
Joomla or Wordpress: Which CMS to Choose for Your Website?
- Paul Venning-Pridham
- Blog
Are you developing a new website for your business? Are you confused which is the best Content Management System (CMS) for your new website? No worries! This article will help you know more about the two most popular CMS platforms Joomla and WordPress. So if you want to know which is the CMS for your website, Joomla or WordPress, look no further this article will help you learn about its similarities and differences related to the customization features offered, SEO friendliness, security etc. After going through the pros and cons of both the CMS platforms, it will be easier for you to decide on which CMS to choose for your website.
Difference between Joomla and WordPress:
Joomla is a CMS which was developed for serving portal-like websites, whereas WordPress originally started as a blog-focused platform. However with years of incorporating new developments and changes, today both WordPress and Joomla are capable of running and supporting any type of website.
Which is easier Joomla or WordPress?
When you plan to build a website, it is important for you to be comfortable with areas of web software configuration, working with servers, and handling the technical aspects of the web development. Joomla is targeted towards developers who are comfortable working with servers and who have experience in handling the technical aspects. At the same time, WordPress is easier to work with even for beginners and first time developers. Building a website on WordPress is very easy and hassle free.
Working on WordPress is simple, just a few steps
- Select a web host for hosting your website and create an account
- While registering, you need to select WordPress as your CMS option and it will be installed automatically on your hosting account
- Once the setup is done, just log in to your WordPress dashboard
- Work on your website, install a theme, choose the required plugins etc and you are good to go.
However working with Joomla is not this easy, most of the hosts which allow Joomla do not offer the custom installation process, which means you have to do most of the things right from installation to configuration on your own.
Which is better from the SEO Perspective? Is Joomla good for SEO?
Joomla has a slight edge over WordPress, as it enables its users to set pre defined Meta descriptions and keywords for the new articles or WebPages. But the fact is that the SEO capabilities of both the platform aren’t easily evident and comparable unless the plugins or extensions available on them are considered. WordPress has got the extremely popular Yoast SEO plugin which is powerful and offers a number of features and very easy to use. The Yoast plugin of WordPress categorizes the SEO score of your content using the traffic light system of coding with red, yellow, or green colors. The plugin also guides you and advises you on how to improve your SEO score in each area; it also rates the readability of the content.
The Easy Frontend SEO (EFSEO) is the best Joomla plugin in comparison to Yoast. With EFSEO you will be able to carry out most of the tasks like editing the Meta information directly on the front end, it also includes a useful automatic mode to generate this kind of data without you inputting information. However useful EFSEO is, it’s cannot match the capabilities of Yoast. So from the overall SEO perspective in the case of Joomla V/S WordPress, WordPress is the winner.
Is Joomla more secure than WordPress? Or is it the other way round?
We all know that when we talk about a secure system, any system is only as strong as its weakest link, so which is more secure of the two, Joomla or WordPress. Thanks to its popularity and wide usage, WordPress is very vulnerable when it comes to security. Each WordPress installation is unique as it has thousands of plugins and themes. The number of plugins available is the biggest positive of WordPress, but it can also become the biggest security concern for it. It is not possible to ensure that each plugin has employed proper safety standards while development. Another point, WordPress doesn’t come with basic features like forcing a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) connection on its dashboard. The user is required to modify the core files to enable the Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). The advanced security of WordPress is entirely dependent on plugins.
At the same time Joomla comes with both the options, force connections over SSL and also 2FA. Additionally it also offers its own set of security extensions, and the Joomla developers also maintain a list of the extensions known to have vulnerabilities. Therefore when we take about security, Joomla is a better option than WordPress.
Which is the Fastest CMS? Joomla or WordPress
One important factor which people need to consider while selecting a CMS is the speed performance. For both Joomla and WordPress websites, the speed is determined by a number of factors, like the number of plugins used which can play a major role in reducing the web’s site performance. The plugins can also become a major contributor to improving the loading time of the websites.
As per testing conducted by ITDwebdesign Agency in 2019, Joomla’s site had a faster loading time of 0.6s as compared to WordPress’s 0.8s.
However, with the fast-changing technology development and introduction of newer extensions and plugins for support, we can very well expect great improvements on these numbers in the coming times.
Which is easier to maintain - WordPress or Joomla?
A website can’t function properly if you do not perform regular maintenance. The Joomla has a separate section called “Maintenance”, but this section assists only with regards to site updates. The other option is to push the website offline so that the website developers are able to work on it and maintain the website without any disturbance. There are a number of extensions too, which can simplify the maintenance procedures.
Who wins in Joomla V/S WordPress
Joomla is more flexible than WordPress in a number of ways. It has an amazingly customizable system which can take almost any shape as required. Joomla also allows implementation of a lot of small customizations without having to rely on extensions. At the same time, WordPress beats Joomla when it comes to SEO, customization possibilities and content management. WordPress is the best CMS platform for beginners and at the same time also facilitates expansion of the website into a more complex project. Joomla is more complex and comes with more built-in features; it can be useful to professionals in building more complicated websites. The conclusion for Joomla vs. WordPress is simple - just go with a CMS platform which will help in bringing your ideas to life without troubling you with unwanted and complex features.