A content management system (CMS) manages the creation and modification of digital content. It typically supports multiple users in a collaborative environment.

CMS features vary widely. Most CMSs include Web-based publishing, format management, history editing and version control, indexing, search and retrieval. By their nature, content management systems support the separation of content and presentation.

Content management software solutions are typically used for enterprise content management systems (ECM) and web site content management systems (WCM). An ECM facilitates collaboration in the workplace by integrating document management, digital asset management and records retention functionalities, and providing end users with role-based access to the organization's digital assets. A WCM facilitates collaborative authoring for websites. ECM software often includes a WCM publishing functionality, but ECM webpages typically remain behind the organization's firewall.

Both enterprise content management and web content management systems have two components: a content management application (CMA) and a content delivery application (CDA). The CMA is a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows the user to control the design, creation, modification and removal of content from a website without needing to know anything about HTML. The CDA component provides the back-end services that support management and delivery of the content once it has been created in the CMA.

Digital asset management systems are another type of CMS. They manage content with a clearly defined author or ownership, such as documents, movies, pictures, phone numbers, and scientific data. Companies also use CMSs to store, control, revise, and publish documentation.

Based on market share statistics, the most popular CMS is WordPress, used by more than 28% of all websites on the Internet, and by 59% of all websites using a known content management system, followed by Joomla and Drupal.

Content management systems typically provide the following features:

• Search engine optimization
• Integrated and online documentation
• Modularity and extensibility
• User and group functionality
• Templating support for changing designs
• Installation and upgrade wizards
• Integrated audit logs
• Compliance with various accessibility frameworks and standards, such as WAI-ARIA
• Reduced need to code from scratch
• Unified user experience
• Version control
• Edit permission management