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It’s never been easier to build your website or blog, thanks to content management system (CMS) software. Most accomplish the same goal: to provide anyone with the tools to build a professional-looking site within hours. With a CMS, you don’t have to write code to create pages or posts, nor do you have to know any CSS or HTML to modify the look and feel of your site, thanks to themes and plugins. They also provide users with powerful tools to control multiple sites successfully, integrate SEO best practices, and much more.
The type of website you want to create (portfolio, blog, or online store, for example) will help determine which CMS you may end up using. WordPress is the most popular choice, but it’s not the only CMS out there. There are many on the market, and some are better than others at catering for certain niches.
We’ll use WordPress as a starting point, discuss its best features, and shortcomings, and compare against the most viable alternatives. This article will cover the differences between the most popular CMS software so you can decide which is best for your website.
To keep things simple, your CMS should solve one basic question: does it match your business’s needs and resources? If you plan on employing a team of skilled developers, then an open-source CMS might be a good option.
Beginners and users on a budget will want an intuitive system with much room for customization. While some emphasize ease of use, others boast of their functionality and customizability, which can involve a steep learning curve.
Picking a CMS is the first step in building a website. You’ll want to start by looking at platforms flexible enough to meet your future needs while offering a return on your investment. Most importantly, opt for a system that matches your level of expertise.
WordPress is the world’s most popular CMS, powering over 20% of all sites. It’s used by organizations large and small, including such diverse entities as the Rolling Stones, MSNBC, and the government of Sweden.
In its early days, WordPress was focused on blogging, but new iterations have added more features and an expansive plugin library. The software is now a full-scale CMS and is frequently used to design powerful websites. WordPress is easy to use, it has a huge community around it, and there are plugins available for almost every scenario.
For quick reference, WordPress’s standout features include:
No CMS is perfect, and there’s always room for improvement. Here are a few points we’d like to see WordPress work on in future versions:
👓 Recommended reading: What is WordPress? →
Since WordPress is the forerunner in the CMS market, we weighed it up against the competition to highlight the differences between the software and what they are best suited for. Picking a CMS is the first step in building a website. You’ll want to start by looking at platforms flexible enough to meet your future needs while offering a return on your investment. Most importantly, opt for a system that matches your level of expertise.
Our analysis includes these deciding attributes:
A key component of a successful website is how it’s hosted.
When choosing a platform, consider the cost of developing and maintaining a website. The end costs depend on your needs, so ensure your chosen platform allows you to get what you need within budget.
Beginners want a platform that helps them create websites easily without spending too much time learning new skills, especially not code.
The appearance of your site plays an important role in its success; your brand should stand out through good-looking design and a user-friendly interface.
The availability of third-party themes and plugins and adapting the design and use of apps to add more features to your site.
Most beginners look to selling things online, and the ability to implement e-commerce is an important feature for any CMS platform.
All websites are prone to security risks, and how your CMS protects your site impacts your site's security.
A CMS with an active developer community has the most up-to-date add-ons and the most support, such as online tutorials and Q&As.
WordPress is available on two very different platforms. The key difference between them comes down to hosting.
WordPress.com is an all-in-one package with free hosting. To use WordPress.org, you need to take care of hosting yourself with a Managed WordPress Hosting service such as Namecheap’s EasyWP, which offers an all-in-one dashboard, an easy backup and restore tool, and 99.9% uptime.
As well as WordPress hosting, Namecheap offers several hosting plans such as Shared Hosting, Reseller Hosting, and Email Hosting — depending on your specific needs.
WordPress is free until you want extra features typically included with a WordPress.org installation. WordPress.org includes thousands of free add-ons. You pay for domain registration and hosting, plus optional premium themes and plugins.
Both versions have intuitive user interfaces, and using the functions is straightforward. Technically, WordPress.com has the edge on ease of use since installation and hosting are taken care of.
Both platforms let you design your pages with themes from the theme repository. While the WordPress.org script offers endless opportunities to customize themes and upload more, WordPress.com users must upgrade to customize their site's themes.
