EDITS.WS

Author: B.J. Keeton

  • WordPress vs Ghost (2023) — The Key Differences

    Even though WordPress is one of the top Content Management Systems (CMS) in the world, with well over 1/3 of the internet using it, it started as a simple blogging platform. Since then, it has grown to power some of the most visited and complex sites out there. It remains, however, a blogging powerhouse. Ghost is a publishing platform that is focused on being the publishing platform that WordPress could have been if development had gone in a different direction. We are going to take a look at WordPress vs. Ghost features head-to-head so you can see which platform will handle your content in the way you need.

    WordPress vs. Ghost: Who Are They For?

    When looking at these two platforms head-to-head, your audience should be at the forefront of your mind. Who you’re creating content for very much changes which platform is right for you.

    wordpress dot org

    WordPress is for people who want to create content, have near-endless options and features available to them, and customize every aspect of their site to suit the exact needs of their user base. We should note, too, that WordPress Posts and Pages are at the heart of most features that are added to the platform, indicating the focus of the platform is still content creation and publishing despite its development into a CMS platform. Additionally, WordPress does have both hosted and self-hosted versions.

    ghost homepage

    Ghost is for people who want to create content. Stop. Initially developed as a publishing platform, Ghost has evolved into a…publishing platform. Ghost dedicates its entire structure and feature set to get your content in front of readers, whether that is public written content, paywalled membership stuff, or email marketing that combines them both. Over time, what was a simple blogging software has turned into a full-fledged publishing platform, with metrics, email service, and integrations for referral program creation and more.

    Given that Ghost is a primarily publishing-focused platform, we are going to look at WordPress vs. Ghost from that perspective primarily.

    Learning Curve/Ease-of-Use

    With any publishing software, you want as little friction between your words and your readers as possible. Creating and editing posts, adding images and media, as well as adjusting site styles, and navigating the backend is all primary focus for publishers and writers as well.

    WordPress’s Learning Curve

    If you’re unfamiliar with WordPress and open the admin dashboard for the first time, it can be a shock. The interface hasn’t changed much over the years, though it has been refined. Most of the menu items are straightforward and functional posts, pages, plugins, themes, and so on.

    You will have some quirky features to learn, such as widgets and menus being under Appearance, while Plugins get their own main dashboard space. Primary WordPress settings are broken into separate pages instead of tabs and other idiosyncratic leftovers from the decades-long development cycle.

    wordpress dashboard vs ghost

    Creating a Post is straightforward, however. Posts – Add New – Publish. The Block Editor is smooth, though occasionally cumbersome. And you will find that some elements of Posts and Pages (such as featured images and post snippets/excerpts) will be used differently depending on what theme or plugins you use.

    wordpress block editor

    However, once you’re used to the WordPress way of doing things, it is second nature, and you will understand why things are located where they are and how your particular theme/plugin setup uses each element of the Post/Page.

    Ghost’s Learning Curve

    From the moment you log into Ghost’s dashboard, it shows you that it is centered on writing and publishing content. The Posts section of the menu is expanded and prominent from the beginning. You have access to your whole archive without an extra click.

    ghost dashboard vs wordpress

    You can click the + button to add a new post, and the screen is very similar to the WordPress Block Editor. In most ways, the two are functionally identical in use. However, Ghost’s editor isn’t nearly as extensible as WordPress’s, meaning if you find a feature lacking that you need, adding it won’t be easy (or perhaps even possible).

    wordpress vs ghost

    In terms of a learning curve for actually publishing a post, the two workflows are nearly identical. One isn’t steeper to learn than the other for publishing. It is, essentially, a personal preference on which particular environment you prefer to write in.

    However, for the dashboard itself, you may find yourself having an easier time navigating Ghost (at least initially). Part of that comes in the user-friendly color coding and icons—something WordPress’s more utilitarian design could learn from.

    ghost dashboard

    All the site settings and customizations are located under the Settings gear, while all the publishing and user management are in the main menu. The learning curve for Ghost is considerably lower than WordPress, but the trade-off is that your customization and site features are more limited, too.

    WordPress Ghost
    Ease of Use 🏳️ Draw
    WordPress can take some time to learn, but there are plugins and tutorials to make things easier.    		 🏳️ Draw
    Ghost is about as easy to learn as WordPress, and will take some time to adjust too.
    Choose WordPress Choose Ghost

    Customization Options (Themes, Plugins, Integrations)

    While most publishing success comes from the content that you create, a portion of success is due to the appearance of professionalism. This means that if your site doesn’t appear credible, users are less likely to return (or even stay). Even if you’re creating top-notch content, if your site doesn’t look just as top-notch, users may not even consider your content. That said, when considering WordPress vs. Ghost, both platforms give you the ability to project the professional image you need.

    WordPress Customization

    If there is one place where WordPress soars above and beyond almost all competitors, it is for customization. The WordPress ecosystem is full of themes, plugins, widgets, code snippets, and developers that can make the platform do anything and look like anything. In terms of design and integrations, WordPress beats Ghost hands down. (And most other platforms, too.)

    The WordPress.org theme repository has thousands of free themes for your website. 3,989 free themes are available at the time of this writing, so the chances of your finding a theme that looks close to what you envision out of the box are pretty likely. It may not have all the features you want, however.

    wordpress theme repository

    Which is where the WordPress.org plugin repository comes in. Like themes, this repository has thousands of plugins available to add utility features and design elements to your site with a couple of clicks. If

    WordPress is open-source software. It uses PHP and React.js with the intent of being extensible. If you have the coding knowledge and experience, you can make WordPress do anything you could imagine it doing. If you don’t have the coding knowledge to get into the editors, that’s okay, too. The plugin and theme repositories are there for you to piece together the website of your dreams.

    You can additionally adjust the CSS and HTML for your themes and various pages directly inside the backend, giving you full access to every little detail of your website.

    Ghost Customization Options

    Ghost, on the other hand, is limited in the amount of customization you get for your site. Like WordPress, Ghost also has a theme repository, but it is significantly limited. At the time of this writing, there are 92 total themes available, only 15 of which are free. The others range from $29 to $159. Keep this in mind. However, that premium WordPress themes are similarly priced.

    ghost theme repository

    You can also develop your own Ghost theme and use it, too, using the Handlebars templating language. Admittedly, that’s a little out of many people’s wheelhouses. (The documentation does link to some excellent Handlebars tutorials, though.)

    Outside of the themes, all of your customization options are available in the Settings area of your Ghost dashboard. You can alter accent colors, logos, fonts, icons, and so on in terms of design. You can also set up navigation menus, newsletter templates, and opt-ins and experiment with new test features.

    Additionally, you can customize code for your Ghost website in the Code Injection area of the settings, but it is limited to Header and Footer areas. To alter site-wide CSS, you won’t use a custom.css file; you will add style tags to the Header of the website. This is hardly the most elegant solution, but it works.

    However, if your entire goal is publishing as simply as possible and looking professional, and having a fantastic experience doing it, you may be able to overlook the lack of customization available in Ghost.

    WordPress Ghost
    Customization 🥇 Winner

    WordPress shines in terms of customization based on the sheer amount of plugins and themes available.

    		 Ghost just doesn’t have as many options as WordPress.
    Choose WordPress Choose Ghost

    Self-Hosting

    Very briefly, we want to touch on the aspects of self-hosting WordPress vs. Ghost. Both platforms are open-source. And you can run from your web servers or local development environment.

    WordPress is the winner in this match, like Customization. Because of its ubiquity, every web host out there has quick installers for WordPress, and the Famous 5 Minute Install is even easier with their help. You have the choice of hosting anywhere and finding support pretty much anywhere, too. WordPress hosts are plentiful, but there are a few, such as Cloudways and SiteGround, that offer some stand-out features at a very reasonable price.

    With Ghost, self-hosting is kind of an ordeal. You will need to install it by the command line using Node.js and NodeSource, both a root and non-root user within your server, and a VPS. Ghost is a partner with Digital Ocean and has a Ghost image that you can use much like the WP quick installers, but that’s an exception, not the rule.

    In the end, Ghost Pro is a fantastic platform and comparable to both WordPress.com and .org, but Ghost as a self-hosted app can be troublesome for everyone but the technically skilled. And since it’s a publishing platform first, you may not be a command line wizard if you’re looking at Ghost.

    WordPress Ghost
    Self-Hosting 🥇 Winner

    WordPress has quick installers for hosts everywhere.

    		 It can be a real hassle to host with Ghost.
    Choose WordPress Choose Ghost

    E-commerce

    Almost every website out there sells digital (or physical) goods and services in some way. E-commerce is a sustainable and viable option to monetize many websites. We want to take a look at the options available for you with WordPress vs. Ghost because of that.

    WordPress E-commerce Options

    WordPress comes out of the gate running in this head-t0-head because of WooCommerce. A free plugin that is supported by a huge array of free and premium extensions, WooCommerce dominates the WP e-commerce industry. For a reason. It’s very good.

    You can sell physical goods pretty quickly after setting up the plugin. And digital goods are just an upload away. However, to reach full power with WooCommerce, you will need to use those add-ons and extensions. To get the most out of WooCommerce to sell digital goods, you may need an extension to limit purchases to members of your site.

    Or maybe you want to use WooCommerce to set up a course to teach your users. You can do this. But it will require an extension that ties into a learning management system platform. Plus, you can tie WooCommerce into whatever email system you use, whether that’s MailChimp, Constant Contact, Emma, or something else. Again, mostly with an extension.

    You can do any kind of e-commerce with WooCommerce. It’s fantastic. But, like WordPress and themes/plugins, you need to piece together your dream store on your own.

    On top of all this, you can use plugins such as MemberPress to create membership sites that directly rival the membership and revenue-generating options in Ghost.

