Top 5 Content Management Systems (CMS) in 2025

Introduction: Content Management Systems (CMS) are software platforms that enable users to create, manage and publish digital content with minimal coding. By 2025 the vast majority of websites use a CMS: roughly 70–71% of sites rely on a known CMS (Source: w3techs.com). The CMS landscape remains dominated by a few players. WordPress – an open-source PHP/MySQL platform (GPL‑licensed) – by mid‑2025 still powers about 43–44% of all websites (≈61% of the CMS market) (Source: w3techs.com)(Source: kinsta.com). The next most popular systems include proprietary SaaS (e.g. Shopify) and “all‑in‑one” site-builders (Wix, Squarespace), followed by legacy open‑source systems (Drupal, Joomla) and modern headless CMS (Strapi, etc.). This report examines the top five CMS in 2025 – chosen for market impact and enterprise importance – and compares them on usability, extensibility, performance, scalability, developer‑friendliness, security, customization, ecosystem support, and integrations. We also give historical context (2020–2025), usage statistics and quantitative benchmarks (page speed, plugin counts, GitHub activity) with authoritative citations.

CMS Market Trends (2020–2025)

Figure: Market share trends (June 2024 – June 2025) for leading CMS platforms (source: W3Techs) (Source: w3techs.com). Over the past five years, CMS adoption has both consolidated at the top and diversified into new categories. WordPress’s market share remains dominant but has plateaued (from ~62.7% mid‑2024 to ~61.1% mid‑2025) (Source: w3techs.com). Meanwhile, SaaS platforms for small/medium businesses and e‑commerce have grown: Shopify (hosted e‑commerce CMS) rose to ~6.7% of the CMS market (Source: w3techs.com), and Wix (site builder) grew noticeably (from ~3.9% to 5.4%). Squarespace and other closed-site builders also hold several percent. Traditional open CMS like Drupal and Joomla have declined (Drupal ~1.2%, Joomla ~2.0% of CMS sites) (Source: w3techs.com).

Several industry reports note these trends. For example, a 2024 Forrester survey found that 69% of B2C decision‑makers increased CMS investment in 2024 (up from 59% in 2023) (Source: forrester.com), and projects CMS market growth to a $15.3 billion total addressable market by 2028 (Source: forrester.com). Similarly, a WP Engine study shows companies are increasingly adopting multiple CMS and headless approaches: by 2023, 85% of businesses used more than one CMS (vs 60% in 2020) (Source: wpengine.com), and 57% have deployed headless architectures (another 39% plan to evaluate it soon) (Source: wpengine.com). In short, since 2020 the CMS world has trended toward composability: organizations juggle several specialized systems (blogs, e‑commerce, enterprise portals) or use headless APIs alongside traditional platforms to meet diverse needs. At the same time, open‑source remains strong (58% of companies now use open CMS) for its flexibility and security (Source: wpengine.com).

1. WordPress

WordPress (WP) is the clear leader in 2025, powering 43.6% of all websites and roughly 61% of CMS-backed sites(Source: w3techs.com)(Source: kinsta.com). It began as a PHP blog engine in 2003 (originally b2/cafelog) and has evolved into a general‑purpose CMS. Its GPL license, ease of use, and huge ecosystem of plugins/themes make it popular with bloggers, SMBs, and even large organizations (e.g. Spotify, NYTimes, Facebook Newsroom (Source: kinsta.com)).

• Usability: WP has a user-friendly admin UI with the new Gutenberg block editor (React/JS). Non‑technical users can manage pages and posts easily. It supports rich media and SEO plugins (e.g. Yoast SEO).

• Extensibility: Its plugin architecture is unrivaled: the official directory hosts ~59,000+ free plugins(Source: meetanshi.com), with millions of total downloads (Source: kinsta.com), plus thousands more premium plugins (e.g. on CodeCanyon). Similarly, WP has thousands of themes (templates) for design. The immense plugin pool covers everything from contact forms to e‑commerce (WooCommerce) to security. This makes WordPress highly extensible for almost any feature.

