Element Fusion

Some content management systems, like WaterCMS, SkyCMS and LightCMS, our CMS for designers, are hosted solutions.  That is, the company (us) hosts the websites that use our software on our own system and on our own servers.  But there are CMS systems that are deployable, meaning you can purchase them and install them on your own servers to use.

So which is better? Well, as with most things, there are advantages and disadvantages to each. I could write page after page about the differences and considerations, but nobody would read that, so, in true bloggity form, I'm going to whittle it all down to one primary consideration: resource vs. customization.

Resource.

If you want to host your own CMS software, you have to be able to install it on a server, configure it, connect it to the internet, and maintain it so that it's always working correctly. You might know how to do that, or you might have people on your team who know how. But either way, it takes time. And time is money.

If you use a hosted CMS solution like WaterCMS, SkyCMS or LightCMS, the hosting company takes care of all that for you so you never have to worry about the DNS or the DMZ or the IIS or whatever.

Customization.

On the other hand, when you use a hosted solution, that software doesn't belong to you and you're not hosting it, so you can't customize it. You just have to use it like it is. With an open source CMS or a customizable, deployable solution, you can go to town tweaking that thing into exactly what you want it to be -- that is, if you have enough programming experience to do such a thing, or if you know someone who does. Either way, the desire for customization can be a strong argument for a deployable product.

The bottom line.

In my opinion, there's no reason to put forth the extra resources and endure the headache of hosting a solution yourself unless you can benefit from the one true advantage of doing so, that is, customization. So, if you are a programmer or you have programmers on your team, hosting your own solution might be a good fit. Otherwise, why mess with it? Let someone else do the hard work and just focus on keeping your website up to date and looking great.

We built our CMS systems as hosted solutions because we know that the vast majority of website clients don't have the resources to be able to truly benefit from hosting their own system. Plus, we've even found with our LightCMS product that web designers and creative agencies who do have the resources to customize often have only a few clients for which customization is required and for the others, they prefer to use a hosted system like LightCMS.