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Joomla or Wordpress, Which is Better? 20 items Compared

Posted by Adria · March 02nd, 2009 · Comments 



Every day more people find out how to easily manage their websites using Content Management Systems.  Two well known CMS’s are Joomla and Wordpress.  Today, let’s compare them side by side and see who is truly “the best”

Comparing Joomla and Wordpress

  1. End user experience – Tie
  2. Ease of upgrades – Wordpress
  3. Editing content by end users – Wordpress
  4. Design flexibility – Tie
  5. Pull in content from other sites – Joomla
  6. Version control, roll back – Wordpress
  7. Backend navigation – Wordpress
  8. Ease of installation – Joomla
  9. Size of community – Wordpress
  10. Popularity – Wordpress
  11. Active development – Wordpress
  12. Schedule content to appear – Joomla
  13. Rotating content – Joomla
  14. Menus – Joomla
  15. Modules, Plugins, Extensions, Components – Joomla
  16. Multiple Authors – Wordpress
  17. Search functions – Wordpress
  18. Administration – Wordpress
  19. Scalability – Draw
  20. SEO – Wordpress
  21. Just Added! Community Energy – Wordpress
  22. Just Added! Security – Joomla
  23. Just Added! Themes – Wordpress
  24. Just Added! Documentation – Wordpress

Winner aka For The Win (FTW)

  • Wordpress – 16
  • Joomla – 9

From the Chat and Video

Giannii-8385 : To make either better you should insert Disqus. What about Tumblr?
ustreamer-60485 : leolaporte uses stickam. http://www.stickam.com/leolaporte
ohdoctah-264 : WP is the Google of Blogs so I can get extra traffic.
ohdoctah-264 : people search word press for random things and I can also get nice mobile plug ins with WP
ustreamer-96511 : moving my Wordpress site  to Joomla but it is easier to update, modify and expand
ustreamer-96511 : yes Wordpress is easier to administer I have to agree
Adria: Wordpress is a very approachable Content Managment System
Nbaisley: “Wordpress is like the girl next door”
ohdoctah-7277 : i need the community lol i think thats the only reason im on joomla
ohdoctah-7277 : tumblr is coming.. its something to get into they are modeled after WP

Common functionality requests

Stop trying to do everything inside Joomla and Wordpress.  There are many ways to embed scripts and sites that already do these things very well right into your Joomla or Wordpress install.

  • quiz or survey
  • calendars
  • forms

The Numbers

Although this is in no way scientific, condting a search for these 3 Content Managment Systems reveals the overwhemling popularlity of Wordpress:

Google Results 1 – 10 of about 285,000,000 for wordpress

Google Results 1 – 10 of about 117,000,000 for joomla

Google Results 1 – 10 of about 30,800,000 for drupal

What I like about Wordpress vs Joomla

I think that the underlying message of the developers of Wordpress, including Matt Mullenweg and Alex King, is that Wordpress is for everyone.  Everyone is welome.  There are many passionate people out there working with Wordpress and they continue the tradition of storytelling so it’s making Wordpress a viral phenomenon.

Resources

Book – Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Joomla Developer’s Toolbox
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/01/05/joomla-developers-toolbox/

WordPress Developer’s Toolbox
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/15/wordpress-developers-toolbox/

Brian Gardner’s Revolution / Studiopress makes use of Wordpress MU http://test.studiopress.com/

Joomla Extensions http://extensions.joomla.org/

Wordpress Plugins http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

Official Wordpress Showcase http://wordpress.org/showcase/

Official Joomla Showcase http://forum.joomla.org/viewforum.php?f=514

Unofficial Joomla Showcase http://www.bestofjoomla.com/component/option,com_bestofsites/Itemid,78/

Unoffical Wordpress Showcase http://welovewp.com/

My $10 question on Mahalo Answers for help with my video streaming/editing workflow
http://www.mahalo.com/answers/technology-and-internet/what-is-the-best-way-to-stream-live-and-record-the-video-for-later-editing-ustreamtv-justintv

How I came up with the list

I took the following viewpoints into consideration; things important to me as a consultant to setup and maintain websites, things that are important to my clients who are business owners and don’t have a lot of time and things important to the internet community as a whole who are adopting new technologies.

