Is Wagtail a good CMS?
WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, Wagtail and more… the options for your content management system are vast. So today, we’ll look at one of our favourites and answer the question, “Is Wagtail a good CMS?” What features does it have that would make it a good option for growing businesses? We’ll cover security, design and more in this quick read.
Unique features
When you want to add features to your website, you might initially think of something like WordPress, where you have a big plug-in library you can access. A few clicks and you’re live! But that’s not ideal for SMEs. Plug-ins start to slow your site down after a while, and there might not be one available for what you want to do. With Wagtail, sure, you need a developer like us, but we can make something clean and purpose-built that won’t drag your site speed (and SERP) down.
Tighter security
Those plugins from before create another problem… security risks. Every plugin adds an entry point for malicious code and bad actors. With Wagtail, you’re getting top-tier security via Django and Wagtail’s ORM (object relation mapping), which creates your database queries programmatically, so it’s always safe (unlike external developer-written database queries).
Bespoke aesthetics
Templated designs like those built for WordPress, Shopify, Wix, Squarespace and more are great for small businesses. They help you get a functional website online in days, not weeks. However, they’re not fit for purpose as your business grows or wants to expand its brand market share. That’s because templates will always look like templates. They’ll have a similar UX and the same functionality. If you want a website that stands out and does cool stuff for only your brand, you need a custom-built solution on something like Wagtail.
Add-on benefits
Wagtail also has a bunch of extra features right out of the box, like multilingual support, A/B testing, detailed reports, support for an API (if you want to go headless) and enterprise-level workflows. There’s also the whole Django and Python package ecosystems available, if you want to make more advanced functions. Lastly, they’ve a thriving, free-to-join Slack community of 7,000 and growing, which is a great place to share ideas and learn from other users.
Site-wide updates
Finally, and this is a big one that no one ever thinks about until it’s too late… they reign supreme for their reusable content feature. Wagtail Snippets are made for you to reuse (and update) that content site-wide, on every page, in seconds. Wrong name? Misspelling? Product updates? All changed without updating every single page. You can kind of do that with WordPress taxonomies, for example, but it’s not quite as easy to use. So, if you’re thinking that frequent large-scale updates are likely, then Wagtail is a clear front-runner.
So, is Wagtail a good CMS? Of course! But the right one for your business really depends on your needs. WordPress, Wagtail, whatever you wanna build on; we’re here and ready to help you.
