A content management system (CMS) is software that helps users create, manage, and modify content on a website without the need for technical knowledge. In other words, a CMS lets you build a website without needing to write code from scratch (or even know how to code at all).

Instead of building your own system for creating web pages, storing images, and other functions, the content management system handles all that basic infrastructure stuff for you so that you can focus on more forward-facing parts of your website.

Beyond websites, you can also find content management systems for other functions – like document management.