in search engines and participate in ranking. Must contain key queries and be unique for promoted pages
2. CNC addresses. For example, not mysite.ru/index.php?category=11&page=9, but mysite.ru/catalog/hp-laserjet-pro/. Help users and search engines understand what is contained on each page
3. Ability to edit robots.txt and sitemap.xml. These service files are responsible for indexing the site and show the search engine which pages should be added to the index and which should not.
4. Setting up 301 redirects and 404 pages. The functionality is used when it is necessary to change addresses or delete products.
5. Bread crumbs. Simplify user navigation and help better navigate your site

In fact, there are much more optimization tools, but sometimes it is only possible to understand which one will need to be used in practice.

• Typical engine problems(generation of duplicates, possibility of hacking, dynamic content, etc.)

It is better to find out about all the problems that you may have to face right away, before starting development. Each engine has its own shortcomings, so you need to choose the one whose shortcomings will not be critical for your site. For example, for OpenCart, the disadvantage is the generation of duplicate pages (a large number of duplicates can cause problems with indexing your site), sites on Joomla are easily hacked, and Wix works with dynamically generated content (for correct indexing you will need to create html versions of all pages).

• Price(free engines vs. paid)

Now on the market there are many worthy representatives of not the highest price category, moreover, some developers provide their solutions for free (WP, Drupal, Joomla, etc.). They can be considered when creating small sites with standard functionality (for example, a regional site clinics). But it is important to take into account that such engines are “free” only conditionally - to make basic edits you need to install paid plugins or purchase a business version.

• Lifespan and prevalence of CMS

Here we adhere to neutrality - ancient, creaky engines are as bad a solution as the CMS released yesterday by an unknown developer. This is not only limited or undeveloped functionality, but also a hassle in finding a suitable specialist who will subsequently make changes to the site. Our advice regarding new developments is to strictly filter what is offered (read “for sale”) on various forums and look for additional information.

I want my own engine

Here it is worth mentioning homemade engines. There is an opinion that a website completely developed from scratch is always better than projects assembled on a template CMS. Among the advantages are maximum customization of client needs and flexibility. In reality, you will have to face difficulties such as:

• Huge time and money costs. What has already been implemented by the engine developers will have to be done from scratch. This includes the site architecture, the database structure, and the admin panel interface.
• Developer Link. Understanding someone else's code is time-consuming and expensive. Therefore, for improvements you will have to go either to the site developer (who can charge you a decent amount for a simple edit), or look for a third-party specialist and pay with time
• Search for a qualified developer. If you decide to implement a truly non-standard solution, then entrusting it to an inexperienced specialist will not work. This requires serious programming skills and experience in writing websites yourself. And this is again a big expense
• Troubleshooting. Popular engines are good because they are used by millions of people every day, and the main bugs are fixed by the developers themselves in updates. Your personal CMS will never have so many testers

As a result, the use of a custom engine can be justified only if the site plans to have non-standard functionality that cannot be provided by any of the popular CMSs. In other cases, don’t complicate your life.

Comparing popular engines

The table below presents commonly used CMSs and their standard functional limitations. Choose the most critical points for your project and weed out unnecessary engine options.

Functional	1C-Bitrix	WordPress	Drupal	Joomla!	MODX	OpenCart	UMI.CMS	Tilda, Wix and other designers
Making basic SEO edits (tags, CNC, breadcrumbs, 404)	+	+	+	—	+	—	+	—
Variety of templates, design	+	+	—	+	—	+	+	+
Filters, sorting	+	—	—	—	+	+	+	—
Basket	+	—	+	—	+	+	+	—
Implementation of payment systems, eCommerce	+	—	+	—	+	+	+	—
Possibility of making edits yourself, ease of layout	+	+	—	+	+	+	+	+
Security and burglary protection	+	—	—	—	—	+	+	+
Site search	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Comments	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Blog	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	+
Possibility of scaling, availability of modules and plugins	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	—
Those. support	+	—	+	—	—	—	+	+
Open source	+	+	+	+	+	+	+	—
Operation speed	+	+	+	—	+	—	+	+
Flaws	Using a lot of server resources	Limited functionality in the basic version of the CMS; server load for large sites	Complex interface; complexity of installing modules, scaling	Complex interface; a lot of unnecessary code	Original documentation (difficult to study)	Not a convenient material editor; Extension compatibility issues when updating	High hosting requirements	Limited functionality, standard templates, basic plans have a small amount of disk space, moving the site to another hosting is possible only for money.
Suitable site type	Service site, online store, news site or blog, service site	Service website, news site or blog, promotional site	Services website, online store	News site or blog, service site, promotional site	Online store, service website	Online store, service website	Services website, online store	Service website, online store, news site or blog, promotional site
Price	From RUB 15,900/year	Free	Free	Free	Free	Free	From RUB 22,900/year	From 1500 rub./year

Table 1 - Comparative characteristics engines when choosing a CMS

To complete the picture, let’s look at the most popular types of sites. Analyzing them, we will identify the characteristic features of such sites and give some examples of ready-made control system solutions.

Online store

Almost any CMS allows you to implement a product catalog on your website, including by connecting additional modules. But not all of them meet the optimal set of criteria for implementing a full-fledged online store. Such criteria include:

• the presence of convenient functionality for quick and convenient product management
• ease of user interaction with the site - sorting and filtering, comparison, etc.
• the ability to adapt the project to any topic
• scalability

Based on these criteria, we can highlight several positive examples: WordPress, Magento, Drupal, CS-Cart and 1C-Bitrix.

Among those listed, WordPress deserves special attention: without exaggeration, it is the most popular existing CMS, about 30% of all websites are implemented on it. The platform is valued for its ease of use and a wide range of all the main functional blocks that can be supplemented with modules from third-party developers. For example, using them you can deploy a full-fledged online store.

However, implementation major project in the eCommerce segment on WP - not the best best option. Firstly, the engine does not always have enough production capacity when processing data, which is why the load on the server increases significantly. Also, the issue of security for sites on WordPress is one of the most pressing. Successful cases hacker attacks for the purpose of hacking is not uncommon.

There will definitely be less risk when working on WordPress when working with blogs and other information projects. This CMS is also well suited for creating a corporate website.

Services website

Almost all corporate websites are commercial in nature and serve an informational function. Its main task is to give a complete picture of the company’s services, allow you to perform the necessary calculations and serve as a tool for communication.

The choice of platform for such a site is primarily in compliance with the rules for ease of working with content. And also the possibility of adapting the site to solve auxiliary tasks, since the introduction of some additional functionality (for example, an appointment form or a cost calculator) into service sites is commonplace. Among the CMS that satisfy such needs: 1C-Bitrix, WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, MODx, UMI.CMS, NetCat.

