Even a small, local business must have a dynamic website in today’s market. But how much are you willing to pay to stay competitive? Entrepreneur recently posted an article with tips on how to choose the right website management system for your business, and listed the pros and cons for open source systems vs. commercial CMS.
Open source pros:
- Price, it’s free.
- Distributed development community.
- Non-proprietary technology.
Open source cons:
- Price, while it’s free – nothing is ever really free. You might need to hire someone with an understanding of the system to run it.
- Distributed development community – this is also a con because, for example, if there is a specific bug affecting your business it can take some time before a fix is released for your specific software.
- Non-proprietary technology. Again, this is a pro and a con. It’s a con because non-proprietary software can also mean there is a lack of vendor certifications.
Commercial CMS pros:
- Centralized support.
- Stability and performance.
- Learning curve.
Commercial CMS cons:
- Price.
- Vendor lock-in.
- Lacking cutting edge technology.
To read the full list of pros and cons for each, click here.