• Performance & Scalability: Out of the box, WP is moderately fast, but heavy plugins/themes can slow it. Benchmarking by Tag1 Consulting shows that Drupal (with caching) outperforms vanilla WP (with no caching) substantially (Source: tag1consulting.com). For example, a headless Drupal page with internal caching took ~29,296μs vs ~182,643μs for WordPress (Source: tag1consulting.com). In practice, WP scales well for many sites but often requires caching plugins (e.g. WP Super Cache, Varnish/CDN) and optimized hosting for high traffic. WordPress.com (Automattic VIP) powers high-volume sites with enterprise caching.

• Developer-Friendliness: WP is written in PHP and typically uses MySQL/MariaDB. It offers a REST API and GraphQL via plugins (e.g. WPGraphQL) for headless usage. Developers can extend WP via hooks (actions/filters) and create custom themes/plugins. The codebase is relatively easy for PHP devs to navigate. Local dev tools (Local by Flywheel, XAMPP) and CLI (WP-CLI) streamline development.

• Security: Its popularity makes WordPress a frequent hacking target. Vulnerabilities often come from third‑party plugins/themes; core WordPress has a solid security track record when updated. WP now auto‑updates minor releases. Administrators must still keep plugins updated and harden installations (firewall plugins, strong passwords). Over 50% of WordPress compromises stem from outdated extensions, so proactive maintenance is vital. On the other hand, its active community rapidly patches core issues.

• Customization: The GPL license allows total code freedom. WordPress can be customized arbitrarily through PHP templates, CSS/JS, and child themes. Multisite mode lets one WP instance run many subsites (useful for networks). Its theming and block-based editing (Gutenberg) allow non‑developers to tweak layouts.

• Support Ecosystem: WordPress has an enormous community: millions of users, developers, and agencies. There are countless tutorials, StackExchange Q&A, and documentation at WordPress.org. WordCamp conferences occur globally. Even WordPress.com (hosted service by Automattic) provides 24/7 support for paid plans. Enterprise users can opt for managed hosts or Automattic VIP for premium support.

• Integration: WP integrates with virtually all major services via plugins – CRM, email marketing, analytics, payment gateways, etc. It supports SSO, LDAP, and federated login plugins. It can serve as a headless backend for React/Angular front‑ends via REST/GraphQL.

• Quantitative Data: The WordPress plugin directory reports over 55,000 free plugins(Source: kinsta.com) (Kinsta); one source notes “over 59,000”(Source: meetanshi.com). The platform sees ~409 million weekly visitors and 500+ million total websites (Source: kinsta.com). WordPress sites publish ~70 million posts and 77 million comments monthly (Source: kinsta.com), illustrating its vast scale.

In summary, WordPress’s strengths are its massive community, extensibility, ease-of-use and flexibility (from simple blogs to headless and e‑commerce). Its weaknesses are that it can be heavy, requires diligent security maintenance, and its monolithic PHP architecture can be slower than modern decoupled systems if not optimized.

2. Drupal

Drupal is an open-source PHP CMS (GPL) known for powering high-end sites. It commands about 1.2% of CMS websites(Source: w3techs.com) – a small share overall, but it holds a large share of enterprise/government projects. Notably, Drupal runs complex, content-rich sites (e.g. university portals, government sites, media companies) that need fine-grained control.

• Usability: Drupal’s admin UI (Content and Structure admin, with WYSIWYG editors) is more complex than WordPress. It offers detailed content types and field settings (via the Field API), and built-in roles/permissions. Non-technical users may need training, but editors benefit from its structured content workflow and multilingual tools.

• Extensibility: Drupal’s ecosystem is vast: over 45,000 contributed modules(Source: bounteous.com) (plugins) extend core functionality, plus thousands of themes/templates. Modules cover SEO, admin UI tweaks, commerce (Drupal Commerce), webforms, and more. Its Composer-based architecture (Drupal 8+) makes dependency management robust. Because it follows semantic versioning, modules declare what Drupal core they support. Enterprise users value its maturity and reliability.

