Software Alternatives & Startups

WordPress VS Joomla

Compare WordPress VS Joomla and see what are their differences

WordPress

WordPress is web software you can use to create a beautiful website or blog. We like to say that WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

Rating
5.0 · 1 review
Pricing
Open source
Joomla

Joomla! is the mobile-ready and user-friendly way to build your website. Choose from thousands of features and designs. Joomla! is free and open source.

Rating
0 reviews
Pricing
Open source

Which is more popular?

Based on our record, WordPress seems to be a lot more popular than Joomla. While we know about 786 links to WordPress, we've tracked only 2 mentions of Joomla.

social mentions
786 vs 2
CMS popularity
85% vs 15%

Base details

Website, pricing, platforms and company facts side by side.

WordPress
Joomla
Website wordpress.org joomla.org
Pricing
Open source
Open source
Company Startup from the United States Startup from the United States
Listed in

Features and specs

What each product offers, as listed by its team.

WordPress 7 features
Joomla 5 features
  • User-Friendly
    WordPress is very intuitive and easy to use, which makes it accessible to users with minimal technical expertise.
  • Customization
    It offers a vast array of themes and plugins, allowing users to customize their websites extensively without any coding knowledge.
  • SEO-Friendly
    WordPress has numerous SEO features and plugins that can help websites rank higher in search engine results pages.
  • Community Support
    There is a large and active WordPress community that provides extensive documentation, forums, and third-party resources.
  • Scalability
    WordPress can grow with your business, as it supports both small blogs and large corporate websites.
  • Open Source
    Being an open-source platform, WordPress is free to use, and users can modify the source code to suit their needs.
  • Large Ecosystem
    WordPress offers one of the largest ecosystems of developers, themes, and plugins, providing a lot of options for site building.

Possible disadvantages

  • Security Vulnerabilities
    WordPress is a popular target for hackers, which makes it susceptible to security issues if not properly maintained.
  • Maintenance
    Regular updates to the core software, themes, and plugins are necessary to keep the site secure and functioning correctly.
  • Performance
    Websites with many plugins or poorly optimized themes can suffer from slow loading times, impacting user experience.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While basic use is straightforward, leveraging WordPress's full capabilities can require more advanced knowledge and learning.
  • Potential for Plugin Conflicts
    Installing multiple plugins from different developers can sometimes cause conflicts, leading to site instability or performance problems.
  • Customization Complexity
    Extensive customization may require coding knowledge in languages like PHP, HTML, and CSS, which can be a barrier for beginners.
  • Hosting Dependency
    Users need to purchase their own hosting services and manage that aspect, which may be complicated for non-technical users.
  • Flexibility
    Joomla offers a high degree of flexibility and customizability. It is suitable for creating a wide range of websites, from small personal blogs to complex corporate websites.
  • User Access Control (UAC)
    Joomla has advanced user access control mechanisms, allowing you to set different permissions and access levels for various types of users, which is particularly useful for large websites with multiple contributors.
  • Multilingual Support
    Joomla comes with built-in support for multilingual content, making it a great choice for websites that need to cater to different language speakers.
  • Extensive Extension Directory
    Joomla has a large extension directory with thousands of free and paid plugins and templates that can be easily integrated to extend the functionality of your website.
  • Strong Community Support
    Joomla has a large and active community of developers and users who contribute to forums, documentation, and third-party resources, providing strong community support.

Possible disadvantages

  • Steeper Learning Curve
    Compared to other CMSs, Joomla can be more challenging to learn for beginners due to its extensive features and complex interface.
  • Limited Built-in SEO
    Joomla's out-of-the-box SEO capabilities are not as advanced as those of other CMSs like WordPress. It often requires additional plugins for better SEO performance.
  • Performance Issues
    Joomla can sometimes have performance issues due to its resource-heavy nature, especially if not properly optimized.
  • Compatibility Issues with Extensions
    Not all third-party extensions and templates are always compatible with the latest version of Joomla, which can create challenges during updates.
  • Hosting Requirements
    Joomla has specific hosting requirements that not all web hosts can meet easily. This can limit your choices when it comes to hosting providers.

