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  • WordPress vs ClickFunnels: An In-Depth Analysis (2023)

    There have been platforms for building websites, landing pages, and sales funnels for quite some time now. For many, the choices come down to WordPress vs ClickFunnels, two powerful platforms that help people build websites that get more conversions on their digital properties.

    WordPress is the most flexible CMS on the market and can be adapted (with themes and plugins) to create sales funnels and landing pages optimized for lead generation. ClickFunnels (and its major update ClickFunnels 2.0) is a popular sales funnel builder that has grown to become an all-in-one platform for building a website. It has built-in tools for funnel marketing that include a funnel builder, LMS (for online courses), eCommerce, affiliate site builder, email marketing, and CRM. This makes it hard to compare with something so modular as WordPress.

    In this post, we’ll review how ClickFunnels and WordPress compare in price, usability, customization, eCommerce, and more, so you can find the right marketing funnel platform for your website.

    WordPress vs ClickFunnels: Pricing

    Pricing is a big deal for websites. WebFX has calculated the average cost for a professionally built small-business website at $2,000 to $9,000 with annual costs of between $400 and $1,200. And it’s easy to justify those figures when you recognize all the mission-critical features baked into a modern website. Ideally, you’d want to minimize the costs associated with a website or funnel builder while retaining the features and general capability. How do these two web platforms stack up on price?

    How Much Does WordPress Cost?

    WordPress is open-sourced software, meaning the core technology is free to use. However, there are costs associated with using it. At a minimum, you’ll spend around $20/yr on a domain (Namecheap) and from $5/mo to $75/mo on web hosting (you can get both of these with a trusted provider such as Siteground). Web hosting prices vary depending on the provider and the hosting you choose, such as shared hosting vs VPS hosting or dedicated hosting. These are the ante for working with WordPress (and any website platform, SaaS or self-hosted).

    Aside from the costs associated with hosting and domain registration, you can also purchase premium themes and plugins. This is where you can transform a powerful blogging CMS into a full-fledged funnel builder.

    With options like WooCommerce + WPFunnels, FunnelKit, or CartFlows, website owners can bring sales funnels, in all their glory, to WordPress. Some even have free options for those just starting in this world. CartFlows, at the time of this writing, cost only $79 per year for their starter plan. Compare that with ClickFunnel’s $147 per month price tag.

    Maybe add a premium WordPress theme (Divi has a one-time cost under $300), a contact form plugin like Gravity Forms (for $59 per year, a caching plugin like WPRocket (for $59 per year), and a mix of other free or low-cost plugins. With the domain, hosting, and these example plugins, powering a WordPress sales funnel would cost less than $250 per year with an additional one-time payment of less than $300. All that is the cost of only four months on ClickFunnels’ Basic plan.

    ClickFunnels also allows the creation of membership sites, courses, and CRM/Email marketing campaigns. WordPress, of course, can also do those things with the right free/premium tools. See our top recommendations for membership plugins, CRM plugins, and LMS plugins for WordPress sites.

    How Much Does ClickFunnels Cost?

    ClickFunnels is a platform that offers three plans for businesses to choose from based on scaling needs.

    ClickFunnels Pricing Page April 2023

    The Basic plan includes the foundational features of ClickFunnels at $147 per month. It provides one website, 20 funnels, one admin user, one domain, three courses, 1,000 students, and 10,000 contacts. Users get unlimited workflows, pages, products, email sequences, and basic analytics.

    The Pro plan includes everything in the Basic plan but with higher usage limits and additional features. For $197 per month, users get one website, 100 funnels, five admin users, and usage on three domains. The plan also includes 15 courses, 10,000 students, and 25,000 contacts. Additional features in the Pro plan are the ability to create an affiliate program, API access, ShareFunnels, Liquid Theme Editor, and CF1 Maintenance Mode Plan.

    Lastly, the Funnel Hacker plan includes everything in the Pro plan but with even higher limits and advanced features. For $297 per month, users get three websites, unlimited funnels, 15 admin users, usage across nine domains, and advanced analytics. The plan also includes 200 courses, 20,000 students, and 200,000 contacts.

