Simple CMS is a free PHP CMS that has features such as using Word to update content and, and well, it is known for its simplicity.  It’s geared more towards web freelancers and web companies that don’t have their own CMS.  Simple CMS allows you to design your website, but it doesn’t come with extra widgets and plugins and yada yada yada (that many of the others we have reviewed offer, such as Expression Engine).

Simple CMS allows you to put a little bit of code where the client wants to edit their content and you are done.  The software is also registered at ContentEditor.net for their clients to login and edit their content.

Sometimes when someone reads something that is just that simple, they question it. I did.  As I continued to search around on their site, I found a demo and a video.  The demo gave me the gist of how simple the CMS is and appreciated the opportunity to test drive the system (unlike some other systems that did not offer a demo such as Dot Net Nuke).

The video also gives an inside look on the system.  The video is short, simple, and is worth taking the time to watch it.

Best Features

  • SIMPLICITY
  • Ability to send an email to update standard text, images, files, links, and adding new pages. 
  • No back-end to confuse the client.
  • No real programming knowledge needed to use the software.

Flaws

  • Lacking the dynamics (too simple) that many other CMS’s offer, like Umbraco.
  • E-commerce option is not available, so a third party will have to be used.
  • Does not offer photo gallery support

Cost

If the developer only has one website Simple CMS is free, but there are options to have more than one website. There are three options: 

  1. Basic option, which is the free one;
  2. Freelancer option, which is $15/month for 15 websites;
  3. Professional option, which is $20/month for an unlimited amount of websites.

Summary

Simple CMS also has a customer feedback page, there are pages of feedback mostly listing improvements.  Some of these comments have responses from the Simple CMS team saying that their request is in progress, but at the same time these improvements would take away from what Simple CMS is, simple. 

The best suggestion that I read was to add a help guide to the site which is nice for any CMS.

TBH Creative is an Indianapolis web design company and offers its own custom developed CMS for its clients with secure hosting.

We are reviewing other CMS systems for familiarity, review of features, and to help gain knowledge for our own CMS to best meet client needs and industry standards.