Building a robust online presence is crucial in this vast digital world. When it comes to creating a website, two names stand supreme ‘WordPress and Joomla. Each platform boasts impressive features which makes it overwhelming to decide the best for your needs.
Fear not, this guide delves deep into minute details of WordPress and Joomla to help you make an informed decision. Let’s get started!
For more than two decades, WordPress and Joomla have been top website builders. Both platforms are innovating and adapting to meet the ever-changing needs of users and creators.
There are countless reasons to use WordPress but it is not the only CMS (content management system) that offers ease of building a site from scratch. On the other hand, Joomla offers dynamic websites, online apps, and published web components.
But the question stands, is it better than WordPress?
Picking the right website builder and CMS platform is crucial to creating a well-functioning site. However, if you end up choosing wrong. It can lead to extended downtime, additional effort, and wastage of time.
Depending on the type of content you plan to publish or the required flexibility, you might choose between WordPress and Joomla.
So, which website builder you should use for your business?
Let’s not get confused anymore.
In this guide, we will delve deeper into all the nitty gritty details of both WordPress and Joomla. By the end of this post, you should be able to pick the best-suited option for your needs.
Let’s dive in!
WordPress was launched in 2003 as a blogging platform. Today WordPress powers more than 42.7% of websites in the internet world which deals in more than just blog posting. WordPress holds a 62.5% market share in the content management system market.
Joomla was launched in 2005. This platform is used by more than 4 million websites in different niches. It holds a 5.4% market share in the CMS market. Joomla is the second most popular content management system. However, since 2010 Joomla’s overall market share has been shrinking.
WordPress is renowned for its quick and user-friendly installation process. Its dashboard is straightforward and clean which makes creating pages, adding content, and navigation a breeze. It allows you to visualize your content. Plus, WordPress offers a range of options in both free and paid plugins to extend your website functionalities without having prior coding experience.
Joomla setup and installation process requires some technical experience compared to WordPress. From installation to configuration, Joomla might need some familiarity with databases and web hosting. It is user-friendly for those with a technical background. Joomla comparatively offers more options and features than WordPress which might overwhelm beginners.
The learning curve highly depends on your prior experience and goals. For instance, if you have experience in HTML (hypertext markup language) or CSS (cascading style sheets), you will quickly learn WordPress.
Basic website creation might take a few days to weeks. For intermediate customization, you might need to dedicate weeks to a few months, whereas advanced web development requires ongoing learning.
Joomla’s learning curve is comparatively steeper than WordPress’s, especially for users having no experience in CMS platforms or website building. The following is the breakdown of Joomla’s learning curve.
Although the learning curve of Joomla is steeper, this platform offers a variety of resources including documentation, tutorials, and forums for users. You will also find video tutorials and online courses specifically created to learn Joomla. Plus, Joomla’s powerful customization options and features make it worth the initial learning curve.
WordPress and Joomla excel at creating and managing text-based content like articles, blog posts, news stories, and other heavy content. Both platforms allow you to embed pictures, audio files, and video. You get enough flexibility in creating customized content on both platforms.
As WordPress was originally a blogging platform, this platform offers a streamlined approach to creating, and managing, blog posts, categories, comments, and tags. To create custom content, WordPress requires plugins. From galleries, online courses, and event calendars to portfolios, WordPress offers vast options in plugins to make your site shine.
With core components, menus, and modules, Joomla offers flexibility in managing content. You get granular control over your content including its display and organization. Joomla has in-built content components for several types of content like forums, feeds, and galleries which eliminates the need to install additional plugins. However, Joomla CMS can be less intuitive for beginners compared to WordPress.
Joomla and WordPress can be cost-effective if you want to develop a simple site with basic functionalities. You should expect to pay between $500 to $2000 depending on the experience and complexities.
For complex websites with unique features, WordPress development is comparatively cheaper and can cost you $2000 to $10000 or even more. Remember these estimations can vary on project complexity, location, and developer experience.
WordPress development is considered more cost-effective than Joomla, here is why:
WordPress and Joomla are SEO-friendly with best practices. These platforms offer features for on-page optimization like meta description, title editing, and URLs for each content. WordPress offers a plethora of plugins specially designed for SEO. This platform provides a user-friendly interface to navigate through technical SEO aspects and ways to optimize your content.
Although Joomla offers a range of SEO extensions, they might not be beginner-friendly or widely used as WordPress plugins. Plus, SEO optimization in Joomla requires more technical experience compared to WordPress SEO plugins.
If you are a beginner with less SEO experience and knowledge, WordPress is the best pick to get started with. For experienced users, Joomla-specific extensions and in-built features would be sufficient for SEO.
Both WordPress and Joomla have a good past record of their core software security. Both platforms keep releasing updates to patch potential vulnerabilities. These platforms offer security extensions or plugins to add an extra layer of protection like malware scanning, firewalls, and two-factor authentication.
However, Joomla offers out-of-the-box security than WordPress. It comes with in-built security features like support for forcing SSL connections which WordPress requires an additional plugin to offer this functionality. Without needing a plugin, Joomla comes with two-factor authentication.
As WordPress dominates the CMS market, its themes and plugins are constantly targeted by hackers. However, a well-maintained WordPress website with robust security practices can avoid cyber attacks and be as secure as Joomla. You need to use reliable plugins recommended by developers, keep core software updated, and use strong passwords.
Joomla relies heavily on extensions to add various functionalities. Although these extensions offer flexibility, updating and managing all of them can be complicated. Joomla does offer advanced in-built security features but using outdated extensions or neglecting updates can compromise the overall security of your website.
Joomla provides in-built SEO features like keyword management and meta description. However, these features are not as user-friendly or comprehensive as WordPress plugins.
Both WordPress and Joomla are popular website-building platforms. But which one is the best?
As far as ease of use is concerned, WordPress is a clear winner as Joomla has a steeper learning curve. Also, WordPress development is more cost-effective than Joomla development.
WordPress handles basic websites and blogs expertly. Although Joomla also offers flexibility, it requires more technical expertise.
Both platforms offer a range of themes, plugins, and extensions, but WordPress offers a comparatively larger selection.
However, if you need a highly customized website with a complex structure, Joomla is a better choice but you should be ready for the learning curve.
Ultimately, the best website-building platform empowers you to create personalized digital space. Consider your website goals and technical expertise to pick your winner!
