Which CMS to build a database driven webapp?

Webflow CMS is amazing
https://webflow.com/cms

I would caution you to avoid building anything app related on WordPress. Please don't take this as me hating on the WordPress platform, it's actually really good, for building blogs. However, there is a trend in people shoe horning applications into this blogging tool.

If you're looking for something that is friendly to non-technical folks, I'd recommend checking out bubble.is. It's highly visual and it looks like you'd be able to accomplish what you want to do pretty quickly.

I'd also encourage you to pick up some coding skills with a legitimate web application framework like Rails or Django.

I've been using Middleman + airtable for prototyping sideprojects

You can also try Cloud Backend, a serverless database and api builder. You can use it in conjunction with Cloud CMS to generate dynamic pages.

https://cloudbackend.appdrag.com

Hey Marc - I'm a big fan of Processwire CMS (http://processwire.com).. it lets you build the data structures without overcomplicating things and their community is amazing.

That's an example of a data heavy site we built on it back in the day: http://usarl.org

Contentful is great and they have a solid set of APIs

I've built a number of sites using CraftCMS or ExpressionEngine:
https://expressionengine.com/
https://craftcms.com/

Both have built-in ways to relate content to each other, and some third-party import scripts to be able to get your data in there. Management is then pretty standard CMS-style.

You'd have to learn the templating code to produce your pages, but I think the data management and some simple entry would be fairly easy.

Let's face it. There is not good enough tool to accomplish your task since it's a too complex web app you want to build. :(

"A big database in a few specific niches"

¿You app is going to offer something in especial?, you always can start fast, just doing a static auto-generated site using tools like jigsaw, Jekyll, Hugo, etc.

You can use algolia (or another js plugins for search). This way you only have to take your data, match it to md/html templates, deploy to a object storage service like S3 and forgot about scaling and server issues.

Of course, you can't pivot fast with this method, but if your looking to build a lot of sites like carbase.my, probably this method will allow you to make them fast and check what works and what don't.

On the other side, you can spend a bit of time (if you have development background) doing a piece of software in any framework you already know (laravel, rails, django) and use that base for everything.

Django CMS

https://www.django-cms.org/en/features/
https://www.django-cms.org/en/case-studies/

From the look of it I'd say you're closer to a store (product-based) than a CMS (content-based).

I'd recommend looking into something like Magento and use a custom theme. There are some automotive templates here if you want to have a look: https://themeforest.net/category/ecommerce/magento?term=automotive

Because Magento is product based you'll have a easier time adding product search, comparisons, etc. The bulk of the work will most likely be about switching the purchase links to whatever your business case is.

Try Airtable.com

If you want to build something unique, it would be better to look at frameworks like Symfony, or RoR.

"big database" - define how big first, then you can filter out bad choices :)

Airtable

The reference website only has some basic listings and search mechanisms. You’ll want to establish your use cases and work back from there. If you want an easy UI and data modeling, look into Contentful. If you want more app-side capabilities, I’d recommend Firebase.

You basically need a platform that allows you to input a lot of filterable data about specific items. A CMS like WordPress.org would be great at something like this. To continue with the CarBase example:

• Each car would have its own entry ("post").
• Each car would have its own stats ("meta info").
• Each car would have its own reviews ("comments").
• Each car would have its own description ("body content").
• Each car would have a type (sedan, sports car, etc. – "categories").
• Each car would have a manufacturer (Lamborghini – "tags").
• Your database ("posts") would be filterable by the tags and categories you assign to each post. If you wanted your data to be filterable by each car's stats, you could probably find a plugin to do so.

If you don't know what WordPress plugins are, they're like extra features that can be added to WordPress. They add additional functionality to your site and are built by third-party developers – usually free, sometimes paid. They can be added with a single click so you don't have to deal with code.

You can use a free tool like local.getflywheel.com to set up a local version of WordPress. Do your development there – it will be a lot faster, cheaper, and easier than dealing with a host right now. When you're ready, push the site to a host and go live.

Assuming you want something to help you handle a basic outreach / possibly sales process:

If you haven't spent time with a CMS in the past, something like PipeDrive can be a great place to start. It's a simple and easy to understand UI, which helps you get up and running quickly with minimal fuss.

If you want something a much more powerful, Hubspot can be a great solution but it needs a little time to get your head around and can be expensive once you get going with it, but by that time, your company should be doing well. The basic CRM is free but add-ons and some of the marketing features are paid for.

If you want something really basic to get up and running ASAP, people often use Trello, Notion.so or AirTable. These aren't ideal but can work and are great for feeling out what you'd like in a CRM but allowing you to get started instantly.

It is hard to awnser this question!
What kind of database are you looking for?
Do you need a complete cms or just a interface to mangage the data?
I assume that webapp needs a api to interact with or does it query the database directly?

I summed some options for you below here:
you could try wordpress with ACF. With this plugin you could add and edit field to your needs. With the latest version of wordpress ships with an api to drive your webapp this is a bit hacky but works for simple webapps.

If you have a little of php knowledge or have the time to learn it, you could use October cms to build a cms that is tailord to your needs.

Otherwise you could look to a Parse (opensource self hosted or a hosted solution from back4app). It has a admin interface to manage data and has a nice api where your webapp can interact with.

There is a saas solution from google called Firebase (uses nosql) which can be easy and cheap to start with.

There are also other solutions like strapi, loopback, etc etc. But these require some programming expericence!

Sounds like a wix code usecase.