Joomla vs Wordpress

There are many content management systems (CMSs) available, but we specialize in two: Joomla and Wordpress. Which is right for you? As a web designer, I love working with both platforms. Both are improving all the time, have plenty of industry support, and both knock out great looking websites. From a consumer perspective, I'm not sure there is much difference. Both site platforms offer lots of features and its frankly hard to tell the difference. However from a web designer, website owner perspective, the differences are easy to spot. Here is my checklist of which CMS rates higher in the following categories.

{zen-row}{zen-4}Category
Number of Templates
Number of Plugins/Extensions
Learning Curve 
SEO Friendly
Page Layout Flexibility
Blogging Compatibility
E-Commerce Friendly
Performance
Sophistication of Presentation
Cost
Security
{/zen-4}{zen-4}Wordpress










{/zen-4}{zen-4}Joomla










{/zen-4}{/zen-row}
 
 

Bottom line, Wordpress has more advantages than Joomla: in blogging, cost, available plugins that add features, and ease of maintenance. However, Joomla is stronger in a few important areas: performance (in my opinion), layout flexibility (with its bootstrap layout and custom modules) and a slight edge in sophistication of presentation. By that I mean Joomla templates have different features that seem to build more style into the presentation. This may be a reflection of the "international" influence of Joomla developers. My impression is that Joomla is more popular outside the US. In summary then, Wordpress probably works best for most website owners, but if you are willing to spend a bit more time and money, a Joomla site is well worth the effort.

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