    Ghost E-commerce

    Ghost e-commerce, on the other hand, is a little different. With Ghost, you’re not setting up a shop or storefront. You’re selling memberships to your site and access to your content. From the moment you open the dashboard, monetization is literally at the top of the list. You can see your membership revenue over the past 30 days first thing.

    ghost dashboard vs wordpress

    When you’re publishing a post, you set who has access to the content from there. It’s easy and built into the Ghost platform itself.

    paid members in ghost

    That’s the catch with Ghost. You’re selling memberships. No goods or services. You can somewhat treat these memberships in the same way that you would a WooCommerce digital storefront, but in general, Ghost is set up for you to hone a community more than one-off sales. (If you want a platform like Ghost that rivals WooCommerce for e-commerce, check out our WP vs. Squarespace post to see the breakdown.)

    None of this is a negative. It’s just the difference in the audience for WordPress vs. Ghost. In terms of pure publication e-commerce, Ghost has membership posting, and newsletter features integrated amazingly. It’s an amazing platform. You just can’t sell individual items.

    WordPress Ghost
    E-Commerce 🥇 Winner

    The WooCommerce plugin let’s you create an online store with ease, plus it has extensions to add functionality and customize your store to your liking.

    		 Ghost is a great platform for selling memberships but can’t do much more than that in terms of e-commerce.
    Choose WordPress Choose Ghost

    WordPress vs Ghost: Who Wins?

    Head-to-head, WordPress, and Ghost are incredibly similar except for just a few details. But it’s those details that make or break the platform for some users. WordPress is a highly customizable platform that started with publishing at the forefront. It has moved to be more of a one-size-fits-all CMS. Ghost began as a publishing-first platform that has stayed a publishing-first platform. Every detail of the software is geared toward getting your content in front of users’ eyes. So you can make money off of it.

    WordPress Ghost
    Ease of Use 🏳️ Draw
    WordPress can take some time to learn, but there are plugins and tutorials to make things easier.    		 🏳️ Draw
    Ghost is about as easy to learn as WordPress, and will take some time to adjust too.
    Customization 🥇 Winner

    WordPress shines in terms of customization based on the sheer amount of plugins and themes available.

    		 Ghost just doesn’t have as many options as WordPress.
    Self-Hosting 🥇 Winner

    WordPress has quick installers for hosts everywhere.

    		 It can be a real hassle to host with Ghost.
    E-Commerce 🥇 Winner

    The WooCommerce plugin let’s you create an online store with ease, plus it has extensions to add functionality and customize your store to your liking.

    		 Ghost is a great platform for selling memberships but can’t do much more than that in terms of e-commerce.
    Choose WordPress Choose Ghost

    If you are in it for publishing content and making money off that content directly without having to deal with typical website issues, Ghost is for you. If you want full control over being able to tweak your website’s design and features, a similarly smooth writing experience, and want to self-host the software, WordPress is the way to go.

    WordPress Deep Dive

    One more thing. Before you make your final decision on your website platform…are you curious to see how WordPress stacks up against its other biggest competitors? We did the hard work and compared WordPress vs. everything else so that you don’t have to! We reviewed WordPress vs. Laravel, and I think you will be interested to see the results.

    If you’re looking for specific plugins to help WordPress become even more powerful, we recommend the following:

    What have been your experiences with WordPress vs. Ghost? Why do you prefer one platform over another?

    The post WordPress vs Ghost (2023) — The Key Differences appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress vs Google Sites (2023) — Comparing The Differences

    Interestingly enough, Google has two different website hosting options. Blogger, which is a direct competitor to WordPress.com more than WordPress.org, is focused on publishing content, and Google Sites, which is a more direct alternative to sites such as Wix and WordPress.org, where you build a website based on a project or a portfolio or even an event. When looking at WordPress vs Google Sites, we have to take into account that Sites is definitely an alternative to the CMS (content management system) elements you get in WordPress.

    WordPress hosts are plentiful, but there are a few, such as Cloudways and SiteGround, that offer awesome features at a very reasonable price. In this article, we’ll take a head-to-head look at WordPress and Google Sites, breaking down their intended users, customization features, ease of use, SEO, flexibility, and extensibility.

    WordPress vs Google Sites: Who Are They For?

    WordPress is for everyone. Really. It has elements that work for just about everybody with every kind of site. If you need an event site, there are events calendar plugins that help you run it. If you want a blog site, that’s what the platform is based on. E-commerce? WooCommerce has you covered. As the platform has evolved into a full content management system, so too has the demographic the software can appeal to. You can run simple, single-page websites as well as major sites with hundreds/thousands of pages that get millions of hits. It scales well, too.

    However, the downside to this is that it requires a bit of initial learning from users and then tweaking to make sure that the site looks and performs the way you want it to.

    Google Sites, too, is aimed at everyone simply by the fact that it’s an included part of the Google family of apps. However, rather than being aimed at everyone for everything, it’s aimed at everyone who needs a simple website for anything at all. When you set things up initially, you will choose a template and type of site (or a blank one), which then turns into a simple front-end page builder where you enter your own information.

    The customization and flexibility in Google Sites vs. that from WordPress aren’t great. However, the simplicity and lightweight efficiency that comes from the service make it a great option for anyone who needs a one-off website or a simple, static web presence.

    Which Is Best For Customization?

    One of the elements that nearly every website owner gets caught up with is site customization. Finding just the right layout, the right design, and the right color palette is imperative to website success. However, depth and ease of customization vary by platform, and the need for those varies from site to site. Both WordPress and Google Sites offer customization only in different ways. Depending on the kind of site you’re building, either one could fit the bill.

    WordPress

    WordPress is all about customization. With its entire structure being based on extensibility through plugins and themes, you really have endless choices for your sites. That can be a little overwhelming, too. Is Divi the best theme? What are the best page builder and SEO plugins? Which security plugin works the best? Do I even need one?

    plugins

    There are so many options for every single kind of feature that you may have a hard time choosing. That’s okay. While there is definitely a learning curve here, it’s hard to make a bad decision. The cream definitely rises to the top on the WordPress.org plugin and theme repositories, and anything you need to add to your site should be able to be found at the top of most simple searches.

    If you’re a coder, you can dig in even further by altering and adding to the PHP, HTML, and JavaScript in the WP core files. If not, again…don’t worry. That’s what plugin and theme developers do. No matter what you want your site to look like, there’s a tool for that. And no matter what you want your site to do, there’s a tool for that, too.

    It just might take a little research and trial and error to get the exact right fit for what you’re trying to make.

    Google Sites

    Sites, on the other hand, is a straightforward tool that doesn’t have nearly the depth of customization that WordPress does. What it does offer in customization, though, is simplicity and ease of use. If you know what kind of site you’re going to build, you have a choice of templates for your site. They are basic foundations but professionally designed.

    sites templates

    Whichever one you choose, the customization options are directly in front of you. A page builder loads and all of the options that you get are visible from the start. In general, these are aesthetic and design choices, meaning that you won’t be able to add features and utilities as you do with WordPress.

    google sites event page

    As you can see in the image above, the interface is clean and easy to use. You can add text boxes, dividers, buttons, images, and so on. Each of these has its own customization options. Some, such as text boxes, only have basic formatting (bold, italics, alignment, etc.), while others, like the header and navigation, get a more diverse range.

    google sites vs wordpress

    You can add Google Analytics for tracking, a custom domain (from anywhere and not just from Google Domains), and various brand logos, etc. Additionally, you simply drag and drop different elements along the page to design them. Google Sites provides a grid for you to follow. So while you can’t place them anywhere on the page, Sites makes sure you can place them where it works.

    WordPress Google
    Customization 🥇 Winner
    WordPress is designed to be customizable. It’s expansive plugin library has something for almost everyone.     		Google sites is a bare bones platform, making it simple to use but difficult to customize.
    Choose WordPress Choose Google

    Which Platform Is Easier To Use?

    When picking a website platform, your level of expertise matters. If you’re a new site owner, Google Sites’ simplicity is probably going to be a big draw over having to learn WordPress. WordPress has made large strides in making itself more new-user-friendly than ever. But it has plenty of holdovers from the old days that let the platform’s age shine through.

    WordPress

    Simply logging in and looking at the WordPress dashboard is a lot for a new user. Seeing all the menu items in the sidebar and the widgets on the main page is a ton of information to absorb. Often, this alone can paralyze a user because they may not know where to even begin.

    wordpress dashboard vs google sites

    Using WordPress itself isn’t that hard. In fact, it’s pretty intuitive. Once you learn how. Learning where the options and settings are located can take some time. The learning curve is moderately steep, especially when you consider the number of customization options, as we mentioned above. Adding in and customizing each theme is different, as are plugins.

    However, outside of those, the actual site editing and post creation are pretty easy. Especially with the new Gutenberg editor introduced in WordPress 5.0.

    wordpress block editor

    Users can add any blocks or elements they want, such as row blocks, stack blocks, and even block patterns. Plus, you can adjust the options for each one individually and publish with all the information right at their fingertips. Context menus are easy to navigate. And a simple search of the blocks when you add them gets you right to where you need to be quickly.

    As we said, WordPress itself is fairly easy to use. Once you learn it. Before that, you may feel overwhelmed. But the learning curve is definitely worth the power that you get from the platform.

    Google Sites

    On the other hand, Google Sites has almost no learning curve. It’s almost a flat line. No curve at all, really. Google Sites is simple and easy to use from out of the gate. The downside to having such a flat learning curve is that the power and overall options that you get are significantly limited. Especially when looking at Google Sites vs. WordPress.

    google sites vs wordpress ease of use

    Using Google Sites is a cinch. To the right, you have a sidebar with simple options such as New Page or New Link, or Make Homepage. You can make any page a subpage of any other, remove it from the header navigation, or make a copy of it.

    In addition, the elements have a simple, radial context menu with all the options available if you double-click on them. It pops up, letting you upload media, add Google Drive media, embed, adjust text, and add images.

    All of this is incredibly easy to use. And it works intuitively that you probably won’t need documentation to figure it out. Building and editing on Google Sites with no previous knowledge of the platform might have been the most intuitive experience of any interface we’ve used.

    If you’re looking for a website that you can create, edit, and launch, kind of like making and publishing a slideshow deck, Google Sites is fantastic.