News site or blog

Content projects also belong to information-type sites. Therefore, when choosing a CMS in this case, you should first of all rely on your own preferences. Namely, which system will be most convenient for you to work with, since the main task of owning such a site is generating and posting content.

Forum

When choosing a management system for creating a forum, everything is much more individual. There are specialized platforms for them, among which the most successful include: phpBB, Invision Power Board (IPB) and vBulletin. Among the listed ones, phpBB is a free analogue of the other two.

When choosing a forum engine for yourself, you should first of all focus on the required functionality, cost and date current version product.

Are free engines really so hopeless?

There is an opinion that free engines and designers are a priori a pain. In this case, everyone suffers - the programmer, who cannot make edits due to limited functionality, and the optimizer, whose edits are not made, and the client, who loses traffic and orders. In general, we can say that this is true, but there are exceptions.

Free CMS, in some cases, can be a worthy alternative to market leaders in the paid platform segment. Among them are the so-called constructors. Their main advantage is the ability to “assemble” your project without in-depth knowledge in the field of development and personalize it to your own needs.

Small service sites, business cards with standard functionality, and even online stores with a limited range can exist on free CMS. The fact whether you pay for the engine is not taken into account when ranking by search engines - in the TOP of some topics (mainly service sites) sites on Wix and Bitrix can simultaneously compete with each other.

The only thing is that not all such solutions allow you to make the required changes and provide the necessary functionality - in this case, you purchase an additional module or plugin. Conclusion: the decision to use a free engine should be made individually in each specific case - sometimes this can be justified. The cases below contain just such examples.

How we gave a site a chance on Wix and didn’t regret it

In our practice, we once had a website built on the Wix engine, which we don’t particularly like among SEO specialists and programmers. There are at least two reasons for this:

• Severely limited functionality

(Therefore, some of the SEO edits had to be canceled, while the other part was difficult and time-consuming to do, using workarounds).

• Dynamically generated content

(And this means problems with indexing and, accordingly, ranking. A way out of the situation: creating an html version of each page of the site).

You should also be prepared for various problems, both from the designer himself and from the search engines. Now most of the Runet sites generated on Wix have dropped out of Yandex (https://vc.ru/39496-wix-sayty-vypali-iz-yandeksa) due to problems with indexing on the search engine side. It is important to constantly monitor the state of your site and its display in searches (at a minimum, track positions and monitor the Webmaster), especially if it is implemented on Wix and other constructors.

Despite all the difficulties, over the course of a year of work we managed to increase incoming traffic almost 4 times (from 1102 to 4248 visitors per month):

Rice. 1 – Traffic dynamics for the services website on Wix for the period from 05/01/2017 to 05/31/2018

It is important to note that the topic and type of project (regional site of a medical center) played a decisive role in this case. For an online store, the functionality of the engine would not be enough, and we would not have achieved such results.

In 3 months we increased traffic on Tilda almost 10 times

Like other designers, Tilda limits the functionality of an SEO specialist and for this reason is considered a difficult engine to promote. Among the disadvantages are standard problems: duplicate pages, long layout, the inability to make end-to-end edits to the entire site, etc. But Tilda has one advantage: it is a powerful and at the same time simple tool for creating a unique website design.

The results of promoting a website for sports-related services on Tilda were impressive - in the first 3 months of operation, there was an almost 10-fold increase in traffic from search engines (from 513 to 5242 visitors per month):

Rice. 2 – Traffic dynamics for the service website on Tilda for the period 05/01/2017 to 05/31/2018

Of course, the determining factor in this case is not the CMS. You won't get similar results by simply changing the engine. But the graph shows that certain types of sites feel great on Tilda and can collect good traffic (with the necessary optimization).

Another client, a design and visualization studio, decided to update the design and move from a custom engine to Tilda (February 2018). As a result, the next month after the transfer, a jump in traffic is clearly visible, which continues to grow:

Rice. 3 – Traffic dynamics after the site moved to Tilda in February 2018

The situation is similar here - Tilda’s functionality would not be enough for a larger project (for example, an online store). But for a small service website, especially if the emphasis is on design, this is a completely workable solution.

So which engine is better?

In the article, we explained why it is important to choose the right CMS and what consequences can be expected if you ignore this stage. We described in detail the criteria for choosing an engine (topic, functionality, volume of the future site, capabilities and bugs of the engine itself, as well as its lifespan and popularity). They explained why, in most cases, self-written engines are a bad solution. We compared popular offers on the market and the functionality they provide. They told us that sometimes you don’t have to pay for a CMS and showed several cases of website promotion on Wix and Tilda.

As a conclusion, we can say that there can be no universal advice - the engine is selected individually in each specific case. But to simplify this task, we have prepared a summary table that describes in detail the differences between the engines according to the main criteria that need to be analyzed when making an informed choice of CMS. Remember that the analysis process can be very labor-intensive, but it will definitely pay off in the absence of problems and factors hindering the growth of the site. Easy choice!

Free CMS (Content Management System - “content management system”) are in great demand. You can simply download any of them, install them on your hosting and launch the site. But they are all so different that, having mastered a couple, it is not a fact that the third one on the list will be initially understandable. This is especially true for specialized platforms for online stores. Most do not have a common basis in the interface, and the approaches to creating the structure and functionality of pages differ significantly.

Beginners who want to master any CMS should understand what it is for and what it should be like. To avoid misfires and wasted time. TOP 10 list for your attention.

Rating of the best free CMS 2019:

Our choice!

1. WordPress / WordPress → detailed review

WordPress is the most famous and popular CMS in the world, a kind of niche symbol. It was written to create blogs, but in the process it turned into a universal engine thanks to the developers of plugins, templates and community activity. The control panel has built-in libraries of plugins and templates with an immense range. Everything has reviews, ratings, instructions, ratings. You can sort by various criteria - it’s easy to choose. Many studios draw templates for this system. Mountains of videos with lessons and kilometers of discussion forums are included. It is easier to learn how to use than many others.

WordPress operates with two types of content - page and article. The button for creating a post is placed separately, you can publish a post directly from the site - everything is tailored to the convenience and speed of publishing the news feed. SEO is implemented through plugins, as is speed optimization, security and much more. To create stores, landing pages, forums, and other things, there are many specialized, powerful plugins, which in terms of capabilities are reminiscent of separate, full-fledged software. It is also available in website builder format for those who prefer to use a ready-made boxed version.

Pros:

• Popularity: a large number of developers work in the WordPress ecosystem, constantly expanding/improving the range of plugins and templates;
• There are many hosting providers that have a separate plan with settings optimized for this CMS;
• A huge number of available educational materials of any format;
• Relatively easy to learn, more or less suitable for beginners;
• A large number of high-quality and useful free plugins;
• Most templates have fairly detailed customization settings without the need to edit the code;
• Able to withstand huge traffic with decent hosting;
• Versatility due to plugins, suitable for creating large websites.

