The Main Advantages that WordPress Has over Joomla

WordPress, the most used CMS in the world, with around 9 times the market share of Joomla, is not better than Joomla. In fact, we think that Joomla is a much better product, and this is why:

• Joomla uses MVC in its code, WordPress doesn’t.

  The term Spaghetti Code is a great fit for WordPress. Joomla has always adopted a clean Model-View-Control framework which is very easy to work with.

• Joomla is way better structured than WordPress.

  In WordPress, everything is called “a plugin”, with the exception of templates, which are called “themes”. In Joomla, you have plugins, modules, and components.

• Joomla is generally a more polished product.

  Compare a Joomla backend to a WordPress backend and you will know exactly what we mean.

But, even though we think that Joomla is better than WordPress, we cannot ignore the fact that Joomla lags behind when it comes to market share. We believe that this can be attributed to the following reasons:

• Updating WordPress from almost any version to the most current version is a seamless operation.

  Case in point: A year ago we updated the itoctopus website (yes, guilty as charged, we use WordPress on the itoctopus website, mainly because our website is mostly a blog) from a very old version of WordPress to the most recent one, and it literally took us a few minutes to do so. Imagine trying to migrate a Joomla 1.5 website to Joomla 3.7.2, will you be able to do it in a few minutes? We can’t, and if you can, then please send over your CV right now!

• SEF links are automatic with WordPress.

  In Joomla, you have to create menu items, and then point these menu items to articles/categories/etc… in order to get a working link. Sure, you have full control over your links in Joomla, but this extra process is what keeps many webmasters from adopting Joomla. Not many people grasp the idea of menu items. On the bright side, however, Joomla will, in the near future hopefully, have a seamless integrated SEF system.

• WordPress is a dictatorship.

  WordPress was created by one person, and that one person has a final say in almost any decision involving WordPress, including technical and financial decisions. Essentially, WordPress represents the unwavering vision of just one person. Joomla is a totally different story. Joomla’s financial, structural, and technical decisions are taken by different people with different opinions and different agendas. Naturally, this means that many of these decisions are incoherent and incompatible with each other, and what makes things worse is that the Joomla decision makers are often replaced, further weakening the long term vision of the product.

• WordPress is wealthy.

  WordPress employs many monetization techniques that generates a lot of money. Joomla, because of its complicated decision making process (and because of some people with hidden agendas), was never really monetized properly. In fact, the same people making a killing out of Joomla are the staunchest opponents to a real monetization of the Joomla brand.

• WordPress has real – full time developers. Joomla doesn’t.

  Since WordPress is wealthy, then it can afford to hire real good quality developers to support its products. So far, Joomla doesn’t have full time paid developers, it only has volunteer developers. Even the lead Joomla developer is a volunteer developer. Of course, that it not a bad thing, but it is definitely not as good as when you have full time developers supporting the product, and a huge testing team testing the product.

• The WordPress plugins directory is better maintained than Joomla’s JED

  The JED (Joomla Extensions Directory) is just non-comparable to the WordPress plugins directory, and this is because the JED is maintained by very few people. So, the approval, rejection, and the testing of an extension takes a long time and is often done just to “empty the plate”. This means that in many cases, no real testing is done, and this is especially the case for large extensions.

Due to the above factors, WordPress has a much larger community than Joomla, but, on the other hand, Joomla’s community is much more fanatic about Joomla (which can be a good thing and a bad thing). We know that Joomla is a better product in its core, but, we also know that without addressing the above advantages that WordPress has over Joomla, our beloved CMS will, at best, be in second place.

The above post reflects our opinion which is based on our experience with both products. If you have have something to say about this, then feel free to comment below. If you want to hire us to advise you on which CMS is best for you, then please contact us. Our fees are right, our work is honest, and we really know what we are talking about!