When it comes to themes and plugins, WordPress.org allows access to any plugin, free or paid to maximize the potential of the CMS. While WordPress.com includes built-in plugin-like features, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan to add plugins from the directory.
Monetizing your site is easier with self-hosted and cloud-hosted WordPress. You can’t create an online store with WordPress.com without a premium plan, starting at $540 per year. One important note regarding the free WordPress.com plan: your site comes loaded with WordPress branding and banner advertisements you won’t make money from. Again, upgrading your plan will remove these.
Self-hosted WordPress.org installations offer complete branding freedom from the beginning. If you wish to generate revenue from advertisements on your pages, you can add them with plugins. Sell as many ads as you want, and most importantly, keep 100% of what you earn.
WordPress.com users don’t have to concern themselves with site security. All their site security and maintenance are taken care of. With WordPress.org, you are wholly responsible for keeping your site secure, including updates, backups, and, most importantly, optimization.
In terms of resources, both WordPress platforms are universally supported, including an abundance of developers. Since WordPress is community-driven, a community of volunteer developers offers guidance to users of the site and further the development of the WordPress platform.
While you can certainly build and manage your site independently, hiring a WordPress development company is an option to consider if you desire professional assistance. This route can help ensure your site is efficiently constructed and customized to meet your specific goals, but it's not a necessity for everyone.
While you can create a website with the free version of WordPress, we can’t underestimate the value of plugins to maximize the potential of your website. Also, if you want to keep all the revenue you make, choosing WordPress.com will give you full control over your sites and income. You may switch from WordPress.com to WordPress.org or any other platform. Namecheap can arrange that for you.
Just over a million websites are powered by Drupal, making it the third most popular CMS in the world. Drupal is regarded as the most powerful CMS with the most potential for building a wider variety of complex projects and web applications. However, it’s also the most difficult to use, which doesn’t sit well with absolute beginners.
Drupal and WordPress have similarities — both are free with a wide variety of add-ons for functionality, and both have a loyal following of users and developers. They were released only a couple of years apart, yet WordPress has gained much more popularity due to its ease of use. Whether WordPress is deserving of its following is subjective. If you know how to use Drupal features, it’s brilliant. If not, you’ll be left confused, rendering the platform useless.
Let’s look at how WordPress and Drupal match up:
Both CMSs are self-hosted. Therefore, the costs will depend on your chosen plan. Site performance might differ between platforms. Both have SEO built into them, while Drupal was built specifically to be SEO-friendly, WordPress users have many plugins to enhance this.
Both platforms are free to download and install, yet the costs of building the platforms differ. Hiring outside help for Drupal will be more expensive than WordPress due to a lack of developers trained in their platform.
To successfully build a website powered by Drupal, you need to learn the basics of coding. Drupal applies a more technical approach to structuring your website and defining its layout than WordPress, which can be off-putting for beginners.
Both CMSs can do a lot in terms of content management and performance. Drupal offers an intuitive and minimalistic interface with pre-configured structures and components that let you build a specific website style, all without any extensive coding.
Add functions such as content themes and plugins from the main menu (WordPress) and use modules (Drupal) to tweak your site exactly how you want. Since websites powered by Drupal rely less on plugins (modules) than WordPress sites, they often perform better. This is because they aren’t as resource-intensive - accomplishing the same results requires much more effort than using WordPress. If you’re experienced with HTML, you’ll find Drupal offers better scalability, one of its standout features. It can be scaled up more than other CMSs, which makes it the most enterprise-ready. A lot of the world’s busiest websites run on their platform for exactly this reason.
For an enterprise WordPress development agency, recognizing when to leverage WordPress's flexibility and when to employ Drupal's superior scalability can be the difference between a site that's merely functional and one that's truly enterprise-grade.
Creating an e-commerce site is straightforward, regardless of whether you choose WordPress or Drupal. Simply use a plugin like WooCommerce with WordPress and a module with the Drupal platform.
For a CMS that powers official government websites, Drupal’s security capabilities aren’t in question. With plugins, WordPress can easily counter any security shortcomings. Keeping the site up to date is crucial for site security; this is light work with WordPress. Drupal users will need a developer to handle installing or updating software and so-called modules.
