Why WordPress left the other open source CMS competitors behind in the race of gaining popularity

Why WordPress is always a popular choice among all open source CMS?

Content management systems (CMS) make building a website or blog easier than ever. Most of them serve the same purpose; they provide tools to anyone to build a simple but professional-looking website in a few hours. Thanks to themes and plugins, you do not need to understand HTML or CSS to create or edit pages and posts in a CMS. Users can also integrate SEO best practices into their sites; manage multiple sites, and much more with their powerful toolset.

What type of CMS you choose depends on the kind of website you are building. WordPress is not the only CMS available. Many solutions are available, some of which meet the needs of particular niches better than others.

WordPress will serve as the starting point. We will examine its best features, and compare it with the most viable alternatives. Choosing the right CMS software for your website is critical, and this article will explain the differences between the most popular platforms.

If your business needs and resources match the CMS, it should answer one simple question:

Will the CMS meet those needs?

An open source CMS might be a good choice if you are planning to hire a team of developers. Budget-conscious beginners and users will want intuitive, customizable systems. Other programs emphasize functionality and customization, which are sometimes difficult to learn.

What is WordPress CMS?

Approximately 20% of all websites use WordPress as their CMS. The Rolling Stones, MSNBC, and the Government of Sweden are among the large and small organizations using it.

Originally focused on blogging, WordPress has evolved to include much more functionality and a large library of plugins. Now that it comes with full-featured CMS capabilities, it is frequently used to build complex websites. WordPress plugins provide solutions for almost every scenario, and the platform is easy to use.

Let us quickly recall these standout features of WordPress:

• Easy-to-use:

  You can use all the features without any technical expertise after installing the software in less than five minutes. Microsoft Word users will be familiar with WordPress’ editor.

• Add-ons:

  WordPress provides a variety of plugins, themes, and widgets for free. You can customize and extend WordPress to suit your needs, which is one of its great features. The script’s versatility makes it suitable for building everything from simple to complex sites requiring skilled developers.

• Integration of SEO best practices:

  WordPress CMS provides excellent SEO best practices integration. Any plug-in can be used for content optimization and keyword focus analysis.

• Great support:

  WordPress users are able to turn to a fantastic community for support, tutorials, and troubleshooting.

• Customizable:

  There are thousands of graphics templates in the WordPress script that you can use to customize your site. Many themes provide optimized versions of your main site for mobile and desktop devices. Enhance the functionality of your site with plugins.

What are WordPress Alternatives and how are they comparable?

There are two very different platforms on which WordPress can be installed, but the main differentiation lies in the hosting services that these platforms offer.

• A website’s host

  Host selection is an important factor in determining a website’s success.

• Expenses

  When choosing a platform, consider the cost of developing and maintaining the website. Choosing the right platform depends on what you need; make sure it fits your budget.

• Difficulty

  Newcomers need an easy-to-use platform that makes building websites quick and simple without making them learn coding.

• Layout and Design

  A well-designed, straightforward website can make it stand out; a well-designed website will also encourage users to stay on it.

• Flexibility in Design

  You can add more features to your site by incorporating apps and third-party themes.

• E-commerce

  E-commerce is an important feature for any CMS platform as most beginners want to sell things online.

• Security

  The CMS you use to protect your site has a large impact on the security of your website.

• Community of Developers

  The best CMSs are those that have active developer communities and provide the best support to their users, such as online tutorials and Q&A sessions.

Comparison between WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org

There are two very different platforms on which WordPress can be installed, but the main differentiation lies in the hosting services that these platforms offer.

• A website’s host

  Hosting is included in the WordPress.com package; however, if you want to use WordPress.org, you will have to setup your own hosting through a third-party service, such as Namecheap.

• Expenses

  When you install WordPress.org, you can access many extra features. Aside from paying for the domain name and hosting, WordPress.org gives you access to thousands of free add-ons.

• Difficulty

  In both versions, you can easily navigate the user interface and use the functions. It is technically easier to use WordPress.com since installation and hosting are handled for you.

• Layout and Design

  It is possible to create your web pages using a theme repository on both platforms. Users of the WordPress.org script can customize themes and upload more than countless others, whereas users of WordPress.com have to upgrade in order to customize themes.

• Flexibility in Design

  Themes and plugins can be accessed through WordPress.org, for free or for a fee, in order to maximize the potential of the CMS. To add plugins from the directory, you must upgrade to a paid plan in order to utilize WordPress.com’s built-in plugin functionality.

• E-commerce

  Self-hosted WordPress makes it easier to monetize your site. A WordPress.com store can’t be created.