Monday Contest Prize, Question and Winner

Prize: 1 hour of website development

Question: What does the config.php file in Joomla or Wordpress contain?

Winner: nbaisley

Related Posts with Thumbnails
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Every day more people find out how to easily manage their websites using Content Management Systems. Two well known CMS's are Joomla and Wordpress. Today, let's compare them side by side and see who is truly "the best"

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Comments

  • reikoarashi
    I agree with everyone saying they're different but my issue is that i'm a former wordpress user dealing with the fact my wordpress install had gotten hacked into - eaten to bits and securley malware infected... Why? Probably cause i was target to being on a godaddy host? 8D. I may try this "DISQUS" thing on my new joomla install but joomla can get rendered useless if all you have is no cash and all freebie plugins.. what happened to OPEN SOURCE?
  • thelawprofessor
    Drupal should not even be mentioned in the same breath as Wordpress and Joomla and credibility is gone once you say it is an easier install than both. Drupal is a development framework that is only useful if you have real money to invest in PHP developers. Without them, it is a beast to accomplish even simple tasks and everything looks like it's in Drupal and that is not a compliment.

    Joomla is nice looking and has a great deal of flexibility. But it also has a ton of mediocre modules and a very poor method of SEO. It finally is improved but it still spits out some very ugly looking URLs. It is much more difficult to manage content and has a higher learning curve but is also far more powerful when it comes to control over how to place and use content. Some things are lame brained (like requiring a bot to be written to enable authors to have links to their profile/articles.) Wordpress seems to be, by far, the most search engine optimized, much easier to use although it does lack in ease of extensibility in several ways. The inability to remove the "category" slug for 2 level categories is absurd (and don't point me to any articles how to do it because NONE of them work.)

    I look at them as follows. For industrial sites with money that require a lot of custom work, I might consider Drupal. Joomla is good for quick and dirty sites for businesses that don't require SEO but need content flexibility and layout. Wordpresss is for the rest and easiest to get started too.
  • Thank you for your feedback there. You sound sort of upset. Will you be
    attending The CMSExpo in Chicago for 2010 or would your head just explode?

    *smile*

    There are over 160 recognized dog breeds in the AKC registry. These dogs
    have been bred for specific purposes or in some cases, no purpose other than
    to be a great lapdog (See http://bit.ly/blueythedog)

    Same goes for CMS solutions like Joomla, Wordpress and Drupal.

    Everyone has to start somewhere learning about their next dog and this show
    gives folks a starting point for content management systems.

    Hope you feel a little less feisty now!
  • Stephen
    I developed a very extensive site in iWeb but have outgrown that platform, although it is an amazing tool for beginners. Now looking for the right CMS for me. In my investigations, I ran into your site and listened to the whole video carefully. I do appreciate the information, but in my opinion you are bias toward WP as can be seen by your facial expressions and tone of voice. My investigations lead me to see WP as a younger, still immature sibling of Joomla. Google likes it because it is simplistic, and that makes it easier and faster to evaluate. At this point, I am moving toward integrating both, i.e. Joomla for website and WP for its blog. I would just caution you to be more objective and more aware of your bias. Thanks.
  • Stephen,

    Thank you for your comment. I've been using Joomla since 2005 and used
    Mambo before that (foundation CMS of Joomla) so that means I've been using,
    installing, configuring and supporting Joomla for 5 years.

    It's complex and bulky compared to Wordpress. It's less secure as well.
    Millions more people are loving the easy and beauty of Wordpress.

    Wordpress is a better website platform.

    Maybe I'll do another review on the two in January.

