Joomla vs Wordpress in 2016

[sem-seo]

Hi there..

I have been using Joomla for several years by now and also have used Wordpress about as much. I have had my experiences with both systems and would like to ask the community which CMS they favor and why?

Back in the days I started developing more sites on Wordpress as I found it quite teadious to migrate from Joomla 1.0.x to 1.5 etc.

What are your experiences and why would you chose which system?

[Matt Bourne]

Here's my story

I started to learn CMS using WordPress and Joomla almost at the same time.. both are super popular back then until now

Understandable that WordPress is super easy to use, and it have very straight forward learning curves, still I'm eyeing Joomla and Drupal that time, but the learning curve were too steep for me

Some of my project need some further capabilities, such as CCK, which that time were famous among Joomla, besides the well known Drupal

So, with CCK extension, my all time favorite K2 and Joomla extensible yet robust platform, the learning curve is fairly easy compared to Drupal, so, I've stick to them for more than 7 years now

Now, not trying to flaming anybody here, WordPress and Drupal were on their own class, depending on your need and time you have to master them, for me, there's no the best among these three, all are great for their own users

Still have project done in WordPress, even though i'm kinda like Joomla Guy, and now, i'm interested to learn Drupal 8.1, why should we choose only one if we can take them all?

Cheers!

[bomkallo]

I would still keep with !Joomla because I get wyswig editor in module manager - they went right way with xml forms, form fields and all things in API. !J is still more like all around solution for advanced developer than WP but lacks complicated event-driven environment from Drupal The only thing !J is missing for now is more simple form of com_articles and native inheritance in case of them.

If you find problems with migration - I'm certain these pages are too old for migration, they need new look and few scripts to transfer the content. That's all. This is not the long term problem.

In case of learning - I went angular and node, just a break from lazy php/html :P

[tvtaddy]

Both are good and good popular but wordpress is more popular because of its being more user friendly and known by more people in world then jomla. Also many hosting companies provides special wordpress pacakages. But jomla websites have advantages over wordpress is they really looks like web portal but wordpress gives look of a blog.

[mitchell65]

Unless people are equally proficient in both programs I would think this is an imposssible question for the average user to answer. What particular aspect of the CMS world prompted you to ask this question?

[NickC4555]

Indeed an impossible question to answer. They are both more than capable of being used as the basis for the majority of websites. Wordpress is easier to learn, but is less capable as a development platform. Joomla is more powerful and flexible, but that is only relevant if you learn how to harness that power and have a need for it. Endless blogs and articles have been written on this (often including Drupal in a three way comparision), which you can easily find using Google. On this forum most of us use Joomla in our daily lives, so we have a bias towards it.

[MateoBgd]

If it's any form of argument for one is better than the other, I've learned to work with Wordpress very fast, while i've also heard that Joomla is more complexed but more useful in the long run. Something like others already answered. Anyways, I'm looking forward to get to know more of Joomla with time...

[Gany]

Both are CMS systems, but the design idea behind is is completely different. Joomla is not the best cms for blogging, WP is not the best cms for general purpose sites. For the average user, they look very much the same. And they perceive WP as being the easiest.

It's like two different stationwagons or minivans: one is running on diesel, manual gear shift, has 2 seats but can add 4 more. The other is petrol fired, has 6 seats in it, which you can remove, and an automatic transmission.

It simply depends on what you want to do with it which is best. A soccer mum will want the latter, her hubby needing it for his shop, the first.

If you want arguments why probably Joomla is a better choice than WP:
- managing articles is much better.
- forget WP if you need a multilingual site
- managing images in WP is just about the worst I have ever seen.
- bandwidth usage of plugins can ruin your site.

I have a WP site, relatively small, with relatively few visitors that in just 4 months grew to 4 GB in size with 45 GB bandwidth. No idea why, figuring that one out is a beast. I'm new into WP, I have to admit. Something like this I have never seen in Joomla.

Managing articles is completely different from writing articles. Writing articles is much easier in WP. But if your site is growing, and you get more and more categories and articles, managing them in Joomla is a breeze and a real nightmare in WP.

[AlexVega]

Hi there,

You also can find more info in this link:
http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?f=706&t=891474

Cheers.

[Gany]

Your site is very easy to convert. It'll be some work, but most of it will be learning how Joomla works.

1- Install Wamp, Xampp, Lamp or Mampp on your pc, if you haven't already. It's your local internet to try things out.
2- Install Joomla on it.
Test it out, try what you want, you can't break it.
3- Install Akeeba backup on it. Lean how it works, how to back up and restore a site. (Shouldn't take longer than a half hour so to learn it.) Do a restore or two. this is really vital!
4- Install a few free templates, see if you like it, start trying out your WP site in Joomla, by rebuilding.
5- Now you are familiar with Joomla, you can start to convert your WP site.

The above should take you a couple of days, pending your present skills.

You CAN convert, if you want, your existing WP site. Check the JED, there are extensions to help you. Since, at first glance, your site doesn't seem like a large site, why don't you do it article by article, or in WP terms post by post? You probably want to improve your site, since your are working on it anyway.