Minuses:

• More than a third of all websites in the world run on WordPress, which makes this system one of the main targets for attackers and inexperienced developers;
• Out of the box, the system is suitable for creating a simple blog or business card;
• Creates a considerable load on the server, the hosting must be good;
• Produces duplicate pages, although this can be solved using a plugin.

2. Joomla / Joomla → detailed review

Joomla is the second most popular CMS on the list. Large community, lots of plugins and templates. Best suited for creating small to medium sized websites informational nature. It works especially well when creating types of resources that are filled with content by users themselves - message boards, forums and even social networks. There are well-developed plugins for all this. Out of the box the functionality is relatively rich (many general, fine and SEO settings). The difficulty of mastering is average. The logic of interaction with the system is unique. If you're not used to it, you can get confused in modules, template cells for displaying content, and connections between them. Once you get used to it, it will no longer seem confusing and difficult.

Joomla allows you to create fairly complex types of sites with simple types of content. It has a great interface for administering a large number of articles. E-Commerce is developed through plugins, although it is better not to create a large store here - the engine has average performance, much depends on optimization and the quality of hosting. There are an endless number of templates (both paid for $30-60, and so on), they contain a variety of functionality: some contain more than a hundred built-in modules with kilometers of settings screens. What's good is that the templates are easy to edit with code - they are based on HTML and CSS. Knowing them, you can modify almost everything. Flexible, interesting mass CMS.

Pros:

• Suitable for creating any type of website, the main thing is not to overload the engine with modules and the volume of the database (content), otherwise with weak hosting there will definitely be problems with page loading speed;
• Adaptability for running social networks at a decent level - not many engines can do this;
• Powerful ecosystem, information and experienced developers in abundance;
• There are many templates, plus they contain a huge range of functionality;
• A wide selection of plugins and components, many of which are free;
• Full access to the code; a minimum set of editing skills is required.

Minuses:

• The control panel is confusing and looks complicated to the average beginner;
• The speed of work is average, although this gap is filled with fast hosting, optimization with plugins and settings;
• Powerful template instances are difficult to set up - you can rarely do without reading the instructions;
• The level of security out of the box is mediocre and requires additional work using plugins and hands;
• Engine updates do not always work correctly and can lead to failures, including the inability to log into the control panel or loss of data.

3. Drupal / Drupal → detailed review

Drupal is an engine aimed exclusively at experienced developers. It’s absolutely not suitable for beginners as a first CMS, and it’s not even worth trying. The level of difficulty of mastering is high. Well suited for creating large websites with a complex data structure. Allows you to create as many as you like custom types content that can be displayed through modules at any point on the front end of the site. No restrictions on layout or content. Thanks to the CCK (Content Construction Kit) plugin, you can embed various types of content into documents, bypassing the taxonomy mechanism characteristic of this system.

The engine is universal and will allow you to create a business card, a portal, a store or a dating site. It features a high level of security out of the box and speed of operation. However, it creates a large load on the database, so it requires more or less fast hosting. There are enough SEO settings even without installing additional plugins, of which a lot has been written for the system. Characteristic features are excellent scalability, optimization, and the need for programming knowledge for effective use. There are a lot of templates (paid for $50-60, on average), but the installation process is relatively complicated. You need to copy files into directories, and then manually activate the modules. The system is not for beginners.

Pros:

• True versatility, flexibility in all directions;
• Ability to create and implement an endless number of content types;
• Out of the box, powerful SEO, security and a modest appetite for hardware;
• Extensive community, a lot of guides, documentation and competent developers within the ecosystem;
• A rich set of modules that expand the basic functionality;
• The ability to use hooks - procedure processing modifiers to simplify large-scale changes to the engine algorithms;
• High level of standardization - almost all code is written by developers in the same style, making it convenient for the community to work with it.

Minuses:

• For ordinary users not suitable due to the obvious complexity of development and use;
• Without programming knowledge, it will not be possible to configure most modules;
• For stable and fast operation of the site you need a powerful server.

4. OpenCart / OpenCart → detailed review

OpenCart is one of the most popular E-commerce platforms. Designed exclusively for creating online stores and out of the box contains an impressive set of features: a visual template editor, no restrictions on the number of products, categories, manufacturers, pages and other things, supports multilingualism, discounts, reviews, delivery options, tax calculations, product ratings, etc. etc. The engine system is modular, that is, the store can be expanded unlimitedly. There is a built-in statistics collector (views, sales report, popularity rating, etc.), but SEO optimization out of the box is lame. You will have to use a third-party and, most likely, paid module.

The level of difficulty of mastering is average. The system is logically built, but the store has a lot of obvious and subtle settings. It will not be easy for a beginner, but if you have motivation, there is a considerable chance of bringing the project to fruition. Stores of modules and templates are built right into the control panel; you can search by filters. The design editor interface is user-friendly, with syntax highlighting. For many templates you can use the mode visual editor tune appearance and functionality. Within one admin panel you can manage several stores at once. And before downloading the update, the system scans for compatibility installed extensions to avoid conflicts that could put the store out of commission. This is a big plus.

Pros:

• Can be learned and used effectively by a beginner;
• Advanced functionality - almost everything important for the store is included out of the box;
• Comfortable user interface to make purchases;
• High performance and relatively low hosting speed requirements;
• Many high-quality templates and useful modules;
• Developed ecosystem: a lot of information and active developers;
• Detailed built-in statistics of sales and store traffic;
• Simple code, which makes it easy to make modifications;
• Present detailed setup access rights (for managers, for example);

Minuses:

• Weak SEO out of the box (few settings, problems with indexing pages, producing duplicates, errors when generating CNC), the problem is solved by installing extensions;
• Inconvenient image loader;
• No quick checkout out of the box;
• There is no live search for products (by the first letters of the name);
• You cannot sort articles into categories to display them as a news feed, for example;
• Engine updates are released quite rarely;
• Quite a large number of minor bugs and inconveniences (for example, the button to add out-of-stock items to the cart is always active).

5. MODX / MODEX → detailed review

MODX Revolution is a flexible system whose properties are closer to frameworks than to CMS. Suitable for creating all types of websites, easily scalable. However, large websites are not very convenient to administer due to the chaos in displaying the tree structure of pages and elements. The problem is solved by a module like “Collections”. The module installer with search is located right in the admin panel, there are ratings, you can read descriptions of the extensions. In general, out of the box the engine is lightweight and does not boast detailed functionality. Requires the mandatory installation of a gentleman's set of modules, at a minimum.

The level of difficulty of mastering is average, provided that the user is fluent in HTML/CSS. The control panel has a clean, nice design and a relatively clear layout. Can be used by beginners, but rely on educational materials. Out of the box you get powerful SEO optimization tools and a high level of security. The engine does not have ready-made designs specially tailored for itself, but it allows you to add any HTML template to the site. The range of these is huge, but to edit within the system you will have to learn its specific syntax, which is not used anywhere else.

