Cascade CMS vs. WebWave

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cascade CMS
Score 5.4 out of 10
N/A
Cascade CMS (formerly Cascade Server) by Hannon Hill is a content management system, with built-in tools to help users eliminate stale content, increase digital outreach, and promote end-user adoption and accountability. Cascade CMS is designed for decentralized web teams in most major industries, including higher education, government, healthcare, and technology. Included is Clive, an engagement and real-time personalization tool for collecting information and using it to craft personalized…N/A
WebWave
Score 9.5 out of 10
N/A
WebWave — an alternative for agencies and freelancers for creating custom websites for clients with the support of CMS. Using CMS with no sacrifices WebWave is a CMS platform that gives a designer precision up to 1 px in every single detail just like in more sophisticated graphic programs such as Photoshop while remaining a drag and drop software. This is to make creating websites much faster without loosing on details. Spend less time talking WebWave…N/A
Pricing
Cascade CMSWebWave
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Cascade CMSWebWave
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeOptional$7 per month
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Cascade CMSWebWave
Considered Both Products
Cascade CMS
Chose Cascade CMS
Cascade Server is miles ahead in usability and reliability. With DNN, I had to jump through hoops to add and edit content, and trying to customize was not easy.
Chose Cascade CMS
Fewer outages with Cascade. The templates are better and easier to navigate.
Chose Cascade CMS
Our latest round of CMS evaluations we looked at OmniUpdate, Drupal, and Wordpress as possible CMS choices. It quickly became apparent that all of the upper tier products seemed capable of managing strong websites, but upon a deeper investigation of our needs Cascade rose to …
Chose Cascade CMS
Cascade CMS focuses on managing content and gives you the tools to display this content any way that is needed. While it may lack some features/extensions found in other popular platforms, the user management, workflow and template engine are the best you can get.
Chose Cascade CMS
There are several fine CMS products on the market, and each serves its purpose. For our needs, Cascade CMS is the best alternative.

Chose Cascade CMS
We selected Cascade server seven years ago, and the CMS environment at the time was clearly different than it is today. We decided to go with a vendor solution rather than a free solution because the long term cost in hosting a free solution is not, in fact, free; we've found …
Chose Cascade CMS
Because the (bad) Cascade decision was made quickly by a small team, we have a larger team and a longer timeline, with a growing list of functionality that we expect a replacement system to have. We've been looking into a number of other products to replace Cascade. Highest on …
Chose Cascade CMS
  • The learning curve is minimal compared to Drupal.
  • Implementation is easier
  • Cascade Server is secure
Chose Cascade CMS
I didn't have any input when it came to buying/using Cascade server. In fact, before using Cascade I wasn't aware that such a website management system existed! I imagined it was going to be much more complicated--editing individual code and CSS page by page, with very involved …
Chose Cascade CMS
Hannon Hill was chosen because of the architecture with the Cascade engine being separated from the published pages providing stability and security. The company is also focused on primarily higher education, the user group and feature set. The releases are always …
Chose Cascade CMS
The version of Sitecore that I use right now doesn't have a UI showing the assembled web page. That suits my current company's needs, but for most people, they want to see their changes within the tool as they make them, visible within their web page. Cascade Server does that …
Chose Cascade CMS
WordPress offers a wide range of prebuilt templates, but Cascade Server offers great customization for folder structures and workflows.
Chose Cascade CMS
We felt the overall level of customization that Cascade Server allowed us was the deciding factor in our selection. Its users and groups management was also very robust and provided us a better system, and overall better access, for content managers in our organization.
Chose Cascade CMS
In my limited experience with WordPress, I found it difficult to retrofit to use as a content managements system for a website. It's a great blogging solution and could easily be used to manage an organization's press releases.
Chose Cascade CMS
Cascade Server was the software I was required to learn. I have no further experience or suggestions for this software, other than its usage in basic website development functions. AutoCAT software allows for immediate access to basic functions of design, as well as the …
Chose Cascade CMS
This is my first foray into web-content management, and I am using it simply because my supervisor required me to.
Chose Cascade CMS
I have not used any other products similar to Cascade Server at my current position.
Chose Cascade CMS
Cascade was the College of Liberal Arts and the department's choice. I was a front-end user and web content developer. I know Cascade is widely used at the College and at other colleges and departments, but I do not know the reasons they selected Cascade.
