Are you looking to create your own website or for your clients? No longer do you need to create a website from scratch, it’s now easier than ever because of the many Content Management Systems available at your fingertips. I’ve put together a collection of the most popular open source, free to download CMS for you to consider when creating your next website depending on your particular need or requirements
These CMS gives you rapid deployment, support, online communities and contributors, plugins/add-ons.
WordPress
WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.
The core software is built by hundreds of community volunteers, and when you’re ready for more there are thousands of plugins and themes available to transform your site into almost anything you can imagine. Over 60 million people have chosen WordPress to power the place on the web they call “home” — we’d love you to join the family.
URL: http://wordpress.org
Joomla
Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications. Many aspects, including its ease-of-use and extensibility, have made Joomla the most popular Web site software available. Best of all, Joomla is an open source solution that is freely available to everyone.
Drupal
Drupal is open source software maintained and developed by a community of 630,000+ users and developers. It’s distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License (or “GPL”), which means anyone is free to download it and share it with others. This open development model means that people are constantly working to make sure Drupal is a cutting-edge platform that supports the latest technologies that the Web has to offer.
URL: http://drupal.org
TYPO3
The API-driven extension framework offers unlimited flexibility by letting developers extend the functionality and add new types of content elements using standard programming practices like MVC (model-view-controller) design. Thanks to the large community of developers that use TYPO3, you can already find a solution for almost any need in the Extension Repository.
URL: http://typo3.org
DotNetnuke
DNN is the leading Web Content Management Platform (or CMS) for Microsoft, powering over 700,000 production web sites worldwide. The flexible DNN open source CMS platform also functions as a web application development framework. Depending on your role within your organization, DNN provides powerful benefits to support your Web initiatives.
URL: http://www.dotnetnuke.com
Contao
Contao is an open source content management system (CMS) for people who want a professional internet presence that is easy to maintain. The state-of-the-art structure of the system offers a high security standard and allows you to develop search engine friendly websites that are also accessible for people with disabilities. Furthermore, the system can be expanded flexibly and inexpensively.
Movable Type
Build a website, blog, or social network with Movable Type’s flexible CMS
More publishers and media companies choose Movable Type than any other blog software. Flexible, powerful and fully customizable, Movable Type enables you to quickly create and publish interactive websites and blogs that foster passionate, loyal audiences.
URL: http://www.movabletype.org
Plone
Plone is among the top 2%of all open source projects worldwide, with 340 core developers and more than 300 solution providers in 57 countries. The project has been actively developed since 2001, is available in more than 40 languages, and has the best security track record of any major CMS.
It is owned by the Plone Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, and is available for all major operating systems.
URL: http://plone.org
MODX
What happens when you hit the wall with your blogging tool—like needing to manage multiple channels including your Facebook Page, or you have multiple departments, regions or languages?
Create and manage rich, engaging content easily from anywhere with just an internet connection. From a small, local charity to large corporations, you can have a website designed and built to your needs.
URL: http://modx.com
eZPublish
eZ Publish is a web content management system engineered to create value through streamlined multichannel delivery. eZ’s intuitive and simple editing solution, innovative web engagement management tools and advanced portals, and collaboration facility, work in harmony to create unparalleled ease-of-use and efficiency for our customers.
URL: http://ez.no
Umbraco
With more than 85.000 installations, Umbraco is one of the most deployed Web Content Management Systems on the Microsoft stack. It’s in the top five most popular server applications and among the ten most popular open source tools in general.
It’s a beautiful combination of a fantastic, friendly and dedicated community and a commercial backing in form of the commercial entity behind the project, the Umbraco HQ. This creates a diverse and innovative environment that ensures Umbraco stays cutting edge and at the same time that it’s professionally driven with someone to call, blame and hug.
URL: http://umbraco.com
CMS Made Simple
CMS Made Simple™ is an open source ( GPL) package first released in July 2004. It’s built using PHP that provides website developers with a simple, easy to use utility to allow building small-ish (dozens to hundreds of pages), semi-static websites. Typically our tool is used for corporate websites, or the website promoting a team or organization, etc. This is where we shine. There are other content management packages that specialize in building portals, or blogs, or article based content, etc. CMS Made Simple™ can do much of this, but it is not our area of focus.
URL: http://www.cmsmadesimple.org
Concrete5
Yes, concrete5 is Free and Open Source (FOSS) under the MIT software license. This license simply protects our liability and lets you do ANYTHING you want. We wanted everyone from a small business to an internet startup to be able to legally use concrete5 as a fundamental part of their business.
It will always be free. There’s no “enterprise version” of concrete5 that does everything you really need, but costs a lot of money – and there won’t be in the future either. You can count on concrete5 being around for a long, long time as the core code is now owned by everybody.