• Performance & Scalability: Drupal’s out-of-box performance is excellent, especially due to its built-in multi-layer caching. By default, Drupal core includes an “internal page cache” and “dynamic page cache” that cache entire pages and page fragments for anonymous and authenticated users respectively (Source: tag1consulting.com)(Source: tag1consulting.com). Benchmarks show that Drupal loads a warm-cached page in ~29ms vs ~183ms for an equivalently configured WordPress without cache (Source: tag1consulting.com) – roughly 6–7× faster backend performance. Even without caching, Drupal can outperform WordPress thanks to its leaner bootstrap. In practice, Drupal sites are scaled with database replication, Redis/Memcache, and CDN (often built-in or via Acquia). It is common to run Drupal on multi-server clusters for global sites.

• Developer-Friendliness: Drupal is written in modern PHP (Symfony components). Developers use object-oriented programming, YAML config, and Twig templating. It has a steeper learning curve than WP, but offers great flexibility: almost every part of the rendering can be overridden in code. Drupal 10 supports PHP 8.x and is built for extensibility. It includes robust APIs (Entity API, Form API) and uses Drush (CLI) for scripting. For headless, Drupal has a core JSON:API and many sites use GraphQL or RESTful modules.

• Security: Drupal is reputed for strong security. A dedicated Drupal Security Team actively audits core and contributed projects. High-profile sites (White House, NASA) use Drupal for this reason. Core vulnerabilities are rare; for example, Drupal had zero known core CVEs in 2023 and only one (patched) in early 2024. Contributed modules have occasional issues, but the strict release process helps manage risk. Major releases require security reviews. Governments often choose Drupal for its compliance with security standards.

• Customization: Under GPL, Drupal code can be freely customized. Its theme system (Twig) allows full control of HTML/CSS/JS. Site builders can define custom content types, fields, views, and display modes without code (using the UI or code). Multi-site support (one codebase for many sites) and built-in multilingual and media management make it versatile.

• Support Ecosystem: The Drupal community is smaller than WP’s but very active in enterprise circles. Drupal.org provides issue queues, documentation, and forums. Professional support is available via agencies and companies like Acquia (Drupal’s commercial branch). Large community events (DrupalCon) occur globally.

• Integration: Drupal offers many integrations: it can connect to LDAP/SSO, CRM systems (CiviCRM, Salesforce), marketing tools, and more. The JSON:API/GraphQL outputs make it easy to integrate with decoupled front-ends (React, Vue) or mobile apps. Its Workflow and Layout Builder modules facilitate integration with editorial processes.

• Use Cases: Drupal is ideal for large, content-heavy and customized sites. It shines in multi-site deployments (e.g. global corporate sites with country subdomains), multilingual projects, and where fine-grained access control or complex content models are required. It is often used for intranets, portals, and sites requiring high security and performance.

• Quantitative Data: Drupal core has over 45,000 community modules (Source: bounteous.com). Its GitHub (drupal/core) has tens of thousands of commits and active maintainers. With its caching, a Drupal site can handle tens of thousands of concurrent users when properly tuned.

3. Shopify

Shopify is a proprietary, SaaS-based e‑commerce CMS launched in 2006. By 2025 it is the second-largest CMS by site count: it powers roughly 5.5+ million live online stores (about 6.7% of CMS market) (Source: w3techs.com)(Source: meetanshi.com). Shopify’s appeal is in offering a fully‑hosted, turnkey commerce platform with minimal technical overhead.

• Usability: Shopify’s admin interface is clean and streamlined for merchants. Store setup (products, collections, payments, shipping) is largely guided by the UI. Non-technical users can run shops without coding, though developer mode (Liquid templates) allows customization. The learning curve for basic tasks is low, but Shopify also provides robust developer tools for custom needs.