Similar to WordPress, Drupal offers its users extensive documentation and excellent support through its website. WordPress has an abundance of keen developers, but the platform doesn’t extend as much room for customization as Drupal. Developers can tweak Drupal to their heart’s content, which is why you see many Drupal sites that are very unique in nature.
Both are great tools, ideal for different types of websites. Drupal requires the most technical expertise of all CMS; it can also produce the most advanced sites once you master the ropes. However, it is not the best choice for anyone unable to commit to learning the software or hiring someone.
WordPress and Ghost CMS are both popular content management systems (CMS) used for publishing content on the web. While they share some similarities, they have distinct features that set them apart. Let’s explore how Ghost CMS differs from WordPress and the scenarios in which you might prefer one over the other.
Ghost CMS simplifies hosting by providing its own managed hosting service, Ghost(Pro). This can be advantageous for users who prefer a hassle-free hosting experience without the need to manage servers and updates.
WordPress is known for its versatility, offering a wide range of features and functionalities. However, this versatility can sometimes lead to complexity, especially for users who primarily want a straightforward blogging platform. Ghost CMS, on the other hand, is designed with a strong focus on blogging and content creation. It offers a simpler and more streamlined user interface, making it an excellent choice for bloggers and writers who prioritize content presentation and writing experience over extensive plugin options.
One notable feature that sets Ghost CMS apart from WordPress is its native support for Markdown. Markdown is a lightweight markup language that allows writers to format text quickly and efficiently. While WordPress also supports Markdown through plugins, Ghost CMS integrates it seamlessly into its core functionality. This is a significant advantage for writers who prefer a distraction-free writing environment with Markdown formatting.
Ghost CMS simplifies content organization by primarily using tags and dynamic routing. This makes it an excellent choice for bloggers and publications that want to focus on creating and categorizing content without the complexities of custom post types and taxonomies.
WordPress boasts a vast library of themes and plugins, making it highly customizable for various website types. Users have the freedom to choose from thousands of themes and extend functionality through plugins. Ghost CMS takes a different approach by offering a more limited selection of themes and a built-in Handlebars templating engine for customization. While Ghost themes are less abundant than WordPress themes, they often prioritize performance and minimalism.
WordPress has a massive and diverse user community, resulting in a vast knowledge base, numerous tutorials, and an abundance of third-party resources. Ghost CMS, while growing, has a smaller community in comparison. However, it offers official support and documentation for users, ensuring a reliable resource for assistance.
Choose Ghost CMS if you prioritize a simple and elegant blogging experience with native Markdown support. Ghost CMS is ideal for bloggers and writers who want to focus on content creation without getting lost in a sea of features and options. Consider WordPress if you require a versatile CMS for complex websites, e-commerce, or extensive customization. WordPress is suitable for users who value a wide range of themes, plugins, and community support.
Joomla! is a free, award-winning CMS that does a great job of balancing extensibility and accessibility. Joomla! is very straightforward to use, which explains in part its mass appeal.This CMS powers millions of websites and online applications covering corporate websites to personal blogs, and several intranets, including Nintendo, Nordic, Harvard, and Linux.
In a straight comparison, Joomla! and WordPress come closest regarding similarity, and these two are the best options for functionality and customizability. Both are free, open-source, and easy to set up and use, and both are suitable for anyone from bloggers to experienced web designers. —with a few different nuances.
Both are self-hosted, and most hosting providers have both Joomla! and WordPress as an option in their web tool section.
Both CMSs are free to use. To create something with Joomla! you might incur the extra cost of a developer, depending on your level of skill.
Joomla! and WordPress have similar back-end requirements, Joomla! users need more technical skills than those using WordPress out of the box. At the same time, the WordPress platform is considered the best suited for beginners, Joomla! isn’t too far behind. With a small amount of effort to understand the Joomla! structure and terminology, you’ll be able to create fairly complex sites.
Both platforms offer customizable themes, albeit WordPress provides much more than Joomla!. Each platform provides users with an intuitive user interface to update and modify their site design and layout.
