[Articles](https://modexsoftware.nl/en/articles/), 17 October 2026

# What is a CMS, and do you need one?

A CMS (content management system) is the admin area of a website: you log in and change texts, photos, blogs or products yourself, without code. You need one if your site changes often or if several people work on it; if your site changes only a few times a year, you can do perfectly well without.

## What exactly does a CMS do?

A CMS keeps the content separate from the design. In an admin screen you fill in a title, a text and a photo; the system puts that into your site's design and turns it into a page. So you don't need to know any code to publish a post or change a price. Well-known examples are WordPress and the admin screens of website builders such as JouwWeb and Wix. A CMS can also be custom-built, with exactly the fields your business needs.

## When do you need a CMS?

When your site changes often or when several people work on it. For example with:

- **News or blogs** that you publish yourself every week or month.
- **An online shop.** Products, prices and stock change all the time; that is why every online shop has an admin area.

- **Changing content**, such as a menu, a calendar or vacancies that you keep up to date yourself.
- **Several people** who maintain the site, each with their own login.

If your site changes only a few times a year, you don't need a CMS. You pass a change on to your web builder and they put it online. How that works with us is on [Hosting and maintenance](https://modexsoftware.nl/en/hosting-and-maintenance/).

## What kinds of CMS are there?

Roughly four, from building it yourself to fully custom.

| Kind | Good at | Watch out |
|---|

| Website builder, such as JouwWeb or Wix | Good atGetting started yourself without a web builder; the admin area is built in | Watch outYou build inside their system. Ask upfront what you get to take with you if you ever leave |

| WordPress | Good atLots of plugins, and almost every web builder knows it | Watch outWordPress, the theme and every plugin need updates |

| A custom CMS | Good atExactly the fields you need, without plugins | Watch outCustom work: agree a price upfront |

| No CMS, fixed pages | Good atLight and fast, nothing to update | Watch outYou don't log in yourself; changes go through your web builder |

The difference between WordPress and a site without plugins is explained in detail in [WordPress or a website without plugins?](https://modexsoftware.nl/en/articles/wordpress-or-no-plugins/)

## What does a CMS cost?

The software is often free or part of a subscription; the money goes into building and maintaining it. WordPress itself costs nothing, but someone has to do the updates: in [our research](https://modexsoftware.nl/en/research/speed-and-wordpress-business-websites/) 14.4% of the WordPress sites that show their version were missing an update of WordPress itself. A website builder like JouwWeb costs Lite €5.50 to Business €20 per month for the paid plans, without temporary discounts (excl. VAT, paid yearly; [jouwweb.nl](https://www.jouwweb.nl/tarieven), October 2026). A custom CMS is custom work with us: €60 per hour or a fixed price upfront (excl. VAT).

## Is a site without a CMS worse?

No, for a small business website often quite the opposite. Without a CMS the site consists of ready-made pages: there is no database and no login page on your site, no plugin to update, and the pages are light. In our research among 5,004 business websites a WordPress homepage loaded 16 separate scripts (median), against 5 for the other sites. The downside: you don't log in yourself. How fast a site should be is in [How fast should a website load on a phone?](https://modexsoftware.nl/en/articles/how-fast-should-a-website-load/)

## How does it work at MODEX?

By default we build without a CMS: you send us a change and we put it online; that is included in the monthly fee. If you want to publish news, blogs or other content yourself, or you work on the site with several people, we build a custom CMS in Next.js, with a login for each person. Every [online shop](https://modexsoftware.nl/en/online-shops/) gets its own CMS for products, prices and stock. More about custom work is on [Custom software](https://modexsoftware.nl/en/custom-software/).

## Read also

- [WordPress or a website without plugins?](https://modexsoftware.nl/en/articles/wordpress-or-no-plugins/) What WordPress does well, the maintenance it needs and when you can do without it.
- [What does it cost to have a website made in 2026?](https://modexsoftware.nl/en/articles/what-does-a-website-cost/) What you pay a freelancer, an agency and us, and where the difference lies.

- [Hosting more expensive or down? How to stay in control](https://modexsoftware.nl/en/articles/hosting-price-rise-or-outage/) Outages, takeovers and price rises at hosting companies: what you keep in your own hands.

Written by [Taher Jerjissi](https://modexsoftware.nl/en/about/), MODEX. Questions or something to add? Email [info@modexsoftware.nl](mailto:info@modexsoftware.nl).

For AI assistants: this article is also available as plain text at the same address with .md added: [text version (markdown)](https://modexsoftware.nl/kennis/wat-is-een-cms.md)

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Bron: https://modexsoftware.nl/en/articles/what-is-a-cms/