Pros:

• High level of flexibility, structures and elements of any complexity can be built;
• Excellent optimization of code and settings to meet search engine requirements;
• Undemanding quality of hosting, high website performance;
• High level of security, flexible settings for authorization of user groups;
• Good implementation of multilingualism, high quality Russian localization of interface elements;
• Sufficient set ready-made modules, available for installation directly from the admin panel;
• Pleasant to the eye and more or less understandable interface;
• Detailed official documentation in Russian.

Minuses:

• Inconvenient approach to installing templates;
• Non-standard engine syntax;
• Without programming skills it is impossible to work productively with the engine;
• There are few adapted templates; modifications by hand and code are usually required to optimize HTML layouts and display them correctly;
• There are an order of magnitude less training materials than more popular CMSs.

6. Magento / Magento → detailed review

Magento is the most popular shopping engine in the world, owned by Adobe Inc. A very powerful CMS with a developed community. But not on RuNet. You can download the Community Edition for free, but it is not at all adapted to our market and does not have Russian localization. A raw, potentially advanced product that requires manual development - code. There are assemblies for use in RuNet (localization, integration of our social networks, payment systems etc.), but they are paid. Actually, this free system has a high level of monetization: templates, modules, developer services, licenses - almost everything is paid.

This engine should only be used if you have a decent budget. The cost of developing stores on Magento is high, especially when purchasing an Enterprise license (from $15,000 per year). The functionality is excellent, the control panel is informative and relatively convenient. A lot of statistical reports, a built-in rating system for evaluating products and commenting, discounts, adjustment of user rights, a good level of SEO optimization and security out of the box, an advanced caching algorithm to speed up page loading - all this and much more is included out of the box.

Pros:

• Good functionality out of the box, suitable for creating huge stores;
• Lots of templates, although most of them are paid and not cheap;
• An effective caching system that greatly increases page loading speed;
• You can manage several stores from one admin panel;
• Everything related to optimization for search engines and the safety of the site.

Minuses:

• Demanding quality of hosting;
• Difficulty of use, from the installation process to code modifications;
• There is a relatively small number of ready-made extensions, and the services of qualified developers are very expensive;
• The overall high cost of stores, despite the formal availability of a free version;
• The original version is not at all adapted for use on the Runet, and the assembly optimized for our market costs from 8,000 rubles.

7. ImageCMS / ImageCMS → detailed review

ImageCMS is a platform for creating online stores, a hybrid of WordPress, Premmerce and WooCommerce. A ready-made boxed combination that requires the installation of a minimum number of additional modules. The level of functionality and flexibility is average, the difficulty of mastering is average, but without knowledge of at least HTML/CSS you won’t get far. There are only four ready-made templates, there is a cosmetic design customizer, so to get a unique look for the store you need to either order the development of a design, or carefully redo the existing one by hand. One is expensive, the other is difficult to implement and almost impossible for beginners. But there are integrations with MoySklad, 1C, Nova Poshta, RetailCRM and other popular services out of the box. A lot has been done for SEO optimization.

The control panel is similar to that of WordPress, the only difference is the number of extensions pre-installed out of the box. There are a lot of them here, which makes the admin area look oversaturated. In fact, this CMS is an assembly that requires modifications to meet the requirements of a specific task. There is no direct compatibility with WordPress plugins; developer optimization services are expensive. This system It makes sense to use it only if you have enough functionality out of the box. After all, templates, modifications and custom plugins will cost more than it’s worth. The shops here are good only if you have a sufficient budget.

Pros:

• The core of the system is the well-known WordPress, understandable and convenient;
• A rich built-in set of plugins that covers most of the requirements for running a store;
• Full arsenal of WooCommerce features available;
• There is a high-quality built-in blog.

Minuses:

• There are few native extensions, it is not easy to find a programmer, and the cost of services will be inflated;
• You cannot manually configure the display order of individual products and other useful little things;
• Few ready-made templates, and an individual design from a developer costs from $2000;
• High load on the server, low performance with a large database volume;
• Weak ecosystem - there is quite a bit of information on the product, discussions, etc.

8. TYPO3 / TypoTri → detailed review

TYPO3 is an advanced development environment for experienced users. It’s not easy to learn, and it’s also not easy to maintain. Definitely not for beginners. Programming knowledge and experience in website development are required for normal use. It shows itself best in creating blogs, portals, online magazines/newspapers of strong medium volume (up to 5-6k pages). Let's say that creating a store or social network is also possible, although it involves unprofitable difficulties - many plugins and modifications will be required. You also need to have a budget to be successful. Good hosting, programmer services, modules - you'll have to spend money.

The interface of this CMS is by no means simple, and to customize the site, a special internal language is used - TypoScript. Without mastering it, success cannot be achieved. This results in the high cost of specialist services - the profile is narrow, not everyone can help. Out of the box, the system does not have sufficient functionality to implement serious websites. Many plugins can be downloaded from the repository for free. Their quality level is supervised by the CMS community. You can manage multiple projects from one control panel. The Templavoila template engine will help you turn any HTML template into a compatible one. There is also a visual editor for making cosmetic changes. Flexible, powerful, specific engine for pros.

Pros:

• High-quality localization of the engine interface;
• Using the Templavoila/TypoScript combination allows you to do whatever you want with the design;
• High degree of website scalability;
• Support for page caching, which significantly speeds up their loading;
• A sufficient set of extensions collected in a reliable single source - TYPO3 Extension Repository;
• Great for website creation large corporations, industry giants.

Minuses:

• The community is predominantly English-speaking, there is little Russified documentation;
• Creates a large load on hosting and takes up a lot of space;
• Difficult to learn, absolutely not suitable for beginners;
• Suitable for creating sites where only the administrator will publish information, that is, projects without user content;
• The high cost of maintaining the functionality of the site.

9. CMS Made Simple → detailed review

CMS Made Simple is a system designed for use by beginners. Indeed, there is a visual design editor, similar to those found in cloud-based website builders. Easy installation on the server, easy setup, a good set of available extensions that are easy to use. Suitable, first of all, for creating business card websites and online stores, but it is impossible to achieve a unique design using the editor - only cosmetic changes. Deep customization will require code edits (PHP, HTML, CSS), which negates all the simplicity and convenience and puts the system on the same level as other CMS in terms of complexity of effective use.

The interface is partially Russified, there is little documentation in the native language - to fully master it you need to be familiar with the English language. The engine works quickly and does not require super-hosting even to launch a store. There are few built-in templates; they are written in an accessible HTML/CSS format, which allows you to adapt third-party design themes for use within the system. The API is open; developers have written more than 200 plugins of varying levels of quality and usefulness. Optimization is excellent thanks to the lightweight engine and built-in page caching mechanism. Security is implemented at a good level out of the box. It's a good engine, but its potential is revealed only in the hands of experienced developers.

