Do you want the best WordPress CMS alternatives suitable for your website needs?
WordPress has been the most utilized Content Management System (CMS) over the past decade with millions of users preferring to use the platform to build websites, blog, e-commerce websites and so on. The numerous plugins and themes available, as well as the ease of use, makes it the most popular content management system in the world with over 10 million websites using the WordPress platform.
However, there has been criticism about security breaches across several WordPress websites. Hence, we have compiled 7 of the best WordPress alternatives and their features for you to read through before coming to a decision on which serves you best.
Contents
Best WordPress CMS Alternatives
Joomla
Joomla is widely regarded as the second most used CMS after WordPress. The content management system launched in 2008 has an array of features which makes it desired by a large network of users. It comes with similar characteristics of WordPress, as it offers an open source, multipurpose, content management system. Users have access to lots of plugins, themes and widget which makes it an excellent platform for websites.
There is also a budding community of User base with extensive information and support system and Joomla support is found in almost all hosting websites around the world.
The major con is that the user interface has been said to be more complex than WordPress, but, this may not be a problem as there are several guides on how to use the platform effectively. Besides, Joomla is also free to download and use on your hosting platform.
Download Joomla
Shopify
Shopify from its name is an excellent platform for those wanting to build an online store or e-commerce website. This platform gives users an easy User interface with features to enable easy set-up of online stores. There are several plugins available using Shopify and users have attested to its ease of use over WordPress e-commerce platform known as WooCommerce.
Unlike other content management system, Shopify takes charge of the hosting and maintenance of the online store/website but users can import custom domain names to the website.
This ensures that your online store is kept safe and secure with 99% uptime. You can also customize your online store with several templates, themes and plugins available to tweak your shopping website.
Start Shopify free trial
Drupal
Drupal is a popular content management system used by a growing community of Users. Drupal has a good market share powering about 3% of websites on the web. One major feature of Drupal is that it has similar modules and themes and software support as both WordPress and Joomla. This allows the service to run on a majority of the web hosts in the world.
In addition, Drupal is also ideal for Business websites and government websites as it is developed in a way to handle extra traffic and a huge number of data. It is currently used to power the White House website and popular business site the Economists.
However, the website is not as user-friendly as WordPress and newbies may find it difficult to understand despite the availability of themes and plugins.
Overall, Drupal is best suited for developers that can maximize the features of the unique CMS than a beginner wanting to host their first website. Drupal is free to download and install on most hosting platforms.
Download Drupal
Wix
If you desire a content management system that gives a simple and easy process to build a website then Wix is one of the best in that respect. Wix is essentially a website building service that uses a drag and drop feature to create websites. It comes with attractive templates which makes it ideal for small business or personal websites.
Wix major appeal to users is the ease and simplicity of use with thousands of themes and templates which are well arranged into several categories depending on the type of website you desire. The content management system also offers e-commerce features with its premium plans for those seeking to build an online store.
Besides, Wix uses a freemium model in which you can use the service for free, but you need to upgrade to premium options to insert your custom domain name and access other services. Also, Wix takes care of hosting and maintenance of your website with the cheapest plan coming at $8 monthly.
Blogger
Blogger by Google was one of the pioneer content management systems; however, it has since been overshadowed by WordPress.
Although it still provides an easy way to own a website for a beginner and suffers no downtime as websites are hosted on tech giant Google servers. Blogger allows little flexibility though over time several developers have developed custom made templates which can be used to add more features to online sites.
Blogger gives basic features for a website with social widgets, built-in commenting system and easy integration of custom domain name. The popular online ad earning system AdSense is easy to integrate to blogger as the service is owned by Google. Nevertheless, Blogger is free to use and some popular websites still use this platform despite its limitations.
Weebly
Weebly is a good alternative to WordPress and is similar to Wix in that they both utilize a drag and drop builder. Since it is a completely hosted platform it may not be ideal for those that want full ownership of their website as you need to choose out of the package plans to utilize the services.
However, there are several excellent features which allow for easy customization such as the Pre-designed templates. Custom domain names can easily be used on Weebly which is a very cool feature as you don’t need to go through several steps.
Weebly, on the other hand, has limited support for an online store or e-commerce websites, so you may be better off using other platforms if you want to create an E-commerce website. Hence, Weebly is a good alternative to WordPress with a nice user interface and good all-around features.
Medium
Medium is a great platform for publishers and bloggers as it gives a unique writing area which gives similar look and feels to other medium users. Plugins and themes are not supported which gives it a unique feel as all contents look the same either on Desktop or mobile devices.
The commenting system is modified to give in-line notes and responses. Also, Medium allows custom domains for publishers which is great as it not really a CMS service.
There is a huge online User base which has contributed to its popularity over the past few years with the Medium ecosystem that allows your posts to get coverage which leads to more page views. Medium hosts all the content which saves users from maintenance and hosting costs.
It is rather ideal for an author or writer than small business as there is little room for flexibility on this platform.
Medium is available for free; however, to use custom domain names you’ll need to pay a one-time fee of £75.
Conclusion
Any of the WordPress CMS alternatives we mentioned above have their Pros and Cons but it is better advised to go for the platform that suits your website needs.
An e-commerce website will be better on Shopify than Joomla for example. We hope that this post has been given a good review of the best WordPress CMS alternatives available.
Do you want the best WordPress CMS alternatives suitable for your website needs?