Like WordPress, Joomla! has a strong developer community supplying many free, open-source plugins and extensions. However, Joomla! comes with built-in multi-language support, while you need to download a separate plugin like Polylang for multilingual capabilities in WordPress.
If you want to build a site with an integrated e-commerce store or a social networking-style app, Joomla! handles this well, providing e-commerce extensions to manage your content and products in the same place. Similarly, you can add plugins to create a store with WordPress.
Once your initial site build is complete, updating and maintaining a Joomla! site is on par with WordPress. Both regularly release new versions of their software, and each update requires all plugins, extensions, and templates to be individually updated each time. The difference is, Joomla! updates are more frequent and often require more work.
WordPress and Joomla! both have sizable developer communities. However, Joomla! has a far more complex structure. Even the most experienced developers must go through a learning curve to fully grasp Joomla!'s layout.
Choosing between Joomla! and WordPress comes down to two things: your level of skill and the complexity of your website build. Where Joomla's strength is in its complexity, WordPress empowers people with the tools to build websites with relative ease.
The Squarespace CMS offers a straightforward user interface that rivals WordPress. However, their hosting plans are restrictive and missing many standard features such as customization, themes, and addons.
Unlike self-hosted WordPress, Squarespace-hosted websites include the cost of hosting in the monthly price. Their bundled approach includes ensuring your hosting is compatible and optimized for your website, providing web analytics, and monitoring your site speed and website security.
Running a site on Squarespace can cost as little as $8 per month, which is similar to any standard WordPress shared hosting plan. However, you’re stung with extra monthly fees with any additional Squarespace features you use. Their basic plan is very limited — it comes with few features and add-ons as well as a limit on the number of pages available and products you can sell. WordPress also beats Squarespace on plan flexibility. Simply put: you can use your WordPress site any way you want and pick from a wide choice of hosts.
Since Squarespace doesn’t come with many choices, it’s very simple to navigate and easy to use. Absolute beginners can write and publish content with relative ease. Adding images, video, and audio files is more straightforward than WordPress. Using a drag-and-drop editor makes creating pages in Squarespace extremely easy, even for those completely new to website building. While WordPress is intuitive, there is a slight learning curve. This can be confusing at first, but it’s more flexible in the long run.
Squarespace’s tagline is Build it Beautiful, and their design templates live up to this. However, customizing a template or creating your own designs requires extensive knowledge of JSON and CSS.
Ease of use is one thing, but Squarespace seriously falls behind regarding extensibility. Templates and customization are limited, and you can only change certain features using the site customizer feature. Additionally, you're limited to plugins and features that come built-in. WordPress, on the other hand, harnesses its power through its extensibility, offering thousands of plugins to add new features.
E-commerce with Squarespace is adequate if you want to sell a few products on a single page as a sideline, but it’s not ideal for websites that are e-commerce first.
Each Squarespace plan has a restriction on how many products you can sell, and that makes it much more expensive than using shared hosting to sell products on WordPress. It’s not possible to accept international payments with Squarespace since you can only use Stripe for payment processing, which is only available in a select few countries. Limiting your customer base is not ideal for a growing business.
As mentioned, Squarespace adopts an all-in-one platform that takes care of your site’s security. Unlike WordPress, you don’t need to buy and configure security software. Anyone trying to hack your site is Squarespace’s responsibility. Squarespace also takes care of backups.
Squarespace users can have some of the benefits of self-hosting, the Squarespace full developer platform. This developer-friendly space unlocks some extra functionality, Git, for example, and the ability to export data in the event you want to leave. With both CMSs, the content you create on your site is yours. However, WordPress provides easier-to-manage tools to export your site without restrictions. Squarespace users have access to professional support if and when they need it at no extra cost via live chat and email tickets. Consult their in-house customer forum instead of browsing support forms or hiring a professional, as is the standard with WordPress.
All in all, Squarespace limitations aren’t compatible with the growth of an online business. While WordPress beats Squarespace on web publishing services for any website, the simplicity of the Squarespace platform makes it a great choice for small sites needing limited functionality. Aside from this, WordPress outperforms Squarespace in every sense.
