cmsspot vs Drupal
Drupal or a hand-built site? When the big CMS is too big
Drupal is a serious framework for structured content: content types, fields, views, roles and workflows. It is excellent at what it does, and what it does is bigger than most company sites. cmsspot sits at the other end: no content model, just the pages you wrote, made editable.
Where Drupal is the right choice
If the site has thousands of pieces of content with different types and relations, several departments publishing with approval steps, multilingual content, or integrations with other systems, Drupal is a sound choice. Its content modelling is the strongest in the field, and its security team has a good record.
Where a hand-built site with cmsspot is the right choice
A company site with pages for services, a team, a few cases and a contact page has no content model to speak of. Running Drupal for it means a database, a module stack, security updates on a schedule, and a developer who knows Drupal when something needs changing. A hand-built site needs none of that, and with cmsspot the owner still edits text and images without a developer.
| cmsspot | Drupal | |
|---|---|---|
| Fit for a small site | Made for it. Pages are files, and the owner edits them as fields. | Works, but most of the system goes unused and still has to be maintained. |
| Maintenance | None. No updates, no database, no modules. | Core and module updates, with security releases that have to be applied promptly. |
| Who can work on it | Any developer who writes HTML and PHP. | A Drupal developer. There are fewer of them, and they cost more. |
| Page speed | Plain files. Nothing to render on a visit. | Rendered from the database. Fast with caching layers configured. |
| Content modelling | None. A page is a page. | Content types, fields, references and views. The core strength. |
| Editorial workflow | Edit and save. Backups before every write, and a conflict check. | Drafts, moderation states and roles. |
| Multilingual | One site per language, each its own files. | Built-in translation of content and interface. |
| Hosting | Any PHP host. | PHP, a database and enough resources. Often managed Drupal hosting. |
What cmsspot actually solves
Drupal answers the question "how do we model and publish a lot of content with many people". cmsspot answers a much smaller one: "how does the owner change the text on a site we built by hand". For a small site, the smaller answer is the right one, because everything the big system adds becomes something to maintain.
With cmsspot the developer keeps a plain PHP site, with includes for the header and footer, and the owner gets a clean editor for the content. Nothing is installed on the site, and when the work is done, nothing needs updating.
Common questions
We have a Drupal site. Should we move?
Only if the site is small and the Drupal features go unused. Then a rebuild as plain pages removes a lot of ongoing cost. If you rely on content types, workflows or multilingual features, stay.
Can several people edit with cmsspot?
Yes. Each site can have several users, and each user only sees the sites they have access to. What cmsspot does not have is approval steps between an edit and publication.
Does cmsspot have roles?
Two: administrators who see everything, and users who see their own sites. For AI access there are three levels, from read-only to full file access.
Other comparisons: WordPress · Squarespace · Wix · Sanity · The alternatives · What is a headless CMS? · Why hand-built sites win
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See it on your own pages
Connect a site you already have. cmsspot reads it as it is, and nothing is rebuilt.