CMS
WordPress runs a huge share of the web, and the modern content stack has drifted to US headless platforms. But Europe has a remarkably deep CMS scene, including Umbraco, the Danish system this very site is built on.
For traditional and enterprise sites, Denmark's Umbraco, Germany's TYPO3 and Switzerland's Magnolia are mature, open platforms. For the modern headless and composable approach, France's Strapi, Austria's Storyblok, Germany's Contentful and Hygraph, and Norway's Sanity are among the best in the world. Austria's Pimcore and Norway's Ibexa add full digital-experience and PIM platforms, while Germany's Kirby keeps it simple and file-based.
Here are the European content management systems worth building on.
Umbraco
Known for: Open-source, flexible content management system built on Microsoft's ASP.NET Core technology.
Pricing: Free: self-hosted, Umbraco Cloud starts at €42/month
TYPO3
Known for: The enterprise-grade open-source PHP CMS that dominates the German-speaking web.
Best for: large corporate, government and university sites.
Strapi
Known for: The leading open-source headless CMS, self-hostable and developer-first.
Best for: developers building API-first content backends.
Storyblok
Known for: A headless CMS with a real-time visual editor, from Austria.
Best for: marketing teams editing components live.
Sanity
Known for: A structured-content platform from Norway with a customisable, real-time studio.
Best for: developers building modern sites and apps.
Hygraph
Known for: A GraphQL-native federated headless CMS (formerly GraphCMS), from Berlin.
Best for: API-first teams unifying multiple content sources.
Ibexa
Known for: A Norwegian digital-experience platform, the successor to eZ Publish.
Best for: B2B and enterprise digital experiences.
Pimcore
Known for: An Austrian open-source platform combining CMS, PIM, DAM and digital experience.
Best for: unifying content, product data and assets.
Magnolia
Known for: A Swiss enterprise Java CMS and composable DXP known for flexibility and integrations.
Best for: large multi-site, multi-channel organisations.
Kirby
Known for: A German file-based CMS beloved by designers and developers for its simplicity.
Best for: portfolios, small sites and bespoke builds.