    Thanks for your warning on being "more objective", lol. I define the
    requirements of a project based on the needs of my clients vs what I am
    comfortable with.
  • wow what a great discussion here. I was thinking of using wordpress now I am having a second thought. Thanks.
  • Demaster
    First of all...I wish to thank Adria for taking the time to put this subject out because I think it is very important. I'm pretty new to web development, but I have a programmer history and work as a network engineer. That makes me a pretty techie oriented guy. I have to agree with Adria...because I'm techie oriented...I think I prefer to use Joomla. I've been using Wordpress for a while now too, and I must say that the backend that you use has to be based on the client and the job outcome. The two don't truly compare. They each have attributes that are amazing, and I'll use either one depending on the client and the site that I'm building. I've tried to use Drupal many times, and there is one site that I must use Drupal for on a regular basis. Drupal just doesn't work for me and my style at all. Once again...thanks Adria

    Demaster
  • each of that CMS has benefit and weakness. But I prefer joomla to build web to wordpress. Good comparison review. Nice posting. Thank’s
  • Actually, maybe I won't use Joomla next time
  • I will admit upfront that I'm biased toward Joomla, because that's what I specialize in :) That said, I don't see Joomla and WordPress as competitors--not like Joomla and Drupal. Also, most of the features you compared above, Joomla does too--maybe just not out of the box. In the end, which CMS is used should be based on project requirements versus biases, because all three are Open Source, popular and have active communities. Believe me, I am not afraid to recommend WordPress or Drupal if I think they're a better fit than Joomla. It's better to lose a prospect than to have an unhappy client.

    Adria, You have nice rankings for this article. You should rewrite it and substantiate your claims with hard numbers (statistics). I bet it would be a very popular article on the 'Net.
  • Thanks for the post, i installed both wordpress and joomla and found that wordpress is easy to work with since im new to cms world and also it gives ideas if you are a creative person..
    with joomla and all its plugins and stuff its almost ready to rock your website but also it will slow it down!
    so after a month of trying both and working with both i give up on joomla and will work with wp but must keep up with security stuff and keep both eyes open
    best regards
  • Anthony
    Enjoyed the piece, and agree wholeheartedly. I've been a Joomla fan since the beginning (I was originally using Mambo). I was a quasi WP fan, up until the release of 2.6. That version became a game changer . When evaluating projects I found myself recommending WP more and more. I Didn't realize this until looking at the body of work I had done. I think it's important to understand that Joomla is an incredible project, and can be used a variety of ways, but the versatility..and ease of use/training of Wordpress just makes it a common sense choice for most content driven sites.

    Great Post/Vid
  • RaiulBaztepo
    Hello!
    Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
    PS: Sorry for my bad english, I'v just started to learn this language ;)
    See you!
    Your, Raiul Baztepo
  • Adria:

    Just came across your site, and noticed this sentence, which you (as you would say) have a word that might not be spelled well, ;p:

    Two well know CMS’s are Joomla and Wordpress. Today, let’s compare them side by side and see who is truly “the best”

    The word in the sentence is "know", in this your sentence, it should be "known".

    That's all. Your site is very informative, I was interested in using Joomla and didn't realize that Wordpress was a comparable system, I solely thought of it as blogging software, not as a full system for CSM. Thank you for the comparison, watching the video now.

    Andre
  • Adria
    Dave,

    Thanks for the comment on Drupal. The thing is, the last time I installed Drupal was August 2008. Before that, 2006. In both cases, I didn't do much past the basic install so I don't feel I have a working knowledge of Drupal and it would be unfair to compare it.

    Joomla I know well, Wordpress I know well. Eventually I do need to find time to dig into Drupal.

    You do have to admit that for front end design, Drupal is pretty boring, eh?

    I disagree that Wordpress is only a blogging platform. Most of the business owners I work with simply want to use Joomla to update their own content. Most of them find the navigation, menu system, module positions and file management confusing. This is why Wordpress won several items. Joomla is just too fancy pants for most people. Now, if a webmaster is managing the site, Joomla is awesome.

