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The 6 Best CMS Platforms to Power Your Marketing Strategy

Written By
FD
Faithe Day
Dec 12, 2025
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Choosing a content management system (CMS) can impact your marketing effectiveness. Your website serves as the hub of your content strategy, so the CMS you select influences how quickly you can publish, personalize experiences, and support sales. 

While some teams need a simple website builder, others require a platform that combines landing pages, CRM data, automation, and analytics. Therefore, this guide compares the six best CMS platforms for marketers today. 

I chose each option for its relevance to marketing workflows, scalability, and ease of use. Whether your focus is website design and creative flexibility or digital experience management and newsletter marketing, this list will help you select a CMS that strengthens your strategy and supports growth. 

You can also use this overview as a starting point, then explore each provider card to understand their strengths, limitations, and ideal use cases.

Best CMS software providersBest forMonthly starting price
WixWebsite development$17
SquarespaceCreative personalization$25
OptimizelyDigital experience managementContact sales for pricing
HubSpot Content HubBusiness integrations$20 per seat
WordPressAffordable plans$9
GhostNewsletter production$18

Comparing the top 6 CMS platforms

Best CMS software providersMy scoreKey featuresHeadless CMS options
Wix logo4.68/5Marketing suite
Ecommerce platform
Multi-cloud hosting
Visit Wix
Squarespace logo4.26/5Customizable templates
Free website domain
Squarespace AI
🗙
Visit Squarespace
Optimizely logo4.06/5Digital asset management
Content approval workflows
Semantic search
Visit Optimizely
hubspot logo3.95/5Drag-and-drop editor
Content library
Third-party integrations
Visit HubSpot Content Hub
WordPress logo3.88/5Site activity log
Unlimited users and pages
Jetpack Search 
Visit WordPress
Ghost logo3.84/5Email newsletters
Whitelabel branding
Social web distribution
Visit Ghost

My top picks for CMS platforms

thumbnail
Wix logo

What is the best CMS platform for website development?

Wix is best for marketing teams that want an easy-to-use website builder with integrated marketing tools.

Price Range: Plans start at $17/mo Visit Wix
Pricing
5.0
General features
3.5
Advanced features
4.5
Ease of use
5.0
Customer support
4.5
Expert score
4.3

Pros:

  • Intuitive drag-and-drop editor to help build and update pages
  • Multi-cloud hosting on paid plans
  • Built-in marketing suite, including email marketing and SEO tools

Cons:

  • Limited integrations compared to other providers on this list
  • Advanced customization may require developer support
  • Significant jump in price between Core and Business plans

My expert opinion

Wix is the best fit for marketing teams that want a reliable, scalable CMS without heavy technical overhead.

The platform stands out for its AI creation tools, multi-cloud hosting, and marketing suite, which helps small and mid-sized teams publish content quickly and maintain consistent performance as they grow.

While it isn’t the most customizable system, Wix remains a dependable solution for teams that value efficiency and simple site-building tools.

Wix pricing

Wix lets you start on a free plan and upgrade when you are ready. Therefore, the following table reflects the cost of paid website plans, with prices varying by location.

Plans  Starting price
Light $17
Core $29
Business $39
Business Elite $159

Key features

  • Multi-cloud hosting: Paid plans provide reliable, secure, and scalable performance without separate hosting management.
  • Wix Studio: A more advanced environment for creating responsive, dynamic sites with greater design flexibility, including smart design and full-stack development tools.
  • Marketing suite: Ranges from light to advanced, offering SEO tools, email marketing, site analytics, and promotional features that scale across plans.
Wix analytics dashboard with key data on site visitors and traffic sources.

View analytics across sites, including visitor activity and traffic sources. (Source: Wix)

thumbnail
Squarespace logo

What's the best CMS for creative personalization?

Squarespace is best for marketers who care about brand aesthetics and high-quality, customizable templates.

Price Range: Plans start at $16/mo, billed annually Visit Squarespace
Pricing
5.0
General features
5.0
Advanced features
2.0
Ease of use
5.0
Customer support
5.0
Expert score
4.0

Pros:

  • Design-focused templates for a polished brand presence
  • Includes a free custom domain for the first year of annual plans
  • Integrates smoothly with tools like Google Analytics

Cons:

  • Limited advanced marketing automation features
  • Ecommerce features can be too simple for larger or specialized catalogs
  • Less flexible for complex development or custom backend needs

My expert opinion

Squarespace is a good fit for marketers who care about brand aesthetics and want a CMS that balances ease of use with elegant design. Its customizable templates, built-in AI assistance, and free domain make it easy for teams to establish a professional web presence without a heavy setup.