Chose Cascade CMS
Cascade is a significant improvement over WebCRMA in virtually all respects: more powerful and intuitive user interface, better multimedia integration, and a a greatly improved function set in terms of editing, reviewing, and publishing content. Although I did not play a role …
Chose Cascade CMS
It wasn't my personal choice to go for Cascade Server for my organization. But as I already said, Cascade Server is good for managing parent child websites which are uniform in design. I guess the level up to which uniformity can be maintained and traffic can be handled by …
Chose Cascade CMS
Cascade Server provides more formatting features. It pretty much provides all the features that a standard web service portal has and the website is written in complex programming languages such as c# or VB .Net, JAVA, J2EE, JSP etc. At the same time, Cascade Server provides …
Chose Cascade CMS
I have used DreamWeaver before and that was much more difficult and stressful to use. Cascade Server is a dream (no pun intended).
WebWave
Chose WebWave
Fast load times: WebWave's websites have fast load times, which is critical for ensuring a positive user experience and better SEO performance.
Responsive design: WebWave's websites are optimized for mobile devices, ensuring that they look great and function well on any screen …
Chose WebWave
price, ease of use, and using a notes system with the client over the top of the page are all improvements against WebFlow
Chose WebWave
It is compatible with many WordPress plugins and offers many more possibilities than google sites, Wix, or similar builders. It is a WordPress as easy to use as Microsoft Word.
Chose WebWave
WebWave is easy, the sites are stunning, and I don't have to pay an arm and a leg for it. Usually, there is a drop in customizability using WordPress. But WebWave allows a great site and an incredible price. For that reason, I'm leaving a great platform in WordPress and jumping …
Chose WebWave
Due to WebWave's innovative and intuitive layer-based design system, it is infinitely more user-friendly than both Webflow and WordPress. Webflow's websites feel lighter and faster, but I'm sure WebWave will address this as they mature. Webflow's animation features are also …
Chose WebWave
Simply easy to use, all in one solution (management portal, design, development and email solution)
Chose WebWave
Only the traditional ones like WordPress with Elementor or WPBakery page builder. It's not an easy comparison. WordPress is the big boss but you have to buy a bunch of services, plugins, other embedded SAAS and such tools to make it work. WebWave, on the other hand, is making …
Chose WebWave
Easy to use and user-friendly. Nice interface.
Chose WebWave
In terms of flexibility and functionalities, WebWave falls behind Webflow. However, practically anyone with a basic understanding of web development or who can use a word processor will be able to teach themselves how to utilize WebWave. Webflow, on the other hand, is far more …
Chose WebWave
It's an easier, super complete option and cheaper Instead of paying everything separately like Wix, this option gives you all for a good price. And is the same with Elementor, you need to pay their license, the hosting, the domain, and connect everything manually, but this …
Chose WebWave
Most Wix and WebWave have the same features as well as their distinctions. They are pretty good on their own functionality. They have their own functionality. From the pricing perspective, WebWave is slightly ahead of Wix. The pricing of Wix is a bit more than WebWave. So, if I …
Chose WebWave
WordPress is a great product but I need to figure out hosting myself, also I need to make sure the theme I am using is mobile friendly.
We WebWave, I don't need to worry about any of those and the drag and drop builder is very easy to get familiar with.
Chose WebWave
With WebWave, the builder and hosting are in one platform. No more efforts to update the plugins and themes as in WordPress.
Chose WebWave
Wordpress is a more flexible and adaptive content management system than Webwave. In addition to the functionalities that are already built-in, I am unable to add any customizable plugins or add-ons. However, in the majority of cases, the inherent features of Webwave are …
Chose WebWave
WebWave is fairly easy to use. For novice users, it is easier to use than WordPress or Shopify. I think WebWave will be more SEO friendly than Wix. The price is affordable for small businesses/clients as well. The template system is much easier and takes less time than …
Chose WebWave
web starts, Convertri Pro, and other alternatives Webstarts has a lot of issues with mobile view. U have to rearrange almost everything again. WebWave on the other hand lets u group and save so that don't have this problem. Also, animations work as they should same with …
Chose WebWave
WebWave stacks up well with other website builders. Especially the all-in-one types. It does things well and things make sense when it comes to editing. There are a lot of options to help you get things the way you want. I like how it can grow with the users. I feel the …
Chose WebWave
To each their own of course but I'll say this: ClickFunnels is too narrow. Webflow is ok. WordPress has too many security issues. WebWave just works.