    It’s important to note that while ClickFunnels does have a monthly cost, it is an all-in-one solution for creating sales funnels, which can save you money and time compared to creating funnels with multiple tools and platforms. It offers this simplicity and packaging for a higher cost. The Basic plan would cost about $1,524 per year with the annual payment option.

    Thankfully, ClickFunnels does offer a free 14-day trial, so you can try it out beforehand.

    WordPress vs ClickFunnels: Ease of Use

    Ease of use is where things can get interesting. It all depends on your experience with funnel building which is pretty different from creating a typical website. If you’re new to this concept, then it may be difficult either way you go. We’ll explore this in a little more detail below.

    WordPress Ease of Use

    WordPress offers excellent ease of use when creating a basic website or blog. The platform’s simple interface allows users to easily create and edit pages, posts, and media without much technical knowledge. However, setting up WordPress is more involved than many beginners expect. Finding the right hosting and domain registrar and installing WordPress, a theme, and plugins require some experience (at least good guidance). But it isn’t that hard.

    WordPress’ block editor and core settings are very easy to use, and there are plenty of resources online to get you up to speed. Although building marketing funnels in WordPress involves more integrated tools, you still have more flexibility to build funnels using your favorite drag-and-drop editor or visual page builder.  For instance, with Cartflows, you can select a page builder like Divi to use for your funnel-building process.

    CartFlows Installation and Setup

    Funnel Builders on WordPress do present more of a learning curve (especially for those that aren’t tech-savvy). This is the same as if you started with ClickFunnels. You’d have to learn how the program works—and for WordPress, we recommend trying either WPFunnels, FunnelKit, or CartFlows. Building eCommerce-powered sales funnels for products or courses is more challenging than creating a business website. You should expect that building a funnel will be a little more complicated (in WordPress or a dedicated sales funnel builder).

    ClickFunnels Ease of Use

    ClickFunnels has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, making it easy to use for beginners. The platform offers a range of templates and prebuilt funnels, which can be customized to fit your specific needs. ClickFunnels also provides a visual editor that allows you to design and edit your funnels in real-time without any coding required.

    ClickFunnels Simultaneous Edits

    ClickFunnels also has all the tools you’ll likely need built-in. This includes eCommerce capability, funnel builders, and email marketing. This is nice compared to WordPress since you don’t have to figure out individual plugins that can do these tasks and then double-check that they all work seamlessly together. On the other hand, this also means that you are 100% bought into the ClickFunnel ecosystem—if they miss one or two features, you’re stuck with that.

    WordPress vs ClickFunnels: Customization

    Customization is a big part of many website-building platforms. It’s hard to know what your website will need in a couple of years, but you need to trust that your website technology will grow with you. Both WordPress and ClickFunnels offer a range of customization options, but as we’ll see, they look very different.

    Customization in WordPress

    WordPress is a highly customizable platform with endless possibilities for design and functionality. Unlike website builder platforms like ClickFunnels, WordPress offers a vast array of tools, resources, and people to help you create the website you want. With its theme repository containing thousands of free themes, as well as premium themes and page builders (including Divi), you have almost limitless options for design customization and extendibility.

    Divi, premium WordPress website builder plugin

    In addition to themes, WordPress has over 50,000 free plugins available for use. These plugins can add a wide range of functionality to your site, including forms, social media integration, eCommerce features, email marketing, and much more. You can also use free and premium plugins to create custom functionality unique to your site.

    WordPress 60000+ Plugins

    Moreover, those with coding skills can take customization to the next level by extending and modifying existing themes with simple CSS tweaks or more advanced PHP coding. With WordPress, you can make your website your own and stand out from the crowd.

    Customization in ClickFunnels

    ClickFunnels has limited customization options. It does come with prebuilt funnels and templates for creating things easily, but you are limited to what the Clickfunnels team has developed themselves. Impressively, the tools it has built span funnel building, CRM, and eCommerce. So, it isn’t like they don’t have any tools—you are just restricted to what they’ve built.

    ClickFunnel’s integrations allow for greater customization and flexibility with frequently used tools. For instance, it has integrations with popular SMS and email marketing services and a few payment processors. But since it is a closed ecosystem, integrations are sparse. When comparing the 3rd party integration potential of ClickFunnels vs WordPress, you quickly notice that there are far fewer options with ClickFunnels.