    WordPress Google
    Ease of Use WordPress takes a bit of time to get used to, do to the wide range of functions available. 🥇 Winner
    Google sites is incredibly straightforward and easy to use. It is limited in terms of options though.
    Choose WordPress Choose Google

    SEO, Flexibility, and Extensibility

    Digging in under the hood of these platforms, we want to take a look at what they offer in terms of everyday use and utility for site owners. Can your site be expanded, and how can you optimize it for search rankings? Let’s take a look at how WordPress and Google Sites stack up to one another.

    WordPress

    As we mentioned above, WordPress is customizable and flexible enough to run any kind of website you need. From e-commerce to a blog to a learning management system (LMS) or membership site. The tools available within the CMS are powerful, and with the plugin ecosystem, the options are limitless.

    For SEO, WordPress can’t be beaten. Yoast SEO, Rank Math, Squirrly, and others provide absolutely amazing options so that you can edit your metadata, schema, and HTML site maps to get the best results from the web crawlers. If you’re making regular content that needs updating and adjustment to place high in the search rankings for organic discovery, WordPress is the clear winner.

    Google Sites

    On Google Sites, you’re limited to a powerful, static site builder without a plugin ecosystem. You do, however, but you do have access to the entire Google Suite of products that tie directly into it. Google Sites itself can’t be used as a publishing platform for a blog, but it can be linked to your Blogger account. You can’t run an e-commerce shop from Google Sites, but you can embed the code for a Shopify page in there. For straightforward websites, Google Sites is great. If you need something more complicated and feature-rich, look elsewhere.

    In terms of SEO, Google Sites is a letdown. Despite being a Google product, the metadata and SEO options are simply not there. If you are going to rely on organic search as the lifeblood of your site, Google Sites isn’t the platform for you. However, the sites you make are amazing for pages that will be distributed to a limited audience and/or direct traffic. Internal company websites, community updates, information, and even product or brand information pages are a perfect fit for Google Sites.

    WordPress Google
    SEO, Flexibility, Extensibility 🥇 Winner
    WordPress has solutions for all sorts of plugins to maximize SEO, and provide your website with any tools it needs.     		Google is limited to a static site builder and G-Suite products.
    Choose WordPress Choose Google

    WordPress vs Google Sites: Which One Is Better?

    Both WordPress and Google Sites are targeting two entirely different audiences. Here’s a rundown of how the features we have compared so far stack up.

    WordPress Google
    Customization 🥇 Winner
    WordPress is designed to be customizable. It’s expansive plugin library has something for almost everyone.     		Google sites is a bare bones platform, making it simple to use but difficult to customize.
    Ease of Use WordPress takes a bit of time to get used to, do to the wide range of functions available. 🥇 Winner
    Google sites is incredibly straightforward and easy to use. It is limited in terms of options though.
    SEO, Flexibility, Extensibility 🥇 Winner
    WordPress has solutions for all sorts of plugins to maximize SEO, and provide your website with any tools it needs.     		Google is limited to a static site builder and G-Suite products.
    Choose WordPress Choose Google

    WordPress is Best For Most People

    WordPress is the tool for most people simply because it’s a more robust platform that has more extensibility through plugins and themes. You can do anything you want with WordPress, but you have to give yourself the time to learn it. Then tweak it. Then set it up. Whether you’re a coder or a new website owner, you can absolutely get WordPress to do what you need. The tools are out there, and the support and documentation are, too. You have to put in the work to learn it and make the jack-of-all-trades do the work you need it to do.

    Google Sites is Good for Quick Sites

    Google Sites is an amazing platform for simple sites that need to be up quickly without any hassle. If you have no website experience whatsoever, Google Sites is perfect because it is intuitive and easy to use. You can have a website set up in well under an hour, even if you have never done anything like that before. The downside is that it’s not a very extensible or powerful platform, and you can hit its limitations quickly if you want to grow the site into something more grandiose. However, for what it is and who it targets, Google Sites is a strong tool that does exactly what it means to.

    Are There Other Choices To Consider?

    When it comes to building a website, there is no shortage of choices. We have reviewed and compared just about every website building solution under the sun and summarized our findings here. Recently we reviewed WordPress vs Blogger, which is worth a look.

    The Best Way To Get Started With WordPress

    Are you thinking about using WordPress? We think that’s a great choice! WordPress gives you the freedom to create just about anything. But where do you even start? Here’s a quick guide:

    1. Hosting: You’ll want a great host, that’s key. We recommend SiteGround and Pressable.
    2. Theme: We recommend our very own Divi Theme. It’s the most popular theme in the world for a reason!
    3. Security: Keep your website secure with iThemes Security.
    4. SEO: Make sure your website is optimized for search engines using Rank Math.
    5. Backups: In case disaster strikes, you’ll want to use BackupBuddy to keep regular backups of your data.
    6. Performance: Nothing is worse than a slow website. Keep your website running fast with WP Rocket.

    That’s it! You have assembled the ultimate WordPress toolkit and you are ready to build a successful website.

    The post WordPress vs Google Sites (2023) — Comparing The Differences appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress vs Squarespace (2023) — The Crucial Differences

    WordPress began as a blogging platform nearly two decades ago and since then has evolved into a full content management system that rivals (if not surpasses) any web platform available. One of its strongest competitors in that arena is Squarespace, a sleek and polished website builder that offers professional-level design and function for those who have no web design or coding knowledge. In this article, we take a look at WordPress vs Squarespace head-to-head so that you can decide which would be the better fit for your website.

    A Note on WordPress

    wordpress dot org

    For this comparison, we’re going to be considering the .org version of WordPress rather than the .com. We have a great, full-length article diving into the major differences between the two for you to check out if that’s something you’re considering. Despite the similarities between WordPress.com and Squarespace as hosted web platforms, we feel that .org is by far the stronger product and will be what most people are choosing between when looking at WordPress vs. Squarespace.

    WordPress vs Squarespace: Who Are They For?

    Before we dive into features and specifics, we want to discuss the differences in who the platforms are marketing their services toward. This alone can make a difference for users because of who new features and quality-of-life upgrades are made for.

    WordPress, as a platform, offers a bit of everything for everyone. The Gutenberg block editor is a passable page-builder and excellent composer, developers can dive headfirst into the WP codebase and create plugins and themes with added functionality, and the third-party ecosystem means users of any expertise level can find the perfect themes, plugins, and features for their site with the right amount of research. Users do, however, have to find hosting and domain registration on their own and handle most of the configuration.

    squarespace homepage

    Squarespace, however, is a Software-as-a-Service (or SaaS) platform that includes hosting, design, domains, and support for a monthly fee. They market to site owners who want to use a page builder to easily design a site that looks as though a professional designer made it. (You don’t need any coding or design experience.) The style of Squarespace reminds me of the Tilda website builder, which we also reviewed. Within minutes of signing up, you can click a few times and have a working website online. You just need to then go through and adjust settings to make sure T’s are crossed, and I’s are dotted.

    1. Pricing (Is Squarespace or WordPress More Affordable?)

    One of the first and most important elements of choosing a website platform is the cost. How much is this thing going to run you in the long term and the short, and what features, bells, and whistles are included in that price?

    The Real Price of WordPress

    WordPress is open-source, downloadable software that you can install, host, and manage yourself. So, in theory, it’s free. But that’s not quite the case. Other recurring costs are necessary to keep a WordPress website online, such as the web host (like SiteGround or Pressable), the annual cost of a domain name, and theme/plugin licenses and memberships. WordPress is marketed as free, but it actually has a number of underlying costs that can hit your wallet deeply.

    However, those costs are variable per site. Some theme and plugin licenses are for a single site for a single year. Others are memberships that offer lifetime plans for a one-time cost, like we do here at Elegant Themes. It’s piecemeal and variable. You might pay anywhere between $5 per month for hosting, $10 per year for a domain, and $29.99 once for a theme. Or you might spend $99 per month on managed hosting, $250 per year on security platforms, $79 per month for Shopify (or hundreds on WooCommerce extensions), and that same $10 per year for that same domain name.

    But it’s definitely not free.

    How much does Squarespace cost?

    Squarespace, on the other hand, is a premium SaaS platform that users go into knowing it isn’t free. Much like WordPress.com, Squarespace is a premium, hosted web platform that helps people get sites up and running without technical expertise or design experience.

    wordpress vs squarespace pricing

    Because it is a SaaS platform, Squarespace is not free. While there are minimal costs for WordPress in terms of hosting and domain names, it’s possible users can get hosting for under $5 per month. With Squarespace, users can expect to pay at least $12 each month, if billed annually, and $40 to unlock each and every feature. Website owners choose from various tiers and pay based on what features they want to be enabled for their websites.

    Admittedly, not every site needs every feature. It is a stark contrast to WordPress–which, as open-source software, created a massive third-party ecosystem–whereas all Squarespace users have access to everything from the very beginning in one dashboard. Squarespace, however, charges for the convenience of having things instantly at your fingertips with no added configuration.

    WordPress Wix
    Pricing 🥇 Winner

    While it is technically free, you’ll eventually need to pay for hosting or services. The amount depends on what you want to spend.

    		 It’s a premium SaaS platform, so you pay monthly or yearly for the convenience with no additional configuration options.
    Choose WordPress Choose Squarespace

    2. WordPress vs Squarespace Design and Features

    One of the biggest draws to both WordPress and Squarespace is that they both offer tools for anyone to make a beautiful website without coding or design knowledge. Page-builders and themes like Divi come with layouts made by design professionals that WordPress users can import, and Squarespace offers exactly that with their templates. The way the website platforms handle these features, however, makes a big difference in the user experience.

    WordPress Themes

    wordpress themes

    At the core of WordPress sit themes, plugins, and widgets. Each fills a specific role in the functionality of your site, and making the most of their individual strengths and quirks is what sets a WordPress site apart from a Squarespace one (or any other CMS, really).

    Themes are the base of WordPress, being the visual foundation for the site as well as the functional one. Our own Divi provides a blank canvas for designers, onto which they can create anything they want using the packed-in page builder. Other themes may not offer a built-in page builder but instead have pre-designed pages that perform specific functions for certain types of users and look a certain way.