Pros:

• Relative simplicity of the control panel;
• Ease of making cosmetic changes to templates;
• Good level of SEO optimization and security;
• Beneficial for creating small stores on a limited budget;
• Low requirements for hosting quality;
• A sufficient set of ready-made plugins to solve typical problems;
• Regular updates.

Minuses:

• Small and mostly English-speaking community;
• A meager amount of training materials, including video lessons in Russian;
• It is impossible to obtain a unique design without interfering with the code;
• Sometimes, during updates, previously working plugins “fall off”;
• Without knowledge of the English language and, at a minimum, the basics of programming, it will not be possible to unlock the potential of the system.

10. Concrete5 / Concrete 5 → detailed review

Concrete5 is a popular CMS, similar in the mechanics of interaction with website builders based on a visual editor. A distinctive feature and the reason for the popularity of the system is its truly simple interface, within which you can create quite complex websites. By adding elements (widgets), the user assembles pages. They can then be edited by changing the contents of the blocks, colors, backgrounds, fonts, navigation, etc. The editor allows for simple customization of any elements without getting into the code. If you need more, please, this is a CMS, the code is completely open.

Templates can be downloaded for free and purchased ($30-45) on the marketplace of the system’s official website. To expand functionality, you can use plugins by downloading them there. The selection is decent, although it doesn’t reach the leaders in popularity, of course. This CMS is perfect for creating company websites, information portals, and blogs. To a lesser extent - for online stores, since out of the box there are no integrations of payment systems, deliveries, and other things that are important for the Runet. SEO optimization capabilities out of the box are basic; paid plugins start at $30.

Pros:

• Interface in the style of designers with a visual editor;
• Suitable for use by beginners;
• Centralized plugin and theme stores with many free options;
• Moderate average cost of templates and paid plugins;
• The engine supports multi-languages.

Minuses:

• Poor adaptation of the system to the needs of the Runet: few extensions with service integrations that are important to us, a small community, sluggish discussions on forums, dead groups on social networks, documentation in English.

In details, the process will differ depending on the CMS used: which plugin to download, where to click, how to install and configure the template, what the texts should be - all this and much more are nuances that depend on the choice of engine and the problem that you solve with its help .

FAQ (Question – Answer)

• Is it possible to make a website using a CMS yourself?

Creating websites on a CMS requires preparation. The person must be an experienced PC user in general and understand coding entry level complexity (HTML/CSS). The ability to perceive training materials and then apply them in practice is also important.

Few people can, from scratch, without preparation and tips, just sit down and ride the same relatively simple WordPress or very simple Concrete5. You need to have an understanding of the process and/or be able to learn. These things are not intuitive by default.

In general, yes, it is possible to create a website on a CMS yourself. But it depends on what kind and who will do it. Some can, many others cannot and never will. It is a fact. The task is not for everyone. Many people succeed from scratch if they have stable motivation. The rest pay third-party developers or use website builders - the simplest option.

• Which CMS is better to choose?

The easiest way is to choose a profile system for the type of site you are creating. For example, creating a good store based on Woocommerce + WordPress is the best way for beginners. It is quite possible to implement a full-fledged online store on your own; many people do this. It will be easier for an experienced webmaster to create a store on Opencart than on WP in combination with the Woocommerce plugin. This is because it is a specialized CMS for an online store, containing a solid layer of necessary functionality out of the box. Information sites work well on Joomla, blogs on WP, websites of large companies, portals, etc. on Drupal, Typo3 and MODX.

In addition to the specialization of the engine, it is necessary to take into account the cost and quality of the plugins that will be needed to implement the idea. The popularity of the system also plays a role. The more in demand the engine, the more information, extensions, templates and developers who can help for a reasonable fee. This will ultimately affect the comfort of work and the cost of the project. In general, when you decide on the type of site (business card, store, blog, portal, etc.), read/watch reviews, ratings for specialized CMSs. Choose the most popular one on the RuNet - this is a general recipe that is justified in most cases.

• Is it possible to make a website using a CMS for free?

Definitely not. The engine itself may be free, but the hosting and domain are definitely not. Unless you are creating a website on LAN for yourself. There are many paid plugins for any system, and templates too. Entire studios and development teams make money from these ecosystems. That is, a free CMS means there is no need to pay the cost of an engine license and open access to its API for everyone. Meanwhile, the costs of creating/maintaining a website can be impressive depending on a number of factors.

To be fair, we note that in initially paid ecosystems, the average prices for extensions are often higher, and there are fewer free ones - both plugins and templates. The cost of developer services depends on the popularity of the system and its complexity. The cost of hosting, as well as the requirements for it for a specific CMS and type of site, also vary. All these and many other factors influence the project estimate. One thing is for sure - you will have to invest money in any case. But how much is an individual question.

If you have no money at all to maintain the site, you can use the uCoz constructor - at free plan it makes it possible to get hosting and a domain for free: 400+ MB of server space, a site on a subdomain (such as *.ucoz.net, *.ucoz.org, etc. or free domains *.tk, *.ml, *.ga ), access to HTML/CSS/JS source code and other features.

There are many free CMSs. They have varying degrees of popularity and features. There are specialized ones, and there are universal ones due to the structure and extensions. Monetization occurs around any popular system - developers write plugins, provide services, draw, layout and sell templates. Life inside such ecosystems is in full swing, people work and earn money in them. Websites always cost money; there are no free ones.

Creating a website using a CMS is not a task for everyone. It is much easier for the average PC user to solve this problem with the help of a suitable website builder. It makes sense to use a CMS when you have plans to connect your activities and income with this type of system. Or it’s just very interesting to find out what’s going on there. Many engines remain the domain of pros and gifted beginners for a long time. And it is no coincidence that they are complex. General advice for beginners, taking all factors into account: use WordPress or website builders.

If you want to try out what and how, then the easiest way is to go to any free hosting, install WordPress or Joomla automatically, then go through them with an untrained eye, try to create pages, edit the standard template, and so on. Without being tied to the result, just watch and understand how it happens. It is advisable to support the voyage by watching a couple of basic training videos to make it a little more interesting.

Systems like Drupal, MODX, Magento, TYPO3 are definitely complex and are not suitable for the role of the first CMS. If necessary, they should be addressed after mastering another, more accessible system in terms of understanding. Usually we are talking about WordPress - the most obvious and practical for the first steps. Or OpenCart is the number one choice for creating your first store. Joomla is good for those who want to relatively easily learn the basics of programming in practice and create a business card or information portal. The templates here are pure HTML/CSS and are quite easy to edit.

