Open Source vs Commercial

In the world of Web Content Management (WCM), the CMS is king! In fact, the marketplace is packed full of feature-rich CMS software that allows for the rapid development and deployment of new website content, website redesigns, and highly interactive user interfaces.

The one sizeable drawback with many of todays available CMS software is the initial layout of costs for licensing, professional services, and ongoing support with the software vendor. These cost factors have pushed many organisations to look “over-the-fence” at the open-source side of the marketplace.

As it is often software costs that push organisations to look into open-source CMS software, we will clear up the common misconception that all open-source software is free. This is simply not the case.

While many of the open-source CMS solutions are available at no cost, not all are distributed in this manner. For the purposes of this discussion however, we will be dealing with open-source CMS platforms that are distributed for no cost.