  You will not earn money by using the free WordPress.com plan since WordPress branding is embedded in your site, as well as banner adverts. The upgrade will remove these as well. Installing

  WordPress.org on your own gives, you complete control over branding from the very beginning. By using plugins, you can add advertisements to your pages and generate revenue. It is important to keep all the earnings from your ads and sell as many as you would like. In contrast, WordPress.org does not allow you to sell ads unless you upgrade to a paid plan.
  Unlike the self-hosted platform, WordPress.com does not support membership sites with varying levels of access, making it more difficult for you to monetize your site.

• Security

  All security and maintenance of WordPress.com websites is handled for users. You are responsible for maintaining site security with WordPress.org, including updating, backing up, and optimizing.

• Community of Developers

  The WordPress platforms are both universally supported and developer resources are plentiful. Plugin developers provide guidance and support for users of the site and help to further the development of the WordPress platform since WordPress is community-driven.

With WordPress, you can create websites for free, but plugins are essential to maximizing the potential of your site. As well, if you would like to retain all revenue you earn, WordPress.com is a great choice. The choice is yours as to whether you want to use WordPress.com or WordPress.org. That can be arranged by Namecheap.

Comparison between WordPress vs. Drupal

Both platforms share many characteristics: they are simple and free, and their users and developers hold on to them with loyalty. Its user-friendly interface made it incredibly popular over time, despite the fact that it came out only a few years after WordPress was released. The question of whether WordPress deserves its following is neither right nor wrong. When used correctly, Drupal works flawlessly. The platform will become useless if you do not follow these instructions.

The comparison is as follows:

• A website’s host

  The cost of both CMS will depend on your chosen plan. Despite both platforms having SEO built into them, Drupal was built specifically with SEO in mind, while WordPress users are able to enhance this with WordPress plugins.

• Expenses

  In addition to being free to download and install, both platforms do not share the same costs to build. Due to a lack of developers trained in Drupal, hiring outside help will be more expensive than hiring for WordPress.

• Difficulty

  Learning the fundamentals of coding is necessary for building a Drupal-powered website. It is important to note that Drupal takes a more technical approach than WordPress to building your site, which can be off-putting for beginners. For this reason, we would not recommend Drupal to beginners.

• Layout and Design

  With regard to performance and content management, both CMS are very powerful. A Drupal website can be built without any coding at all thanks to its intuitive, minimalistic interface with preconfigured components and structures.

• Flexibility in Design

  Flexible Content allows the user to add themes and plugins using the main menu (WordPress) and to modify the content using modules (Drupal). Because Drupal plugins (modules) rely less on the platform, Drupal-powered websites perform better than their WordPress-powered counterparts. Therefore, they do not require as much resources – little effort is needed to achieve the same results as WordPress. Drupal stands out due to its increased scalability, particularly if you are familiar with HTML. A number of the busiest websites on the web run on their platform due to its greater scalability than other CMS.

• E-commerce

  Using WordPress and Drupal, you can easily build an eCommerce website. Use a plugin for the WordPress platform, or a module for the Drupal platform.

• Security

  Drupal is well known as a secure CMS for powering official government websites. Thanks to plugins, WordPress has an easy way to address security concerns. Maintaining the site’s security is crucial; WordPress users do not need to worry about this; Drupal users need a developer to handle the updates and installations of software.

• Community of Developers

  With its robust documentation and excellent support, Drupal makes its users feel at home on its website. Drupal offers a lot more customization options than WordPress, but WordPress has an abundance of avid developers. As a result, you see many Drupal sites that are incredibly unique in nature because developers can customize Drupal to their hearts’ content.

It is extremely useful to have these two tools in your arsenal. In recent months, WordPress has been discussed as being accessible and powerful, and yes, it is not overly stable or secure, but it still outshines Drupal. Once you are proficient with Drupal, there is no limit to the amount of websites you can build. This may not be the best option for those who lack the patience to learn the software.

WordPress vs. Joomla!

Joomla! combines extensibility and accessibility in a simple, free CMS. Joomla! is easy to use and it appeals to a wide audience. Many websites and online applications rely on this CMS, from company websites to personal blogs, and among them are Nintendo, Nordic, Harvard, and Linux intranets.

Compared to WordPress and Joomla!, Joomla! comes closest when it comes to similarity, and both of them offer the best functionality and customizability. The two are free, open-source, easy to set up and use, and anyone from a blogger to an experienced web designer can use them. -with some slight differences:

• A website’s host

  WordPress and Joomla! websites, both options can be self-hosted, and most hosting providers offer access to both software solutions.

• Expenses

  Neither CMS requires a fee. When Joomla! is used, it’s up to you what you create. Depending on your experience level, you might need to hire a developer.

• Difficulty

  Joomla!’s backend requirements are similar to WordPress’. WordPress requires more technical skills than users with no previous experience. Beginners, on the other hand, may be better off with Joomla! It won’t be long. Understanding Joomla! is easy if you spend a little time learning it. Using the right structure and terminology, you can create complex websites.