Mambo
Mambo is a full-featured content management system that can be used for everything from simple websites to complex corporate applications. The goal of the Mambo project is to meet most of the requirements highlighted in the above article. As each day in development goes by we are getting nearer and nearer, while at the same time building a solid core which can be extended by third party developers.
In the hands of a custom developer, this makes Mambo a powerful platform for a wide variety of Internet applications that go far above and beyond the simple creation of content.
URL: http://www.mamboserver.com
XOOPS
XOOPS is a web application platform written in PHP for the MySQL database. Its object orientation makes it an ideal tool for developing small or large community websites, intra company and corporate portals, weblogs and much more.
XOOPS is an acronym of eXtensible Object Oriented Portal System. Though started as a portal system, XOOPS is in fact striving steadily on the track of Content Management System. It can serve as a web framework for use by small, medium and large sites.
URL: http://www.xoops.org
E107
e107 is an Advanced Content Publishing Solution for Website Pages, Documents, Menus and Links (Content Management System) powered by PHP, MySQL and Prototype, which gives you a totally dynamic and professional website “out of the box”. Its open-source (free), easily customized and doesn’t require any knowledge of programming languages in order to use it. It is simple to use for a novice and yet powerful and flexible enough to meet the needs of professionals.
URL: http://e107.org
PHP-Fusion
Welcome to the official development & support site of PHP-Fusion, a light-weight open-source content management system (CMS). PHP-Fusion is written in PHP and MySQL and includes a simple, comprehensive administration system. The most common features you would expect to see in many other CMS packages are included in PHP-Fusion
URL: http://www.php-fusion.co.uk
S9Y
Serendipity is a PHP-powered weblog application which gives the user an easy way to maintain an online diary, weblog or even a complete homepage. While the default package is designed for the casual blogger, Serendipity offers a flexible, expandable and easy-to-use framework with the power for professional applications.
Casual users appreciate the way Serendipity’s sophisticated plugin architecture allows you to easily modify both the appearance of your blog and its features. You can install more than120 plugins with just one click, instantly enhancing your blog’s functionality. No need to edit code!
Advanced users value Serendipity’s Smarty templates for combining simplicity with well-documented web standards. It makes minor modifications trivial, but provides the power to unleash your creativity and completely customize your site! Serendipity’s outstanding support gives you the confidence to be adventurous, too.
URL: http://www.s9y.org
Squiz Matrix
Squiz CMS includes a fully automated update system to ensure that you always have the latest version of the software, the operating system, the database, the lot!.
Hassle free and secure. To utilise the convenience of this system you will need to choose an appropriate subscription based upon your usage of the product.
URL: http://matrix.squizsuite.net
Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware
Tiki has been actively developed since 2002, making it a very mature open source Wiki-CMS-Groupware solution.
Tiki has been downloaded more than 950,000 times3 and is used to power a huge number of web sites and Intranets.4 Tiki is also available as a one-click install from many popular control panel applications such as Fantastico5, script managers such as SimpleScripts6, remote installers such as Installatron,7 and virtual appliances such as JumpBox8. In 2010, Tiki was added to the Windows Web App Gallery,9 giving millions of Windows user’s easier access to Tiki.
URL: http://info.tiki.org/Tiki+Wiki+CMS+Groupware
Nice to see a large list of CMS products and basic details on each one versus the usual “big three” comparisons (WordPress, Drupal, Joomla) but I see you are missing one up-and-coming CMS: Barebones CMS.
The only issue I have with content management systems is people that install/customize them shouldn’t call themselves web designers. Sure, there’s no need to recreate the wheel, but at the same time, ask that same designer to build something from scratch and they’ll be scratching their head before you’re done speaking!
I agree with “DesignFirms” and when looking for a cms I suggest you also consider web accessibility so visit us http://bit.ly/zQTwrA
Good list. Looking forward for more articles on your blog. Worth learning.
Joomla is crap, heavy, buggy and clumsy.
Nice list, What about the Award-winning CMS SilverStripe (http://www.silverstripe.org/) i’ve used it on a few projects mainly because the back end is simple and user-friendly while still being a powerful framework to develop on. I have found the templating engine can be a bit complicated to get used to but there is a great community of developers and the forums can be quite helpful
I Like your list. I think it’s and exhaustive one though. I have learnt the top major ones including – WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!, Concrete5.
The easiest to learn are WordPress and Concrete5. I prefer Concrete5 because it’s simple, easy to learn, and above all, as a graphic designer concrete5 is the easiest to customize to exactly match your original design / layout. I have the lesson here on how to customize concrete5 themes
Thanks for your personal marvelous posting! I actually enjoyed reading it, you’re a great author.I will be sure to bookmark your blog and will often come back later in life. I want to encourage you continue your great posts, have a nice afternoon!
My partner and I absolutely love your blog and find almost all of your post’s to be precisely what I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content to suit your needs? I wouldn’t mind
producing a post or elaborating on most of the subjects you write with regards to here.