We present our next selection - TOP 10 best CMS for an online store.

You have decided to start trading online. This is a great solution that will take your business to new level. To sell online, you need a platform – an online store. This will be your “sales point” where you will attract potential buyers and offer them your products.

What you need to decide right away is what your website will be based on. There are two ways out – development from scratch or creating a website on a CMS.

The latter is preferable because:

• website development using a CMS, as a rule, cheaper;
• it saves time - create a website on a ready-made CMS faster;
• easier find a developer who knows how to work with the system;
• ready-made solutions have already been tested by time and by other users, are usually stable, and are regularly updated.

All that remains is to choose a good CMS for your future online store. What are we going to do now!

How and which CMS to choose for your store

First you need to decide on the criteria for assessing the “heart” of your site. Based on them, you can choose a solution that perfectly suits your needs.

1. Price. We have already told, What There are paid and free CMSs. But in addition to the cost of the program itself, you need to pay attention to the cost of the programmer’s work. If, for example, a WordPress specialist can be found inexpensively, then a Drupal specialist will charge more for his work, since the engine is much more complex.

2. Pjob growth(meaning adding content). There are engines that are easy to understand, with a clear editor and an easy admin panel. There are some where only those who already know what’s what can work can work in them. Also pay attention to such parameters as mass price changes and general editing of cards. Is there some kind of automated solution for this, or does everything need to be done manually?

3. Number of functions. What do you want - a simpler solution or a fancy thing with a lot of everything? But look not at your wishes, but first of all at the needs of your business. If a description, a few photos and characteristics are enough to successfully sell your product, there is no need to pay more for a complex system.

4. Import/export of goods. Pay attention to whether it is easy to upload supplier price lists to the site and download them from there. Because you simply cannot edit 1000 positions manually.

5. Integration with third-party services. Do you work with warehouse programs, such as 1C, and want to import and export goods from there? There are engines that support this.

6. Easy to maintain and edit templates. If every time you go to add or remove a block, you have to contact a programmer, you will go broke maintaining such a site. See if you will be able to move blocks, adjust pagination, etc. on one's own.

7. Payment and delivery methods availabledefault. The engine must be able to calculate the cost of goods, and by default contain its own modules for popular systems for accepting payments and calculating delivery.

8. Is it available? integration with Yandex.Metrica and Google Analytics. The engine must be integrated with these systems in the “E-Commerce” mode - this will help you track a lot of useful data on the state of sales and more.

9. Opportunity add administrators with different access rights. You will definitely be working on the site with someone else. And this someone else does not always need full access rights - often it is enough to limit themselves to what they need for their work, and that’s all. If you can configure access rights on a site, this is a huge plus for the engine.

These are the main parameters, the main criteria that you should pay attention to when choosing a CMS.

TOP 10 best CMS for an online store

Let's look at the ten best CMS on which you can create an online store.

"Mr Automation"

This is a universal paid software solution, on the basis of which you can create various projects. But this engine has a huge advantage - integration with 1C: Enterprise in real time. The online store order management function is well implemented here, and it has its own built-in CRM.

Another bonus is automated work with delivery services. The engine allows you to automatically send a request for delivery of goods and even track the status of the parcel.

Based on this CMS, you will get an excellent multifunctional online store, but you are unlikely to be able to handle its support and configuration yourself. Setting it up is quite complicated, as is editing templates - you can’t do it without a programmer.

"Mr Flexibility"

Free engine, open source source code, designed specifically for online stores. You can set up automatic backups on it, that is, saving the database - this will protect you from accidental deletion important information. By default, calculation of delivery costs and order costs including taxes is available. Various types payments and settlements can be configured using additional modules.

And in general, a store based on this engine can be turned into anything and expanded to anything. More than 8.5 thousand paid and free modules- I don’t want to play. But as for mastering the administrative panel, it cannot be called easy and simple.

"Mr. Ready Solution."

This is a script for an online store, which in its initial, basic version has everything necessary for your website to work normally and perform all the functions necessary for sales. In addition, the engine also has additional modules if you want something else.

Probably, there are few engines that are so convenient for managing goods. Here you can create catalogs and disable products in bulk. LoadCSV to import products, create invoices and delivery receipts, and even sell downloadable products. You can set up integration with CRM systems and analytics systems.

There is everything you need to set up delivery and the most popular types of payment.

In this case, you can configure system access rights for different administrators.

The engine is stable, protected and constantly developed by enthusiasts from all over the world.

"Mr. Understanding."

A universal free engine on which, thanks to the WooCommerce module, you can create a fully functional online store. Very clear and simple admin panel. Templates and everything else can be customized yourself. Easily integrates with almost any system. You can configure access rights for different users.

One big disadvantage of the engine is that for almost everything you need to connect separate plugins and extensions (but there are a huge number of them, and you can find ready-made solution for almost any wish). And if you hang a lot of them, it can start to slow down.

Joomla!

"Mr. Simplicity"

It’s also a universal and free engine that can be transformed into an online store using the VirtueMart extension.

More than eight thousand different extensions are offered for this engine. Therefore, it can be turned into anything. There is a differentiation of access rights for different users. It is simple to set up and manage, has a clear and understandable structure.

But this engine needs to be constantly updated and is not suitable for complex solutions or a store with a rich set of functions. It’s better to choose it if you have a small project.

MODX

"Mr. Freedom"

A freely distributed engine on the basis of which you can create anything, including an online store with many products. The basic version supports popular payment systems. The administrative panel is simple and clear, despite the huge range of functions. You can set up document flow control.

The downside is that there is a small set of templates, which means you can’t get too creative with the design. But if you have a good programmer on your team, he can do anything on this engine, even rewrite the administrative panel for himself.

"Mr. Smart."

Paid domestic CMS, which is constantly developing and acquiring new capabilities. It has wide functionality and easily connects to various CRM and analytics systems.

To create an online store, this engine has a separate module - “Online Store”. It allows you to integrate with 1C and My Warehouse, configure different kinds delivery, payment currency, automatically adjusts the exchange rate of the Central Bank, allows you to export goods for Yandex.Market, print product forms and much more.

As a result, you get an excellent online store with all the necessary functions.

"Mr. Convenience"

Another popular CMS, the feature of which is the ease of site management for the end user. Even a complete teapot can understand the administrative panel. As a result, you can save on website support - you will not need to involve a developer every time to solve basic problems.

The system has enormous capabilities for customizing the design to suit every taste, and a large selection of ready-made templates. There is also a unique opportunity to edit content directly on the site.

One of the advantages of the engine is integration with Yandex.Market, 1C:Enterprise, My Warehouse. There is free mobile app for owners of online stores, which will help manage orders directly from a smartphone.

