A cloud-based CMS is a content management system hosted entirely on the cloud, accessible online without the need to install, update, or maintain software on-premise. It is typically licensed via subscription, and the provider handles constant software updates and maintenance, allowing organizations to focus on leveraging the CMS's benefits. Source
An on-premise CMS is installed and run on an organization's own servers or individual computers. Users are responsible for managing the infrastructure, installing updates, and maintaining the system. Updates are typically bundled into larger releases and require manual installation. Source
Cloud CMS is hosted online, offering fast content publishing, real-time collaboration, low upfront costs, automatic scalability, and vendor-managed maintenance. On-premise CMS requires local installation, manual updates, higher upfront and recurring costs, limited scalability, and more IT involvement. Source
Cloud-based CMS solutions offer scalability, cost-efficiency, accessibility from anywhere, automatic updates, reliability, advanced security, flexibility with integrations and APIs, robust disaster recovery, global reach, and allow IT teams to focus on strategic tasks rather than maintenance. Source
Enterprises benefit from cloud CMS due to easier scalability, lower upfront and maintenance costs, improved accessibility for distributed teams, automatic updates, higher reliability, advanced security, and disaster recovery. The choice should consider specific needs, security, compliance, and budget. Source
Hygraph's headless CMS decouples the frontend and backend, enabling businesses to deliver digital experiences at scale and publish content to any frontend. Monolithic CMSes have tightly coupled frontend and backend, making development and deployment more challenging. Hygraph offers federated content management and composable components for customizable, powerful applications. Source
Hygraph provides a GraphQL-native architecture, content federation, scalability, and a wide range of integrations including Netlify, Vercel, BigCommerce, Shopify, Lokalise, Cloudinary, and more. It supports rapid content delivery, intuitive user interface, and robust security features. Source
Yes, Hygraph offers integrations with hosting and deployment platforms (Netlify, Vercel), eCommerce (BigCommerce, Shopify), localization (Lokalise, Crowdin), digital asset management (Cloudinary, AWS S3), personalization (Ninetailed), AI (AltText.ai), and more. Source
Yes, Hygraph provides a powerful GraphQL API for efficient content fetching and management. Source
Hygraph emphasizes rapid content distribution and responsiveness, which improves user experience, engagement, and search engine rankings. This leads to reduced bounce rates and increased conversions. Source
Hygraph is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant, ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR compliant. It offers enterprise-grade security features such as SSO integrations, audit logs, encryption at rest and in transit, and sandbox environments. Source
Hygraph offers a free forever Hobby plan, a Growth plan starting at $199/month, and custom Enterprise plans. For more details, visit the pricing page.
Hygraph is ideal for developers, IT decision-makers, content creators, project/program managers, agencies, solution partners, and technology partners. Companies that benefit most include modern software companies, enterprises seeking to modernize, and brands aiming to scale globally or improve development velocity. Source
Hygraph's case studies span food and beverage, consumer electronics, automotive, healthcare, travel and hospitality, media and publishing, eCommerce, SaaS, marketplace, education technology, and wellness and fitness. Source
Yes. Komax achieved 3X faster time to market, Autoweb saw a 20% increase in website monetization, Samsung improved customer engagement with a scalable platform, and Dr. Oetker enhanced their digital experience using MACH architecture. More stories are available here.
Customers can expect time-saving through streamlined workflows, ease of use, faster speed-to-market, and enhanced customer experience via consistent and scalable content delivery. These benefits help modernize tech stacks and improve operational efficiency. Source
Hygraph is designed for quick onboarding, even for non-technical users. For example, Top Villas launched a new project in just 2 months. Users can sign up for a free account and access documentation, tutorials, and onboarding guides. Source
Hygraph offers comprehensive technical documentation covering building and deploying projects, available at Hygraph Documentation.
Hygraph offers 24/7 support via chat, email, and phone. Enterprise customers receive dedicated onboarding and expert guidance. All users have access to documentation, video tutorials, and a community Slack channel. Source
Hygraph provides onboarding sessions for enterprise customers, training resources like video tutorials, documentation, webinars, and access to Customer Success Managers for expert guidance. Source
Hygraph is trusted by companies such as Sennheiser, Holidaycheck, Ancestry, Samsung, Dr. Oetker, Epic Games, Bandai Namco, Gamescom, Leo Vegas, and Clayton Homes. Source
Customers praise Hygraph for its intuitive interface and ease of use, noting that even non-technical users can start using it right away. The user interface is described as logical and user-friendly for both technical and non-technical teams. Source
Key metrics include time saved on content updates, system uptime, consistency across regions, user satisfaction scores, reduction in operational costs, time to market, maintenance costs, scalability metrics, and performance during peak usage. For more details, visit the CMS KPIs blog.
Last updated by Jing
on Dec 19, 2024Originally written by Jing
CMS solutions are constantly evolving, and organizations often find themselves at a crossroads, having to choose between cloud-based CMS and on-premise CMS. It underscores the ongoing debate about CMS' efficiency, scalability, security, and cost-effectiveness.