    WordPress vs ClickFunnels: Publishing Tools

    When it comes to publishing tools, WordPress is the de facto platform for publishing and blogging. It offers a wide range of features and customization options that cater to bloggers and content creators.

    WordPress CMS

    The WordPress CMS features an editor that you can use for creating and publishing content. The editor is intuitive and user-friendly, with various formatting options and the ability to add images, videos, and other media. Additionally, WordPress allows you to schedule posts in advance, which is helpful for bloggers and businesses that want to maintain a regular publishing schedule.

    WordPress also integrates with third-party tools, such as Google Analytics, SEO plugins, and social media sharing plugins. These tools allow you to analyze your website’s performance, improve your search engine optimization, and increase your social media presence.

    WordPress’s Block Editor is an advanced system for creating and displaying content. It goes well beyond a typical WYSIWYG editing environment. Blocks of all sorts can be used to create rich content that thrills visitors.

    The WordPress Block Editor

    ClickFunnels Publishing

    ClickFunnels primarily focuses on building sales funnels, offering limited publishing tools compared to WordPress. In ClickFunnels 2.0, a new Blog feature lets users create and publish blogs. It provides a simple editing interface that looks like a modern-looking 2015 WordPress editing interface with limited WYSIWYG editing.

    Blog Editor in ClickFunnels 2.0

    WordPress vs ClickFunnels: Security

    WordPress and ClickFunnels both provide features and tools for website security. However, they do differ in how they approach security and how much control you have over these features.

    WordPress Security

    WordPress is a self-hosted platform, meaning you are responsible for ensuring the security of your website. While WordPress is a secure platform, its customizable nature makes it vulnerable to attacks. If one plugin or theme is vulnerable, it can open up your whole site to nefarious actors.

    However, numerous security plugins available for WordPress can enhance its security. These plugins offer features such as malware scanning, firewalls, and login protection. WordPress regularly updates and patches to address known vulnerabilities and secure the platform. And the best plugins are routinely updated to ensure patches come out quickly before being exploited.

    However, it’s important to note that ensuring the security of a self-hosted WordPress website requires more work and attention compared to using a SaaS platform like ClickFunnels. You are responsible for setting up and maintaining security measures, such as SSL certificates and backup plugins.

    ClickFunnels Security

    ClickFunnels is a SaaS platform, which means that the platform’s team handles the security of your website. It offers a range of security features, including SSL encryption and two-factor authentication. These features help to ensure that your website and data are secure.

    A SaaS platform like ClickFunnels can offer peace of mind regarding website security, as you don’t have to worry about setting up and maintaining security measures. However, it’s important to note that SaaS platforms can still be vulnerable to attacks, and choosing a reputable and reliable platform that prioritizes security is essential.

    WordPress vs ClickFunnels: eCommerce

    Regarding eCommerce, both WordPress and ClickFunnels offer their features and considerations.

    WordPress eCommerce

    With its integration with various eCommerce plugins like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads, WordPress has become a robust platform for creating online stores. Building an online store and adding products to it using WooCommerce is hassle-free. Once you install the plugin, new menu items are added to your WP admin dashboard. You can create and categorize products, just like you would create a new Post or Page. WooCommerce supports multiple payment gateways by default, including EFT, PayPal, and Stripe.

    WooCommerce features

    One of the benefits of using WordPress and WooCommerce is the flexibility it offers. You have full control over the design and functionality of pages used in the buying process (shopping cart, checkout, etc.).You can customize your online store with thousands of plugins and themes to meet your specific needs and preferences.  For example, Divi has powerful eCommerce Modules that make building a custom online store possible.

    ClickFunnels eCommerce

    ClickFunnels comes with eCommerce functionality, making it possible for you to set up and manage an online store without leaving the platform. However, customization options are limited compared to WordPress. While you can add products and collect orders, you can’t create a completely customized eCommerce experience.

    ClickFunnels Advanced Analytics for eCommerce

    One of the benefits of using ClickFunnels for eCommerce is the convenience it offers. The platform is designed to optimize your online store for conversions. ClickFunnels takes care of eCommerce setup and maintenance, allowing you to focus on managing your online store within the platform.