    WordPress Widgets and Plugins

    Plugins are simple apps and scripts that add new features to a site regardless of theme. WooCommerce adds an eCommerce shop to any WordPress site, and Yoast SEO helps any site, regardless of the theme, be able to track its search engine optimization. If there’s a feature that you want in WordPress, there’s a 99.9% chance a plugin exists for it.

    plugins

    Widgets are also a big part of WordPress, letting you access and display the various features of your site. Maybe it would be recent posts in a sidebar or the SEO score in real-time as you write a post. Widgetized areas are customizable parts of the WP site, front-end and back, that you can set to do whatever you want. From code to drag-and-drop to set features, widgets can make up a good portion of a WP site’s real estate.

    These drag-and-drop plugins make your WordPress website editor similar to the basic web design tools that Squarespace uses:

    If you’re looking for more suggested plugins, check out one of our articles here.

    Squarespace Themes and Templates

    wordpress vs squarespace themes

    Squarespace themes are different than WordPress themes. Where WP themes come with features and functionality for the site, themes on Squarespace are purely aesthetic. But that’s not a bad thing. That’s great. That’s the point.

    The themes that you get with Squarespace are beautiful and made so that non-designers can find something that suits them and then get their content within that template without having to fuss with the specifics of design. That’s handled already. Squarespace offers significantly fewer theme templates vs WordPress. But the ones you can choose from have been curated and designed specifically for the platform and to work with specific kinds of sites (e-commerce, blogging, portfolio, etc.).

    In terms of plugin and widget corollaries, Squarespace differs quite a bit. You can’t fiddle with every gizmo like you can with WordPress, but Squarespace does that on purpose. They designed the platform so that you don’t have to. Instead of having to install and configure WooCommerce, there’s an e-commerce shop set up already in your Squarespace dashboard. You don’t have to find and configure analytics plugins or SEO because Squarespace has those integrated into the dashboard, too.

    The Squarespace Builder

    We do want to mention the Squarespace site builder is very similar to WordPress page builder plugins, and the default WP Gutenberg block editor. You can add sections and modules with ease, just by pressing a + button. However, the amount of customization that you get on the site at this point is severely limited. You can’t really adjust positioning or colors to fully custom levels. You may only have options such as Title and  Caption and Color Palette.

    This is intentional on Squarespace’s part, as they design the themes and templates, and modules for specific looks and features. This design is a major draw for many people to Squarespace, but we do want to point out that you are pretty much locked into these designs without true customization.

    WordPress Wix
    Design and Features 🥇 Winner

    The biggest draw to WordPress is the thousands of plugins, themes, and widgets you can use to customize your website.

    		 Squarespace gives users the chance to create aesthetically pleasing websites with ease, but doesn’t offer very many customization options.
    Choose WordPress Choose Squarespace

    3. Learning Curve and Ease of Use

    If the number of themes and plugins and amount of customization options in WordPress overwhelms you, you’re not alone. Loading into the admin dashboard for the first time can be a shock. Hopping into the Squarespace backend might also feel a bit overwhelming, with every tool for your site immediately available in the sidebar.

    Setting up any new website tools will come with a learning curve, but we want to take a close look at WordPress vs Squarespace to see how steep that curve goes and how quickly it evens out.

    WordPress Offers Full-Site Customization

    wordpress vs squarespace editing themes

    This is, in our eyes, the biggest draw for WordPress vs Squarespace: the ability to poke, prod, tweak, and turn each and every line of code to be exactly what you need it to be. If you’re a developer or designer, you can make WordPress do anything you want by digging into the codebase.

    However, those aren’t skills everyone has. If you don’t happen to fall into the category of folks who are comfortable tweaking PHP and JavaScript, WordPress can have a pretty steep learning curve.

    Admittedly, the theme/plugin/widget system helps ease the steepness of the curve, it still takes external research and effort to find the right suite of add-ons as a base for your site. If you come to WordPress as a fresh user with no prior knowledge of the ecosystem, it’s incredibly easy to get taken in by too-good-to-be-true claims from some third-party developers.

    If you do your due diligence, however, a WordPress site with a good theme and plugin combo will run smoothly and efficiently without trouble. You just have to put in the time to learn how to get to that point because to be quite honest, the UI and messaging to get started are nowhere near what they should be for new users.

    Squarespace Offers Curated Customizations

    squarespace design

    When it comes to starting out with Squarespace, the left side of the screen is a list of every part of your site, and the right side has a pop-up that directs you to begin customizing immediately. From site title and logo to fonts, colors, and media, the Squarespace introductory tutorial trumps WordPress in every way.

    squarespace design

    This kind of initial walkthrough significantly lowers the learning curve of the software because you don’t have to find anything on your own or worry about missing something fundamental. The platform takes you through it step by step.

    Because of that hand-holding and guidance, though, the breadth of customization options are rather limited. Depending on the chosen template (the Squarespace equivalent of a WordPress theme), you will have different on-page options to adjust and fill with your own content.

    squarespace page builder

    To edit individual pages on the site, Squarespace has a basic page builder. You won’t get the customization options from top-end WordPress page-builder plugins like Divi, but you will get to introduce or remove elements from the page, as well as adjust spacing and another basic formatting. In lots of ways, the Squarespace site builder is roughly equivalent to the Gutenberg block editor in capability and learning curve.

    Dashboard vs Dashboard

    Briefly, we also want to point out that the learning curve for the Squarespace dashboard is relatively flat. While it can be overwhelming to see everything all at once, the list of features doesn’t grow often, if at all. It’s fast, it’s intuitive, and it doesn’t take a BS in computer science to know what the options do. Users can edit and change everything they want on the same page quickly and without page loading. For users who want a no-nonsense, understandable, easy-to-use place for all their features, Squarespace is it.

    dashboard for squarespace vs wordpress

    In direct comparison, the WordPress admin dashboard leaves a lot to be desired. This isn’t to say that the dashboard isn’t effective or usable. It absolutely is. And you can dig in and customize it however you need. But as your site grows, so does the dashboard.

    wordpress dashboard example

    When you install new plugins, they add their features to the dashboard somehow. This means that everything is ready and waiting for you at all times. But it also means that you have to learn a new configuration that’s not always intuitive regularly, too.

    WordPress Wix
    Ease of Use WordPress can be daunting when your first getting started. It takes a bit of research and know-how to get comfortable with the platform. 🥇 Winner

    Squarespace offers a handy tutorial that can get you acclimated quickly. It’s simple, basic, and effective.

    Choose WordPress Choose Squarespace

    4. Content Ownership and Your Data

    Data is one of the hottest commodities in the world, so making sure that you’re in control of yours is paramount to running a successful site. With that in mind, you have to know how your data is going to be used and stored by the companies you trust with your website. Let’s compare WordPress vs Squarespace.

    Your Content and Data on WordPress

    WordPress installations are yours, always have been yours, and always will be yours. Content that you put on that website can be exported and used anywhere (within its licensing and copyright, that is) without the worry of interference.

    This goes for your domain name and web address, too. If you register it separately from your web host (which we recommend that you always do), no one can say that you can’t sell that URL or move it to a different host. It’s yours to do with what you want.

    Not all platforms are like that, and some will fight you tooth and nail to keep you on their platform through some pretty shady means (but not Squarespace, actually). With WordPress, that’s not even a concern, and we feel that is a very important point to make.

    You do need to make sure, however, that your host is trustworthy with your data, too, as they’re the ones ultimately in charge of what happens to it.

    Your Content and Data on Squarespace

    You can export your content from Squarespace and move it elsewhere if you want. You do own the content and images (again, as per licensing). Squarespace has a series of import/export tools for content and details that you include on your site, and their Terms of Service (as far as we’ve been able to read) don’t include any hidden clauses that anything you put on their platform belongs to them.

    You can even transfer a domain name registered through them to any other registrar. This is important because the URL you choose is one of the most important parts of owning a website. The main issue we’ve found with their domain service is that even if you use their “free” domain registration, it renews at $20 to $70 from then on out, depending on your TLD (.com, .org, .tv, etc.). For a typical .com, that’s a lot. There is certainly an upcharge here. But again, that’s part of a SaaS platform that handles these things on your behalf.

    In general, the main part of your Squarespace account that you don’t own and have control over is the design and templates that you use. Those belong to Squarespace, so if you move to another platform, then you must do a redesign using a different theme. This is normal. The same thing happens if you were to move to Squarespace from WP. You couldn’t use your Elegant Themes membership to bring Divi along with you, for instance.

    WordPress Wix
    Content & Data Ownership 🏳 Draw

    WordPress has and will always let you keep your data and content and has tools to be exported should you leave the platform.

    		 🏳 Draw

    Squarespace let’s you keep all of your data and content, but keeps access to it’s templates, which is a standard practice.
    Choose WordPress Choose Squarespace

    5. E-commerce

    For many sites, the make-it-or-break-it feature is being able to run a fast, reliable, and efficient storefront through the website. Both WordPress and Squarespace are great options for this. But they do have their own idiosyncrasies when it comes to how that is handled and what features are available.

    WooCommerce on WordPress

    You have a number of options for e-commerce on WordPress, but by and large, you will probably be using WooCommerce. It’s the biggest player on the field. And for good reason. Like WordPress itself, WooCommerce is free software that you can download, install, and configure relatively quickly.

    Upon installation, WooCommerce walks you through the process of setting up your store. You just follow along, making sure all the details are right before you even get taken to the shop and products.

    In terms of aesthetics, the shops and products that you can make with WooCommerce look great, and you can download plugins that adjust pretty much every aspect of the shop. Even Divi has a series of modules dedicated to tweaking your WooCommerce store’s design until it’s perfect.

    Like the rest of WordPress, though, WooCommerce has a series of hidden fees in terms of most non-base extensions and features having an extra cost. We also have to mention that the learning curve for the UI is pretty steep.

    woocommerce learning curve

    Even so, the power and extensibility you get with WooCommerce are worth the effort and the potential additional costs of extensions and add-ons. But at its base, the only fees and costs are from the payment processors. In reality, though, you will have a range of small costs as you figure out what features you need.

