When you’re running an e-commerce business, one of the things that matter as much as the products you’re trying to sell is the platform on which you’re selling them. And a big part of what decides how suitable and successful that platform becomes is the CMS you choose.
Right now, there are two giants that most e-commerce business owners turn to: Joomla and WordPress. But which one of these two is right for you and why? That’s what we’re going to discuss right now, so read on to find out more.
They’re Both Free Open Source Software
Before we start talking about what divides and differentiates Joomla and WordPress, we should take a moment to highlight one of the most important things that unite them. Namely, that they’re both free open source software platforms. This is to their advantage, for sure.
They both offer an interface that’s easy to use and there are many extensions that are available for both, and that’s something that we’ll talk about more below. But in terms of the fundamental nature of these platforms, they’re pretty similar because of their open source origins. Now let’s look at what they do differently.
CMS Security Issues
Of course, anyone running an e-commerce business wants to ensure security is something that’s taken care of by the CMS they choose to use. You’ll need to use the right extensions to secure both WordPress and Joomla, and there’s not much between them on that front.
However, some people believe Joomla to be the more secure option purely because it’s so much smaller than WordPress, and this means that hackers have far less interest in pushing and testing its security systems, which is something they love to do with WordPress. It’s certainly something to keep in mind.
Extensions and Expansions
If we want to do a straight comparison between how many plugins can be used to expand and extend the abilities of a WordPress site vs a Joomla site, WordPress wins, perhaps unsurprisingly. It offers access to over 40000 plugins, whereas Joomla has around 8500.
WordPress also offers a slightly more user-friendly backend, but both CMS options can be installed directly in the backend in a relatively easy and straightforward way. But for pure ease and accessibility, WordPress edges it over Joomla just slightly. Joomla does have the advantage of offering as many user roles as they want to, while WordPress (without plugins) only offers six.
Search Engine Optimization
Another thing that really matters to e-commerce business owners is SEO. WordPress has the edge when it comes to plugins relating to SEO, but if we compare the base versions of both platforms, Joomla actually has a little more to offer in this area because there are lots of options to make use of right off the bat.
However, WordPress users will very quickly install plugins like Yoast SEO and all of the other well-known plugins that offer a raft of SEO options and capabilities. So maybe it’s a little unfair to only compare the basic packages of each version.
The Possibilities Offered
WordPress has the advantage of being both wonderfully simple for people who want to create simple platforms, while also having the ability to become very complex and intricate for users who are looking for that. The cornerstone of WordPress’s success is its ability to bring those two things together.
There is certainly more to work with in the basic version of Joomla is we, again, ignore extensions. Sure, plugins and extensions are commonly used by most WordPress site owners, but if you, for whatever reason, only want to use the basic packages, Joomla has more variety and great potential for interesting configurations and possibilities.
Which Types of Websites Suit Which Platforms?
If you have a team of people managing your CMS, you want something that everyone can use. In that case, WordPress makes sense because of its user-friendly nature. However, if you want something that’s suited to people with technical experience and you need a platform that’s more complex without the need for extensions, Joomla works best. Take all of that into account when deciding which you should use.
There are lots of benefits associated with each of these two options; that’s why they’re so successful in their own right. WordPress is undeniable great for user-friendliness and it has a range of themes and plugins that can’t be beaten. It’s hard not to summarise that WordPress has the edge, but Joomla is making improvements and offering plenty to e-commerce business owners too.