Best Website Platforms for Law Firms in 2025

In 2025, law firms face unprecedented digital challenges – from soaring cyber threats to clients demanding seamless online experiences.

Your firm's website has to do more than look slick or sufficiently showcase your partners. It needs to provide your clients with the information they might expect from a leading international or national Band 1 firm - timely information that shows expertise across service lines, sectors and on macro economic trends to build trust in your ability to advise through complex transactions, regulation and disputes.

Your website should be an engaging platform that reflects your position in the market and alignment with your clients.

With cyber attacks on legal practices up and clients expecting the same seamless online service they get from consumer brands, your choice of website platform helps you securely incorporate AI capabilities, automate routine tasks, strengthen client relationships, and stand out in a crowded marketplace. The right website platform should allow you to deliver your services to your partner stakeholders in the same efficient manner that they deliver services to their clients.

This detailed, yet straightforward comparison of legal-focused website builders, Content Management Systems (CMS) and Digital Experience Platforms (DXP) options cuts through the technical jargon to show how platforms like Squiz, Contentful, Adobe and more can help your firm deliver legal updates to the market at speed, integrate secure client portals, automate documentation, and boost your online visibility. It should do all that while protecting sensitive client data in an increasingly threatening digital landscape.

Skip ahead:

1. What is a headless CMS?
2. What is a Digital Experience Platform (DXP)?
3. An Introduction to Traditional CMS Platforms
   1. Drupal
   2. WordPress
4. An Introduction to Headless CMS Platforms
5. Contentful
   1. Strapi
   2. Sanity
6. An Introduction to Digital Experience Platforms
   1. Squiz
   2. Adobe Experience Manager
   3. Sitecore
7. A guide to making the right choice
8. Migrate to Squiz for FREE

Types of Website Platforms for Legal Firms

It can get confusing, so we’ll start by clarifying the main differences between each platform category below. Then, we’ll compare the pros and cons of each vendor within each category.

Traditional CMS Platforms

Traditional CMSs built many of the first legal websites and still adequately host basic content like lawyer bios, service and sector descriptions. However, they function as just content managers – not comprehensive digital solutions needed by modern law firms.

Law firms quickly hit limitations when trying to implement critical features like conflict-checking workflows, secure client intake portals, or case management integrations. When your business development team needs to track prospect journeys from initial research to consultation request, or your litigation department wants to offer client-specific document access, these platforms often require costly custom development and third-party platforms.

Most also lag in AI implementation, offering limited automation or content discovery capabilities that today's competitive firms leverage to demonstrate competence to sophisticated clients.

What is a Headless CMS?

Headless platforms separate the "body" of a content management system (the backend) from the "head" (the frontend). For law firms, this means your bios, service area descriptions, and legal updates can be stored once but displayed everywhere – from your website to client portals, mobile apps, and even digital signage in your office reception area.

IT teams appreciate their flexibility when building specialized tools like custom intake workflows that vary by legal service. Marketing teams, however, often find they have less control over design changes. When your legal teams need to quickly publish a new landing page for an emerging legal trend or update a lawyer's credentials across all platforms, you'll typically depend on developers – potentially delaying time-sensitive content about regulatory changes or new precedent-setting cases.

While headless architecture provides superior technical possibilities, law firms without dedicated development teams may face increased operational costs and slower marketing response times, particularly during a crisis or competitive legal area expansions. Without careful consideration of fit - this disconnect between service expectations and operational delays results in sub-optimal experiences for clients, operational teams and stakeholders.

What is a Digital Experience Platform (DXP)?

DXPs evolved to address law firms' need for more than basic website content management. They're designed to personalize client journeys, conduct A/B testing on consultation forms, incorporate AI for hyper-relevant content discovery, and integrate seamlessly with essential systems like practice management software and CRMs – all from one secure platform.

While traditional DXPs offer comprehensive capabilities, they often require firms to adopt their entire ecosystem. Modern "composable" DXPs provide greater flexibility, allowing your firm to select specific capabilities while maintaining compatibility with specialized legal tech tools you've already invested in. This matters significantly when integrating matter management systems or client-specific secure portals.

Ease of use varies dramatically between platforms, directly impacting adoption by lean Digital Marketing and Business development teams  – a critical factor we'll explore in our comparisons.

Now, let's look at how specific vendors stack up against the real-world needs of law firms.

An Introduction to Traditional CMS Platforms

Drupal

Drupal is known for:

• Robust security features including database encryption (though that strength is dependent on vigilant maintenance of modules and integrations)
• Extensive customization possibilities through thousands of modules and themes
• A strong development community - vital due to the highly specialized skills required
• Good control over user permissions and workflows (important when you have partners, associates, and marketing all needing different levels of access)

The challenges with Drupal:

• Teams struggle with Drupal's complex interface—this isn't a platform Marketing or content teams can quickly learn to update content.
• Even minor changes like adding new partner credentials typically require developer assistance, creating IT bottlenecks during time-sensitive matters.
• Security updates—critical for client confidentiality—become mini-projects requiring careful planning and testing, straining already busy IT departments.
• As your firm adds case studies, service areas, and client resources, the accumulation of modules can slow site performance and create conflicts.
• While Drupal is open-source, the specialized expertise to maintain it is increasingly expensive, particularly when competing with other industries for limited Drupal talent.