    Squarespace Commerce

    The Squarespace e-commerce solution is in the dashboard under the heading Commerce. Clicking it the first time will bring up a wizard not unlike the one that WooCommerce uses, taking you through the process of setting up physical goods, payments, digital options, and other details.

    You will choose a store template for your site. However, the options are rather limited. In most cases, your store will be a grid of product images, and you will be able to customize elements such as text alignment, aspect ratio, width, and spacing. This is similar to the default WooCommerce shop, with which you don’t get customization, either. However, you have options to extend that in Woo but not on Squarespace.

    wordpress vs squarespace ecommerce

    Squarespace e-Commerce pricing

    The learning curve for Squarespace commerce is relatively low, as the entire process of setting up and even adding more products is quick and painless. The user experience of selling on the Squarespace e-commerce platform is much nicer than WooCommerce. But that comes at the trade-off of pretty limited options for displaying your products.

    You won’t, however, run into extra costs if you use Squarespace for an e-commerce platform. Everything that you need to run the store itself is packaged in with your monthly cost. However, the lowest tier of Squarespace’s features doesn’t include e-commerce. For that, you will need to pay $18 per month. Which isn’t out of line at all when compared with competitors like Shopify.

    WordPress Wix
    e-Commerce 🥇 Winner

    WooCommerce is a great free tool that has become a standard for the WordPress community. There is a ton of customizability options that are available to help you create your ideal store. But, it can be a bit challenging to learn and the add-ons do come with a small fee.

    		The learning curve for e-commerce with Squarespace is low and simple to get started with. However, there isn’t a lot of customization options and running a store will cost an increased monthly fee.
    Choose WordPress Choose Squarespace

    WordPress vs Squarespace

    When considering a WordPress vs Squarespace site, it comes down to what you are in the market for in terms of your website, what your budget is, and what your experience level with websites might be.

    Head to head, Squarespace offers a far more refined experience with a lot of the hassles of owning and managing a website taken care of for you. Squarespace has a lower learning curve, a slicker interface, and a solid support team for its all-in-one SaaS platform. From e-commerce to portfolios to blogging and more, Squarespace integrates it somehow into its platform. For someone who wants a professional website with as little friction as possible, Squarespace is the way to go.

    WordPress, though, offers complete autonomy and customization but has a mildly confusing interface and a moderate learning curve. Every feature a site owner could need, however, is readily available. You just have to find the theme or plugin that provides it. In some ways, WordPress can feel like the Wild West. But in reality, the piecemeal way themes, plugins, features, and such are handled makes it so that every type of site owner is catered to somehow. If you want to work on your website until it is pixel-perfect in every regard, WordPress is the way to go. From SEO tools to Social Media plugins, WordPress has something for you.

    Final Comparison

    In the end, WordPress vs Squarespace boils down to whether you want a beautiful, walled garden with less customization or a garden plot that will be just as beautiful by getting a little dirt on your hands. We don’t think one platform is necessarily better than the other. They’re just better for different kinds of site owners.

    WordPress Wix
    Pricing 🥇 Winner

    While it is technically free, you’ll eventually need to pay for hosting or services. The amount depends on what you want to spend.

    		 It’s a premium SaaS platform, so you pay monthly or yearly for the convenience with no additional configuration options.
    Design and Features 🥇 Winner

    The biggest draw to WordPress is the thousands of plugins, themes, and widgets you can use to customize your website.

    		 Squarespace gives users the chance to create aesthetically pleasing websites with ease, but doesn’t offer very many customization options.
    Ease of Use WordPress can be daunting when your first getting started. It takes a bit of research and know-how to get comfortable with the platform. 🥇 Winner

    Squarespace offers a handy tutorial that can get you acclimated quickly. It’s simple, basic, and effective.

    Content & Data Ownership 🏳 Draw

    WordPress has and will always let you keep your data and content and has tools to be exported should you leave the platform.

    		 🏳 Draw

    Squarespace let’s you keep all of your data and content, but keeps access to it’s templates, which is a standard practice.
    e-Commerce 🥇 Winner

    WooCommerce is a great free tool that has become a standard for the WordPress community. There is a ton of customizability options that are available to help you create your ideal store. But, it can be a bit challenging to learn and the add-ons do come with a small fee.

    		The learning curve for e-commerce with Squarespace is low and simple to get started with. However, there isn’t a lot of customization options and running a store will cost an increased monthly fee.
    Choose WordPress Choose Squarespace

    WordPress vs Everything

    One more thing. Before you make your final decision on your website platform…are you curious to see how WordPress stacks up against its other biggest competitors? We did the hard work and compared WordPress vs. everything else so that you don’t have to! Most recently, we reviewed WordPress vs. Weebly, and I think you will be interested to see the results.

    If you’re looking for specific plugins to help WordPress become even more powerful, we recommend the following:

    Having said that, Squarespace still provides a great set-and-forget website-building tool.

    We hope you’ve enjoyed this WordPress vs Squarespace comparison! What is your position on WordPress vs Squarespace? Why do you feel that way?

    The post WordPress vs Squarespace (2023) — The Crucial Differences appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress vs Wix (2023) — Which is Right for You?

    In terms of WordPress competitors, they don’t come a lot bigger than Wix. Wix has made a name for itself by offering free websites that require absolutely no experience to create. The Wix team has grown its market share a great deal in recent years. WordPress, however, remains the 800-lb gorilla in the room. Because of its open-source approach, it powers well over 1/3 of the internet. Recent releases for WordPress have made the platform much more new-user friendly, so we are going to take you head-to-head with WordPress vs Wix to see which is the real no-fuss website-building platform.

    1. WordPress vs Wix: Who Are They For?

    Wix markets itself as “the platform that gives you the freedom to create, design, manage and develop your web presence exactly the way you want.” It is a fully hosted website platform. You use their page builder to make a professional-looking website from pre-designed templates. That means, first of all, that experienced website developers won’t get a lot out of Wix because they don’t get access to the inner workings. But people without that experience flock to Wix. They are drawn to its simplicity and ability to quickly get a good-looking website off the ground.

    WordPress, on the other hand, is openly marketed toward “everyone.” Which is a pretty wide demographic. But because it’s the industry leader in market share, the strategy works for them. WordPress started as a blogging platform that has evolved into a full content management system (CMS). Because of that, users of any skill level can start with WordPress. They choose a theme and can start with their website in a flash. New users will find the Gutenberg block editor intuitive for page and post design. Experienced developers can dig into creating their features and designs by creating and coding their custom themes and plugins.

    Both website platforms are incredibly easy for new users to jump into. And each has its unique quirks and learning curves.

    2. WordPress vs Wix: Ease-of-Use

    Users don’t want a lot of roadblocks in their way to creating a website and getting their content in front of people. You may be setting up your first site ever. Or your thousandth. Either way, break down how easy it is to get started with a website on WordPress vs Wix.

    WordPress

    WordPress originated as a blogging platform, which is evident in its core features, Posts and Pages. The platform’s simplicity and comprehensibility make it easy to use. Custom Post Types are used by major plugins and features, such as Toolset and WooCommerce, to expand the platform’s capabilities. Understanding the basic publishing workflow is enough for users to learn the platform’s advanced features.

    WordPress dashboard

    Regrettably, the dashboard and UI haven’t developed as seamlessly as other parts of the platform (e.g., the Gutenberg block editor). The left-hand sidebar can be perplexing and unintuitive for new users. Adding new plugins and themes can lead to clutter and poor navigation, which is expected.

    By the time your dashboard gets as cluttered as the one above (which is from a site started in 2013), you will have learned to navigate it and use the features. However, that doesn’t change that the user experience is less-than-stellar.

    The main challenge in learning WordPress is discovering the ideal themes and plugins. Thankfully, we can help you with that. We have an exhaustive library of posts to help you choose the best form plugins, some great options for social media integration, popular SEO plugins, as well as WooCommerce and blogging themes to help get you started.

    wordpress theme repository

    And if you don’t want to sink that time into it and need a website fast, the default themes and core features look nice and work immediately after installation.

    Wix

    Starting with Wix is a bit simpler than WordPress. There are a couple of calls to action on the page prompting you to get started with your free account.

    Get started with Wix

    From there, you decide how you want to create the site. You can edit from the ground up using the drag-and-drop page builder. Or you and answer a series of questions about what kind of site you want to have. You might choose eCommerce or blog or portfolio. Whatever you choose, you’re then given a choice of features to include such as forums, contact forms, and email opt-ins. And finally, you choose between 6 different color/font themes and add what pages you want on the site (such as a blog or about me or policies, etc.).

    Wix

    Once you choose these elements, Wix loads your dashboard. The whole process is straightforward. When it’s done, you have a ready-to-publish site (outside of not having your content, of course).

    Wix’s Dashboard is Difficult to Navigate

    However, that’s when the simplicity and ease of use stop. From there, Wix takes you to your dashboard, which is just as cluttered (if not more so) as WordPress’s. But this one contains so many upsells that navigating to actual features you can use versus features locked behind a paywall is like running an obstacle course.

    Design Wix site

    Nearly every click in their dashboard brings up some kind of upsell. Even pushing your site live brings up a screen-filling modal that makes it seem as though subscribing is how to proceed. Additionally, messages such as “Get Your Site on Google” and “Get Found on Google” are misleading to users, New website owners may not understand how search crawlers work and the site will be indexed regardless. All that feature does is connect the site to Google Search Console. Which is admittedly important for long-term success, whether your site is Wix vs WordPress.

    We mention all of this in this section because this is most certainly an ease-of-use issue. The constant upsells are somewhat distracting. They get in the way of easily designing and launching a site, which is the primary focus of Wix’s marketing.

    WordPress Wix
    Ease of Use 🏳 Draw

    Dashboard can be a bit difficult when a lot of plugins are installed, but the core elements are easy to understand.