• Extensibility: Extensions in Shopify come as Apps rather than plugins. The Shopify App Store has 8,000+ apps(Source: meetanshi.com) that add features (email marketing, customer support chat, advanced analytics, etc.). Many apps are one-click installs, and Shopify provides an ecosystem for partners to build custom apps. The theming system uses Liquid templating; developers can customize themes via the Shopify CLI. Compared to open CMS, you can’t alter Shopify’s core code, but you can use the APIs to extend functionality.

• Performance & Scalability: As a hosted platform, Shopify invests heavily in infrastructure. According to Shopify, the average Shopify store TTFB is ~0.51 seconds – far faster than other e‑commerce platforms (~1.4s) (Source: shopify.com). Real‑user data shows Shopify sites render ~1.2s on average (versus 2.17s for competitors) (Source: shopify.com). Shopify employs Google Cloud and Cloudflare CDNs globally, meaning stores scale seamlessly for traffic spikes (e.g. major sales events). It is known to support very large merchants via Shopify Plus, with clients like Pepsi and Tesla. Performance tuning (beyond optimizing images and themes) is largely handled by Shopify’s backend.

• Developer-Friendliness: Shopify’s stack is Ruby on Rails for core, but developers mainly work with Liquid (HTML-like templating language) in themes and JavaScript for storefront scripts. The Shopify Admin API and Storefront API (GraphQL/REST) allow deep customization: custom storefronts (e.g. headless React/Next.js), mobile apps, and integrations. Shopify also provides SDKs and CLI tools. Developer docs are comprehensive. However, because it’s SaaS, developers cannot add server-side code – custom logic must be done via external apps or scripts.

• Security: Shopify handles security as part of its service. All Shopify stores are PCI-DSS compliant, and Shopify maintains PCI-certified payment processing. Stores automatically benefit from HTTPS, DDoS protection, and periodic security audits. Merchants do not worry about patching servers. The trade-off is that store owners have limited low-level control – but from a security perspective, Shopify is robust by default.

• Customization: Shopify allows theme customization (via Liquid/CSS/JS) and configuration through UI. For deeper changes, developers build private or public apps using the APIs. Shopify Plus customers can access features like a Script Editor (to customize checkout logic). Non‑developers can add features via the App Store or use Shopify’s built‑in features (e.g. Sales Channels, Local Pickup).

• Support Ecosystem: Shopify provides 24/7 support via chat, email, and phone for all plans. There is an active developer community, official documentation, forums, and an annual Shopify Unite conference. Thousands of agencies and freelancers specialize in Shopify store setup and theming. Because it’s closed-source, third‑party support focuses on apps and integrations.

• Integration: Shopify has extensive APIs (Admin API and Storefront API) for integration with ERPs, CRMs, and more. Popular integrations include marketing (Mailchimp, Klaviyo), fulfillment (ShipStation, Amazon), and point-of-sale. Shopify also supports headless commerce: developers can decouple the frontend (using React or another framework) via the Storefront API or Hydrogen (Shopify’s React framework).

• Use Cases: Shopify is ideal for online retail – from small shops to large e‑tailers. Its SaaS model suits merchants who prefer a managed platform. It’s also used for headless commerce (e.g. customizing UI with frameworks). It is not meant for pure-content sites (though it has blogs and pages) – its strength is product catalogs and checkout.

• Quantitative Data: Official stats note Shopify powers ~5.46 million active websites (Source: meetanshi.com), with ~8000 apps (Source: meetanshi.com). It has 2.1 million daily active users and ~7,000 high-revenue merchants on Shopify Plus (Source: meetanshi.com). In U.S. e-commerce, Shopify handles ~28% of stores (Source: meetanshi.com), making it the top hosted commerce platform.

4. Strapi (Headless Open CMS)

Strapi is a modern headless CMS (API-first) that has rapidly gained traction among developers. It is open‑source under the MIT license and built on Node.js/TypeScript (Koa framework). First released in 2015, Strapi now claims 65,000+ GitHub stars(Source: github.com) and 5.5 million monthly npm downloads(Source: strapi.io) – evidence of its popularity. Strapi is designed for flexibility: it lets developers define content models via an admin UI or code, and then exposes content through REST and GraphQL APIs.