While it isn’t ideal for highly complex or technical builds, it’s great for solo-marketers and branding-driven teams that need a clean, intuitive environment for publishing content.

Squarespace pricing

Plans and Pricing Monthly Annually
Basic $25 $16
Core $36 $23
Plus $56 $39
Advanced $139 $99

Key features

  • Squarespace AI: AI tools help build websites, generate text, and develop creative ideas, making site creation faster for busy marketers.
  • Ecommerce tools: Product catalogs, inventory management, and checkout features suitable for small to midsize storefronts.
  • Customizable templates: Access an extensive collection of pre-created, personalizable templates for storytelling, branding, and marketing.
Desk with potted plants and a laptop featuring a Squarespace website with custom templates.

Use Squarespace’s customizable templates to build your website. (Source: Squarespace)

thumbnail
Optimizely logo

What is the best CMS platform for digital experience management?

Optimizely is best for enterprise teams that want a digital experience platform with advanced features and strong personalization capabilities.

Price Range: Contact sales for enterprise pricing Visit Optimizely
Pricing
2.5
General features
4.2
Advanced features
5.0
Ease of use
3.5
Customer support
4.7
Expert score
3.1

Pros:

  • Enterprise-level content and marketing tools built for complex digital experience management
  • Robust digital asset management (DAM) system that centralizes files
  • Strong content approval workflows that automate editorial review processes

Cons:

  • Lacks transparent pricing
  • Typically requires involvement from developers or an agency partner to set up
  • Can be too complex for small teams with simple content management needs

My expert opinion

Optimizely is one of the strongest CMS platforms for enterprise teams that need advanced marketing capabilities, deep personalization, and robust governance.

I like it because the platform combines content creation, AI, analytics, automated workflows, and asset management in one cohesive environment. However, the lack of transparent pricing and the high overall cost means it’s not the best option for small to midsize teams.

Optimizely pricing

Contact sales for enterprise pricing

Key features

  • Personalization engine: Tools for tailoring content to specific audience segments based on behaviors, demographics, or intent.
  • Semantic search: Intelligent search capabilities that help teams locate assets, documents, and content components faster.
  • Digital asset management (DAM): The centralized library helps large teams organize, update, and reuse assets efficiently.
Optimizely brand kit with a library of digital assets and images.

Create a brand kit with Optimizely to access and share digital assets. (Source: Optimizely)

thumbnail
hubspot logo

What is the best CMS platform for business integrations?

HubSpot Content Hub is best for B2B marketing and sales teams that want their CMS tightly integrated with CRM, marketing automation, and sales tools.

Price Range: Plans start at $9/seat/mo, billed annually Visit HubSpot
Pricing
5.0
General features
3.8
Advanced features
2.7
Ease of use
4.1
Customer support
4.7
Expert score
4.0

Pros:

  • The drag-and-drop editor makes it simple for marketers to build pages and update content
  • Deep integration with HubSpot CRM, Marketing Hub, and Sales Hub
  • Built-in analytics and reporting features

Cons:

  • More expensive than some of the other CMS options on this list
  • Best value is unlocked when you already use HubSpot products
  • Learning curve can be higher than that of simple website builders

My expert opinion

HubSpot Content Hub is one of the best CMS options for marketers who already rely on HubSpot CRM or other third-party integrations. In many ways, the CMS is a natural extension of the HubSpot tech stack, with content, contacts, campaigns, and reporting all connected in one place.

The drag-and-drop editor, content library, and integrations also make it a strong choice for teams focused on lead tracking and pipeline visibility. However, HubSpot Content Hub is more expensive than other CMS platforms and may not be worth the cost when using tools outside of the ecosystem.

HubSpot Content Hub pricing

Plans and Pricing  Monthly Annually
Free $0
Starter $20 per seat $9 per seat
Professional $500 $450
Enterprise $1500 No annual pricing

Key features

  • Content library: Central hub for managing blogs, landing pages, and other assets so teams can keep content organized and reusable.
  • Lead capture forms: Native forms and CTAs feed directly into HubSpot CRM, simplifying list building and segmentation.
  • Ad management: Helps marketers connect and monitor ad campaigns from key networks while syncing performance data into HubSpot for improved reporting and optimization.
HubSpot ad manager dashboard featuring account data for marketing campaigns.