    		 🏳 Draw

    Getting started is simple, with step-by-step instructions. That being said, the Wix dashboard is full of upsells and is very convoluted.
    Choose WordPress Choose Wix

    3. WordPress vs Wix: Page Builders

    Over the past decade, page builders have brought non-designers the ability to create professional-looking websites through templates, drag-and-drop interfaces, and modular elements. Both Wix and WordPress offer these features, and in many ways is the primary way the platforms appeal to new website owners. We take a look at the builders available on both platforms so you know what you’re getting into with either.

    WordPress Page Builders

    In terms of ease-of-use, however, WordPress’s Gutenberg block editor does shine as an intuitive way to write and edit posts, as well as design pages (though page builder plugins such as Elementor, and Beaver Builder, and themes such as Divi offer much more advanced options when you get to need those). You add blocks, use built-in controls and options to place them, and then publish. You don’t even need to adjust CSS to create content with it.

    WordPress vs Wix page builder

    If you want a more powerful approach, most of the top free WordPress themes come with either a built-in page builder or integrated support for third-party builders like Divi. You get to pick and choose which builder works best for you and has exactly the experience you want.

    However, the downside to this is that the only one built into WordPress itself is Gutenberg. And you have to research third-party developers to get more advanced ones.

    Wix’s Builder

    Wix’s customizable website’s core is user-friendly, unlike the dashboard. The design of the builders is aesthetically pleasing. Wix offers a step-by-step builder (Wix ADI) and a drag-and-drop builder. Dev mode (powered by Velo) allows you to add custom javascript for additional functionality, but you’ll need to upgrade your account to use it.

    add custom code WordPress vs Wix

    Neither builder is as effective as popular WordPress editors like Gutenberg. However, first-time users will receive a brief tutorial on adding elements, sections, and pages, and managing the business aspects.

    Wix builder tutorial

    The drag-and-drop editor is a superior tool compared to the ADI builder, offering more control over individual elements. With drag-and-drop, you can move elements to any spot without CSS or other elements being affected.

    You can swap between elements and pages, and those load a lot faster than the ADI editor. But it still lags in every browser we tried.

    Adding elements in Wix page builder

    Overall, the Wix builder alone is enough to deter anyone who wants an easy, smooth experience. The app just has enough to be a contender for building a solid website that you can use for anything but a quick announcement or placeholder.

    WordPress Wix
    Page Builders 🥇 Winner
    The Gutenberg Block editor is simple and intuitive. Plus, there are an abundance of third-party choices available.    		 While the aesthetics and overall design are nice, that’s where the effectiveness of Wix ends. The builder is laggy, making swapping between elements painfully slow.
    Choose WordPress Choose Wix

    4. WordPress vs Wix: Customization

    It’s easy to spend countless hours tweaking fonts, adjusting plugins, choosing colors, and editing templates. Making sure that your website is perfect for your users is a big part of what being a website owner is about. So we are going to take a look at what WordPress vs Wix offer you in terms of customization and being able to give your users the experience they deserve.

    WordPress Customization

    Other WordPress customization options outside of page builders and editors come built into the platform. You can add custom CSS to the site through the Theme Customizer, and even dig into the PHP files for your theme right through the back dashboard (though we don’t recommend doing that).

    Part of what makes WordPress appealing is the ability to customize and tweak every aspect of your site. You can add plugins for new features, adjust themes, and dig into the code. That being said, with the introduction of full site editing themes, customizations span even further to custom templates, template parts, and block patterns, without having to edit a single line of code.

    WordPress full site editing

    WordPress primarily relies on themes and plugins for customization, whereas Wix focuses on builder-based customization. WordPress.org offers a vast repository of themes and plugins to choose from for establishing a site’s foundation. Plus, there are countless third-party plugins to extend WordPress’s ability. For example, Divi users benefit from the Divi Marketplace, where they can boost Divi’s already stellar capabilities through plugins and extensions.

    Theme developers usually include multiple customization options in their designs, enabling users to control the added elements. Users can extend site functionality by installing plugins, which add custom widgets, post types, scripts, and utilities.

    wordpress vs wix plugins

    Wix Customization

    In terms of customization, the options that you get in the builders are what you get with Wix. You can tweak elements and keep them all within the designs that will always make your website look put together and professionally designed. Regarding content, you can add whatever you want. Videos, photos, blogs, whatever.

    You can customize layouts and various elements for your eCommerce shops and blogs. In general, the customization options within Wix are comparable to other hosted builders like Squarespace or HubSpot. The intent isn’t to give you full rein, as in WordPress. It is to present you with a series of options that work well together and make an aesthetically pleasing final website.

    This is good – because as we mentioned earlier – if you want to add anything else to the website via custom code (such as CSS), then you’re going to have to upgrade your membership.

    Not even being able to customize CSS is a major lacking point for a website. This is only a limitation on free accounts, however, and a pretty standard one at that. Even free WordPress.com (which is also a free-to-premium platform like Wix) prevents free users from adjusting CSS for their themes.

    WordPress Wix
    Customization 🥇 Winner

    WordPress shines in terms of customization based on the sheer amount of plugins and themes available, as well as the ability to add CSS for ultimate control.

    		 What you see is basically what you get with Wix. While you can tweak the available elements, adding CSS will cost you additional fees.
    Choose WordPress Choose Wix

    5. WordPress vs Wix: Ecommerce

    Making money by selling something on the internet is many people’s dream. You may want to sell courses or ebooks. Or you might want to have an online space for your in-person shop. Whatever your intent, both WordPress and Wix have quick-and-easy options for setting up shops.

    WordPress Ecommerce

    WordPress technically doesn’t have e-commerce built into it. WooCommerce is a separate plugin that you will need to install, but it’s owned and developed by the same company as WordPress, so it might as well be a default e-commerce platform.

    Woocommerce dashboard

    When you log into WooCommerce, you have a dashboard that includes full payment reporting, as well as a series of menus to the side with other default features. You get customer details, can create coupons, run reports, send emails to customers, check the status of orders, and so on.

    By default, WooCommerce enables PayPal as a payment method. Because PayPal is one of the easiest payment processors available. Even so, PayPal isn’t available in many countries, so you will want more than that. WooCommerce gives you the option for Stripe payments, too, as well as a feature called WooCommerce Payments that the company handles by itself. Plus, there is additional support for other payment processors, too.

    WooCommerce Add-Ons

    Furthermore, while WooCommerce offers an impressive selection of extensions to enhance its functionality, you may require additional plugins for specific features. These plugins are often available for purchase as premium or freemium options. Notably, Yith is a well-regarded company offering some of the best WooCommerce add-ons at both price points.

    Fortunately, there are numerous options available for WooCommerce, such as SEO plugins and product image zoom plugins, which can greatly improve your online store. Additionally, for brick-and-mortar stores seeking to integrate their online and in-store inventory management, WooPos is an ideal solution to bridge the gap between the two systems.

    Probably the biggest issue with WooCommerce is that the shop itself is not very customizable. You can adjust the layout some, but by and large, the majority of WooCommerce shops and products look eerily similar.

    Woocommerce product page

    That being said, some premium themes and plugins can be used to create custom product pages. For example, Divi’s Theme Builder can create beautiful product page templates, as well as shop and category page templates with help from Divi’s built-in integration with WooCommerce.

    Wix Ecommerce

    First, we want to point out again that Wix is all about the upsells. The platform has an e-commerce shop built into the builder so you can go in and add products just like any other page. However, if you’re a free user (to whom Wix primarily advertises), you cannot accept online payments at all. So you’re forced to upgrade to a premium plan regardless.

    wordpress vs wix upselling for ecommerce

    Adding products and using the actual builder is painless. It can be sluggish and slow to respond, but in comparison to WooCommerce, the UI is much easier to use. And nicer to look at.

    wix store

    All of the options and information you need are in a single place, even creating coupon codes or sending emails to customers. This consolidation is a lot more useful than the WordPress way of spreading things out across multiple screens.

    The shop is about on par with the WordPress one. You do get more customization options with Wix, but they’re pretty superficial. You can adjust margins and layout and how text appears and sorting, etc., but your store is probably going to be a pretty standard grid. That said, it probably will be with WordPress and WooCommerce, too.

    WordPress Wix
    Ecommerce 🏳 Draw

    WordPress doesn’t come natively with ecommerce functionality, but there are plugin options available. Woocommerce adds a shop to WordPress, but it’s not the most straightforward to set up.

    		 🏳 Draw

    Wix offers the ability to add products in the free version of its software, but if you want to collect payments, you’ll have to upgrade your account. That being said, adding products to the platform is quite simple.
    Choose WordPress Choose Wix

    WordPress and Wix Alternatives

    One more thing. Before you make your final decision on your website platform…are you curious to see how WordPress stacks up against its other biggest competitors? We did the hard work and compared WordPress vs everything else so that you don’t have to! Most recently, we reviewed WordPress vs Squarespace, and I think you will be interested to see the results.

    Should You Go with WordPress or Wix?

    WordPress is a stronger platform than Wix in almost every way. While Wix has some nice features, such as a good UI and a cool drag-and-drop editor, we are not impressed with its platform. However, it is a decent service if you’re willing to upgrade your account a few levels.

    Wix’s upselling suggests it targets those who want a free website, but its free option is not functional. Many reasons exist to avoid free websites. Wix markets itself as free, but to use the site you build, you must pay a considerable amount.

    With WordPress, you do have to handle a lot more of the backend features. Like theme and plugin installation, maintenance, and hosting. But the power and lack of restriction the platform gives are more than worth learning how to do. Feature by feature, WordPress offers a smoother, more stable experience than the Wix platform.

    That being said, WordPress has a slightly steeper learning curve to start, but if you intend to keep the website active for more than a month or two, we say go with WordPress over Wix because of its list of possible integrations, features, and customization options.

    Final Comparison

    Here’s a complete breakdown of all the features that both options offer. As you can see, WordPress wins by a wide margin. This is largely due to the fact that there are so many plugins and themes available. Plus, you have more options when it comes to hosting than you do with Wix. WordPress hosts are plentiful, but there are a few such as Cloudways and SiteGround that offer some stand-out features at a very reasonable price.