• Usability: Strapi’s admin panel is sleek and developer-friendly. Non-coders can create content types (collections/single-types), fields, and relations through the GUI. The generated API (with fine-grained permissions) appears immediately. While it requires setting up a server environment, once running it is intuitive for technical content editors.

• Extensibility: Strapi’s plugin system lets developers extend the core. Its plugin marketplace (Strapi Store) currently lists 200+ community plugins(Source: strapi.io) (e.g. for SEO, GraphQL, analytics). Developers can also write custom code easily (the source code is editable). Strapi supports multiple databases (PostgreSQL, MongoDB, SQLite, MySQL/MariaDB) out of the box. This flexibility makes Strapi highly extensible to fit many architectures.

• Performance & Scalability: Strapi’s performance depends on hosting. It’s a Node.js app, so a production instance can handle thousands of requests per second if resources allow. Strapi can be clustered or containerized (e.g. Docker, Kubernetes). Since content is served via API, adding caching (Redis, CDN) at the edges greatly improves scale. There are no built‑in CMS page caches (as in Drupal), so most deployments combine Strapi with caching proxies or Vercel-like hosting. In practice, Strapi can scale to enterprise levels – but requires DevOps setup.

• Developer-Friendliness: Strapi is very developer-oriented. Being JavaScript/TypeScript-based, it appeals to full‑stack JS teams. The documentation is comprehensive, and CLI tools generate projects quickly. Strapi’s code is modular and uses familiar patterns (Controllers, Services, Routes). It also features role-based access control that developers can customize. In short, if you want to code custom logic or integrate advanced features, Strapi is straightforward.

• Security: Strapi provides standard security features: JWT authentication, role/permission system, CORS control, etc. Since it is self-hosted, security (updates, patching) is the responsibility of the user. The community audits and rapid updates help – Strapi releases regular security patches. Because Strapi is less mainstream than WP, it has fewer known vulnerabilities, but one should still harden the server (HTTPS, firewall) when deploying.

• Customization: Being open-source, Strapi can be fully customized. Developers can override any part of the admin panel and API. They can add fields, relations, custom endpoints, and middleware. Unlike monolithic CMS, Strapi does not impose a frontend: you can use React, Vue, Angular, or any client. This “content-as-a-service” approach means you can tailor the frontend UX completely.

• Support Ecosystem: Strapi has an active open-source community on GitHub and Discord (22k members (Source: strapi.io)). There are also official Cloud hosting plans (Strapi Cloud) and enterprise support options. The learning resources (tutorials, YouTube, blog) are rapidly growing. Being newer, it lacks decades of legacy guides, but its modern design makes community support lively.

• Integration: Strapi excels at headless integration. It natively supports REST and GraphQL APIs. Out of the box, it provides webhooks, enabling live pushes of content to other systems. Developers commonly integrate Strapi with front-end frameworks (Next.js, Gatsby, Nuxt, Flutter, etc.), mobile apps, or IoT. It can also connect to services like AWS S3 for media, Auth0 for auth, etc.

• Use Cases: Strapi is ideal for projects needing an API-driven backend. Common use cases include blogs, e-commerce backends (with a separate store frontend), SaaS products, mobile app backends, and any site where you want to decouple frontend and backend. It suits teams comfortable with JavaScript stacks who want full control over tech choices.

• Quantitative Data: As of late 2024 Strapi had 67.1k GitHub stars(Source: github.com) and its npm package saw ~5.5M downloads/month (Source: strapi.io). Companies using Strapi (by builtwith) range from startups to enterprises. The Strapi ecosystem includes premium plugins and hosted solutions, but the core remains free and MIT-licensed.

5. Adobe Experience Manager (AEM)

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) is a proprietary enterprise CMS (part of Adobe Experience Cloud) that targets large organizations with complex digital experience needs. It has a smaller public usage footprint (~1.1% of CMS sites (Source: w3techs.com)), but among Fortune 500 companies it is a market leader. AEM provides a unified solution for content, assets (DAM), and personalization.