"Mr. Security"

This is a professional system for managing an online store. Boasts a simple administrative panel, highly resistant to loads and break-ins. There are built-in opportunities for holding promotions. The system easily integrates with 1C, allows you to import and export price lists, configure and differentiate access rights, independently manage individual blocks without the help of a developer, and much more. There is everything you need to set up payments and delivery. Integrates with analytics systems.

If you decide to get serious about selling online, this is a great decision.

"Mr. All-in-One."

This is a constructor that has everything you need to create an online store. In addition to the cloud solution, there is also a full-fledged engine. Equipped with detailed sales reports, you can accept payments online and offline, and has everything for SEO promotion.

The engine is free for developers only.

There are applications for iOS and Android, built-in CRM, delivery cost calculation, integration with 1C, My Warehouse, Yandex.Delivery and Yandex.Market, and much more.

Summary

As you can see, the choice of CMS for an online store is huge. And each system has its own advantages over the others.

However, it is possible to choose at least two leaders for yourself. If you need a simple, small online store that is inexpensive to run, choose WordPress or Joomla!. If you have your own developer (or you are a developer yourself and like to tinker with code), MODX is suitable for you. If ease of website management is important to you, choose CS-Cart or UMI.CMS. Do you value functionality? For you Shop-Script 7, NetCat or PrestaShop. OpenCart and 1C Bitrix are suitable for large retail outlets.

Now all that remains is to decide who you like better. While you’re thinking, save this selection for yourself so you don’t lose it!

Instead of an introduction: this material is almost completely copied from the CESL Group website, author Nikita Semenov.
Just... I want to keep the material for myself. The story is told in 2012. Today, 5 years later, the TOP sites are a little different, but the research results and conclusions from the articles, in my opinion, are still relevant today.

Very often new clients come to us at SECL Group and ask us to create a portal or social network on a boxed CMS, while using existing large portals from their niche as an example. And every time we have to explain that high-load sites are NOT made on boxed CMS. Today I want to justify why CMS are extremely rarely used for large projects, both with some facts and with research into which RuNet sites from the top hundred in terms of traffic use a boxed CMS.

What CMS are popular in RuNet?

As the Runet Rating tells us, among commercial engines these are: 1C-Bitrix, NetCat, UMI.CMS, HostCMS, AMIRO.CMS and among free ones these are: Joomla!, Drupal, MODx, WordPress, TYPO3. Each CMS has its own features, pros and cons, but that’s not what this article is about.

From me: in 2017, according to the Runet Rating, commercial engines: 1C-Bitrix, UMI.CMS, NetCat, HostCMS, CS-Cart. UMI.CMS and NetCat swapped places, AMIRO.CMS dropped out, CS-Cart appeared. Open-source engines: WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!, MODx, OpenCart. WP is in first place, I wonder why in 2012 it was in fourth... MODx lost one position, Joomla - two positions, OpenCart knocked TYPO3 out of the ranking.

Let's start by researching the top 100 sites, and then analyze the data obtained. For the study, we chose two ratings of the top 100 sites at once: according to Alexa data (region - Russian Federation and region - all countries). Straz should explain that these ratings are slightly different, Alexa collects data through the installed toolbar, and taking into account the fact that in RuNet it is used mainly by people connected to the Internet, then Alexa’s data is accordingly slightly biased towards sites for programmers and SEO specialists etc. That is why we also made an analysis based on LiveInternet data. The analysis included more than 50 popular CMS, including all the most popular. The CMS was determined by the location of the admin panel, by the site code, etc. Errors may exist, etc. Because some site owners deliberately hide signs of using a CMS, but in any case, this error, if there is one, is small.

Analysis from 09/11/2012. Data on Alexa (less relevant, but more interesting for its IT nature)

Place in the ranking	Site URL	CMS used
№1	yandex.ru	No
№2	vk.com	No
№3	mail.ru	No
№4	google.com	No
№5	google.ru	No
№6	youtube.com	No
№7	odnoklassniki.ru	No
№8	facebook.com	No
№9	wikipedia.org	No
№10	livejournal.com	No
№11	liveinternet.ru	No
№12	twitter.com	No
№13	ucoz.ru	No
№14	rambler.ru	No
№15	rutracker.org	No
№16	blogspot.com	No
№17	narod.ru	No
№18	avito.ru	No
№19	rbc.ru	No
№20	sape.ru	No
№21	ya.ru	No
№22	lenta.ru	No
№23	gi-akademie.com	1C-Bitrix
№24	webmoney.ru	No
№25	gismeteo.ru	No
№26	kinopoisk.ru	No
№27	gi-backoffice.com	No
№28	searchengines.ru	1C-Bitrix
№29	slando.ru	No
№30	habrahabr.ru	No
№31	zeekrewards.com	No
№32	auto.ru	No
№33	sbrf.ru	RBC Contents
№34	yahoo.com	No
№35	userapi.com	No
№36	googleusercontent.com	No
№37	sberbank.ru	RBC Contents
№38	acesse.com	No
№39	yandex.net	No
№40	sergey-mavrodi.com	WordPress
№41	microsoft.com	No
№42	ebay.com	No
№43	cy-pr.com	1C-Bitrix
№44	drom.ru	No
№45	subscribe.ru	No
№46	qip.ru	No
№47	hh.ru	No
№48	smartresponder.ru	No
№49	fotostrana.ru	No
№50	adobe.com	No
№51	taobao.com	No
№52	taobao.com	No
№53	radikal.ru	No
№54	ria.ru	No
№55	gogetlinks.net	No
№56	rutor.org	No
№57	3file.info	No
№58	wildberries.ru	No
№59	depositfiles.com	No
№60	pr-cy.ru	No
№61	afimet.com	Amiro.CMS
№62	ozon.ru	No
№63	mts.ru	No
№64	tiu.ru	No
№65	letitbit.net	Drupal
№66	seopult.ru	No
№67	linkedin.com	No
№68	wmmail.ru	No
№69	directadvert.ru	No
№70	vesti.ru	No
№71	newsru.com	No
№72	qiwi.ru	1C-Bitrix
№73	ucoz.com	No
№74	xhamster.com	No
№75	ultimatepowerprofits.com	No
№76	my-hit.ru	No
№77	gazeta.ru	No
№78	biglion.ru	No
№79	beeline.ru	Actis WebBuilder
№80	goodvin.tv	Drupal
№81	wmtransfer.com	No
№82	worldoftanks.ru	No
№83	championat.com	No
№84	marketgid.com	No
№85	wikimedia.org	No
№86	fastpic.ru	No
№87	miralinks.ru	No
№88	amazon.com	No
№89	sportbox.ru	Drupal
№90	nic.ru	No
№91	apple.com	No
№92	bannersbroker.com	No
№93	irr.ru	No
№94	xvideos.com	No
№95	kp.ru	WordPress
№96	live.com	No
№97	mamba.ru	No
№98	ixbt.com	No
№99	nnm-club.ru	No
№100	webalta.ru	No

As we can see, only 13 out of 100 sites work on a packaged CMS, i.e. in the ranking, only 13% of high-load projects use a CMS. In addition, 3 projects use studio developments, which can be assembled specifically for their needs and, most likely, are very different from the usual boxed CMS. The bottom line is that we see that only a few projects are running on a boxed CMS.