    WordPress Wix
    Ease of Use 🏳 Draw

    Dashboard can be a bit difficult when a lot of plugins are installed, but the core elements are easy to understand.

    		 🏳 Draw

    Getting started is simple, with step-by-step instructions. That being said, the Wix dashboard is full of upsells and is very convoluted.
    Page Builders 🥇 Winner

    The Gutenberg Block editor is simple and intuitive. Plus, there are an abundance of third-party choices available.

    		 While the aesthetics and overall design are nice, that’s where the effectiveness of Wix ends. The builder is laggy, making swapping between elements painfully slow.
    Customization 🥇 Winner

    WordPress shines in terms of customization based on the sheer amount of plugins and themes available, as well as the ability to add CSS for ultimate control.

    		 What you see is basically what you get with Wix. While you can tweak the available elements, adding CSS will cost you additional fees.
    Ecommerce 🏳 Draw

    WordPress doesn’t come natively with ecommerce functionality, but there are plugin options available. Woocommerce adds a shop to WordPress, but it’s not the most straightforward to set up.

    		 🏳 Draw

    Wix offers the ability to add products in the free version of its software, but if you want to collect payments, you’ll have to upgrade your account. That being said, adding products to the platform is quite simple.
    Choose WordPress Choose Wix

    We hope you’ve enjoyed this WordPress vs Wix comparison. Which are you leaning toward now? WordPress or Wix?

    The post WordPress vs Wix (2023) — Which is Right for You? appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • 9 Best WordPress Translation Plugins in 2023

    WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world, but its reach is limited if your content is only in one language. Thankfully, WordPress translation plugins are a simple and elegant solution to that problem. With tools like these plugins and themes with built-in translation and multi-language support, making your site accessible to a much larger audience can take minimal effort on your part.

    In this article, we’ll introduce you to the best WordPress translation plugins currently available, as well as highlight some of their best features.

    Let’s get into it!

    Why Use a WordPress Translation Plugin?

    When you create your WordPress site, you can set your preferred language in the native dashboard. Go to Settings and then General, then scroll down to Site Language. Choose your preferred dashboard language from the drop-down menu.

    WordPress settings

    While this will change the language of your dashboard, you’ll need a plugin if you want to create multilingual websites. These plugins eliminate the need to set up multiple WordPress subdomains and instead turn your website into a multilingual platform.

    There are two types of translation plugins:

    1. Auto Translations
    2. Manual Translations

    Auto-translations will automatically translate preexisting content from your website to your users’ preferred language but will sacrifice some accuracy (Google translate levels of accuracy.)  On the other hand, Manual translations let your users view the languages you have transcribed manually, which sacrifices speed and convenience for accuracy and customizability.

    1. WPML

    WPML website logo

    While there are many free options for WordPress translation plugins, WPML or WordPress Multilingual is a premium plugin and service that covers essentially everything you need for translation. One of the driving forces behind WPML is that it is an all-in-one solution to translation that you get control of, not your readers’ machines. Not every site out there will need the entire WPML platform (for instance, a small personal blog may be fine to rely on Google Translate). Still, sites with a significant international presence often need more than what a simple auto-generated, machine-created translation can offer.

    multiple plugins

    With that control comes compatibility with many major plugins and services that you may already be using. From WooCommerce to Gravity Forms, Contact Form 7, and Advanced Custom Fields (and more!), you can use WPML to translate them and their output for your customers. With fine control over which languages and what translations are used, you won’t need to worry about your products being presented incorrectly or your forms being labeled incoherently.

    WPML is a premium-only plugin. Tiers start at $29 for a single blog site with basic functions. They can go all the way up to $159 per site for access to the entire platform. WPML is worth the price, regardless of the tier you choose.

    Other Key Features:

    • Choice of individual languages for specific posts and pages
    • Professional translation is done by humans (as an add-on fee)
    • If the language you need isn’t there, you can manually add it or choose from variants (such as Mexican Spanish)

    Price: $29-159 per year| More information

    2. TranslatePress

    TranslatePress logo

    TranslatePress works a little differently than other WordPress translation plugins. It doesn’t require you to use just the backend of the website to work with the translations. This plugin gives a real-time look at the translations that you provide, working almost like a page-builder to make sure that your site looks and feels the same to everyone, regardless of the language they see on your site.

    TranslatePress settins

    By giving this level of control, TranslatePress allows users to be specific about which elements of their websites get translated manually or automatically. One of the other highlights of TranslatePress is that this feature, among many others, comes in the free version. Paid upgrades unlock access to add-ons, extensions, and more advanced features.

    Other Key Features:

    • Automatic translation through Google Translate or DeepL
    • WooCommerce support from the beginning
    • Administrators can “view as” any user or log out to test translation appearance
    • Translate some or all of the page, custom to your needs
    • Image translation

    Price: FREE with premium upgrades | More information

    3. Weglot

    Weglot logo

    A major issue that comes up relatively often with multilingual websites is that each of the translations takes up space on the server, in your post and page list, and requires manual management. With Weglot, that’s not an issue. The plugin takes your media and your content, even the content that’s pulled from third-party sources, and translates it automatically. Meaning there is no need to maintain multiple identical and duplicate websites.

    Weglot SEO

    An interesting feature of Weglot is the ability to set guidelines for what you want the translation on your site to look like. You can set it to a fast translation, which will rely on Google, Yandex, and DeepL (among others) to translate your site automatically. You can take full control over it and enter your own translations for specific languages manually. And if you have the budget and need, a human translator can work on the most accurate content possible. Weglot also provides a glossary of phrases and terms (your brand name, for instance) to never translate so it stays consistent across the site.

    Other Key Features:

    • Visual, real-time translations
    • Compatible with Shopify and other platforms you integrate with
    • Automatic redirection for recognized languages

    Price: Starting at €15 per month | More information 

    4. Multilanguage

    multilanguage wordpress translation plugin by bestwebsoft

    Multilanguage is a very powerful WordPress translation plugin, but it is mostly designed for those users who already have a translation of their site and need a way to implement it. While this plugin does support automatic Google translation, the big draw is the ease with which you can provide your own translations to posts and pages, categories, menus, and tags.

    Multilanguage settings

    The free version of the plugin can handle what most blogs and sites need for translation, but if you need more than what comes for free, the Pro upgrade includes translations for WordPress taxonomies, page builder compatibility, custom fields, and language slug position changes (such as en.example.com versus example.com/en).

    Other Key Features:

    • Gutenberg and Classic Editor-compatible
    • Customizable language switcher
    • Choose the default language
    • Website search in the translated language
    • Translates the WordPress admin dashboard

    Price: FREE with Pro upgrade | More information

    5. GTranslate

    Gtranslate logo

    Most internet users are familiar with Google Translate. If you’re a Chrome user, there’s a good chance you’ve had a modal pop-up asking if you want a page translated from X language to your native tongue. Or perhaps you’ve copied/pasted some text into the Google search bar, and Google spat out an automatic translation. That’s the same technology that Gtranslate uses at its base.

    Gtranslate settings page

    The most useful part of GTranslate is the ability for visitors to choose which translation they want. Because the free version uses Google’s machine translation, not every single page may convey the exact information in the exact that you want. Or that is technically understandable by the reader. This isn’t a fault of WordPress translation plugins, just the nature of translation itself. However, by providing the user a choice between translations, those polyglots who find your site will surely be able to find a translation that works for them.

    Other Key Features:

    • Subdomain and subdirectory structures for translations
    • Automatic switch to browser’s set language
    • Schema.org translations
    • Translates AMP pages as well as non-AMP

    Price: FREE with premium upgrade | More information

    6. Loco Translate

    Loco Translate logo

    Loco Translate is fast and lightweight but also feature-rich. Developers can also love what Loco Translate offers. They can tie into multiple language APIs like DeepL, Google, Microsoft, and Yandex. Additionally, the plugin gives website owners the ability to update their language files directly from the theme itself (or the plugin) without having to go through a cloud host. And because of this, you can extract translatable strings from your source code to bring specific parts of your site to life for everyone.

    Loco Translate settings

    With over a million active users and a 5-star review, this is one of the more trusted plugins on the list and should certainly be considered if you are trying to translate your WordPress themes/plugins.

    Other Key Features:

    • Configurable PO file backups and restoration
    • Uses WordPress native locale codes
    • Keyboard shortcuts built-in make using the plugin a cinch

    Price: FREE | More information

    7. Polylang and Lingotek

    Polylang banner logo

    Polylang is a great alternative to the more expensive plugins above. It lets you translate your pages, posts, media, and more to your chosen languages via language packs that you can purchase. It also adds an option in your navigation menu so your users can switch between languages with ease.

    Polylang also provides integration with Lingotek to provide alternative translation options. You can select between machine translations, community/crowdsourced translations, and professional translations using the Lingotek cloud platform. This makes sure you’ll always have the right translation option available. They also have a separate plugin for WooCommerce integration.

    Polylang settings

    With over 500,000 active users and a 5-star review, Polylang is one of the best options available for translator plugins right now.

    Other Key Features:

    • Can translate individual elements on your website such as widgets or custom post types
    • Multiple ways to select which language is default and which languages get swapped.
    • Automatically copies tags, categories, and metadata when creating new, multilingual content

    Price: FREE with premium add-ons and extensions | More information

    8. Google Website Translator

    Google Website Translator logo

    Google Website Translator is fast, effective, simple, and easy. When you want a lightweight and efficient plugin, this one will do it. It translates your content and other plugins, and theme defaults, and you can set it all up with either a widget or a shortcode.

    Google Translator settings

    Any part of your site that you need to be translated can be done just by using a shortcode. Without the need to bring in any files from other platforms, this plugin simply does the job automatically and leaves you to handle the other parts of the website administration.