Again, awesome website!
We stumbled over here coming from a different web page and thought I should check things out.
I like what I see so i am just following you.
Look forward to looking at your web page for a second time.
I really like what you guys are usually up too.
Such clever work and exposure! Keep up the very good works guys I’ve you guys to my personal blogroll.
Hello there I am so thrilled I found your weblog, I really found you by error, while I was searching on Yahoo for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say many thanks for a incredible post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the excellent work.
Admiring the time and energy you put into your website and in depth information you present. It’s great to come
across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same outdated rehashed material. Fantastic read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.
Hola! I’ve been reading your weblog for a while now and finally got the courage
to go ahead and give you a shout out from New Caney Tx! Just wanted to mention
keep up the good work!
I’m really loving the theme/design of your site. Do you ever run into any internet browser compatibility issues? A handful of my blog readers have complained about my website not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Firefox. Do you have any ideas to help fix this issue?
I am curious to find out what blog platform you’re working with?
I’m experiencing some small security problems with my latest website and I would like to find something more safeguarded. Do you have any solutions?
Hmm it looks like your site ate my first comment (it was extremely long) so I guess I’ll just sum it
up what I submitted and say, I’m thoroughly enjoying your blog. I too am an aspiring blog writer but I’m still new to everything.
Do you have any recommendations for inexperienced blog writers?
I’d really appreciate it.
Woah! I’m really digging the template/theme of this site.
It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s hard to get that “perfect balance” between superb usability and visual appearance.
I must say you’ve done a superb job with this. Additionally, the blog loads super quick for me on Safari. Superb Blog!
Do you mind if I quote a couple of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your website? My blog site is in the very same niche as yours and my users would really benefit from a lot of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this okay with you. Cheers!
Hello would you mind letting me know which webhost you’re utilizing?
I’ve loaded your blog in 3 different internet browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you suggest a good web hosting provider at a fair price? Thanks, I appreciate it!
Fantastic blog you have here but I was wondering if you knew of any forums that cover the same topics talked about in this article? I’d really love to be a part
of community where I can get opinions from other knowledgeable people that share the same interest.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know.
Appreciate it!
Good day! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to
give a quick shout out and tell you I genuinely enjoy reading your posts.
Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same subjects?
Thank you!
Do you have a spam problem on this website; I also am a blogger, and I
was wondering your situation; we have created some nice practices
and we are looking to swap strategies with
other folks, be sure to shoot me an email if interested.
Please let me know if you’re looking for a article author for your site. You have some really great posts and I believe I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d really like to write some material
for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please blast me an e-mail if interested.
Thanks!
Have you ever considered about including a little
bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and all.
Nevertheless just imagine if you added some great images or videos to give your posts more, “pop”!
Your content is excellent but with pics and video clips,
this website could certainly be one of the very best in its field.
Very good blog!
Awesome blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
A theme like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog jump out.
Please let me know where you got your theme. Bless you
Howdy would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re using? I’m going to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a hard time deciding between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something
unique. P.S Sorry for being off-topic but I had to ask!
Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up.
The words in your post seem to be running off the screen in
Internet explorer. I’m not sure if this is a format issue or something to do with web browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to
let you know. The design look great though! Hope you get the problem fixed soon.
Many thanks
With havin so much written content do you ever
run into any problems of plagorism or copyright infringement?
My blog has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but it seems a lot of it is popping it up all over the web without my agreement. Do you know any techniques to help protect against content from being stolen? I’d definitely appreciate it.
Have you ever thought about writing an ebook or guest
authoring on other blogs? I have a blog centered on the same
topics you discuss and would love to have
you share some stories/information. I know my visitors would value your work.
If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an email.
Hello! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to check it out. I’m definitely loving the
information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Wonderful blog and brilliant design and style.
Fantastic blog! Do you have any suggestions for aspiring writers? I’m planning to start my own site soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you suggest starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m totally overwhelmed .
. Any ideas? Kudos!
My programmer is trying to persuade me to move to .net from
PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the costs.
But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using Movable-type on a variety of websites for about a
year and am nervous about switching to another platform.
I have heard great things about blogengine.net. Is there a way
I can transfer all my wordpress content into it? Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!
Does your website have a contact page? I’m having trouble locating it but, I’d like to shoot
you an e-mail. I’ve got some suggestions for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great site and I look forward to seeing it improve over time.
It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d without a
doubt donate to this fantastic blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to brand new updates and will share this site with my Facebook group. Chat soon!
Greetings from Florida! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to check out your site on my iphone during lunch break.
I love the information you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m shocked at how quick your blog
loaded on my mobile .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, good blog!
Hey there! I know this is kinda off topic however , I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog post or vice-versa? My site goes over a lot of the same subjects as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other. If you are interested feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Terrific blog by the way!