Best fit for: Large law firms with deep development resources who want complete control over their digital infrastructure, and have ongoing capacity to maintain the solution.

WordPress

WordPress is known for:

• Easier for marketing teams to publish content without technical support
• Offers extensive customization options through thousands of plugins and themes
• Extensive plugins that offer specialized functionality like client intake forms and partner directories
• Cost-effective setup for smaller firms or individual practice areas because it’s open-source
• Easy to find content managers familiar with the platform, reducing training costs

The challenges with WordPress:

• Security requires regular updates and hardening to protect confidential client information and matter details
• Performance load times suffer as firms add necessary plugins and practice management integrations
• Multi-office, multi-service firms struggle with governing consistent branding and content standards across the platform
• While initially affordable, enterprise-level security, performance optimization, and specialized developer support significantly increase Total Cost of Ownership
• Limited native approval workflows are inadequate for firms requiring multi-level review of published legal content

Best fit for: Smaller law firms or individual practice areas that need a straightforward content platform without complex integration, governance or security requirements.

Headless CMS Platforms

Contentful

Contentful is known for:

• Headless content delivery means profiles or and legal resources can be published consistently across websites, mobile apps, and client portals from one source
• API-first developer tools to make custom integrations straightforward
  Enforces content models, enabling consistent formatting of legal documents and updates across all channels

The challenges with Contentful:

• Marketing teams can't do much without developer support - even for basic changes
• The learning curve is steep, especially for non-technical content creators
• Costs can spiral as your content and usage grow
• You'll need to build a lot from scratch - there's not much out of the box
• Marketing teams require developer support even for routine updates to layouts on pages or more complex content updates
• Non-technical staff struggle with the content interface, hampering partner or attorney participation in thought leadership content reviews
• Limited out-of-the-box legal-specific templates for practice areas, attorney profiles, or case studies—requiring custom development
• Price increases with content volume and API calls, creating budget uncertainty as your content library of legal resources grows

Best fit for: Tech-forward law firms with dedicated development resources who prioritize sophisticated integration capabilities across multiple digital channels, and have complex content distribution needs across service areas or jurisdictions.

Contentstack

Contentstack is known for:

• Control over your set up – custom content models for specific practice areas, matter types, and profiles as required
• Multi-channel delivery of the same content published across firm sites, client portals and apps
• Visual editing tools to help non-technical staff view changes before publishing
• API-flexibility for seamless integration with legal-specific systems
• Enterprise-grade security to protect client information and data

The challenges with Contentstack:

• Not legal sector focused – firms need developer support as there are no ready-made templates for legal websites and needs
• Needs strong technical expertise, requiring a strong development team to build and maintain your digital presence as the learning curve for marketing teams is high due to interface complexity
• Some users report publishing delays with significant wait times (up to hours) for content go to live
• Scaling costs increase with content types and more users – significantly impacting total ownership costs particularly for large firms with many practice areas

Best For: Technology-forward law firms with heavy IT and development resources. Ideal for those requiring highly specialized content structures and prioritize complete control over their digital ecosystem. Be prepared for ongoing maintenance and support due to complexity.

Strapi

Strapi is known for:

• Control over your set up - custom content models for specific practice areas, matter types, and specializations without platform limitations
• Strong open-source foundation offers access to a large developer community
• Role-based access controls for managing content across different practices
• API-flexibility for seamless integration with legal-specific systems
• No licensing fees for the basic version (though you'll need the paid enterprise version for the security and support legal firms require)

The challenges with Strapi:

• Left on your own for implementation and ongoing maintenance with the free version — a challenge for firms without dedicated IT teams
• No pre-built legal content templates like attorney profiles or practice area descriptions
• Free version lacks the enterprise-level support critical when hosting sensitive client information or time-sensitive legal content
• Often end up spending more on development, support, security customization, and maintenance

Best For: Technology-forward law firms with heavy development resources. Ideal for those requiring highly specialized content structures and prioritize complete control over their digital ecosystem.

Sanity

Sanity is known for:

• Real-time collaboration features that work well for distributed content teams
• A customizable content studio that you can tailor to your firm's workflows
• Strong API capabilities for seamless integrations to other systems
• Enterprise-grade security with role-based access control and compliance with GDPR
• Maintains uniform presentation across all platforms and devices, reinforcing your firm's professional image

The challenges with Sanity:

• Demands significant technical expertise to implement and manage effectively
• Teams need to learn GROQ, Sanity’s proprietary query language adding complexity
• You'll need to build most legal-specific functionality from scratch
• Pricing can get expensive quickly for larger implementations with multiple users
• Small legal ecosystem with fewer prebuilt templates and plugins
• Non-traditional block-based editing system vs. WYSIWYG editors will require training

Best fit for: Law firms with strong technical teams who want a modern, flexible, custom solution and are willing to invest in building a tailored digital infrastructure.

Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs)

Squiz

Squiz is known for:

• Highly flexible platform that can be tailored to specific service and sector areas and client needs
• Powerful integration capability to seamlessly with your existing martech, document management and CRM tools
• Scalable architecture that handles large volumes of content and traffic, supporting growing firms with extensive case libraries
• Easy, no-code page building and AI tools - Marketing can create content, build pages, personalize and run tests in minutes - no developer reliance needed and no wait time friction with internal stakeholders
• Powerful AI-driven search and conversational capabilities generate hyper-personalized answers from any content source - such as legal documents, case studies, and practice area web content. Delivers this information as a curated page that includes an AI-generated summary, links to related legal resources, recommended articles on similar topics, and a chat interface for further questions.
• Smart personalization that lets you tailor content to different client segments
• Advanced governance controls with granular role-based permissions and approval workflows
• Security and compliance controls that protect sensitive legal content and client data, meeting major corporate and government client expectations
• More cost-effective than traditional enterprise platforms - with predictable pricing model based on usage metrics

The challenges with Squiz:

• Some assume you need technical expertise to use it - this is a misconception given their focus on ease-of-use, alongside advanced government-grade capabilities
• Fewer pre-built templates than niche legal vendors
• Less established in the legal sector than legacy platforms - but Gartner ranking is evidence of its enterprise credibility
• Initial setup requires careful planning to maximize independence from IT - this is easily supported by Squiz project experts or via their partner network if needed

Best fit for: Forward-thinking, mid-to-large-sized law firms that need secure and sophisticated digital experiences without compromising speed. Ideal for Marketing teams to drive performance through personalization, content discovery and optimization without developer dependence and for meeting client information needs with quick and easy content publishing.

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM)

AEM is known for:

• Advanced personalization to target content based on client profiles and behavior
• Deep analytics into how clients interact with your site and content
• Comprehensive digital asset management for your firm's growing content library
• Seamless integration with other Adobe tools (if you're already using them)
• Robust enterprise-grade security essential for sensitive legal information

The challenges with AEM:

• Get ready for a serious financial commitment with high licensing costs plus substantial implementation and maintenance support - both upfront and ongoing
• Implementation isn't just complex, it's a major organizational project requiring extensive planning, resources and often external consultancy
• Teams will need extensive training to use even basic features, creating potential adoption barriers and ROI inefficiencies
• Feels like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut for simpler needs
• As one of the most costly website platforms, you pay for more than you need - many features exceed the requirements of all but the largest law firms

Best fit for: Global, well resourced law firms with highly complex digital needs and substantial budgets. Ideal for firms with sophisticated personalization use cases and content capabilities across extensive service area.

Sitecore

Sitecore is known for:

• Solid personalization that can adapt content based on client interactions
• Efficient multi-site capabilities for firms managing multiple locations or practice areas
• Built-in marketing tools that help track engagement and automate content delivery
• Enterprise-grade security and compliance features
• Handles large content volumes and high traffic well

The challenges with Sitecore:

• One of the more expensive option in the market with high licensing, implementation and ongoing maintenance costs - in a similar vein to Adobe
• Requires Sitecore-specific developers and administrators that are costly to hire and retain
• Lacks specialized legal functionality that addresses unique law firm marketing and business development needs
• Integrations with legal-specific software and systems
• Requires substantial IT resources for implementation and ongoing maintenance due to platform complexity

Best fit for: Large, multi-national law firms with dedicated technical teams, substantial budgets and ongoing resources for ongoing maintenance. Ideal for those focused on delivering more complex use cases but can be overkill otherwise.

Making the Right Choice for Your Law Firm

Your website platform shapes every aspect of your firm's digital operations, and the difference between choosing the right and wrong platform can be huge. One empowers your marketing and business development team to drive business growth, while the other traps you in endless cycles of IT tickets, slow updates, or mounting costs.

Let's cut through the noise to find what works best for your firm:

For Large, Multi-Practice Firms

If you're juggling multiple service and sector areas and need serious customization and integration capabilities, consider:

• Squiz if you want enterprise power, without compromising on ease-of-use and agility
• Drupal if you've got extensive technical resources and want heavy customization
• AEM if budget isn't a constraint and you need a very sophisticated enterprise stack (and you’re all-in on the Adobe ecosystem)

For Boutique and Mid-Size Firms

Working with more focused requirements? Look at:

• WordPress if you need something simple and cost-effective for basic content management
• Squiz if you want enterprise features without the enterprise complexity and cost
• Contentful if you have a lot of technical resources and need multi-channel content delivery

For Tech-Progressive Firms

Have you got strong technical capabilities and want more flexibility? Consider:

• Any of the headless platforms (Contentful, Strapi, Sanity) if you want to build custom solutions
• Drupal if you prefer a developer-centric CMS with deep customization options
• Squiz if you need both technical flexibility and marketing autonomy to deliver performance fast

For Marketing-Focused Teams

Need to move fast and create great experiences without constant IT support?

• Squiz offers personalization, testing, search and AI capabilities without the technical overhead
• WordPress for simpler content management needs with minimal technical requirements
• AEM if you're already using Adobe tools, have advanced use cases and have the budget to support it