Why we choose Wagtail for modern website builds

A smarter CMS choice for growing brands

Choosing a content management system is about far more than what gets a website live the quickest. The right CMS should make life easier for marketing teams, support business growth and give your website the flexibility to evolve over time.

In this article, I explain why we use Wagtail at Dodgems and Floss, what makes it a strong choice for modern website builds, and why it works so well for brands that need more from their digital platform.

Looking beyond launch day

When we recommend a CMS to a client, we are not just thinking about launch day. We are thinking about what happens next.

Will your marketing team be able to update the site quickly and confidently? Will the platform flex as the business grows? Will it support better performance, better user experience and a more secure, robust foundation for the future?

Those are the questions that matter most, and they are a big part of why Wagtail has become an important part of our toolkit at Dodgems and Floss.

What is Wagtail?

Wagtail is an open-source CMS built on Django and Python. In simple terms, it is designed to give content teams an intuitive editing experience while giving developers the freedom to build something tailored, scalable and robust.

That balance is what makes it stand out.

Some CMS platforms are easy for editors to use but become restrictive when a business needs something more bespoke. Others are technically powerful but can make everyday tasks needlessly complicated. Wagtail sits in a very useful middle ground. It is flexible, modern and scalable, while still being straightforward for content teams to work with.

Why that matters for marketing teams

For many marketing teams, the CMS is not just a backend system. It is part of the day job. It is where campaigns are published, landing pages are created and updated, insight articles go live and messaging evolves.

If that experience is slow, clunky or too reliant on developers, it creates friction that teams simply do not need. The result is marketing teams turning to third party landing page tools, with the extra cost and fragmentation that comes with them.

That is one of the reasons we like Wagtail. It helps remove that friction. It gives editors more control over content and page structures, while still allowing developers to build a platform that is tailored to the needs of the business.

The result is a better balance between freedom and control. Marketing teams can work more efficiently, while the website itself remains strong, scalable and well built behind the scenes.

Why we use it at Dodgems and Floss

At Dodgems and Floss, we build websites that need to do more than just look good. They need to support brand storytelling, content strategy, lead generation, user experience and future growth.

That means we need technology that can keep up.

Wagtail gives us the flexibility to create bespoke digital experiences around a client’s brand and business goals, without forcing them into restrictive templates or leaving their internal team with something cumbersome to manage. It lets us shape the right solution around the project, rather than bending the project around the limitations of the platform.

For us, that is a big advantage.

Practical benefits that make a difference

There are also some very practical reasons why Wagtail is such a strong choice.

Because it is open source, clients are not tied into heavy licensing costs simply to access a powerful platform. Its Django foundation also gives it strong technical credibility, particularly around security, stability and development best practice.

It is also well suited to the way modern websites need to function. Websites today are rarely static brochure sites. They are active business tools. They need to support multiple content types, integrations, mobile-first experiences and, in some cases, more headless or composable approaches.

Wagtail gives us room to support those needs now, while also helping clients stay flexible for what comes next.

Not just theory, but real project experience

This is not just a platform we talk about. It is one we actively use.

Dodgems and Floss is featured on Made with Wagtail as a Wagtail developer, with a growing portfolio of projects listed there. That is important because it shows we are not recommending the platform in theory. We are designing, building and delivering real websites with it.

That experience matters. It means we understand not just how Wagtail works technically, but how it performs in practice for brands, internal teams and long-term digital growth.

It also reflects how we like to work as an agency. We choose platforms we trust, use them in the real world, and recommend them because they help us create better outcomes for clients.

Is Wagtail right for every business?

No CMS is right for every single project, and this is not about suggesting every business should switch systems overnight. We work with a range of platforms and always recommend the solution that best fits the client’s goals, internal team and long-term digital needs. Wagtail is simply one we often prefer because of the balance it offers between flexibility, usability and scalability.

For some businesses, a simpler system may be enough. But for organisations with growing content demands, multiple stakeholders, more ambitious user experience goals or a website that plays an active role in marketing and growth, the CMS decision becomes much more important.

In those cases, Wagtail is a very strong option.

Why we continue to choose Wagtail

We choose Wagtail because it helps us build websites that are robust, flexible and genuinely useful for modern teams.

It gives marketing teams more control. It gives developers more freedom to build properly. And it gives businesses a stronger platform for growth.

At Dodgems and Floss, we care a lot about what happens after launch. We want the websites we create to keep working hard for our clients long after the project is delivered. That means making smart choices about design, development and the platforms sitting underneath it all.

Wagtail is one of those smart choices.

Not because it is the flashiest name in the market, but because it is well built, future-facing and practical for the way modern digital teams work.

And in our view, that is exactly what good technology should be.