Best CMS for Multi-Site Management
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TL;DR
The best CMS for multi-site management depends on how much content is shared across sites versus unique to each. WordPress Multisite handles simple networks of similar sites. Enterprise platforms like Sitecore, Adobe Experience Manager, and Contentful handle large-scale multi-brand operations. Headless CMS platforms like Sanity offer a flexible middle ground: one content repository with multiple front ends, each pulling only the content they need via API.
Key Takeaways
- Multi-site CMS architectures fall into three patterns: shared repository, federated, and siloed with shared components
- WordPress Multisite works well for networks of similar sites but struggles with divergent content models
- Enterprise CMS platforms (AEM, Sitecore) offer robust multi-site governance but come with significant cost and complexity
- Headless CMS platforms enable a "content hub" model where one API serves multiple sites, apps, and channels
- Content governance — who can publish what, where — is often more important than the CMS feature set itself