• Layout and Design

  WordPress offers more theme customization options than Joomla!, but both offer customizable templates. Each platform offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to update and modify the design and layout of the site.

• Flexibility in Design

  Joomla! is supported by a strong developer community, similar to WordPress. The software comes with many free open source extensions and plugins. You can use Joomla! if you want multilingual support. The WordPress platform does not come with this, built-in, so you will need to use a plugin such as Polylang to achieve the same thing.

• E-commerce

  Joomla! is a good choice for building an integrated e-commerce site or a social networking app. It handles this well, providing e-commerce extensions in one place where you can manage your products and content. Similar to plugins, you can create a store with WordPress.

• Security

  Plugins, extensions, and templates must all be updated separately when Joomla and WordPress release new versions of their software each month. Joomla! is the difference. It takes more work to update more frequently.

• Community of Developers

  Joomla! and WordPress have sizeable developer communities. Even the most seasoned developers must learn its layout in order to master the application.

The types of websites you create and the complexity of your website determine whether you should use Joomla! or WordPress. The simplicity of WordPress contrasts with Joomla!’s complex capabilities.

WordPress vs. Squarespace

A straight-forward user interface and intuitive interface make Squarespace a strong competitor to WordPress. The downside to this is that Squarespace’s hosting plans are restrictive and lack many standard features like customization, themes and add-ons.

• A website’s host

  Hosting is included in Squarespace’s monthly fee, in contrast to self-hosted WordPress. Their bundled plans ensure that your hosting is compatible and optimized to your website, provide web analytics, monitor site security and speed, and ensure your hosting is compatible and optimized.

• Expenses

  Squarespace is similar to any standard WordPress shared hosting plan in that it costs as little as $8 per month to run a site. Additional Squarespace features are stung with additional monthly fees. There is very little functionality in their basic plan. You cannot have more than a few pages and products available on the site. In terms of plan flexibility, WordPress beats Squarespace. There is a wide variety of hosts to choose from for your WordPress site.

• Difficulty

  Squarespace does not offer a lot of features, but its simplicity and ease of use makes it a great platform for beginners. Despite not being familiar with designing websites, Squarespace’s drag-and-drop feature makes it easier to add photos, videos, and audio files than WordPress. After learning it, it becomes easier to use. A small learning curve exists with WordPress, but it is intuitive.

• Layout and Design

  Building beautiful websites is Squarespace’s tagline, and their design templates prove it. Customizing a template or creating your own designs requires extensive knowledge of JSON and CSS.

• Flexibility in Design

  While Squarespace is easy to use, it severely lacks flexibility. The site customizer allows you to customize only certain features, and you can only use plugins and features built in. The power of WordPress lies in its extensibility, which offers thousands of plugins to enhance the platform.

• E-commerce

  Squarespace is adequate for non-e-commerce websites that are primarily online stores, but isn’t recommended for websites that get their revenue from e-commerce.

  Due to Squarespace’s restrictions on how many products you can sell, Squarespace plan is much more expensive in comparison to WordPress-hosted shared hosting. Since Stripe is only available in selective countries, Squarespace is unable to accept international payments. If your business is growing, limiting your customer base is not ideal.

  In spite of Squarespace’s ability to sell some digital and physical products, there is one important feature missing; it fails to offer secure membership websites, which are essential for businesses, bloggers, and professional writers. WordPress’ capability to create membership businesses is a compelling reason to choose the platform.

• Security

  In addition to having an all-in-one platform, Squarespace ensures a secure website. If anyone tries to hack into your website, Squarespace is responsible for it, unlike WordPress. Additionally, backups are handled by them.

• Community of Developers

  Self-hosting benefits, which Squarespace offers full developers, are available for Squarespace users. Developers have access to additional features, such as Git, as well as the ability to export data if they wish to leave. Although WordPress has tools that you can use to export your site without restrictions, both CMS allow you to create your own content. If and when they need professional assistance, Squarespace users have free access to live chat and email support. Consider using their in-house customer forum rather than browsing support forms or hiring an expert, as is standard with WordPress.

Squarespace’s limitations are incompatible with the growth of an online business. Despite WordPress’ superiority when it comes to web publishing, Squarespace’s simplicity makes it an excellent option for small sites that require simple functionality. WordPress performs better in every sense than Squarespace despite this disadvantage.

The last Verdict

A WordPress website can be built by a non-developer and looks professional. It is more user-friendly than other content management systems. A powerful website can be easily built by anyone and maintained by anyone without much effort. Besides providing a wide range of possibilities for creating websites, it has also been described as the most versatile.

Most applications can be better served by WordPress CMS, in our opinion. It is easy to use, offers great themes and plugins, and has a great community of support. One area it falls short is security, but by knowing WordPress and security plugins, you can easily get it ‘hardened’ and made secure.