Content Management Systems
Pick the right CMS and the rest of your marketing infrastructure compounds. Pick the wrong one and you fight your platform for years.
The CMS landscape in 2026
Content management systems power the web. WordPress alone runs approximately 43% of all websites globally in 2026, including some of the largest media properties (TechCrunch, The New Yorker, BBC America) and tens of millions of SMB sites. The rest of the CMS market is split across Webflow, Framer, Shopify (commerce-led), Squarespace, Wix, and the growing headless CMS ecosystem (Sanity, Contentful, Strapi, Storyblok, Hygraph).
The CMS choice cascades through every other marketing decision: which builders or themes you use, which plugins or apps you depend on, which hosting infrastructure runs the site, how SEO and performance are achieved, how AI tools integrate, and how the site is maintained over years. The brands that picked well in 2018-2020 are still compounding; the brands that picked badly are mid-replatform projects costing $50K-$500K+ each.
The CMS platforms we cover
FIG. 01 — Major CMS platforms by category
WordPress — the open-source PHP CMS that runs 43% of the web. Massive plugin ecosystem, deep theme/builder ecosystem, controllable hosting, but operationally heavier than visual builders. Best for content-heavy sites that need extensibility.
Webflow — visual development platform with proprietary hosting. Designer-and-marketer friendly, no plugins to manage, but locked to Webflow hosting and harder to customize beyond their feature set. Best for design-led brand sites and small ecommerce.
Framer — design-first builder with strong animation and interaction tooling. Newer category entrant, growing fast for design-led brands and product marketing sites.
Shopify — commerce-first platform that also serves as the CMS for product-and-content sites. The dominant ecommerce CMS globally with 4.4M+ stores.
Squarespace and Wix — all-in-one website builders for small businesses. Lower ceiling than the above but lower operational complexity.
Headless CMS (Sanity, Contentful, Strapi, Storyblok, Hygraph) — content-API-first systems decoupled from the front-end. Best for teams that want to ship content to multiple destinations (website + mobile + email + email + display) from one canonical source.
The WordPress ecosystem we cover
Because WordPress dominates market share, we cover its ecosystem in depth. Builders: Divi, Elementor, Breakdance, Bricks, Gutenberg (the WordPress core block editor), Beaver Builder, and Oxygen. Plugins: Yoast SEO, Rank Math, WP Rocket, WooCommerce, Advanced Custom Fields, and WPForms. Hosting: from low-cost (GoDaddy, Bluehost, SiteGround) through mid-tier (Cloudways, Pressable) to enterprise-grade managed WordPress (WP Engine, Kinsta, Pantheon).
How to pick a CMS
Decision framework: Choose WordPress if you need extensive customization, control over hosting, a massive plugin ecosystem, and you have or will have technical resources for ongoing maintenance. Choose Webflow or Framer if design quality and marketing-team-owned site editing matter more than extensibility. Choose Shopify if commerce is the primary use case (use Shopify's content features for blog/CMS, or run a separate CMS alongside). Choose Squarespace or Wix for SMB sites with limited customization needs. Choose headless CMS for content that needs to feed multiple destinations, for development-team-owned stacks, or for sites needing maximum performance via custom front-ends (Next.js, Astro, Remix).
RGM Experts Say
Most replatform projects we inherit started as 'WordPress is too complicated' moves to Webflow or Framer — and 18 months later the team hits Webflow's plugin ecosystem ceiling and starts looking at headless options. The right framing isn't 'which CMS is best' — it's 'which CMS matches our 3-year customization roadmap'. If you can articulate the next 5 features you'll need on the site, the right CMS often picks itself.
How we work with this technology
We use the tools that fit the job. If our approach feels aligned with your business, apply for an engagement.