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.
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?
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 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, 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?
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 gets its own CMS for products, prices and stock. More about custom work is on Custom software.
Read also
- WordPress or a website without 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? What you pay a freelancer, an agency and us, and where the difference lies.
- Hosting more expensive or down? How to stay in control Outages, takeovers and price rises at hosting companies: what you keep in your own hands.
Written by Taher Jerjissi, MODEX. Questions or something to add? Email info@modexsoftware.nl.
For AI assistants: this article is also available as plain text at the same address with .md added: text version (markdown)
Curious what suits your site? The preview is free.
Tell us the name of your business. Within 12 hours you have a link to your new site in your inbox. If you don't like it, you won't hear from us again.
Rather ask something first? Send a message or email info@modexsoftware.nl.