Wordpress vs Craft CMS

Nowadays is almost mandatory to build a website with a Content Management System (CMS) as it allow you to create, edit and manage pages and content on your website. This is one of the first demands we get from our clients when they ask for a new website: to be able to manage their website content without ongoing development support. 

There are a lot of CMS options on the market with Wordpress on top of it as it's probably the first option everybody think about first. Today we'll talk about Craft CMS and how it compares to Wordpress.

At Liquid Studio we've switched from Wordpress to Craft CMS for good. We've been building websites with Craft CMS for the last 5 years with such good results that now it's our go-to option to build websites. Not only for us but top brands like Netflix, Ikea or Adidas already use it as well.

Let's start where Craft CMS really shines: content management. With Craft CMS you have an open canvas to create the exact content structure your website needs. And this is included in its core without needing to add any plugin.

Apart from that, Craft CMS don't use any theme as you have total control to build the frontend of the website using the technologies you prefer. This gives coding work of course, as you'll have to create all the markup, but it feels nice to be able to implement any design without limitations. Doesn't it?

To manage all the content, Craft CMS provides an admin panel with an easy to use interface to manage all your content. A simple dashboard only with the options you need.

Wordpress sites are known to be hacked easily. This is mainly caused by its vulnerabilities in plugins and themes. In 2020 for example, 200.000 WordPress sites became vulnerable when a plugin allowed hackers to reset the website's entire database. In the other hand, Craft doesn't have themes. And as it's offer much more functionality off-the-shelf you don't need to install a bunch of plugins.

Outdated plugins, an open backdoor to hackers

One of the main Wordpress issues is that you need to install a lot of plugins to fit your needs. This is because Wordpress was initially thought to be a blogging platform so in order to add full website capabilities you need plugins. For example, to be able to create your desired content structure you need to install a plugin as we commented before.

With Wordpress you end with a collection of plugins which you need to maintain and keep updated to prevent security issues. But what happens when a plugin is discontinued by its author o it's not compatible with the latest Wordpress version? Then your website becomes vulnerable.

This is one of the main concerns when our clients come to us. Wordpress is well-known for its SEO capabilities. Specially for some plugins like Yoast SEO which has been on the market for a long time and has helped a lot of website to optimise their SEO. Craft CMS also has some SEO plugins like SEOmatic which in the end offers similar capabilities.

Ok, plugins... But what about performance?

Nowadays, SEO it's not just plugins. You need a website that it's usable, has a clear navigation structure and with a good performance. These are things that crawlers give a lot of importance when ranking your website. Google doesn't like slow websites so it penalises them. And performance it's not something that relates well with Wordpress as the mix of themes and plugins makes it slow to load.

This is another point where Craft CMS clearly beats Wordpress. 

If you have a short budget and a tight deadline Wordpress can be a good choice. You'll be able to have a website up and running fast and without touching code. But, if you want a modern site that stand out from the crowd, easy to use, with a good SEO, great performance and without worrying about security: Craft CMS is your option. 

Interested in knowing more? We can solve your doubts as a Craft verified partner.