Features
Cascade CMSWebWave
Security
Comparison of Security features of Product A and Product B
Cascade CMS
8.0
Ratings
1% below category average
WebWave
-
Ratings
Role-based user permissions8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform & Infrastructure
Comparison of Platform & Infrastructure features of Product A and Product B
Cascade CMS
7.1
Ratings
7% below category average
WebWave
-
Ratings
API7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Internationalization / multi-language7.30 Ratings00 Ratings
Web Content Creation
Comparison of Web Content Creation features of Product A and Product B
Cascade CMS
7.1
Ratings
8% below category average
WebWave
-
Ratings
WYSIWYG editor6.10 Ratings00 Ratings
Code quality / cleanliness6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Admin section8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Page templates9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Library of website themes5.50 Ratings00 Ratings
Mobile optimization / responsive design7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Publishing workflow9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Form generator6.40 Ratings00 Ratings
Web Content Management
Comparison of Web Content Management features of Product A and Product B
Cascade CMS
6.9
Ratings
6% below category average
WebWave
-
Ratings
Content taxonomy8.00 Ratings00 Ratings
SEO support7.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Bulk management9.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Availability / breadth of extensions6.00 Ratings00 Ratings
Community / comment management4.80 Ratings00 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Cascade CMSWebWave
Small Businesses
ManageWP
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Score 10.0 out of 10
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Ecwid by Lightspeed
Score 10.0 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
RWS Tridion Sites
RWS Tridion Sites
Score 9.0 out of 10
10Web
10Web
Score 5.1 out of 10
Enterprises
RWS Tridion Sites
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Adobe Experience Manager
Adobe Experience Manager
Score 8.4 out of 10
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User Ratings
Cascade CMSWebWave
Likelihood to Recommend
9.9
(0 ratings)
9.6
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.1
(0 ratings)
10.0
(0 ratings)
Availability
6.7
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Performance
8.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
9.1
(0 ratings)
5.3
(0 ratings)
In-Person Training
7.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Online Training
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.1
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Ease of integration
6.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Product Scalability
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
6.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor pre-sale
5.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Cascade CMSWebWave
Likelihood to Recommend
Cascade Server is well suited with it's WYSIWYG editor being better than most editors that I have used in other systems. In context, editing makes adding content easy compared to the last CMS I used where you had to wing it and view the page outside of the CMS to see if it was correct. The ability mix HTML, CSS, and the Script of your choice anywhere and with ease.
The scenarios were Cascade Server is less appropriate would be in the use of compilers or programs like Visual studio. You need to go out of Cascade Server and go to other environments to perform tasks and then copy the result to Cascade Server. You can write directly in Cascade Server, but it's easier to do in and editor that is specific to a function.
Read full review
The WYSIWYG web builder marketspace is saturated, but there
are not many solutions out there that eschew table-based design in favor of letting
creators build sites where anything goes wherever you want. You’ll likely want
to skip this product if you need a plug-and-play solution where everything is
automatically responsively. However, if you have an eye for design, love
creative control, and like to sweat the details until you have made the perfect
website, WebWave is a must buy.
Read full review
Pros
  • Very easy-to-use. I trained over 200 users, and never once heard someone say that it was difficult to figure out. People generally left the training excited to get started managing their content.
  • Technology independent. We were able to put any language into it that our customers required: .NET, classic ASP, PHP, static HTML.
  • Customer Support. The Hannon Hill team was truly amazing when it came to helping their customers, including us. They always went above and beyond to fix issues, help customers figure out complex methods for using Cascade Server, and general support.
  • Annual User's Conference. This was a great event that brought Cascade Server enthusiasts together, and the entire Hannon Hill staff was present and available for customers to talk 1-on-1 with.
Read full review
  • WebWave's site builder is the platform's truly innovative feature. I've never come across another service that deploys a layer-based approach in web design, as most of them usually deploy a grid-based system. This is an incredible alteration that ensures WebWave behaves much like a traditional graphic design tool, thereby resulting in an experience that is a lot more intuitive and instinctive. I believe this has the potential to radically change the way people approach no-code web design.
  • WebWave provides automatic, daily backups and a free SSL certificate for every website. This results in excellent security.
