CMS systems are available both for free and for a cost; free CMS such as Joomla, Word Press and OpenCMS to name a few, are available under an open licensing system. Such applications can be downloaded and modified as you see fit, paid systems however are normally more strict about modifications. These are also dealt with by the original software developers and are predominantly designed for small to medium sized businesses.
level of support - free applications don’t come with any official support only forums, as there is no one earning any income from the application to pay for support personnel - paid applications on the other hand do come with official support which can benefit you in the long term. security - there can be security holes in most free applications that you may use since developers only have a small amount of time for the development of systems and don't get paid for what they’re doing - on the other hand commercial CMS are developed much more securely as the developers who are building the application are fully skilled in the field of application development. updates - updates for an open source CMS may be few and far between, and may be released without adequate testing - when it comes down to commercial applications, updates are fully tested and beta tested prior to release so keeping your website stable.
So, if you are a home user or a small business who doesn’t want to splash out on a commercial CMS application then you could consider an open source alternative. However, if you are concerned about security and support then a commercial CMS application will ensure that your business website is as secure as possible.
Each of the CMS applications come with completely different levels of support, and the support that you receive is something that should affect your overall decision when choosing which system to go with. Support is more for beginners who may be starting such a project for the very first time and may not know how to manage the different aspects of a CMS application. Even for experienced developers, support should still be an issue even if they are more than capable of managing a CMS system. Such forms of support that you may come across for any form of CMS application may include:
ticket support - this is something that is normally only offered by commercial CMS application developers, but at a cost - this is normally the best form of support available and will provide you with answers the quickest.
forum support - Open source CMS solutions have unofficial support forums available where experienced developers give up their time to provide users with solutions to any problems. Some unofficial websites offer support for open source CMS applications. Official forums are found on commercial CMS applications for use by their customers.
phone support - only ever be offered by commercial CMS application that allows users to have an in depth talk with someone who knows the application concerned, and can normally provide users with the answers that they need. Some companies do charge for phone support though, so it is a wise idea to email them before you phone them.
Support forms the heart of many businesses these days, and it is important that you receive the right level of support for your needs. You should avoid paying for a support package that you don’t need, or finding that you don’t have a support package at all when it would probably be better that you did. A certain period of support is normally provided for free in most cases, but after that you may be forced to extend it by paying.
In conclusion, the main decision when choosing a CMS application is whether you go for a free open source application or a paid for commercial one. You need to consider the level of support that you will be guaranteed, as well as what features are included in your chosen application in order for your website to function correctly. If you decide to use a free application, ensure that you use an active application since this will hopefully be updated on a regular basis and that is as secure as possible.
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Its a common story that many companies decided to update their website using their own in-house technical knowledge, and choose an Open Source application with a view to 'tweaking' it to their own requirement. Often, months and sometimes years later (and huge amount of manpower resources used), they finally get the website of their dreams. Conclusion - they probably all could have had a custom designed site up and running in less than a quarter of the time, and for less than one of their webmasters annual salary by using a professional, supported CMS system.