Top Benefits of Choosing an Open Source CMS for any Website
Top 10 Benefits of Choosing an Open Source CMS
When seeking to enhance their online presence, organizations will often examine content management systems in an effort to find the one that best suits their needs. While there are several features and capabilities that should be considered when choosing the right CMS, the type of content management system itself is also an important decision.
Content management systems are typically categorized as either proprietary or open source. Proprietary content systems are developed and owned by a single service provider. When comparing open source and proprietary CMS, it’s important to understand the key differences.
This article is meant to provide an overview of key open source CMS benefits and how they can support organizations across industries.
What is an Open Source CMS?
When defining what an open source CMS is, we refer to the Open Web Alliance (OWA), a partnership of leading open source CMSs, and its definition, which presents open source technologies as a public good, shared responsibility, and collaborative effort to spur innovation.
Specifically, OWA presents the following criteria for what an open source project should be:
“Open web must not be built on proprietary technology.
- It must be designed to protect-not exploit-personal data and public discourse.
- It must enable the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs to compete effectively.
- It must be resilient to a changing world and not controlled by a select few.”
Open source projects are centered around a public source code that is continuously developed by its community, and offers its technology as a public good, free of infringements on data rights and digital autonomy.
Proprietary vs. Open Source CMS
Open source CMS main benefits include the fact that the source code is accessible to anyone, meaning there’s no up-front fee to download and use the software. While add-ons and installations are often handled by licensed developers or agencies who can provide consulting services and technical support, access isn’t limited by a subscription model or initial fees. We’ll explore additional open source CMS benefits later in this piece.
On the flip side, there are proprietary CMSs. Sometimes referred to as a “closed CMS”, access to these systems is typically granted with a license or subscription model. Additionally, proprietary CMS customers don’t have access to the system’s source code, as it belongs to the vendor. Finally, proprietary CMS’s can vary in terms of their customization potential, features, and support, as these might depend on subscription or license type.
Benefit 1: Customization Potential
Open source software is known to be highly customizable. With the code being freely available, individuals and agencies freely make improvements to it, creating useful extensions or plug-ins that enable specific functions, allowing end users to create websites that cater to their needs.
Additionally, open source CMS’ typically feature robust integrations with third-party software, allowing them to be seamlessly integrated with a company’s existing tech stack, enabling an integrated operational setup.
Check out TYPO3’s range of official integrations
Benefit 2: Adaptability
An important outcome of this customization potential is the fact that open source CMSs are highly adaptable to the needs of most industries. While certain proprietary CMSs are made especially for specific industries, the customizable nature of open source projects, including their range of extensions and integrations, mean that they can seamlessly support businesses across industries.
TYPO3 has an industry-neutral structure, with functionalities that can benefit private, public, and non-profit sector organizations alike, making it an attractive option regardless of industry or organization size.
Benefit 3: Cost-effectiveness
As we’ve already covered above, open source content management systems are free to install. This means that businesses and other organizations avoid an up-front cost in the form of a subscription or license fee. Furthermore, open source CMSs offer a wide range of standardized modules and extensions that drive down long-term development costs.
When a website grows, there are no additional costs associated with handling more assets or data, which can happen on subscription-based proprietary solutions. That allows organizations to grow freely, without having to pay more, or have their access to new data limited.
Benefit 4: Digital Sovereignty and Data Sovereignty
One of the most consequential differences between open source vs. proprietary CMS is the digital autonomy the former provides. This comes in the form of digital sovereignty, which is the ability of an entity to act independently on all digital matters without influence from third parties, and data sovereignty, meaning the entity’s ability to control the data that it generates, including who can access it and where it’s stored.
Unlike on proprietary CMSs where both digital and data sovereignty can be limited depending on varying degrees of access control, the one of open source’s foundational principles is that your data and digital assets are always yours. When an entity doesn’t control its systems or how it can use its data, then it’s not truly sovereign.
The independence created by open source technologies allows for reduced reliance on third-party service providers, and increased control over the entirety of an entity’s digital infrastructure, including its data and assets.
Benefit 5: Updates and Maintenance
Given that open source content management systems are continuously developed by teams of developers, users of these systems can rely on predictable update schedules. This includes both new version releases, for which roadmaps are freely available, alongside maintenance releases that include security updates, ensuring important data and assets remain secure before any vulnerabilities threaten end users.
TYPO3 also offers long-term support for its most recent versions, ensuring several years of stable security coverage through regular updates.
Benefit 6: Security
Open source CMSs rely on their active communities to constantly refine their product, ensuring that it doesn’t become vulnerable to malicious actions. With regular security updates, and a number of built-in features such as robust access controls, open source solutions like (but not limited to) TYPO3 provide a strong security foundation.
Additionally, since open source CMSs won't collect your data, you aren’t vulnerable to security breaches that vendors of proprietary CMS’s might face, that can potentially endanger your data.
Benefit 7: Reliable Governance and Transparency
Good governance is one of the most important benefits of choosing an open source CMS. Open source projects adhere to the guiding principles of transparency and community involvement. In TYPO3’s case, its Association oversees the growth and evolution of the project in a transparent manner, including with yearly board elections and a well-defined decision making framework.
This means that board members come directly from the community and stakeholder engagement and open communications are not only required, but incentivized, in order to further the goals of the project.
Benefit 8: Compliance
Ensuring that your website is compliant with the latest regulations can be a time consuming and potentially costly process. With increasing regulations around data usage, especially in the EU, ensuring compliance with GDPR and other regulations is essential.
TYPO3 provides out-of-the-box compliance solutions, ensuring that your website will be in line with the latest regulations. When new regulatory frameworks are introduced, a reliable update cycle will ensure that those are integrated into your system.
Benefit 9: Scalability
Another key benefit of choosing an open source CMS is the scalability they provide. TYPO3 offers robust scalability potential, including through its multisite capabilities. This is made possible through its page-tree architecture that enables multiple pages, and even separate websites to be managed through a common backend (instance), allowing for organizations to grow at their own pace, without needing to increase their subscription or incur new costs when they reach a certain size.
Furthermore, open source content management systems like TYPO3 can support projects with over 1 million content items, making it ideal for large-scale organizations, including enterprises and public sector bodies. The German government relies on TYPO3 for over 40% of its digital infrastructure and even created a Government Site Builder based off of the CMS.
Benefit 10: Community Driven
Communities are at the foundation of any successful open source project. This is true for content management systems, where developers spearhead the evolution and continued improvements of their respective projects. This collaborative environment gives birth to software that aligns with user needs, along with an active ecosystem of professionals who are passionate about the technology they build, and are able to offer support and guidance.
Many of the key benefits of choosing an open source CMS already outlined in this article, from the robust extension offering, to the reliable updates are the result of community-driven action that ensures the project runs smoothly.
Conclusion
Open source content management systems offer a range of important benefits to organizations looking to transform their digital presence. While the open source vs. proprietary CMS discussion includes several parameters that can shape decision making depending on the circumstances, open source CMSs make a strong case for themselves.
With key benefits ranging from digital sovereignty, to customization potential, cost factors, scalability, and community, choosing an open source CMS allows businesses across industries to scale quickly and effectively on a reliable and well governed infrastructure.
Find out how TYPO3 supports digital transformation in your industry