    Other Key Features:

    • Lightweight and doesn’t slow down page speed
    • Import and export your settings and configurations for multiple sites
    • Inline help for setting it up, so you don’t have to be a dev or a translator to understand what the plugin is doing

    Price: FREE | More information

    9. Multisite Language Switcher

    Multisite language switcher logo

    The Multisite Language Switcher is a plugin for WordPress that adds multilingual support to a WordPress multisite installation. It allows users to manage translations of posts, pages, custom post types, categories, tags, and custom taxonomies. The plugin uses flag icons from FamFamFam.

    multisite language switcher options

    This plugin offers the option to incorporate one or multiple languages and is compatible with both Yoast SEO and All-in-One SEO Pack. Free extensions are available that allow you to set unique featured images for each language.

    Key Features for Multisite Language Switcher:

    • Easy language switching for a multisite network
    • Management of translations for posts, pages, custom post types, categories, tags, and custom taxonomies
    • Support for Yoast SEO and All-in-One SEO Pack

    Multisite Language Switcher Pricing: FREE| More Information

    Wrapping Up with WordPress Translation Plugins

    There is no lack of WordPress translation plugins that you can choose from. However, choosing the right plugin is a bit more difficult. Site owners should weigh their audience’s needs and demographics versus what kind of content their site provides. Some plugins work best with stores. Others work best with huge enterprise blogs with dozens of custom taxonomies and post types. Our top recommendation choices are WPML and TranslatePress, as you can’t go wrong with either!

    What do you think is most important when choosing WordPress translation plugins?

    Article featured image illustration by igor kisselev / shutterstock.com

    The post 9 Best WordPress Translation Plugins in 2023 appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • 7 Best WordPress Migration Plugins in 2023

    The famous 5-minute install for WordPress is a good marketing gimmick that only slightly exaggerates the ease with which WP can be installed. Users can very easily set up a site with no fuss in almost all circumstances. But when it comes to moving your site from one host to another, things get a little trickier. Thankfully, the WordPress ecosystem is based around plugins, and there are some truly stellar options for migration plugins to choose from.

    Subscribe To Our Youtube Channel

    6 Best WordPress Migration Plugins

    Migration plugins come in a couple of varieties. The first being a backup, download, and restore migration. While another is the straight transfer, which moves one site to another host and server directly, perhaps by FTP or another file transfer method. We will be covering the pros and cons of the plugins that facilitate these migrations so that you can make the most informed choice possible.

    1. UpDraftPlus

    updraftplus migration

    UpDraftPlus is the top pick for WordPress migration plugins based on several factors. The plugin is renowned for the ease with which it lets users (even free ones) back up and restore their websites after calamity happens. You can save to remote storage, within your server itself, or even just download the site backups to your local machine for safekeeping.

    That also makes it one of the best migration plugins, too, because it gives you not only the option to restore a previous version of the same site, but you can also take that backup and use it as a clone on an entirely separate WordPress installation.

    Key Features for UpdraftPlus:

    • Cloud storage for all backups, even for free users
    • Restoration for the original site, but also allows for migration to new servers/hosts
    • Premium upgrade provides free storage, support, WP-CLI integration, free access to addons, and more.

    Free users have access to some of the smoothest migration software out there, but premium users also get a huge suite of quality-of-life improvements. If you just need a quick move, then the free version will absolutely work for you. But if you need to maintain the integrity of that migration and most effectively troubleshoot any snags that appear, the premium upgrade is the way to go.

    UpdraftPlus is for you if…

    • You want cloud storage for backups.
    • Cloning your website is a must.

    Pricing: Free to starting at $70/yr | Learn More About UpDraftPlus

    2. BackupBuddy

    Best WordPress Migration Plugin

    BackupBuddy is a premium-only migration solution that is worth every penny you pay for it. From iThemes, BackupBuddy lets you make a complete copy of your site, which is why it’s perfect for migration. You get a .zip file for your entire site, from media to database, and you can then restore it on any host or server you have.

    Key Features:

    • Off-site storage for site files, downloadable as a .zip as well.
    • Full support from iThemes
    • Built-in database search, URL and domain replacement, file exclusion, and more for customized migrations to new hosts

    iThemes offers incredibly quick and solid support for their customers, so being a member and BackupBuddy user means that your migration will happen no matter what, just to your specifications, with whatever customization you need. You can choose between annual subscriptions and lifetime memberships, too.

    BackupBuddy is for you if…

    • You need excellent support options.
    • You require downloadable zip files for your backups.

    Pricing: Starting at $99/yr | Learn More About BackupBuddy

    3. Duplicator

    Duplicator plugin

    Duplicator is a highly-regarded WordPress migration plugin for its user-friendly nature. It allows for quick and effortless backup, transfer, or migration of a WordPress website. All files, databases, and settings can be moved with just a few clicks to a new server. Its intuitive interface and straightforward step-by-step process make it a top choice for those looking for an easy migration experience.

    Key Features for Duplicator:

    • Schedule backups with recovery points
    • secure file encryption
    • cloud storage integrations
    • Smart migration wizard

    With Duplicator, you have access to a one-click smart migration wizard as well as various cloud storage options, including Dropbox, Google Drive, and Amazon S3. Additionally, for those who want to create a blueprint for sites with similar themes and configurations, Duplicator offers the ability to bundle settings into a package, saving time and effort in creating new WordPress sites.

    Duplicator is for you if…

    • You need multiple options for cloud storage
    • You aim to establish templates for building multiple websites with identical configurations.

    Pricing: Free to starting at $49.50/yr | Learn More About Duplicator

    4. All-in-One WordPress Migration

    all-in-one migration plugin

    With a name like All-in-One Migration, you’re setting the expectations high from the start. Luckily, ServMask follows through and offers one of the top migration plugins in the WordPress ecosystem. Because this plugin is designed for migration first and backup second, it brings first-rate features that you will need when moving to a new host. For example, All-in-One has settings to bypass many hosts’ default upload limit of 2mb. Which is a major issue when trying to move an entire WordPress database and media library.

    Key Features:

    • Upload size-limit bypass
    • No PHP requirements, which makes migrating from out-of-date hosts to current servers seamless
    • You can choose not to import certain files or media

    One downside to All-in-One Migration is that the free version is fairly limited. For free users, you only get 512 MB worth of backups or migrations. That’s much smaller than most existing sites. However, if you have a budget for migration, the $69 lifetime license is a solid investment.

    All-in-One WordPress Migration is for you if…

    • You want zero limitations on host or PHP requirements.
    • You require custom uploads, plugins, or theme folders.

    Pricing: Free to starting at $69/yr | Learn More About All-In-One Migration

    5. VaultPress (JetPack)

    VaultPress

    VaultPress is a JetPack integration. And that’s a good thing for many WP users looking to migrate their sites in the most seamless way possible. First, being integrated into JetPack means that VaultPress is backed by Automattic and available to every WordPress site out there, regardless of being on .com or .org installations. That alone makes it worth taking a look at.

    Key Features for VaultPress:

    • Integrated into JetPack’s security suite
    • Easy automation for backup, restoration/migration to any website or host
    • Excellent support and as part of a package, more features that just migration

    Some WordPress users don’t want to use JetPack on their site, so this won’t be an option for them. But for existing JetPack customers who want off-site backups and easy/simple migrations to any server they choose, the VaultPress integration for migration is a great option. It is a paid part of JetPack, though, so if you’re a free user and don’t want to upgrade, this isn’t for you.

    VaultPress is for you if…

    • You need more than just a migration tool.
    • You’re already a JetPack user.

    Pricing: Starting at $20/month | Learn More About VaultPress (JetPack)

    6. BlogVault

    BlogVault

    BlogVault offers an incredibly useful feature other migration plugins don’t: offline restoration. Things go haywire sometimes, and it’s easy to have something turned off before you need to. BlogVault has you covered. Inside the plugin, any migration you perform will be a cinch because it handles all URL rewrites, too, which is a huge boon when moving from one host or server to another.

    Key Features for BlogVault:

    • Offline migrations
    • Offsite storage
    • WPML support for multi-site network migration
    • Daily Backups
    • Integrated staging site

    Another feature that other migration plugins likely don’t support is WordPress multisite. So if you’re migrating your entire site network from host to host, check out BlogVault. You will be able to handle it all in one go instead of doing it one by one. That alone is worth checking BlogVault out, even if just for the free trial period.

    BlogVault is for you if…

    • You need WordPress multi-site support.
    • You require offline migrations and storage.
    • Daily backups are important.

    Learn More About BlogVault

    7. WP Migrate DB

    WP Migrate Lite migration plugin

    Delicious Brains makes good plugins, and WP Migrate DB is no different. Effective and full of features, but we do want to warn you that this plugin is not as user-friendly as some others. It is designed for server admins and devs to migrate sites, not the end user. You will export the database as SQL and import it using phpMyAdmin.

    Key Features:

    • Strong customization for site admins and developers
    • Migration from site to site that you can pause, resume, and edit in real-time
    • Database import and export via SQL
    • Push/pull files between different sites and servers

    The premium upgrade for WP Migrate DB opens up the plugin’s power even more. You get WP-CLI integration, and you can work with your multisite network as a single entity. For developers needing to control the minutiae of their WordPress migrations, WP Migrate DB offers the most under-the-hood features on our list.

    WP Migrate DB is for you if…

    • You know your way around databases.
    • You need real-time migration to start/stop capabilities.

    Pricing: Free to starting at $49/yr | Learn More About WP MIGRATE DB

    Wrapping Up with WordPress Migration Plugins

    Handling a server migration of your WordPress site can be terrifying. So many things can go wrong that many users leave it in the hands of their hosts and end up paying exorbitant prices for someone else to handle it. However, with any of the plugins on our list, you can be sure that your site can move from Server A to Host B with as few snags as possible.

    That being said, UpdraftPlus stands out among other WordPress migration plugins due to its exceptional features such as the ability to store backups in popular cloud storage services such as Google Drive, Dropbox, and Amazon S3, and the option to keep backups in multiple locations for enhanced security. Additionally, migrations are made easy with UpdraftPlus’s one-click technology.

    Post featured image illustration by hanss / shutterstock.com

    The post 7 Best WordPress Migration Plugins in 2023 appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.