When we say CMS from scratch, that means when one programmer or team of them develop their own CMS. So, when a client wants a web application, he can hire one or more developers to make a CMS from scratch. Most developers in the first period of learning were making CMS from scratch as part of training. So, after that many developers think “I will make a good CMS, instead of paying proprietary CMS, or widely use Open-source CMS”. But is it a less costly and less troublesome way for developers and clients?

In this article, we will talk about comparisons between three types of CMS:

1. Open-source CMS;
2. CMS from scratch;
3. Proprietary CMS;

For developers, security can be a nightmare. So programmers can think “Open-source CMS like WordPress is most vulnerable on all web, so, I’ll make my own code which hackers don’t know”. But developers call it security by obscurity. So, every better hacker can use new methods to find vulnerability on that kind of CMS. Most hacks on Open-source CMS and proprietary CMS happen because of outdated extensions or outdated core. Also, every part of the invented CMS must be tested for security reasons, including extensions like shopping carts.

Is CMS from scratch good solution

For clients who want programmers to invent new CMS is very similar to paying for proprietary CMS. Clients need to hire good, skilled programmer(s) to make CMS. But who will own that software, developer or client? Client can make a contract with developers, so he can be sure that CMS is his possession. But every segment of CMS must be updated and tested for new vulnerabilities. That is a never-ending process. If the developer(s) finds another job, who will continue their work. If client hire a new developer, will he know how to continue work on newly invented software? Pay attention to these two facts:

• Drupal has two decades of tradition, and now is actual Drupal 9 version. In year 2021, Drupal had over 7,000 individual contributors, more than 1.3 million members in community, and it powers up about 1.2 millions websites!
• Proprietary CMSs also have tradition and dozens of clients. So it means that those applications have been tested and pretty secure.

So can these two systems be compared in any way with one or few developers who make CMS from scratch, which hasn't been tested and new on market.

For comparison, some machine engineers could have knowledge to make a car from scratch. But is it wise? Could they make it better than car making companies with decades of tradition? Answer is clear.

How I built a CMS, and why you shouldn’t | Hacker Noon

When we sum it all up, it is “reinventing the wheel” but a really primitive wheel, slightly tested and with really low maintenance. In regard to Open-source CMS like Drupal, CMS from scratch is a significant step back. Drupal is secured, ordinarily maintained, with no monopoly.

So, eDot.pro recommends using Open-source instead of CMS from scratch. Here is study, why our team suggest Open-source CMS instead of proprietary.