Below are data from a study of the top 100 Runet sites by traffic (according to LiveInternet) and their analysis for signs of the use of boxed CMS:

Place in the ranking	Site URL	CMS used
№1	vk.com	No
№2	odnoklassniki.ru	No
№3	go.mail.ru	No
№4	my.mail.ru	No
№5	marketgid.com	No
№6	ulogin.ru	No
№7	avito.ru	No
№8	qip.ru	No
№9	foto.mail.ru	No
№10	rbc.ru	No
№11	rutracker.org	No
№12	directadvert.ru	No
№13	liveinternet.ru	No
№14	fotostrana.ru	No
№15	gismeteo.ru	No
№16	kinopoisk.ru	No
№17	video.mail.ru	No
№18	slando.ru	No
№19	www.smotri.com	No
№20	wildberries.ru	No
№21	mgid.com	No
№22	kp.ru	No
№23	vesti.ru	No
№24	all.biz	No
№25	lady.mail.ru	No
№26	auto.mail.ru	No
№27	irr.ru	No
№28	auto.ru	No
№29	drom.ru	No
№30	ria.ru	No
№31	citycatalogue.ru	No
№32	m.my.mail.ru	No
№33	2shared.com	No
№34	lenta.ru	No
№35	hh.ru	No
№36	lice-mer.ru	No
№37	games.mail.ru	No
№38	icq.com	No
№39	pogoda.mail.ru	No
№40	mediafort.ru	No
№41	flirchi.ru	No
№42	woman.ru	No
№43	smi2.ru	No
№44	tiu.ru	No
№45	deti.mail.ru	No
№46	livetv.ru	No
№47	afisha.mail.ru	No
№48	loveplanet.ru	No
№49	myvi.ru	No
№50	ruhelp.com	No
№51	blog.mosmedclinic.ru	No
№52	gazeta.ru	No
№53	babyblog.ru	No
№54	postimage.org	No
№55	radikal.ru	No
№56	fastpic.ru	No
№57	dmir.ru	No
№58	shockodrom.com	WordPress
№59	agent.mail.ru	No
№60	utro.ru	No
№61	championat.com	No
№62	korrespondent.net	No
№63	fishki.net	No
№64	minigames.mail.ru	No
№65	lib.rus.ec	Drupal
№66	povarenok.ru	No
№67	sportlemon.tv	No
№68	slando.ru	No
№69	newsru.com	No
№70	gismeteo.ua	No
№71	sportbox.ru	Drupal
№72	sberbank.ru	RBC Contents
№73	24smile.net	No
№74	ntv.ru	No
№75	softportal.com	No
№76	svyaznoy.ru	1C-Bitrix
№77	rg.ru	No
№78	chatovod.ru	No
№79	1tv.ru	No
№80	prom.ua	No
№81	pulscen.ru	No
№82	ru.redtram.com	No
№83	tutu.ru	No
№84	playground.ru	No
№85	superjob.ru	No
№86	poiskm.ru	No
№87	canliradyodinle.com.tr	WordPress
№88	say7.info	No
№89	sport.rbc.ru	No
№90	echo.msk.ru	No
№91	readme.ru	No
№92	pravda.ru	No
№93	galya.ru	No
№94	aif.ru	No
№95	4pda.ru	WordPress
№96	hi-tech.mail.ru	No
№97	24video.net	No
№98	jobs.ru	No
№99	worka.ru	No
№100	rt.com	No

So, we see a completely logical picture, the same as in the Alexa rating: among the first fifty sites there is no CMS at all, in the second half there are 7 boxed CMS, one of which is studio-based, while, interestingly, sites based on CMS are not differ fast work, on the face of braking. In this rating, the total traffic to sites is significantly higher than in Alex and CMS, fewer projects are used.

What then do big projects work on?

Usually, for such projects, the functionality is written from scratch, frameworks, different algorithms, and often even several programming languages ​​are used, but this is the topic of a separate article.

Why aren't high-load websites built on a CMS?

There are several reasons for this. First, let's define what a CMS is: essentially it is a set of ready-made modules linked in unified system, which is suitable “for all occasions”. From here, logical conclusions immediately appear that prevent the use of a boxed CMS for large portals:

• A system without specialization.
  Almost all CMS have no specialization, they are designed to create any website (some systems position themselves as a CMS for a certain type of website, for example WordPress for blogs, Magento for stores, etc., but the essence does not change, just more modules for a certain type of site), from here it is impossible to achieve maximum efficiency.
• Standard architecture.
  Any large site has an architectural design stage, it’s like a project when constructing a building: if you design it well, it will stand for a long time, but poorly, it will immediately fall apart. In this case, the architecture has already been specified by the CMS developers, which means it is not possible to take into account the features of the new project.
• Lots of redoing.
  Any large project has a lot of different functionality with different requirements, so it’s impossible to simply take standard modules and launch a high-quality website: each of the modules will most likely have to be redesigned to meet specific requirements, and delving into someone else’s code, even well-documented, is time-consuming and ineffective , it is often faster, and therefore cheaper, to write from scratch.
• Problems with revision.
  Often we need to add something that is not in the CMS, and this sometimes turns into hell: not only do we need to figure out how everything works, but there are also technological limitations; the CMS may use outdated technology or not the most optimal one for our project. And in general, any CMS for a developer is a strict framework that is extremely difficult to go beyond.
• Problems with loads.
  Since we are talking about highly visited projects, each of them must be optimized for loads so as not to spend large resources on maintaining performance, and the site must remain operational no matter the traffic. Hence, each of the modules must spend a minimum of computing power, which the CMS cannot provide, because it was created as a solution “for all occasions”, and it has a bunch of everything that is either difficult or even impossible to throw away. By the way, some projects for this purpose make a website entirely in pure HTML (for example, Opera or the website of our SECL Group), due to this, the websites can withstand heavy loads with minimal resources, and the page loading speed is amazing. True, pure HTML can be used only for those sites that are rarely updated: every update becomes a problem.

This is far from full list disadvantages due to which large websites are not built on boxed CMS. Content management systems are well suited for simple solutions: corporate website, online store, blog, etc., but they cannot be used for large portals, and the rating of the top 100 sites illustrates this in practice.

1. The more traffic to the site, the less likely (or rather, the possibility) of using a boxed CMS,
2. All sites that run on a CMS have performance problems
3. CMS is a framework; projects created on its basis have significant shortcomings in architecture and functionality.