Building a website, blog, online store or any other online entity requires either a platform or a deep knowledge of coding. If you’re a beginner, you probably don’t have a clue when it comes to coding and that’s okay. You can use a CMS or content management system, such as Joomla or WordPress for your website design.
The beauty of a CMS is the ability to create a website with a blog all on the same domain name. This type of system allows you to create a design from a theme or template, manage your content and take care of everything else necessary. Of course, with anything new, there’s a learning curve.
If you’ve been scouring the web looking for a good review about WordPress vs. Joomla, you’ve probably found the same thing over and over again. For beginners, the majority, bloggers and most webmasters, WordPress is the right choice. However, for the technical crowd, Joomla might be a better choice. These are both very powerful CMS choices, but most people need the easier to use system provided by WordPress.
Those still trying to make the right decision need to understand a few things about each system. Most hosting companies give you access to both free of charge, so it’s not a matter of how much each one costs, but if you do plan to hire a designer, you will need to look at the cost for each. Not only is it important to consider the cost and the time investment when it comes to WordPress vs. Joomla, but it’s also important to look at a few other important aspects.
How Similar Are WordPress and Joomla?
Five years ago, writing about WordPress Hosting vs. Joomla Hosting would have been far different. Both systems have grown and provide a much more similar experience than they used to. When looking at the features of each, it’s easy to see how similar these two systems are for the end user.
The competition between the two has benefited the users greatly. Due to the close competition, Joomla and WordPress have evolved to provide the same benefits, which were once missing from each system. One isn’t light years ahead of the other anymore and that’s an important thing to understand when choosing your CMS.
The Pros of Choosing WordPress
With the ability to provide both a website and a blog, this is one of the most powerful CMS choices out there. You can create multiple profiles for authors, manage massive amounts of content and enjoy the many themes and plugins for customization. WordPress also provides a very easy to use interface with straightforward features anybody can figure out.
The Pros of Choosing Joomla
Choosing Joomla will give you a powerful interface that’s pretty easy for the user. It’s designed for easy management of a large amount of articles, as well. Additionally, Joomla hosting is very popular and it’s easy to find a cost efficient web hosting company that supports Joomla.
Tutorials, Guides and Free Resources
Both Joomla and WordPress have plenty of great resources to help you learn how to use the system. However, due to the size of the WordPress community, there are far more resources for those using this CMS compared to Joomla. It’s easy to find answers to your questions within the community and outside the actual WordPress support forum. Many themes come with their own forum if you need help with specific features.
Joomla web hosting has quite a bit of support, as well, but the community is very small compared to WordPress. With fewer users, there’s just not the massive amount of material available for beginners to browse. You won’t find nearly as many videos, guides and tutorials to help with the inner workings of Joomla compared to WordPress.
WordPress easily wins in this category for beginners.
WordPress vs. Joomla Price Comparison
If you plan to pay someone to design your site, but you want to manage it after the initial design, you need to understand the cost for both Joomla and WordPress. When looking at designers, it’s easier to find a designer for a WordPress site because of the popularity. It’s also much less expensive.
Most designers will handle your WordPress site design for less than $500, depending on the size. However, if you choose a designer capable of using Joomla, expect to pay more than $1,000 for your design.
When it comes to price, WordPress is cheaper and wins in this area, as well.
Which is Better for a Blogger?
One of the major differences between Joomla and WordPress is how they are set up. WordPress started as a blog platform and has evolved into a blog platform capable of acting as a full CMS. However, Joomla started as a traditional CMS and has added features to allow for blogging.
With that said, there’s no debate with Joomla vs. WordPress for bloggers, WordPress wins. If you plan to use your website as a blog, you want WordPress, not Joomla.
WordPress vs. Joomla for Internet Marketing
Building landing pages, creating an authority site and using your website for internet marketing requires the right CMS. Beginners to the internet marketing world will spend far more time trying to learn and use Joomla than building landing pages. With WordPress, you can build your landing pages much faster and easier. Joomla is great for landing pages, but it takes longer to learn how to create these pages.
For beginners in the world of internet marketing, WordPress is the better choice.
WordPress vs. Joomla – Is One Better Than The Other?
When looking at WordPress vs. Joomla, one is certainly better than the other. Joomla is still considered one of the big three CMS choices, but hasn’t really decided on a direction. WordPress is the easier to use system with massive SEO benefits, whereas Joomla is about in the middle of everything. Drupal is the other of the big three and provides great customization targeted at developers.
For the majority of users, WordPress is the easier system to learn and provides the ability to do more without a large time investment. However, Joomla has come a long way and many large sites still use Joomla.
What it Really Comes Down to with WordPress vs. Joomla
The choice between these two very popular CMS options mainly comes down to what you plan to do and how you want to accomplish your tasks. Sometimes one CMS is better than the other for specific types of websites or blogs, while other times it’s just a personal preference.
Doing it yourself is easier with WordPress, unless you’re an experienced developer. When it comes to developers, they all have their own preference. Many will tell you one system isn’t better than the other, but they do provide you with different benefits.
Joomla comes with a steeper learning curve than WordPress, which makes WordPress the right choice for beginners. WordPress also makes it a little easier to manage multiple users. However, if you’re trying to manage thousands of articles on your blog or website, Joomla does provide some options to make it easier.
The choice may come down to what your developer prefers or the interface you prefer. Both WordPress and Joomla provide free demos to give you an idea of what the interface looks like and how it works. Try both, compare them and choose the one you like best if you’re not sure which to choose when looking at WordPress vs. Joomla.
WordPress Admin Panel
Joomla Admin Panel
The Right Choice for the Beginner
After evaluating your needs and looking at what you plan to use your website/blog for, most of the time, WordPress will be the better choice compared to Joomla. In every category, Joomla vs. WordPress shows a clear winner for beginners. This isn’t because WordPress is just far better than Joomla because Joomla fits in certain areas. However, for the beginner, Joomla will take much longer to learn and many beginners will find it confusing.
WordPress is a clean and easy system to use. Beginners can get started very quickly and will be able to create a website/blog much faster. If you plan to design and/or manage your site without help, choose WordPress for your CMS needs.
