There was a florist in a town that isn't on any map who paid for a CMS twice. The best CMS for a small business website is the simplest one that fits your actual content and lets you export and walk away later. For most small businesses that means WordPress or Squarespace, with Shopify the moment you sell more than a handful of products.
What is a CMS, and why does the choice matter?
A CMS is the software you use to add, edit, and organize the pages, posts, and products on your site without touching code. CMS stands for content management system.
The choice matters because you live in this tool. You will open it to fix a typo, swap a photo, post a holiday notice, publish a blog. If it fights you every time, you stop updating the site, and a stale site costs you far more than the subscription ever did. The second reason is exit cost. Moving a real website from one CMS to another is rarely a clean copy and paste. I have watched modest migrations run 20 to 60 hours once you account for redirects, reformatting content, and rebuilding anything custom. Picking well the first time is the cheapest decision on the whole project.
How do I choose the best CMS for a small business website?
Match the CMS to three things: the kind of content you publish, how often you update it, and whether you will have a developer. Everything else is detail.
Run through these before you open a single pricing page:
- What are you actually publishing? A 7-page brochure site, a blog with two posts a week, and a 300-product store are three different problems.
- Who updates it, and how technical are they? If it is you and you dread software, lean toward a hosted builder. If you have a developer on call, WordPress opens up.
- Do you sell online? Real e-commerce with inventory, tax, and shipping points you toward Shopify or a dedicated commerce setup.
- What is your three-year budget? Add up subscription, hosting, plugins, and the cost of someone to maintain it. Not just month one.
- How custom does the design need to be? Off-the-shelf templates are fine for most sites. A brand that needs something specific narrows the field.
Answer those five honestly and the shortlist picks itself. Most people skip them, choose on a friend's recommendation, and find the mismatch six months in.
What do the main CMS options cost in 2026?
Here is what the common platforms cost on annual billing as of mid-2026, at the entry tiers most small businesses land on.
| CMS | Starting price (annual) | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squarespace | $16/mo (Core $23) | Brochure sites, portfolios, light commerce | Limited deep customization; design doesn't migrate out |
| Wix | $17/mo (Core $29) | Fast DIY sites, small shops | You can't swap templates after publishing |
| WordPress (self-hosted) | $60-100/mo all-in | Blogs, content-heavy and high-control sites | You own updates, security, and backups |
| Webflow | $15/mo Basic, $25/mo Premium | Design-led marketing sites with a CMS | Steeper learning curve; plans changed May 2026 |
| Shopify | $29/mo Basic | Any real online store | Monthly fee plus payment processing fees |
A few things the pricing pages bury. Squarespace runs $16/mo for Basic up to $99/mo for Advanced. Wix sits in the same band, starting near $17/mo. Webflow reworked its plans in May 2026, merging the old CMS and Business tiers into one Premium plan at $25/mo billed yearly, now with 20,000 CMS items included (details in the Webflow pricing update). Shopify Basic is $29/mo on annual billing, plus payment processing on every sale. WordPress itself is free, but a real self-hosted WordPress site runs $60 to $100 a month once you add hosting, a premium theme, plugins, and backups, and that is before anyone's time to maintain it (WP Engine has an honest breakdown of self-hosting costs).
When should you use a hosted builder, WordPress, or custom code?
Use a hosted builder for most small business sites, WordPress when content or control is the priority, and custom code only when you have a reason a template can't satisfy.
Here is how I split it on real projects:
- Hosted builder (Squarespace, Wix, Webflow): the right call for the majority of small businesses. Brochure sites, portfolios, service businesses, restaurants, light commerce. Hosting, security, and updates are handled for you. You give up some flexibility and stop thinking about the plumbing. Squarespace for clean and simple, Webflow when the design needs more room and you have someone who can drive it.
- WordPress (self-hosted): the right call when you publish a lot, need specific functionality, or want full ownership. It powers a huge share of the web for good reason. The catch is that you, or someone you pay, owns the maintenance: updates, security, backups, the occasional plugin conflict that takes the site down on a Friday afternoon.
- Shopify: the right call the moment selling is the point. It is built for commerce, and bolting a real store onto a builder meant for brochures is a bad time.
- Custom code: rare for small business. Reach for it when you have a genuine reason a CMS can't handle, the budget to build it, and the budget to maintain it. We go deeper on that tradeoff in our other website guides.
What CMS mistakes cause the most regret?
The most regretted mistake is choosing for today's site instead of the one you will have in two years. A few others show up again and again:
- Buying e-commerce features you will never use. A bakery on a $99/mo plan with four products. Downgrade.
- Choosing a platform you can't update yourself, then paying a developer for every text change.
- Picking Wix and assuming you can switch templates later. You can't redesign by swapping templates on Wix the way you can on some platforms. Know that before you build. Discovering it after launch means starting over.
- Ignoring the export question entirely. If you ever want to leave and your content is trapped, you are rebuilding from scratch.
The florist I mentioned paid for a builder that couldn't grow with her shop, then paid again to move to a platform that could. The second one was where she could have started. Picking for the business you are becoming is cheaper than picking for the one you have today.
How do you avoid getting locked into a CMS?
Check the export before you commit. CMS lock-in is what happens when your content, design, and URLs are tied so tightly to one platform that leaving means rebuilding everything.
Concretely:
- Confirm you can export your content (pages, posts, products) in a standard format like CSV or XML.
- Keep your domain registered in your own account, never the platform's. This one bites people constantly.
- Own your analytics and email list outside the CMS.
- Avoid leaning on platform-only features for anything core to the business.
WordPress is the most portable of the bunch because the content lives in a database you control. Hosted builders vary. Squarespace and Shopify both let you export your content, though the design does not come with you. Know the exit before you need it.
Frequently asked questions
Is WordPress still the best CMS for a small business website in 2026?
For content-heavy or fast-growing sites, often yes. WordPress powers a large share of the web and gives you the most control and portability. For a simple brochure site run by a non-technical owner, a hosted builder like Squarespace is usually the better fit because it takes maintenance off your plate.
How much should a small business spend on a CMS?
Most small businesses spend $15 to $40 a month on a hosted builder, or $60 to $100 a month all-in for a self-hosted WordPress site once hosting and maintenance are counted. Add Shopify's $29/mo plus processing fees if you sell online. Budget across three years, not one month.
Can I switch my CMS later without rebuilding everything?
Sometimes, rarely cleanly. Content usually exports, but design, custom features, and URL structure often have to be rebuilt. A small site migration commonly runs 20 to 60 hours of work. This is exactly why the export question and the three-year view matter up front.
If you are stuck between two platforms, write down your five answers from the checklist above and the three-year cost of each, then pick the cheaper one you can update yourself without calling anybody. If you would rather hand it off, tell us what you are building and we'll point you at the right platform before you pay for the wrong one.
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