9 Promising, Free and Open Source CMS ( Content Management System ) Reviews
15. Jul, 2009 
14 Comments
Which CMS is the best suitable for your needs?
Starting a new website or blog? Don’t know which CMS suites your needs the best?
Here is your guide to choose from the best open source CMS around.
Drupal
Bigger is better…!!! If you want to create big community site where content is mostly added by site visitors then go for drupal. Small and middle sized websites Drupal is not your playground. Look below for other CMS.
Technology : PHP
RDMS : MySQL/PostgreSQL
Setup Time : 45 Minutes+
Supported OS : *Nix / Windows
Features
* Friendly URLs
* Modules and Support
* Personalization
URL : http://www.drupal.org
Joomla
Suitable for small websites and communities as well. Difficult to create new designs and that’s why lots of Joomla powered websites look similar. Easy to setup and good for novice.
Technology : PHP
RDMS : MySQL/PostgreSQL
Setup Time : 30 Minutes+
Supported OS : *Nix/Windows
Features
* Good community support
* Easy to learn
URL : http://www.joomla.org
Typo3
It’s an enterprise-level CMS providing companies a solutions for websites or intranet portals.
Typo3 provides power over simplicity. It’s complex and powerful features help you to achieve complicated taks and integration with other applications.
Technology : PHP supported
RDMS : MySQL, MS-SQL, Oracle, ODBC
Setup Time : 45 Minutes+
Supported OS : Unix/MacOSX/Windows
Features
* On the fly Page editing
* Internal search engine integrated
* Folder and file structure in Tree fashion
URL : http://www.typo3.com
CushyCMS
While Typo3 or Drupal are the big Daddys of the content management systems, CushyCMS is like the little,cute child of the CMS which can be handled very easily by any I-am-not-tech-savvy clients. It’s hosted Web 2.0 application. So just plug-and-play.
Technology : Browser based Web 2.0 (PHP)
Setup Time : 5 Minutes+
Supported OS : NA – Hosted
Features
* On page editing
* Low maintanance cost and development time
* Extremly easy
URL : http://www.cushycms.com
Radiant CMS
Radiant CMS is for use in small teams. Built on Ruby On Rails, so Ruby developers have a go for CMS. This is one elegent and simple CMS to help teams.
Technology : Ruby On Rails
RDMS : MySQL, SQLite3, PostgreSQL
Setup Time : 40 Minutes+
Supported OS : *Nix ( Apache )
Features
* Simple and elegent user interface
* Templating support, Custom tagging language
* Easy user and permission management
URL : http://www.radiantcms.org
MODx
MODx is not just a content management system, but also an web application builder.
With support of AJAX and PHP Framework you can build web 2.0 applications with relative ease. MODx comes with graphical user interface installer so less-experienced users can get up and running quickly.
Technology : PHP
RDMS : MySQL
Setup Time : 45 Minutes+
Supported OS : *Nix ( Apache )
Features
* Search engine optimization
* Web standards support
* Built-in CSS menu builder for hassle-free site navigation development
* Web 2.0 features
URL : http://www.modxcms.com
SilverStripe
SilverStripe is Wordpress on steroids. Though it’s content management system, it offers ease of using Wordpress. Offeres developers great flexibility and potential for scalability. Good for small to mid-sized development teams. Got attention and support from Google – at summer of code 2007. Also Sun Microsystems did a case-study on SilverStripe.
Technology : PHP
RDMS : MySQL
Setup Time : 30 Minutes+
Supported OS : Linux/Mac/Windows
Features
* Search engine optimized
* Online image editor
* Widget support
* User defined forms
* Version control
URL : http://www.silverstripe.com
Alfresco
An open source alternative for enterprise content management solution.
Though being enterprise solution, it’s setup is relatively easy.
Technology : JSP
RDMS : Oracle 10, MySQL 5
Setup Time : 15 Minutes+
Supported OS : Red Hat Enterprise, Sun Solaris, Windows Server
Features
* Enterprise level solution
* WebDAV/LDAP authentication
* Convert PDF to text through upload
* Version control
URL : http://www.alfresco.com
Umbraco
If you are affectionate towards Microsoft and still want something free…( Of course not from Microsoft…!!! ), then Umbraco is the one content management system you want to use. The open source projects in Microsoft technologies are rare, Umbraco is one gem and the best in Content Management Systems developed in ASP.NET. If you are a .NET developer then go grab a copy now as the user community has also received many awards- so you will have best support available from community.
Technology : ASP.NET
RDMS : MS SQL
Setup Time : 10 Minutes+
Supported OS : Windows
Features
* Easy and simple template engine
* Support for AJAX frameworks
* Support for all .NET languages including VB.NET and C#
URL : http://www.umbraco.org
Best of the Rest
For Blogging
* http://www.wordpress.org
* http://www.movabletype.com
Just CMS
* http://www.expressionengine.com
* http://www.postnuke.com
* http://www.cmsmadesimple.org
* http://www.madebyfrog.com
* http://www.typolight.org
* http://www.mamboserver.com
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Good List… Joomla! Is My Favorite and Best CMS….:)
Thanks for the sharing this website. it is very useful professional knowledge. Great idea you know about company background.
web application development
In today’s internet savvy world an online presence is a must for any organization weather big or small, but just a mere website of the company wont serve the purpose of reaching out and impressing the target audience, your online presence should leave an impact on the mind of the viewers, and from here comes website designing and development companies of Delhi, search engine optimization and marketing companies of Delhi and internet marketing services providing companies of Delhi in picture. These companies provide end to end solutions for all your website related issues.
mysql thing is cool ..cheers!
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Saurooon
Great info.Joomla is cool.An addition to the list i would suggest to refer webriq.com for the cms
Hmm… New kid on the block. SaaS based. Sounds interesting. But one needs to buy Hosting plan along with. Small catch. Let’s see.
Hello,
Thanks for article. Everytime like to read you.
Nadine
Other variant is possible also
Excellent list. I have been using CMSs for 4+ years, and this is the first time I have seen some of those listed.
Even though some people do not consider Wordpress a CMS, but more of a blogging platform, I would have liked to seen an honorable mention for it.
On the next list maybe consider listing what popular forums the CMS will integrate with. And whether it requires a bridge or offers full integration. When developers look at a CMS, forum integration is sometimes an after thought. Then they realize that CMS A will not work with Forum B.
Its important to take a look at the BIG picture – what forums will integrate, what picture galleries will integrate, what about a reviews module or a classifieds section,,,,,, then pick the right software for your needs.
I’ve considered full fledged CMS with all controls you can create whole website whether it’s corporate, gaming or news portal. Anyway I’m too a big fan of wordpress and this blog is itself is powered by wordpress.
I’ve mentioned it in blogging CMSs though.
Currently I’m preparing same review for e-commerce scripts by which you can create your own online shop for free and without hassle. Good suggestion about Forum cms reviews. I’ll surely post one.
Hi, great article!
I’ll be sure to review and instal CushyCMS. It sounds good. Though I gotta say, I’m a huge fan of CMS Made Simple. Very intuitive system. Highly recommended for small to mid-size websites.
With this great tutorial I will be able to create an aweseome design for my new web site i want to create with typo3. Thx for this.