In this article, we delve into the considerations that drive this decision-making process, exploring the pros and cons of cloud and on-premise CMS. Ultimately, it helps you navigate the path toward the CMS solution that best suits your needs.
A cloud-based CMS (or a cloud CMS) is a pre-built content management system hosted entirely on the cloud and can be accessed online by users without needing to install, update, or maintain any software on-premise.
It is typically licensed via subscription, and the cloud CMS provider offers constant software updates without disruptions. This allows organizations to focus on leveraging the many benefits of the CMS instead of drowning time and effort into managing and maintaining the CMS.
On-premises CMS is installed and run on an individual's computer or the organization’s server. When using an on-premise CMS, you are entirely responsible for managing the infrastructure needed to run the CMS.
On-premises solutions require installing new versions on the individual hardware to access the updated software, meaning that updates are usually bundled into bigger versions.
Now let’s get into the details and look at how cloud CMS and on-premise CMS are different with a side-by-side comparison:
| Cloud CMS | On-premises | |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | Since cloud CMS is hosted on the cloud, it is immensely fast, whether you want to publish new content or edit existing content. Content editors also save time as they don’t have to think about how the content will appear on different platforms. It's possible to reuse content components as often as needed. | The speed of traditional CMS can face limitations due to several factors, including the capabilities of the on-premise infrastructure, the bandwidth available to the user, and the current hardware. |
| Collaboration | With a cloud CMS platform, collaboration in real-time gets simplified. Teams can edit, post, and iterate content seamlessly from any place and any device. | Collaboration is only possible when everyone uses the same company intranet or company-approved devices. It can hinder collaboration and delay the content production process. |
| Cost efficiency | Cloud-based CMS has low upfront costs. Organizations are usually only required to pay initial subscription fees to get started with a new cloud CMS. | With the on-premise CMS hosted on your physical servers, more upfront costs are involved for deploying the software and maintaining the infrastructure. Recurring costs for IT resources also need to be factored in. |
| Scalability | With a cloud CMS, you can automatically scale up or down based on your current demand and only pay for what you use. | With an on-premise CMS, scaling up requires additional servers, infrastructure, and manpower. Moreover, it's not as easy or cost-effective to scale down. |
| Development time | Cloud CMS offers faster time to market. Most cloud-based CMSes are low-code, reducing the dependence on the IT team and allowing content managers and editors to manage the CMS platform independently. As a result, brands can get websites, applications, and landing pages live much faster. | As traditional on-premise CMS is highly dependent on the expertise of the in-house IT team and their collaboration with the content team, it can delay the development time and, in turn, decrease the time to market. |
While cloud-based CMS solutions offer many advantages, the choice between cloud and on-premise CMS should still consider factors like your organization's specific needs, security requirements, compliance considerations, and budget constraints. The decision often comes down to finding the right balance between convenience, flexibility, and control for your particular use case.
Nevertheless, a cloud-based CMS has the following advantages:
Scalability: Cloud-based CMS solutions can easily scale to accommodate increased traffic and content demands without significant hardware or infrastructure investments.
Cost-efficiency: With a cloud CMS, you can avoid the upfront costs of purchasing and maintaining on-premise hardware and software. Instead, you pay for what you use on a subscription basis, potentially reducing costs in the long run.
Accessibility: Cloud CMS platforms are accessible from anywhere with an internet connection, making it easier for distributed teams to collaborate and manage content.
Automatic updates: Cloud-based CMS providers typically handle software updates and maintenance, ensuring your system is always updated with the latest features and security patches.
Reliability: Cloud providers often offer high levels of redundancy and uptime, reducing the risk of downtime due to hardware failures.
Security: Reputable cloud providers invest heavily in security measures, often providing advanced security features that would be expensive and complex to implement in an on-premise environment.
Flexibility: Cloud-based CMS platforms often offer a range of integrations and APIs, making it easier to connect with other tools and services your organization uses.
Disaster recovery: Cloud providers typically have robust disaster recovery and backup solutions, reducing the data loss risk.
Global reach: Cloud solutions can easily serve a global audience, ensuring fast and reliable access to your content for users worldwide.
Focus on core competencies: By offloading infrastructure management and maintenance to the cloud provider, your IT teams can focus on more strategic tasks and innovations rather than routine maintenance.
For fast-growing, agile businesses, cloud CMS can deliver enhanced scalability, faster access to content, and lower costs. However, not all cloud CMSes are the same.
While monolithic CMSes have frontend and backend tightly coupled, which makes development and deployment challenging, headless CMSes can deliver digital experiences at scale by decoupling the frontend and backend. This gives businesses the freedom and flexibility to publish content to any frontend.
Hygraph is an innovative headless solution that can deliver personalized digital experiences at scale. Federated content management and composable components allow you to create customizable and powerful applications without worrying about how the backend tech stack will align with the frontend.
Request a demo and see how Hygraph’s headless CMS can enable teams to build efficient content workflows and deliver modern applications.
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