Videos

Walkthroughs and reviews on video.

WordPress 3 videos + Add
Joomla 3 videos + Add

Users, beware.. avoid WordPress!* | WordPress Review

More videos

  • - Wix vs Wordpress: Which platform is best in 2019?
  • - Wordpress.com Review: Good For Users Familiar with Wordpress

10 Reasons Why You Should Use Joomla in 2018

More videos

  • - [BEFORE You Buy] Joomla Extensions Review
  • - Helix Ultimate Joomla Framework [Setup/Demo/Review]

Category popularity

How often each product is chosen within a category, 0–100% relative to the other.

Score bands 0–20 21–40 41–50 51–60 61–100
WordPress
Joomla
85% 85%
CMS
15% 15%
91% 91%
9% 9%
0% 0%
100% 100%
81% 81%
19% 19%

User comments

Share your experience with using WordPress and Joomla. For example, how are they different and which one is better?

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Reviews and articles

External articles and on-site reviews we used to compare the two products.

WordPress 5.0 · 1 review
Joomla no reviews yet

View more

  • Comparing 9 WordPress alternatives & competitors in 2024
    webflow.com · Dec 2024

    Joomla! is an open-source, free WordPress alternative that combines advanced features with user-friendly interfaces. To customize your sites, check out the software’s massive library of over 5,000 extensions that...

  • 19 Best WordPress Alternatives in 2025
    www.pixpa.com · Oct 2024

    Joomla is an open-source content management system (CMS) that allows organizations to create and manage their websites. It offers a wide range of features, including content management, user permissions, SEO tools,...

  • Top 10 Web Content Management Systems
    cloudzy.com · Mar 2024

    If for whatever reason WordPress does not float your boat as a CMS, then Joomla is a great alternative as a customizable CMS. Joomla is one of the best free CMS options in 2024, featuring a wide range of plug-ins,...

View more

Social recommendations and mentions

Recommendations tracked on public social media and blogs since March 2021.

WordPress 786 mentions
Joomla 2 mentions

View more

  • Joomla 3x - How to create a Custom Registration Form (Custom Fields) w/o 3rd Party? [Dev Only Please]
    What resources could someone who has achieved this, point me to. I once came across a development doc link on joomla.org I thought; I cannot seem to find it. I can only recently find this :... Source: over 4 years ago
  • Helping with the basics
    The forums found on joomla.org are great and there are tons of people there to help. Source: about 5 years ago

Alternatives to WordPress and Joomla

When comparing WordPress and Joomla, you can also consider the following products.

  • WiX

    Create a free website with Wix.com. Customize with Wix' website builder, no coding skills needed. Choose a design, begin customizing and be online today

    Compare WiX to WordPress or Joomla:

  • Drupal

    Drupal - the leading open-source CMS for ambitious digital experiences that reach your audience across multiple channels. Because we all have different needs, Drupal allows you to create a unique space in a world of cookie-cutter solutions.

    Compare Drupal to WordPress or Joomla:

  • WordPress.com

    Create a free website or build a blog with ease on WordPress.com. Dozens of free, customizable, mobile-ready designs and themes. Free hosting and support.

    Compare WordPress.com to WordPress or Joomla:

  • Ghost

    Ghost is a fully open source, adaptable platform for building and running a modern online publication. We power blogs, magazines and journalists from Zappos to Sky News.

    Compare Ghost to WordPress or Joomla:

  • SquareSpace

    Squarespace is the easiest way for anyone to create an exceptional website. Pages, galleries, blogs, e-commerce, domains, hosting, analytics, 24/7 support - all included.

    Compare SquareSpace to WordPress or Joomla:

  • Progress Sitefinity

    Sitefinity's web content management software is a marketing command center to drive growth for your business. Easily manage multi-site experiences deployed your way.

    Compare Progress Sitefinity to WordPress or Joomla: