Whether you’re looking to run a website, either directly from a Content Management System (CMS) or with Static Site Generators, here are options that I’ve found interesting.
WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems thanks to its open source nature and plethora of hosting services and good usability for anyone regardless of their skills or desire to write any code. Its vast plugin ecosystem is another reason it has become so popular.
Ghost is a CMS focusing on publishing and running newsletters. It’s developed by a non-profit (The Indie Hackers Podcast: Tips for Growing Your Online Business was the podcast that got me interested in it) and offers both self-hosted and hosted options. I’ve used it both as a self-hosted headless CMS for my blog as well as running a hosted one for Syntax Error newsletter. It’s not the most customisable CMS but if what it offers is enough, it’s a great choice.
Front Matter is a headless CMS that runs inside VS Code. It provides a CMS layer on top of files that utilise front matter for metadata. Because of that, it can be taken into use and integrated with existing static site projects without having to migrate all the data to a new system.
Craft CMS is a very customisable CMS that offers a good UX for writers and editors to work on content. You define your own entry types and custom fields and then add the content.
Eleventy’s docs list some options as well.