Also spend some time in the JED. That's were you find most Joomla extensions. I spend (too) much time there...

Good luck,

Gany

[darb]

Set up community with different user groups and with access controls etc..

You can add community profile system like one of EasySocial, JomSocial, EasyProfile, CommunityBuilder with blogging/article system integrated with EasyBlog and with integrated Forum extensions like Kuena forum, (EasyDiscuss) and with social system login system (Facebook etc) use JFC connect and Autoposting to social networks like AutoTweetNG etc.

To take more control of you users and access system control you can use ACL Manager https://www.aclmanager.net/

If you want to build more advanced system you can also look at ccks like Seblod CCK, K2, SP Pagebuilder (Jomshaper Helix..) and use nice templates with integrated template frameworks like Gantry 5, Warp, Helix etc and integrated templates with those like https://themeforest.net/item/flex-multi ... e/14881156 https://themeforest.net/item/sirena-mat ... e/16722806 etc

Dont forget to install Admin tools (pro) and Akeeba backup (pro) from Akeeba.

[veecotech]

Agreed with Gany for the below.

If you want arguments why probably Joomla is a better choice than WP:
- managing articles is much better.
- forget WP if you need a multilingual site
- managing images in WP is just about the worst I have ever seen.
- bandwidth usage of plugins can ruin your site.

[zhosen]

It may depend on the various factors such as your aspect of the works and which one you feel comfortable. otherwise, both is powerful but WP got most user attention due to its ease of use and lots of plugins. Cheers!

[Gany]

So there are. Do number say everything? 50 billion flies eat manure. So it must be tasty...

A lot of those sites, by far the majority, are either blogs, and/or single language sites. Run by people who put something online, and don't worry about bandwidth, image sizes or whatever. I've seen too many blogs with images that run into many MB per image. Wordpress, of course.

I don't say or argue Joomla is the better system. A lot needs to be done to make it more user friendly. Also, finding extensions - as compared with WP - is something that needs a lot of attention.

But your argument is a bit like argumentum ad numerum. That is not necessarily the case.

[mandville]

purely out of interest i visited the wpress and droopy forums to search for a similar topic. apparently its not allowed so yes joomla is def better as this pointless comparison topic is still allowed.

[sozzled]

... so, yes, Joomla is def better as this pointless comparison topic is still allowed.

Best (and shortest) response I've read to end the discussion!

[studymbbshub]

i am so confused choosing which platform to use for my website, wordpress or joomla? its an education related website.

[toddgarrigus]

I've used Wordpress for many years and have done so because it allows a code and other computer speak illiterate like myself to build a website once one has learned the "building blocks" of widgets, plug-ins and themes. I've started my profile here on Joomla so I could learn if I could benefit from learning the platform. Any beginner tips are appreciated!

[apsilva]

There's a series of blog posts here https://www.gavick.com/blog/ that explains some of the diferences between joomla and WordPress. From a user perspective mainly.
You also can check this joomla training vídeos https://community.joomla.org/joomla-training.html

[Muug]

Joomla is not the best cms for blogging, WP is not the best cms for general purpose sites.

I think this is the best description I've seen so far on the internet.

[diverso]

Hi there,

this post address only partially my questions, there are:

what would you recommend as content creator (meaning someone with a limited budget that can't afford developers that often forget to do their job and stray from providing what's required as perhaps a way to take more advantage of you and extort more and more money for updating, implementing, fidgeting etc..)

I've been a joomla user since day one, 10 or 15 years go, however nowadays I'm fed up with this kind of behaviour and concept if you want to steal just go hit a bank or something why you need to try scamming honest people? Beside services such as paypal allow for customer protection so dont really see the purpose..

I've been considering migrating to wordpress or other smaller CMS but then again I keep answering myself that I will run in same issue:

RUTHLESS DEVELOPERS that only wish to suck you dry.

My requirement is simple, I need a CMS that put me in control of 99% of the content, allowing to add some small features by embedding code and playing around with modules. Pain free, no coding needed.

I'm done wasting time and money to some endless pit of developer that just can't deliver or more likely won't deliver as it's so handy to come up with ways and excuses to take advantage of the situation.

Any suggestion for solution that will allow me to actually manage my content as in CMS and maintain the software without having to suffer and get sick chasing some prick whose sole intent is to shake you up for money truly appreciated.

[JulioSene]

Hi!
I’m working with high performance solutions along many years and I must say that this kind of question is very usual.

The best answer is: “depends on…”. It makes your simple question with a long answer.

To make easy to understand my point of view, let’s pretend that we are talking about cars. You can ask us “what is the best: Ferrari or Porsche?”.

A good answer for this question is “a Ferrari has more power and a Porsche is easier to drive.”. That’s true. However, the best answer for the initial question is a group of questions:

- What is the primary usage of this car?
- Where you intend to use this car?
- Who is going to drive the car?
- How many time you going to spend driving by day?
- When you need to start to drive this car?
- How much money do you have to spend with it?