Keep track of marketing campaigns with HubSpot’s ad management. (Source: HubSpot Content Hub)

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WordPress logo

What is the best CMS platform for affordable plans?

WordPress is best for budget-conscious marketers who want a widely supported platform with extensive themes and unlimited pages.

Price Range: Plans start at $4/mo, billed annually Visit WordPress
Pricing
5.0
General features
3.5
Advanced features
3.0
Ease of use
3.5
Customer support
4.7
Expert score
4.6

Pros:

  • Unlimited pages, posts, users, and visitors across plans
  • Site activity log helps users track changes, updates, and contributors
  • Offers a free plan that helps new users get started quickly

Cons:

  • Limited customization on lower-tier plans
  • Some plugins or third-party tools may conflict or behave inconsistently
  • Migration from other platforms can be challenging without technical help

My expert opinion

WordPress.com is my top choice for marketers who want a flexible CMS without a high monthly cost. WordPress has a strong track record of supporting blogs and long-form content, with paid content gating and subscription features.

The new WordPress for Agencies also strengthens the platform for teams that manage multiple sites. Although customization can feel limited on the lower-tier plans, it remains a reliable, scalable platform for content-driven marketing teams.

WordPress pricing

WordPress offers a free plan, as well as several paid tiers that add more storage, customization options, and business features. Subscription pricing for the paid plans is included below:

Plans and Pricing  Monthly Annual
Personal $9 $4
Premium $18 $8
Business $40 $25
Commerce $70 $45
Enterprise Contact sales

Key features

  • Jetpack Search: Provides fast, relevant on-site search results for content-heavy websites.
  • Spam protection: Built-in spam filtering for comments and forms helps reduce unwanted content and protects site integrity.
  • SEO and analytics tools: Dashboard site stats via Jetpack, plus the ability to drop in Google Analytics on eligible plans, provide deeper insight into traffic, bounce, and user behavior.
Mobile phone screen highlighting the features of Jetpack, including analytics, storage, spam protection, and social boosts.

JetPack provides SEO and analytics through WordPress. (Source: WordPress.com)

thumbnail
Ghost logo

What is the best CMS platform for newsletter production?

Ghost is best for email and newsletter-led businesses that monetize audiences via subscriptions and membership tools.

Price Range: Plans start at $15/mo, billed annually Visit Ghost
Pricing
5.0
General features
4.1
Advanced features
2.0
Ease of use
4.2
Customer support
5.0
Expert score
3.7

Pros:

  • Whitelabel branding on paid plans
  • Easy to manage memberships and paid subscriptions
  • Large integration library includes social tools, referral programs, and A/B testing

Cons:

  • Custom themes are not available on the base plan
  • Uptime SLA and single sign-on (SSO) are only available on the Custom plan
  • Less suited for multi-page marketing sites

My expert opinion

Ghost is the best CMS for newsletter-focused marketing teams that want to publish high-quality content, grow an audience, and manage memberships. The publishing tools, whitelabel branding, and built-in support for subscriptions make it ideal for thought leadership and community-led growth.

Although access to custom themes isn’t included in the base plans, Ghost is a strong choice for marketers who rely heavily on content distribution and direct audience engagement.

Ghost pricing

Plans and Pricing  Monthly Annual
Starter $18 $15
Publisher $35 $29
Business $239 $199
Custom Custom pricing

Key features

  • Invisible publishing tools: Supports multimedia-rich posts with galleries, GIFs, videos, audio, and embeds in an intuitive platform.
  • Social web distribution: Extends reach by distributing posts across multiple, connected channels.
  • Integrations library: Includes social tools, analytics, payment gateways, editors, and recommendation features through popular apps and plugins.
Ghost integrations library featuring icons for popular brands, including Instagram and Zapier.

The Ghost integration library includes access to social media platforms and analytics. (Source: Ghost)

How to choose the best CMS platform

Choosing the best CMS for your business requires balancing ease of use, customization, marketing capabilities, and cost. The best option depends on how your team builds content, how advanced your marketing tactics are, and which tools you need to integrate.

