Joomla! vs. WordPress. It’s the rivalry that everyone wants, but never happens.
Although this infographic does a fairly good job of breaking the two down, I think a direct comparison of the three major CMS’s can be difficult. I wouldn’t go as far to say that it’s like comparing apples and oranges, but maybe comparing clementines with navel oranges?
For those that have used both, I would be interested in hearing your feedback on this!
Take a look:
[Click for Larger]
There’s a lot to consider before diving into learning a CMS, perhaps I’ll share some of my own considerations in a future. In the meantime, give us your perspective on this “rivalry.”
[via Red Giant]
Curtis says
It is more like comparing a screwdriver and a hammer. They are different tools for different jobs. Yes, you can use either one, but trying to use a hammer as a screwdriver or visa versa will waste more energy and frustration than is necessary. Unless you don’t have a hammer or screwdriver when you need one, in which case the other one will get the job done in a pinch.
Understand what you need, then pick the right tool. What you need will direct you to either WordPress or Joomla (or Durpal). But you have to understand the problem you are trying to solve first.
Eric Dye says
I can see that, especially when you start talking about even more niche CMS’.
Chip Dizard says
I really enjoy WordPress for blogging, and I like Drupal better than Joomla. But that being said, the community for Joomla is amazing and the plugins for wordpress are great. It’s like a choice between a BMW or a Mercedes.
The templates are great either way and you can’t go wrong, especially if you have a good developer or if you know what you are doing.
Eric Dye says
Gotta love the car comparison. 😀
Matt Orley says
Every chance I get for my past clients, I’ll take a site I built in Joomla and change it out to WP. These are simple, mind you, but WP is so much easier. Sometimes I just do this for free.
Also, I would say that the ‘complex functionality requires Joomla concept may have been true 2 years ago, but now, it is not. Many of the decisions I made in 2010 and 2011 for Joomla would be made differently in 2013.
My 3 cents as a now exclusive wordpress dev 🙂
Eric Dye says
Great feedback, Matt. I also have found the learning curve for WordPress from a client perspective is much better. As for the development end, WordPress has gotten perpetually stronger as the development base has grown exponentially.
jeremy says
Joomla can do everything WordPress can do, but WordPress cannot do everything Joomla can. Easy decision for me.
The problem comes in when everyone wants a website and thinks they can start being a web developer.. thats where WordPress has gained popularity.
Dont get me wrong, I love some WordPress, in its place.. its fantastic! Even http://blog.49ers.com/ is wordpress.. its fantastic.. but thats its place..
Matt Orley says
Oh, I must reply…:)
‘WordPress Cannot Do Everything Joomla can’ -if you can write PHP, you’re good. If you want to build a community that Joomla/CB ‘excels’ at, cough, cough, just use FB- because I can’t remember, seeing a successful ‘community’ built after 2010. 🙂
Jonathan Ober says
I agree with Matt. I have made many a complex site (100+) of pages in WordPress. I love themes, but I love taking a PSD and making it a wordpress site. In fact when I am designing I am thinking about WordPress plugins, function file and other code things to make the site work. I’m a nerd ya. But I think WordPress has come a very long way to become more than just a blogging tool…but a great and powerful CMS for all of my websites. I don’t even code in anything else anymore.
Eric Dye says
I thought I would learn WordPress and then jump on Joomla! and Drupal … I never made it past WordPress. 😀
Matt Orley says
And, to continue ranting this morning before I get started with my day….
Why is it that every Joomla plugin/component/ home website looks like it was built with by a designer with 2 weeks of graphic training?
The blockiness that Joomla! requires in its output structure is, well, so lame!!
(Blockiness, of course, is my very own technical term defining disparate CSS files and output modules smashed together that I just can’t handle looking at not not saying ‘yep, wonder when these guys are going to switch to WP’)
OK, Im done. Ive now removed the thorn from my side.
Jonathan Ober says
I have this same feeling when looking at Joomla. It looks like Joomla was ‘designed’ by a coder whereas WordPress is pretty and easy to look at and navigate through.
Also I am a little biased since I know a Core WordPress programmer 😛
Eric Dye says
This was a big thorn. 😛
Rowan says
Hey all,
I’ve used both on a pretty regular basis. I’d agree that Joomla still has a way to go on to catch up with WordPress in terms of styling/design.
Having said that I still prefer Joomla for its flexibility. I just find WordPress a bit clunky in terms of menus & widgets esp for sites with more than 5 pages. Eg Joomla lets you assign a module (aka widget) to an individual page out of the box, to do this in WP you need to install plugins and even then its not easy.
Anyway the first comment is spot on though, its really horses for courses.
Cheers
Rowan
Josh says
The way I always explain it to non-webby folks…
WordPress = iPhone…it just works beautifully, but it works the way it was built to work
Joomla! = Droid…extremely flexible, more powerful, more complicated
Eric Dye says
Interesting comparison. Thanks, Josh! That makes sense.
Jonathan Ober says
except that’s not really true…I find that I can do extremely flexible, more powerful, more complicated…you just need to know how to do it. It’s all about knowing your tools, the plugins and php code and be a rock star.
Luca Vicini says
Just a quick comment.
If you have to develop alone new functionalities, Joomla requires the knowledge of Object oriented PHP programming while with WordPress you can get away most of the times with functional programming (except for widgets).
I learn programming at university back in the early 80’s (a time where OOP was still not widely taught) and I never got completely used to OOP.
I use both Joomla and WordPress. I love the level of control that Joomla is giving me and at the same time I love the easiness to develop your own extensions on WordPress.
Eric Dye says
Great distinction.
WP4J says
We have just recently released WP4J which actually allows you to run Joomla and WordPress together so you can really have the best of both worlds. The implementation does not involve hacking either platform in any way and is very light on server resources. You can check it out at WP4J.com (it is free to download).
Eric Dye says
Sounds like a train wreck to me.
WP4J says
Hi Eric,
I would be interested to hear the reasoning behing your “insightful” comment.