Established in 2006, Wix CMS has grown predominantly through word of mouth, a testament to its user-friendly interface. While it offers unparalleled simplicity for web development, the platform does have constraints when it comes to customization and extensibility with add-ons.
Wix not only offers a user-friendly website builder but also provides hosting as part of the package. This means users can craft their site using Wix's tailored software and tools, and have it hosted directly on their platform, offering an all-inclusive web development experience.
At a glance, Wix's basic plan offers a straightforward entry into website creation. But there's a trade-off: your website will be a subdomain (like http://sitename.wix.com/sitename) and will feature Wix advertisements.
As you aim for more advanced features and customization, the cost of Wix plans quickly ascends. While their paid tiers, ranging from basic to VIP and e-commerce, come packaged with specific services tailored to different needs, none offer unlimited bandwidth or file storage. When stacking up these costs against industry competitors, Wix's pricing is generally on the higher side.
On the other hand, while WordPress requires some tech-savviness, its open-source nature means that many advanced features Wix charges for are available for free or at a much lower cost with WordPress. It's a valuable consideration for those weighing flexibility and cost-efficiency in their website-building journey.
Both WordPress and Wix are renowned for user-friendliness, but they deliver it differently. Wix boasts an intuitive AJAX-driven drag-and-drop functionality, allowing even novices to seamlessly design and organize content. This direct, hands-on approach is a hallmark of Wix, making website building accessible to all. However, this ease has a trade-off; Wix's platform has historically had issues with SEO, as Google bots occasionally struggle to crawl their sites.
Conversely, WordPress, though slightly more complex initially, offers a vast array of plugins and themes. Once users familiarize themselves with its basics, they access an expansive toolkit, many optimized specifically for SEO. Thus, while Wix provides immediate simplicity, WordPress offers adaptability and robust SEO potential in the long run.
Wix has several hundred customizable templates, but this doesn’t compare to the tens of thousands of WordPress themes. Most are free, while others require monthly payments and vary in price.
While not quite up to WordPress’s designs, Wix has a solid selection of modern themes. To create a unique site, changing the layout and rearranging items is a breeze, but there is a catch: you can’t switch from one theme to another at whim, unlike WordPress, where you can modify them unrestricted.
Just like WordPress, Wix is free. However, the basic free plan doesn’t offer add-ons. To access important add-ons such as analytics tools and e-commerce plugins, you’ll need to upgrade to one of their premium paid plans and pay for additional add-ons outside of the plan. While the cost of running a WordPress site rises if you use premium plugins, you have access to thousands of free apps and plugins to keep costs down.
Build an e-commerce site with Wix using their eCommerce Premium Plan. You can store up to 10GB with 20GB bandwidth or opt for WordPress and find more choice hosting plus a larger data allowance. Above all, Wix shops are quick to set up and look the business, but they can’t compete with more powerful e-commerce platforms, such as self-hosted WordPress with the WooCommerce plugin.
Wix simplifies hosting by taking care of all websites on its own servers, ensuring security through its dedicated professionals. In contrast, WordPress offers more flexibility but requires users to be proactive with security, necessitating the use of security plugins and consistent updates to safeguard sites.
While Wix offers limited resources in terms of developer availability and online support hubs, WordPress boasts a vast ecosystem of developers and extensive online resources, providing site builders with a wealth of information and assistance.
When exploring the capabilities of both platforms, it's evident that WordPress stands out in terms of versatility and scalability. While Wix delivers a straightforward and user-friendly site-building experience, WordPress shines with its vast library of themes and plugins, offering users the ability to create a unique digital footprint tailored to their needs. WordPress emerges as the more robust and adaptable choice for those looking to expand and evolve their website over time.
WordPress and Magento are both popular platforms, but they serve different purposes, making them suitable for distinct types of websites. Let's explore how these platforms differ and when you should choose one over the other.
WordPress is renowned for its user-friendliness, making it accessible to beginners and non-tech-savvy users. Magento, on the other hand, is complex and best suited for experienced developers and businesses with substantial technical resources.
WordPress excels in content management and is ideal for blogs, small to medium-sized websites, and even some e-commerce needs. Magento, specialized for e-commerce, offers advanced product management but lacks the content management capabilities of WordPress.
Magento is a dedicated e-commerce platform with robust features for online stores. It provides extensive options for product listings, shopping carts, and payment gateways. WordPress can handle e-commerce using plugins like WooCommerce, making it suitable for small to medium-sized online shops.
WordPress offers numerous themes and plugins, making it highly customizable for various website types. Magento provides greater customization options for e-commerce functionality, making it the choice for businesses with unique e-commerce needs.
WordPress is SEO-friendly out of the box and offers numerous SEO plugins. Magento also provides robust SEO features but may require more technical expertise to optimize fully.
WordPress is cost-effective, with many free themes and plugins. Magento, especially the enterprise version, can be costly due to licensing and development expenses.
Magento also has a supportive community but often requires more specialized technical support. Building and maintaining a Magento website typically demands a higher level of technical expertise and resources. Due to its complexity, you may need to invest in skilled developers and technical support to handle the intricacies of Magento's e-commerce features effectively.
When it comes to tailoring your online presence, the choice between WordPress and Magento boils down to your unique requirements. WordPress, renowned for its user-friendliness, is an ideal pick for content-centric sites and smaller e-commerce projects. On the other hand, if you're venturing into a full-fledged e-commerce realm with a need for advanced functionalities and scalability, Magento stands out. Always align your choice with your website's objectives and the technical expertise at your disposal.
Concrete CMS, also known as Concrete5, is an open-source content management system (CMS) designed for building and managing websites and web applications. It's known for its user-friendly interface and focus on allowing users to edit and customize their website's content and layout easily. Concrete CMS is particularly popular among developers, designers, and website owners who value simplicity and flexibility.
Concrete CMS hosting works in ways similar to hosting WordPress, but there are some differences and nuances. Just like WordPress, Concrete CMS requires web hosting to make your website accessible on the internet. You'll need to choose a web hosting provider that supports the technology requirements of Concrete CMS. Many hosting providers offer packages specifically optimized for Concrete CMS hosting.
The core Concrete CMS is free, but you'll incur costs for hosting, domain registration, and any premium add-ons or themes you choose to use.
Concrete CMS offers a user-friendly interface but may have a steeper learning curve for complete beginners. It's well-suited for users with some web development experience.
While it offers customization options, Concrete CMS may not have the same breadth of design resources as WordPress. It’s suitable for various projects, including small to mid-sized websites. However, it may face limitations when handling extremely large or complex websites.
Like WordPress, Concrete CMS also has an active, enthusiastic developer community, although it’s not as extensive. The core development team hosts a community forum where developers and users can ask questions, seek advice, and share their experiences. You can also try Concrete CMS University, an online learning platform that offers courses and tutorials for developers and users.
Like WordPress, Concrete CMS websites benefit from regular updates and security best practices to maintain a secure online presence. The Concrete CMS team provides security advisories that inform users about potential security issues, their impact, and available fixes. Users are encouraged to subscribe to these advisories to stay informed about security updates.
Both WordPress and Concrete CMS have their strengths and are ideal for different types of websites. WordPress excels in its user-friendly interface, extensive customization options, and scalability, making it a top choice for a wide range of users. Concrete CMS may appeal more to users with some web development experience who seek a robust foundation for their web projects. Consider your specific needs, technical expertise, and project requirements when making your decision between Concrete CMS and WordPress.
Unquestionably, WordPress reigns supreme in the world of content management systems. Its unmatched user-friendliness has made it the top choice for non-developers, allowing anyone to craft professional websites without steep learning curves. Beyond its accessibility, WordPress boasts unmatched versatility – from personal blogs to full-fledged e-commerce sites, there's no limitation to what one can create.
With an abundance of themes, plugins, and a supportive community, WordPress leads the CMS pack. Its Achilles' heel may be security, but with the right knowledge and security plugins, even this concern can be robustly addressed. In essence, for a balanced blend of power and simplicity, WordPress is often the preferred choice.
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