There are plenty of content management systems (CMSs) on the market, and some have more similarities between them than others. Two that come very close in terms of pros and cons are Joomla! and WordPress. Content management systems (CMSs) come in two broad categories–those that emphasize ease of use and those that emphasize functionality and customizability. In the latter category, WordPress and Joomla! are two of the best options.
Both are free, open-source, and easy to set up and use—with a few different nuances. So which is the right choice for your site or application? In this article, we’ll compare two top CMS platforms, Joomla! and WordPress, to help you decide which one is best for you.
An Intro to WordPress
WordPress is free, open-source, and powered by PHP, HTML, JavaScript, AJAX, CSS. Through the use of plenty of plugins, themes, and widgets, a WordPress site can be incredibly customizable and extensible, making it a good fit for small to medium-sized sites all the way up to more complex builds (which require the help of a skilled WordPress developer). Publishing content, updating plugins, and version updates are all very straightforward for beginners, and the security is excellent.
The more you want out of a WordPress site, the more it can be helpful to get a developer to work with you. With WordPress, you get what you put in—and the possibilities can be endless. The Advanced Custom Fields plugin gives admins even more control over how content and data is displayed, adding complexity where you need it to WordPress’s famously user-friendly admin panel. The Genesis Framework also streamlines development and gives you access to a ton of themes.
Sites that are powered by WordPress include TechCrunch, Walt Disney Co., the LinkedIn blog, and BBC America’s impressive multisite WordPress install.
An Intro to Joomla!
Joomla! is an award-winning free CMS that really does it all, balancing both extensibility and ease of use. It powers millions of websites and applications of all types: think anything from personal blogs to corporate portals and intranets. It’s built with PHP and MySQL (or MS SQL, or PostgreSQL), which makes it easy to install and set up for any developer who’s familiar with these technologies. No need to be super advanced, but Joomla! does require a bit more technical skill than WordPress out of the gate. As with WordPress, you’ll need to download Joomla! and set up your own hosting.
If you’re looking to build an ecommerce store or a social networking-style application, Joomla! performs as well or better than most other CMS options. Once you’re set up, updating and maintaining a Joomla! site is on par with WordPress. Should you need to add additional, special functionality, Joomla has thousands of extensions (many are free) in its Extensions Directory. These extensions come in a few different forms: languages; plugins; components, which are the most complex; files and packages; and modules, which are similar to WordPress widgets. You can find extensions for anything, from image galleries and slideshows to script integrations, URL redirects, and ecommerce functionality.
The core Joomla! Framework is different than the Joomla CMS, and it gives developers the ability to create PHP-based applications without the overhead that comes along with the whole CMS package. Hire a skilled Joomla! developer to leverage the Framework to do things like build integrated ecommerce systems with product catalogs and inventory control systems, add on handy reservation systems to a restaurant site, or integrate data reporting tools.
Sites that are powered by Joomla include Nintendo Nordic, Harvard, Linux, and The Hill.
Similarities
- Both offer a selection of templates. Customizable templates are the basis for designing your website whichever service you go with, though it’s worth noting that WordPress has more themes available than Joomla!
- Both have powerful developer APIs. The WordPress APIs also cover everything from metadata and HTTP to databases, theme customization and plugins. Joomla! has APIs for both its CMS and its Framework.
- Both extend core functionality with add-ons. In WordPress, 45,000+ free plugins and themes are how developers can customize and add functionality. For Joomla, that’s components, extensions and plugins, and there are around 7,000+ available.
- Both are free and open-source. With WordPress.org, you will need to arrange your own hosting and domain, but the software is free. Premium themes and plugins can cost more, too. Joomla! is free, too, with similar back-end requirements.
- Both require installation, setup, and hosting. Also, both have “one click installation.” They require you to download the CMS, install it, and set up hosting and purchase a domain. Also, both regularly release new versions in cycles, which require updates to plugins, extensions, and templates, etc.
- Both offer mobile responsive themes. A mobile WordPress site can be easily run on the same domain. Mobile Joomla! Is a great mobile extension, and Joomla! also supports Twitter Bootstrap.
Differences
- Joomla! has out-of-the-box multilingual support. The content language you choose can be selected under the Languages Manager in the admin area. WordPress has excellent plugins to offer multilingual support, too, so both are pretty on par.
- Mobile apps for admins. WordPress has a native app for updating your site on mobile; Joomla! does not have a proprietary one, but there are third-party ones available.
- Joomla! has unit testing and system testing built in. This helps you see what is working on your site and where there’s room to improve. You can get similar services for WordPress through a plugin like Optimizely that allows you to run split, multivariate, and A/B testing on your site.
- Joomla! has support for MySQL, MS SQL and PostgreSQL. WordPress just supports MySQL.
So which platform is right for your project?
In summary, the comparison between these platforms really comes down to two things: your skill level, and the complexity of your project. WordPress has a pretty massive following, and it’s easy to see why: it’s easy to learn and not hard to find your way around. But Joomla! has so many similarities and is very on par with its own ease of use.