Comparison of CMS 2023: the best open source systems

Technical informations

• Open Source Enterprise Content Management System
• WYSIWYG editor (inline editing)
• URLs designed for search engines
• Editing tools and management of mobile solutions
• Extensibility planned to connect other systems such as shop solutions, CRM or ERP

System requirements for neos CMS 7.x

• Web server : Apache, NGINX
• middleware : PHP >= 7.3.0 (PGP CLI must have the same version for development)
  PHP modules: mbstring, tokenizer, xml, pdo_mysql, imagick or gmagick
  PHP functions: exec(), shell_exec(), escapeshellcmd() and escapeshellarg()
• database management system : Public support – MySQL > 5.7.7, MariaDB > 10.2.2 and PostgreSQL > 9.4
  Optional: Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, SAP Sybase SQL Anywhere, SQLite, Drizzle
• Material : at least 256 MB RAM
• Other Recommendations : Individual extensions may require additional software.

“Content’s first choice” is not only the motto, but the lived reality at neos. From the start, neos was designed to be particularly easy to use. The focus is on so-called inline editing: a true WYSIWYG editor. Unlike other classic CMS, publishers no longer need to fill out dozens of form fields for titles, subtitles, etc. to preview new content via the preview button. Instead, they edit the content directly into the layout and design of the next page.

It’s the same for different display formats such as tablets, smartphones or the display of Google search results: users can easily switch between views without leaving the page. This makes it quick and easy to optimize content for different channels.

Another peculiarity is the so-called content size. The strong point: publishers can create as many versions of content as they want for different targets. The content is not only available in different languages, but also for different targets (gender, culture, country, region, role, etc.), of course with fallback options. Marketing campaigns can thus be controlled in a very targeted manner. Maintaining large amounts of multi-sites in one system neos is also part of the standard directory.

New content in companies often goes through multiple review and approval processes from creation to publication. Thanks to user and group workspaces, supported by flexible rights management, neos easily integrates into existing processes.

Despite the focus on content, neos is not a pure CMS. neos was developed for integration and extensibility. It is a powerful CMS that comes with an equally powerful PHP framework called Flow. This suit is unique and state of the art. Developers can design neos as they see fit. The community therefore qualifies neos of ” Content Application Platform “. This should clearly show that the strengths of neos stand alongside classic websites in tedious and complex projects: integration of third-party software, connection to external systems (ERP, CRM, etc.), integration of shops, etc. Existing extensions can be easily installed via Composer (e.g. Google Analytics, IBM Watson, Elasticsearc, etc).

Nothing stands in the way of individual extensions either. With neos 4.0 for example, theAPI Assets has been introduced. This allows direct access to external media resources (Google Drive, Dropbox, OwnCloud, etc.). Likewise, photo services such as Fotolia, Unsplash, etc. can be used effortlessly without having to leave the page to be edited.

There are virtually no limits to the scalability of neos. For example, the “Neos Award 2018” was awarded to a project that exports a publishing client’s online content directly from neos to a printable inDesign template, including special annotations for prepress. This eliminates the need to update and revise content twice.

After the recent React UI overhaul, the developers are currently working on integrating machine learning or reimplementing the Neos Content Repository with CQRS and EventSourcing. This last point makes neos particularly interesting for banks, insurance companies and public authorities, as it avoids subsequent content changes.