• Usability: AEM’s authoring interface is designed for enterprise marketers and developers. It offers drag-and-drop page editing (via a WYSIWYG HTL/Sightly editor), component-based layouts, and workflow management. Because it’s very feature-rich, new users often need training. However, content authors benefit from templates and asset libraries that ensure brand consistency. It also includes visual editors for SPAs and mobile.

• Extensibility: Unlike open CMS, AEM has no public plugin directory. Customization is done through Java code (OSGi bundles) or AEM’s built-in templates. It provides rich tooling (CRX repository, content fragments, Experience Fragments) and integration points (Accelerators) but extending beyond core typically requires Adobe Consulting or partners. In practice, companies build custom components and templates in Java or use Adobe’s developer tools (Maven Archetypes).

• Performance & Scalability: AEM is architected for scale: sites run on Java-based web apps (typically on Adobe’s cloud or enterprise servers). It uses the “Dispatcher” (Varnish-based) for caching front-end pages. Well‑architected AEM deployments can serve millions of hits (e.g. global campaigns) with low latency. Because AEM is enterprise-grade, Adobe expects customers to provision clusters (author/publish instances, load balancers, CDNs). Tuning and infrastructure are managed either by Adobe (for Managed Services) or by IT teams. Overall performance is excellent if properly configured, but the system is heavy – small sites rarely use AEM due to cost.

• Developer-Friendliness: AEM developers work primarily in Java with OSGi. The learning curve is steep: knowledge of JCR (content repository), Sling framework, and OSGi modularity is needed. Development uses Eclipse/IntelliJ and the Adobe-provided tooling (AEM Developer Tools). It also supports front-end frameworks (via SPA Editor and GraphQL schema in newer versions). For headless projects, AEM offers GraphQL for content delivery and a “Content Services” approach. In short, AEM development is powerful but requires specialized skills.

• Security: As a commercial platform, AEM comes with enterprise security features. Adobe handles core security updates for managed hosting. It offers fine-grained access control, SAML/SSO integration, and runs on hardened Java containers. The security model is comparable to other enterprise software (regular patches, certified infrastructure). Because it’s not open-source, vulnerabilities are not disclosed publicly but addressed through Adobe Support.

• Customization: Within AEM, customization is achieved via components (reusable content units) and templates. Companies typically develop many custom components in Sightly/HTL for brand-specific functionality (e.g. custom forms, integration widgets). It also supports pixel‑perfect templating and responsive designs. Multisite and multilingual setups are built in, enabling global brands to manage translations and regional content.

• Support Ecosystem: AEM has a commercial support model: Adobe provides technical support and training. There is a network of Adobe Professional Services and certified partners/agencies worldwide. Documentation is extensive but often under NDA. Community resources (forums, blogs) exist, but the closed nature means reliance on vendor knowledge. Typical development cycles involve multi‑year projects and maintenance contracts.

• Integration: AEM shines in integration with Adobe’s marketing stack: it natively connects to Adobe Target (personalization), Analytics, Campaign, etc. It also exposes REST/GraphQL APIs for integration with CRMs or custom apps. Common non‑Adobe integrations (Salesforce, SAP) are done via custom connectors. The platform is designed for “digital experience” orchestration across channels (web, mobile app content, digital signage) using one content repository.

• Use Cases: AEM is suited for large enterprises and agencies managing numerous websites, campaigns, and digital assets. Typical use cases include global marketing sites, e-commerce frontends (often via Adobe Commerce/Magento), and digital asset management for media. It is popular with retailers, automotive brands, and media companies who need end-to-end control over content and assets with heavy personalization. It is not typically used for simple blogs or small sites due to complexity and cost.

• Quantitative Data: W3Techs lumps Adobe’s CMS (AEM and others) at ~0.8% of all sites, ~1.1% of CMSes (Source: w3techs.com). Given the narrow target market, AEM still has thousands of enterprise customers (e.g. Ikea, Nike, GM). The platform’s project timelines and budgets run in the millions of dollars, reflecting its enterprise scope.