Identify your primary marketing goal

Start by clarifying your goals and what you need your CMS to accomplish. While some teams need simple page creation and brand content, others prioritize experimentation, personalization, or CRM-driven marketing. Therefore, having a clear goal helps narrow down your options.

Match features to your content and campaign workflows

Good CMS platforms support landing page creation, blog content, SEO, lead capture, basic analytics, and integrations. If your team runs multichannel campaigns or relies heavily on automation, choose a platform that offers more robust marketing tools or native CRM integration.

Evaluate your team’s technical expertise

If your team is small or lacks development support, prioritize ease of use. Platforms like Wix and Squarespace help marketers publish quickly without custom coding. More advanced CMS platforms and enterprise subscriptions offer additional features but tend to require greater involvement from developers or technical partners. 

Understand the total cost of ownership

Pricing varies significantly across CMS providers. Some systems charge low monthly rates, while others require contracts, add-ons, or seat-based billing. Therefore, it’s important to factor in hosting, themes, plugins, apps, and potential development costs as you scale.

Check integration requirements early

Your CMS should fit into your marketing tech stack. Review which third-party tools your team depends on, such as CRM systems, email platforms, or analytics tools. Choosing a CMS with strong integrations reduces complications later.

Additional Reading:

If you’re evaluating CMS platforms alongside CRM options, see our guide to the 6 Best Open Source CRMs.

How I evaluated the best CMS platforms

To identify the best CMS platforms for marketing teams, I used a scoring framework built around pricing, features, usability, support, and expert analysis. 

I reviewed each provider using publicly available information, platform documentation, and hands-on product knowledge.

  • Pricing - 10%
    • I evaluated pricing transparency, starting costs, available tiers, and value for budget-conscious marketing teams. Providers with clear pricing and scalable plans scored highest.
  • General features - 30%
    • This includes tools most marketers rely on, such as page builders, templates, blogging tools, SEO settings, integrations, analytics, and content organization. Systems with strong out-of-the-box tools scored well.
  • Advanced features - 20%
    • Advanced features include personalization, marketing automation, CRM integrations, membership tools, and multi-site management. These support more sophisticated strategies and larger teams.
  • Ease of use - 10%
    • While some CMS platforms require a web development team to set up and operate, others are easy to use out of the box. Therefore, I scored each CMS on ease of setup, editor usability, learning curve, and the efficiency with which marketers can build and publish content.
  • Support - 15%
    • Support evaluation includes available channels, response quality, documentation, and overall user experience with help resources. Higher scores are given to platforms that offer 24/7 support without a premium subscription.
  • Expert score - 15%
    • This score reflects overall value, brand reputation, and feature quality. I also examined scores from third-party review sites to assess how well the platform fits the needs of marketing teams.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

The best CMS varies based on your marketing needs. Teams prioritizing ease of use might prefer Wix or Squarespace, while those requiring CRM integration or advanced automation could benefit from HubSpot Content Hub.

Some CMS platforms include built-in personalization features, while others need external tools. Platforms like Optimizely and HubSpot Content Hub offer more advanced personalization options for teams seeking customized experiences.

A low-cost CMS can work for smaller teams, but growing businesses often need features such as automation, advanced analytics, and CRM integration. Consider scalability when comparing plans.

Most CMS platforms support migration, but complexity varies. Simple sites often migrate easily, while content-heavy or customized sites may require technical assistance or a structured plan. Additionally, some CMS platforms offer integrations with other sites to simplify the migration process, so consider switching to one that integrates well with your current tools.

Bottom line

With the right CMS, your website becomes a more effective tool for generating leads, increasing engagement, and supporting long-term growth. 

From my research, Wix is best for fast website development, while Squarespace excels in creative personalization, and Optimizely delivers enterprise-level digital experience management. 

Additionally, marketers already using HubSpot CRM may prefer HubSpot Content Hub, while WordPress and Ghost offer affordable, scalable solutions for long-form content and newsletter-driven strategies. 

However, the best CMS for your marketing strategy is the one that aligns with how your team works and the goals you want to achieve.

Pro Tip:

Pairing your CMS with the right marketing and sales tools amplifies your results. Keep your tech stack connected, track performance consistently, and revisit your CMS needs as your strategy evolves. 

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