    FAQ

    Is WordPress better than Clickfunnels?

    Both WordPress and Clickfunnels have their strengths and weaknesses, and the choice between them depends on your needs and preferences. WordPress offers a high degree of customization and flexibility, while Clickfunnels is specifically designed for creating sales funnels and optimizing your website for conversions.

    Can you use Clickfunnels with WordPress?

    Yes, it is possible to use Clickfunnels with WordPress. You can use Clickfunnels to create and integrate sales funnels into your WordPress website. To do this, you can use Clickfunnels’ WordPress plugin or embed the Clickfunnels funnel directly into your WordPress website using an embed code. This integration allows you to take advantage of Clickfunnels’ powerful funnel-building capabilities while still using WordPress for your website’s design and functionality.

    Can Clickfunnels replace your website?

    While Clickfunnels is a powerful platform for building sales funnels, it is not designed to replace your entire website. Clickfunnels primarily focuses on creating sales pages and funnels optimized for converting leads into customers. While you can use Clickfunnels to create a website, it may not be as comprehensive as a website built with a content management system like WordPress. Therefore, if you need a website with a wide range of functionalities beyond just sales funnels, it’s better to use a content management system like WordPress, which offers more flexibility and control over your website’s design and functionality.

    Does WordPress have a funnel builder?

    WordPress does not have a built-in funnel builder, but there are various WordPress plugins that can be used to create sales funnels. Two popular options are WPFunnels and FunnelKit.

    These plugins provide users with comprehensive funnel-building capabilities that are specifically designed for WordPress websites. If you already use WordPress for your website and want to keep everything within the platform, WPFunnels and FunnelKit are good options for your funnel-building needs.

    Conclusion: Is ClickFunnels Better than WordPress?

    We recommend that you try WordPress if you need extreme customization or want better pricing than using ClickFunnels. Setting up WordPress for building sales funnels might be more work than with ClickFunnels, but that work can be considered true sweat equity that saves you from ClickFunnels’ high price tag. This is especially ideal for those starting who probably aren’t fully monetized. Why pay extra when you are still building your business? That said, it wouldn’t hurt to take advantage of ClickFunnel’s free trial to see if it is a better fit.

    WordPress vs ClickFunnels

    Let’s look at a quick comparison of the platforms and where each excels.

    Feature WordPress Clickfunnels
    Ease of Use Relatively easy to use, but has a steep learning curve, especially with all the customization options 🥇Winner
    Intuitive drag-and-drop interface, easy to use connect tools
    Customizability 🥇Winner
    Highly customizable, with thousands of plugins and themes for just about any need    		 Less customizable, with limited design options
    eCommerce Support 🥇Winner
    Fully integrates with WooCommerce, and other eCommerce tools    		 Built-in eCommerce functionality that’s limited to what ClickFunnels provides
    SEO Friendliness 🥇Winner
    Extremely SEO-friendly, with numerous plugins available for optimization (many are free)    		 Offers basic SEO tools, but not as comprehensive as WordPress
    Pricing 🥇Winner
    Open-source and free to use, but requires hosting, domain, and sometimes premium solutions    		 Subscription-based with various pricing tiers and features, but overall priced high since you are paying for multiple tools
    Integration 🥇Winner
    Most 3rd party tools that you’d want to use have a WP plugin or connect with hundreds of other plugins with integrations    		 Offers integrations with some tools, but not as extensive as WordPress
    Get Started with WordPress Choose ClickFunnels

    The Best Way to Get Started with WordPress

    Are you thinking about using WordPress? If so, we know it can be challenging to know where to start. Here is a quick guide to help you create the ultimate WordPress toolkit:

    1. Hosting: You’ll want a great host. 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. Funnel Builder: We recommend you try WPFunnels or FunnelKit for building WordPress funnels.
    4. SEO: Make sure your website is optimized for search engines using Rank Math (its free plan is better than ClickFunnels SEO tools).
    5. Performance: Get WP Rocket or another speed optimization plugin to ensure your site is blazing fast.