Well, the obvious advice, if you are intending to put this car on a race, is find a good pilot to drive, a good mechanic to tuning the car, understand the race track that you are going to run and, even if you have the car for free, prepare to spend some money with staff and customizations. Remember: nobody puts a car on a race track without a bunch of serious modifications.

Let’s coming back to your question. I believe that, now, will be easy to figure out what is the best answer for your question.

WordPress was born as a blog. Joomla became from Mambo and is born as an CMS. So, the publication workflow (edit->review->publish) is native on WordPress and easy to configure. Joomla delivery a very good native user/groups access control system. However, today WordPress and Joomla are good CMS and ever CMS needs some work to perform.

As a practical example, I can say that if you install just the core of both CMSs, Joomla, probably, will delivery best performance. However, if you install on WordPress a plugin called W3 Total Cache and configure it, I believe that WordPress will be faster than an stock Joomla installation. With W3 Total Cache you will be able to add cache to database, objects, pages, minify javascript and css, delivery static content from other source (object storage or CDN) and control Varnish reverse proxy. This is a huge improvement on you WP website performance.

A similar situation happens when you need to control publication workflow. This is a kind of thing that WordPress handles pretty well, however, if you install K2 on Joomla this perspective will be absolutely different.

So, if you need to take a decision between Joomla or WordPress, you also need to expand your research to understand to entire ecosystem around those platforms.

An important advice is: Joomla and WordPress are not born in the cloud applications! So, if you are intending to run one of them in the cloud and take advantage of high availability (example: auto scaling) you will must consider some plugins to do that.

Finally, the best answer for your question is:

- What is the primary function of your website? (blog, ecommerce, magazine, etc)
- Where you intend to run your website? (shared server, dedicated server, cloud, etc)
- Who is going to be the administrator? (have you an IT guy to do that?)
- How is your estimated traffic? (unique visitors, page views, traffic, etc)
- When you need to put your site online for public access? (what is the initial essential features?)
- How much money do you have to spend with it?

Good luck!

[Gany]

I ue the car anology often. Let's look at the Renault Espace and the Toyota Van. Both can be used for transporting families, and both can be used for transporting goods. The Renault is better suited for transporting families. The Toyota is better suited for transporting passengers or goods. You can do both, but each is better for a particular task. Joomla is better for general purpose websites, and WP is better for blogs.

[JulioSene]

Hi Gany,

First of all, I fully agree with your point of view. My point is: a Volkswagen Golf with super tuning made by a F1 mechanic and driven by an F1 pilot will be faster than a unmodified Porsche with a regular driver on cockpit.

So, if someone intend to create a high performance website for specific purpose, you must consider the entire ecosystem and what kind of resource you are able to use to build your website. There are no "plug-and-play" solution for high performance websites.

A simple exemple of it is how to use a CDN (content delivery network). Joomla or Wordpress don't offer a native solution for it. If you are considering to use a push CDN, such as Amazon S3+CloudFront, there are a few options to extend Joomla or WP to do that.

[darb]

You can check and read this comparison too and its a good one! https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-word ... a-jay-blaq

Why WordPress Developers need to take another look at Joomla 3.

[darb]

Hi Gany,
If you are considering to use a push CDN, such as Amazon S3+CloudFront, there are a few options to extend Joomla or WP to do that.

How many options do you need and what does Joomla (WP) not extend by CDN extensions like https://www.regularlabs.com/extensions/ ... a#tutorial that have support for multiple CDNs like Amazon S3 + CloudFront?

With W3 Total Cache you will be able to add cache to database, objects, pages, minify javascript and css, delivery static content from other source (object storage or CDN) and control Varnish reverse proxy. This is a huge improvement on you WP website performance.

You have free Joomla cache extensions too that is big performance improvers like http://www.jotcomponents.net/web-progra ... e/download in combination with ScriptMerge https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/scriptmerge/ and could be used with other free performace optimizer "Javascript Async and Defer" https://extensions.joomla.org/extension ... and-defer/ Less https://extensions.joomla.org/extension/scss-compiler/ etc and then you also have commercial ones like SpeedCache https://extensions.joomla.org/extension ... eed-cache/

[movistunts]

still wondering whats the best for blogging. is there any difference if i creating my blog with blogger dot com

[darb]

Yes with blogger dot com you are stuck inlocked with everything and you cant do anything that you can do with Joomla that is your own owned controlled free code that is not encrypted and it can also be used improved with 10 000 extra extensions functions as you wish.

So you can easy move your content, blogs, e-commerce etc to whatever hosting environment you like now or in future.

Bcs Joomla and all its extensions are open source and not locked in like a blog similar like blogger dot com is...so its like comparing a an elephant and a mouse..

[konst-galleri]

Hello

Managing articles and images is way easier in Joomla in my opinion.

Just my 2 cents.

[Gany]

You're absolutely right. The interface looks more difficult. That's where WP wins (a lot). The actual management of articles and especially images is WAY better in Joomla.