    Thanks for stopping and thanks for all your awesome feedback last year!
  • The only mention drupal gets is in the google hit count - I am disappointed.

    I know we agree to disagree on this, but I feel the need to point it out to your readers.

    WordPress is primarily a blogging engine with some broader CMS plugins thrown in. Joomla is a CMS. You should comapre apples to apples.

    Here is my quick run down:
    1. End user experience - Tie (if you mean browsers of the site not admins)
    2. Ease of upgrades - Drupal - download code and run a script
    3. Editing content by end users - Drupal
    4. Design flexibility - Drupal - core architecture is a lot nicer
    5. Pull in content from other sites - Drupal - aggregator module in core
    6. Version control, roll back - Drupal - versioning built into core
    7. Backend navigation - Hard to say - drupal with rootcandy theme is good
    8. Ease of installation - Drupal 6 - simple wizard
    9. Size of community - Don't have stats
    10. Popularity - ditto
    11. Active development - Drupal is very active moving towards D7 release
    12. Schedule content to appear - Joomla (drupal requires contrib module)
    13. Rotating content - Joomla
    14. Menus - Drupal
    15. Modules, Plugins, Extensions, Components - Drupal - I am sure they offer multiple kitch sinks
    16. Multiple Authors - Drupal any user can be a an author - full role based ACLs in core
    17. Search functions - Drupal I find Joomla sites slow when searching
    18. Administration - Drupal
    19. Scalability - Drupal - massive site use drupal
    20. SEO - Drupal - SEO in core

    Maybe you could do a more independent 3 way comparison
  • RT @AmyStephen: Joomla or Wordpress, Which is Better? http://tinyurl.com/bxgzlx - "Wordpress people feel warm and fuzzy" - Great attribute!
  • Good Video-Adria has points (picks WP) @adriarichards video is up! Joomla or Wordpress, Which is Better? http://tinyurl.com/bxgzlx
  • RT @adriarichards: video is up! Joomla or Wordpress, Which is Better? 20 items Compared http://tinyurl.com/bxgzlx or http://ow.ly/ALj
  • Nice article. I haven't ever used Joomla but I do know 2 people who have converted from Joomla to Wordpress. At the time I remember them citing that they just weren't using enough Joomla features to warrant it and had problems with some remotely hosted upgrades. I think a lot of it comes down to the software that you're looking for and what you hope to achieve with it.

    For most people new to the web, I would highly recommend Wordpress as I have witnessed several success cases with newbies to blogging who have been up and running in a single night with the easy to use interface. So far hosting Wordpress myself has been trouble free, which is more than I can say for either DasBlog or SubText, both of which I used for over a year. When my SubText upgrade to 2,0 went south badly, I made the decision to switch to Wordpress. Have been happily blogging there ever since.
  • video is up! Joomla or Wordpress, Which is Better? 20 items Compared http://tinyurl.com/bxgzlx
  • Wordpress vs Joomla, some disheartening misconceptions http://tinyurl.com/bxgzlx
  • Bernard
    I tend to think Joomla is a CMS with blogging features and Wordpress is a Blogging tool with a lot of CMS features, so there should't really be any comparison.
  • Adria
    Bernard,

    This is the link that change my mind 14+ Awesome WordPress-powered sites
  • Wow, community energy goes to WordPress??? I'm going to have to disagree with that one. You must not know Amy Stephen or Andrew Eddie :)

    I do find it kind of hard to compare the two. I see Joomla as much more of a framework to build on as where WordPress just gets your content out there. ( That's a pretty general statement I know )
  • Adria
    Jon,

    Their names don't ring a bell in my mind but that doesn't discount their leadership, inspiration and energy they've put towards the Joomla community. What I'm saying is there is massive appeal in Wordpress and many people who have become involved with Wordpress have a different "feel" to them than the Joomla people. Wordpress people feel "warm and fuzzy" to me while Joomla people seem "analytical and logical". This is just my take on it.
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