Right now it looks like Expression Engine is the best blogging platform out there right now. (from what I’ve read) Is that what you’re using on your blog?
Superb post however I was wanting to know if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit further.
Bless you!
Howdy! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was
wondering if you knew where I could find a captcha plugin for my comment form?
I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having
problems finding one? Thanks a lot!
When I initially commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox and now each time a comment is
added I get three emails with the same comment. Is there any way you
can remove me from that service? Appreciate it!
Hi there! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a collection of volunteers and starting a new project in
a community in the same niche. Your blog provided us useful information
to work on. You have done a extraordinary job!
Greetings! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering which blog
platform are you using for this site? I’m getting sick and tired of WordPress because I’ve had issues with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be fantastic if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
Hello there! This post could not be written any better! Reading through this post reminds me of my previous room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this page to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point. You definitely know what youre talking about, why waste your intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something enlightening to read?
Today, I went to the beachfront with my children. I found a sea shell and gave it to my 4 year old daughter and said “You can hear the ocean if you put this to your ear.” She placed the shell to her ear and screamed. There was a hermit crab inside and it pinched her ear. She never wants to go back! LoL I know this is completely off topic but I had to tell someone!
The other day, while I was at work, my sister stole my iPad and tested to see if it can survive a 25 foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation. My iPad is now broken and she has 83 views. I know this is totally off topic but I had to share it with someone!
I was curious if you ever thought of changing the layout of your website? Its very well written; I love what youve got to say. But maybe you could a little more in the way of content so people could connect with it better. Youve got an awful lot of text for only having one or 2 images. Maybe you could space it out better?
Hello, i read your blog from time to time and i own a similar one and i was just curious if you get a lot of spam comments? If so how do you reduce it, any plugin or anything you can recommend? I get so much lately it’s driving me crazy so any assistance is very much appreciated.
This design is steller! You obviously know how to keep a reader amused.
Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own
blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Great job. I really enjoyed what
you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too
cool!
I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your blog. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it
much more enjoyable for me to come here and visit more often.
Did you hire out a designer to create your
theme? Fantastic work!
Hello there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after checking through some of the post I realized it’s new to me.
Nonetheless, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll
be book-marking and checking back frequently!
Hello! Would you mind if I share your blog with my facebook group?
There’s a lot of folks that I think would really appreciate your content. Please let me know. Cheers
Hey, I think your site might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog site in Chrome, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, very good blog!
Sweet blog! I found it while surfing around on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there!
Cheers
Hey! This is kind of off topic but I need some
guidance from an established blog. Is it tough to
set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick. I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where to start. Do you have any points or suggestions? Appreciate it
Hello there! Quick question that’s totally off topic.
Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly?
My website looks weird when browsing from my apple iphone.
I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to correct this problem. If you have any recommendations, please share. Thank you!
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to
come back later. Many thanks
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme.
Did you make this website yourself or did you hire someone to do
it for you? Plz respond as I’m looking to design my own blog and would like to know where u got this from. cheers
Wow! This blog looks exactly like my old one! It’s on a totally different topic but it has pretty much the same layout and
design. Outstanding choice of colors!
Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up and let you know a few of the pictures aren’t loading correctly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue.
I’ve tried it in two different browsers and both show the same results.
Heya are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own. Do you need any coding expertise to make your own blog? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Whats up this is kinda of off topic but I was wanting to know if blogs use WYSIWYG editors or if you have to manually code with HTML. I’m
starting a blog soon but have no coding know-how so I
wanted to get guidance from someone with experience. Any help would be
enormously appreciated!
Heya! I just wanted to ask if you ever have any problems with
hackers? My last blog (wordpress) was hacked and I ended up losing many months of hard work due to no backup.
Do you have any methods to prevent hackers?
Howdy! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay. I’m undoubtedly enjoying your blog and look
forward to new posts.
Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers?
I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on.
Any recommendations?
Hi there! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with
SEO? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not
seeing very good results. If you know of any
please share. Thanks!
I know this if off topic but I’m looking into starting my own blog and was curious what all is required to get setup? I’m assuming having a blog like yours would cost a
pretty penny? I’m not very web savvy so I’m not 100% positive. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated. Appreciate it
Hmm is anyone else encountering problems with the images on this blog loading? I’m trying to determine if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any responses would be greatly appreciated.
I’m not sure exactly why but this weblog is loading incredibly slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a issue on my end? I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.
Hey! I’m at work browsing your blog from my new apple iphone! Just wanted to say I love reading your blog and look forward to all your posts! Carry on the excellent work!
Wow that was odd. I just wrote an really long comment but after I clicked submit my comment didn’t show up. Grrrr… well I’m not writing all that over again. Anyway, just wanted to say excellent blog!