  • WebWave's support team is first-class! I had some teething-issues in the beginning, but the support team quickly got me back on track.
  • WebWave's community/forum is an excellent place to vote and request new features. This proves the development team is committed to making WebWave better by listening to their users.
Read full review
Cons
  • Not much that I can add here, except that as a non-programmer, it can be a bit overwhelming to understand all the options and capabilities of the system. We have programmers who have been able to do almost anything we need with the system, but I can't understand it!
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  • Some scope for improvement in UX (colors are not very appealing). It is simple to use but design is a little dated. Especially in the builder section, I'd like to see modern design for buttons and maybe gradients also: as this is where visual motivation is also important
  • Some edits take effect only after pressing OK. That should be eliminated as it's an unnecessary addition. It's also kind of annoying to do that again and again, which can add up to a lot as we do so many small tweaks while building the website.
  • Few things (maybe glitches) in design. The rectangle below the footer was uneditable for me. I spent quite some time trying to figure it out so I'm convinced it's a glitch.
  • Website speed should be increased.
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Likelihood to Renew
Changing systems would require too much effort. Our institution is using Cascade Server, WordPress and Drupal but we only serve 2200 students so we have 1 too many content management systems. Reflecting on current technical resources we would like to drop down to 2. This effort hasn't moved forward because of the extensive work required to migrate content and train users in a new system.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Usability
Cascade CMS is completely usable on mobile devices, we can train our content editors in a single 2-hour session, and we support 1,000 users with a very small team.
There is a level of complexity for the system administrators, site managers and web programmers who implement templates and content types. But the complexity is neither arbitrary nor inconsistent – and once learned provides a powerful environment within which we can develop robust sites that are beautiful and powerful, yet easy for our content editors to manage.
Read full review
Very easy to use, intuitive, has many options and plug-ins, and is cheap.
Read full review
Reliability and Availability
Amazing customer service and VERY customizable.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Performance
Does a great job.
Read full review
No answers on this topic
Support Rating
They have always regarded any question or problem we encountered as very important. We have never felt that they ignore or downplay any issue and not once has anything been left unresolved. They also hold an annual conference where users are invited to attend and share their experiences and wisdom with the entire Cascade community. And with the care and support the provide, we all feel a part of that community.
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1. The support person does not seem to understand the issues, and seems like they go off to talk to somebody and revert back every 5 to 10 minutes. It takes up a lot of time. 2. There is a lack of reading material to address simple issues like changing the website name in the dashboard, pasting a code, etc.
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In-Person Training
Training was helpful.
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No answers on this topic
Online Training
Still needed that physical help
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No answers on this topic
Implementation Rating
The key to any CMS implementation is PLAN, PLAN, PLAN. Proper planning with Cascade can increase your satisfaction exponentially once the site migration/creation is complete. When all is said and done, your implementation can make your site run like a Yugo or Maserati. Be smart and deliberate in your decisions. Drive the Maserati. It is already paid for.
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Cascade CMS focuses on managing content and gives you the tools to display this content any way that is needed. While it may lack some features/extensions found in other popular platforms, the user management, workflow and template engine are the best you can get.
Read full review
Fast load times: WebWave's websites have fast load times, which is critical for ensuring a positive user experience and better SEO performance. Responsive design: WebWave's websites are optimized for mobile devices, ensuring that they look great and function well on any screen size. Wix simply just doesn't have that and I was really struggling with this issue. Cost-effective: WebWave's pricing plans are affordable and provide excellent value for money, making it a cost-effective option for small businesses and entrepreneurs.
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Scalability
I used it only a few times.
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No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
  • Initially, ROI was positive - because we completely redesigned the website when we implemented Cascade.
  • Over time, the inability to keep up with the latest interactive tools has reduced visitors time on site.
  • Also over time, the difficulty of use has led to less buy-in by backend users, leading to outdated pages, little timely information, and lower visitors.
Read full review
  • saved 30 hours per year per site (previously I had to manually run updates and check if everything is fine)
  • earns money for me without a touch (thanks to automatic billing of my customers for hosting and support) - additional (ca.) 120 USD per year per site
  • no negatives so far
Read full review
ScreenShots

WebWave Screenshots

Screenshot of Customize the interfaceScreenshot of Edit desktop websiteScreenshot of Edit mobile websiteScreenshot of Free stock imagesScreenshot of InterfaceScreenshot of Layers panel