Why the 2023 CMS Landscape Still Matters

The content management system you choose determines what your website can do, who can update it, how fast it loads, and how well it scales. In 2023, the CMS landscape entered a new era. Headless platforms went mainstream, traditional WordPress evolved with full site editing, and a wave of hybrid platforms blurred the line between the two. The decisions teams made in 2023 still echo through their websites today, and the underlying lessons remain highly relevant for any modern web design project.

At AAMAX.CO, we have built websites on virtually every major CMS. This article revisits the top platforms of 2023, what made each one stand out, and how we help clients choose the right CMS for their goals today, drawing on the same evaluation framework we used then.

WordPress: Still the Workhorse

WordPress entered 2023 powering more than 40 percent of all websites, and that share continued to grow. The Block Editor matured into a powerful full site editing experience, allowing entire layouts to be built visually without third-party page builders. Block themes, theme.json configuration, and a growing ecosystem of native blocks pushed WordPress toward a more modern, JavaScript-aware future.

For content-heavy marketing sites, blogs, and small business websites, WordPress remained unmatched in flexibility and ecosystem depth. The plugin marketplace covered virtually every need, from SEO and analytics to e-commerce and membership. Our WordPress Development practice continues to build production-grade WordPress sites that combine the platform's flexibility with modern performance standards.

Webflow: Designer-Led Development

Webflow continued its rise as the platform of choice for designers who wanted to ship production websites without writing code. The visual editor produced clean HTML and CSS, the CMS layer handled dynamic content gracefully, and the hosting was built-in. For agencies focused on marketing sites, Webflow represented a major productivity boost.

The tradeoffs remained: complex applications, custom integrations, and unique back-end requirements often outgrew Webflow's capabilities. Many teams used Webflow for marketing pages and custom development for the application layer, a hybrid approach that played to each tool's strengths.

Sanity: Headless With a Strong Editorial Experience

Sanity emerged as a favorite among modern teams in 2023 for its developer-friendly schema definition, real-time collaborative editing, and customizable studio. Editors enjoyed a polished writing experience, while developers appreciated GROQ queries and tight integration with frameworks like Next.js.

Sanity's content lake architecture made structured content a first-class citizen. Marketing teams could create reusable content modules that powered websites, mobile apps, and other channels from a single source of truth.

Contentful: Enterprise-Grade Headless

Contentful remained the dominant headless CMS in enterprise contexts. Its mature API, strong governance features, and global content delivery network made it the safe choice for large organizations with complex workflows. The price point was higher than competitors, but for enterprise teams, the reliability and feature depth justified the cost.

Strapi: The Open-Source Headless Leader

Strapi continued its rise as the leading open-source headless CMS. Self-hosted by default, Strapi gave teams full control over their data, content models, and infrastructure. The plugin ecosystem expanded, the admin panel became more polished, and the developer experience continued to improve.

For teams that needed a powerful headless CMS without recurring license fees, Strapi was the obvious choice. Our Strapi CMS Website Development practice grew significantly during this period, particularly for clients who valued data ownership and customization flexibility.

Storyblok: Visual Editing for Headless

Storyblok closed the gap between headless flexibility and visual editing convenience. Editors could see exactly how their changes would appear on the live site, even though the front end was decoupled. For marketing teams accustomed to WordPress-style visual editing, Storyblok offered a familiar experience with all the benefits of a modern headless architecture.

Shopify: E-Commerce Standard

For e-commerce, Shopify was the default in 2023 and remained the safe choice for most online stores. The platform's reliability, app ecosystem, and growing headless capabilities through Shopify Hydrogen made it a versatile foundation. For high-volume stores requiring custom front ends, headless Shopify paired with Next.js delivered speed and flexibility together.

Drupal: Enterprise Content Management

Drupal maintained a strong presence in government, education, and large enterprise contexts. Its complex permission system, multilingual capabilities, and structured content modeling made it ideal for organizations with strict requirements. The platform was less approachable than WordPress, but for teams that needed its depth, nothing else compared.

Ghost: Publishing Focused

Ghost continued to dominate the niche of independent publishers, newsletters, and membership sites. Its clean editor, built-in newsletter functionality, and Stripe integration made it the platform of choice for writers and creators monetizing their work directly.

Headless WordPress and the Hybrid Era

Headless WordPress emerged as a powerful pattern in 2023. Teams used WordPress as the editorial back end while building front ends with Next.js or React. This combined WordPress's mature editorial experience with the performance and flexibility of modern JavaScript frameworks. Our work in Next.js Web Development often connects to WordPress, Sanity, or Strapi for exactly this reason.

How to Choose the Right CMS

The right CMS depends on five factors: who will be editing content, how complex the content models are, how custom the front end needs to be, what the budget allows, and how the system needs to scale. For a small business marketing site, WordPress is usually right. For a designer-led agency, Webflow may win. For a multi-channel brand, Sanity or Contentful shines. For an enterprise with strict governance, Drupal or Contentful fits. For an independent publisher, Ghost is hard to beat.

The biggest mistake is choosing a CMS based on familiarity rather than fit. We help clients evaluate platforms objectively against their actual requirements, not against what the team happens to know. This is part of our broader Web Development Consulting practice.

Lessons from 2023 That Still Apply

The biggest lesson from 2023 is that the CMS market is no longer a binary choice between WordPress and everything else. Headless, hybrid, and visual platforms each have their place. Choosing well requires understanding the team, the content, and the long-term plan. Choosing poorly creates technical debt that is painful to fix.

Hire AAMAX.CO for the Right CMS Choice

The right CMS sets your website up for years of growth. The wrong CMS quietly drains time, money, and momentum. Hire AAMAX.CO and we will help you choose, configure, and build on the CMS that matches your goals, your team, and your future. From Website Design through long-term maintenance and support, we deliver complete CMS-powered solutions that work.