Comparison of CMS (Tables)

To summarize key differences, the following tables compare the five CMS on various dimensions:

Table: Core features and extensibility of the top CMS (Open‑source platforms vs proprietary). Metrics are cited where applicable.

Use-Case Suitability

All five CMS support multiple use cases, but each has niches:

• WordPress: Excellent for blogging, content sites, and SMBs. With WooCommerce it also handles e-commerce well. Its REST API allows headless sites (e.g. using React frontends). WP Multisite serves agencies/multisite networks. For enterprise, WordPress VIP offers large‑scale hosting.

• Drupal: Suited for complex, large sites: multi-region portals, intranets, educational and government sites, content hubs. Its features (multilingual, granular access controls, custom workflows) make it ideal for organizations needing a lot of structured content and scalability.

• Shopify: Best for purely e-commerce scenarios. It is less ideal if the primary goal is content marketing or blogging (though basic blogs are supported). Shopify Plus (enterprise tier) handles big retailers, while standard Shopify fits small to mid‑size businesses. It can be used in headless mode to decouple the storefront.

• Strapi: Designed for developers building custom applications. Use cases include headless websites, mobile apps, digital signage content, and any project where you want a custom frontend (React/Angular) fetching content via API. Good for startups and dev teams who want control. It’s also used as an e‑commerce or SaaS backend by integrating payment/order microservices.

• Adobe AEM: Intended for global enterprises with high content throughput – e.g. retail chains, auto manufacturers, media companies. It excels at websites that need heavy personalization, complex multi‑site setups, and integration with marketing clouds. Due to cost/complexity, it’s rarely used for small or mid‑size businesses.

Thus, small blogs or simple business sites often choose WordPress or Wix. Medium businesses may use WordPress, Shopify (if selling products) or a simple Drupal/Joomla. Large enterprises choose Drupal or AEM (depending on budget) for flexibility or integration needs. Strapi (or another headless CMS) appeals when a modern tech stack or omnichannel content delivery is desired.

Conclusion

In summary, by 2025 the CMS landscape is still led by WordPress (open‑source, PHP, easy to use) with Shopify a distant but fast‑growing second (hosted e‑commerce). Drupal and similar open systems remain important in specialized markets (enterprise, government) due to their power and security. Meanwhile, headless CMS like Strapi are rising among developers who want API-driven flexibility. Proprietary enterprise suites (Adobe AEM, Sitecore, etc.) serve the top tier of digital experience needs.

Choosing a CMS today depends on the project: for blogs and general sites, WordPress’s plugin ecosystem and ease make it a go‑to (Source: kinsta.com)(Source: meetanshi.com). For ambitious, custom‑built systems (especially with JavaScript stacks), Strapi or similar headless CMS enable maximum control (Source: strapi.io). For pure e-commerce with minimum technical overhead, Shopify’s hosted platform delivers outstanding speed (TTFB ~0.51s (Source: shopify.com)(Source: shopify.com)) and security. And for global enterprises needing unified digital asset and content management, Adobe AEM remains the gold standard (despite high cost) thanks to its robust features and corporate support.

Sources: Usage statistics and market share are drawn from W3Techs data (Source: w3techs.com)(Source: w3techs.com) and CMS surveys (Source: meetanshi.com)(Source: forrester.com). Technical comparisons rely on vendor benchmarks (Shopify’s performance data (Source: shopify.com)(Source: shopify.com)), open-source project metrics (Strapi GitHub stats (Source: strapi.io), plugin counts (Source: kinsta.com)(Source: bounteous.com) (Source: meetanshi.com)), and expert analyses (Source: tag1consulting.com)(Source: wpengine.com). Historical trends and future outlook reference industry reports (Source: wpengine.com)(Source: forrester.com). This report synthesizes these authoritative sources into a detailed 2025 CMS comparison.