    What’s your experience with WordPress or ClickFunnels been like? Obviously, both are great platforms, but how have they worked for you?

     

    Featured image from WordPress.org and ClickFunnels

    The post WordPress vs ClickFunnels: An In-Depth Analysis (2023) appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress vs Webflow (2023) — Which is Better for Your Website?

    WordPress and Webflow are two of the most popular platforms for creating simple or complex websites. What makes them so popular is that you don’t need to be an experienced developer or programmer to use them. In this post, we’ll dive into the differences between WordPress vs Webflow and give a thorough comparison of each regarding ease of use, pricing, extendibility, security, and more. Hopefully, this guide will help you make the right decision for your next website.

    Quick Overview: WordPress vs Webflow

    What is WordPress?

    wordpress dot org

    WordPress is by far the most popular Content Management System (CMS) for building websites used by over 43% of all websites worldwide. It is free and open source which has helped it grow rapidly over the years due to its large following and support from users, developers, and companies that build WordPress themes, plugins, and other products. For this post, when we talk about WordPress, we are referring to the .org version rather than WordPress.com. WordPress.com is actually more similar to Webflow in that it is a hosted web platform. WordPress.org on the other hand is self-hosted which means you’ll need to take care of hosting it yourself. But because WordPress.org is by far the most powerful of the two, we think it is a more worthy competitor to Webflow.

    Compared to Webflow, WordPress will require more work to set everything up because you have full control over the process. For instance, you’ll need to get a domain registrar, a hosting platform, and all the necessary themes and plugins to complete your WordPress website.

    What is Webflow?

    Webflow website

    Webflow is an all-in-one software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for building and hosting your website. Like other website builders, Webflow can be a viable alternative to WordPress because of how quick and easy it is to get a website up and running. All of the features are built-in which means you don’t have to worry about finding a host or installing extra plugins for things like SEO, security, eCommerce, etc. Like WordPress, Webflow offers a CMS site option if you want to blog or create content, but this isn’t necessary for simple sites.

    Like other website builders, one of the biggest draws of Webflow is the ability to design your site visually without code. With WordPress, you’ll need a page builder like Divi to rival (or even outshine) the built-in design capabilities of Webflow.

    WordPress vs. Webflow: Who Are They For?

    WordPress is ideal for those who want complete control over their website’s functionality and design. It’s particularly well-suited for those who have experience with web development.  And while coding isn’t necessary it can help you mold your site. WordPress Posts and Pages are the focus of the CMS platform, emphasizing a focus on content creation.

    Alternatively, Webflow is designed for those who want a more straightforward and streamlined way to create a professional-looking website. With Webflow, you won’t need to rely on a developer or graphic designer to get a custom design for your site that is modern. You can use pre-made templates and a drag-and-drop visual design interface to create beautiful, responsive websites quickly. But if you are serious about content creation and want a professional blog, you may find WordPress to be the better option.

    Overall, if you’re looking for complete control and flexibility, WordPress is the way to go. However, if you want a simpler, code-free solution that still allows for customization, Webflow is worth considering.

    WordPress vs. Webflow: Pricing

    When it comes to choosing a website builder, pricing is always an important factor. In this section, we will compare the pricing models of WordPress and Webflow.

    The Real Price of WordPress

    While WordPress is known as free, open-source software that you can download, install, host, and manage yourself, it comes with recurring costs that can add up quickly. These expenses include web hosts (like SiteGround or Cloudways), domain name registration, as well as theme and plugin licenses, and memberships.

    The expenses mentioned above can differ depending on the website. For instance, licenses for themes and plugins could be reoccurring charges or lifetime memberships for a one-time charge, like at Elegant Themes.

    You might pay anywhere between $5-$9 per month for hosting (or managed hosting,) $10 per year for a domain, and $29.99 once for a theme. But all the prices can vary.

    One thing is for sure; you will be paying some money to run your website. In total, it is possible to operate a basic WordPress website for just $50-$75 annually. However, a bigger spender could spend $100-$350 per year. This considers the need for some premium themes and plugins, as well as potential upgrades to web hosting.

    Webflow Pricing

    Webflow, on the other hand, offers a variety of pricing plans to choose from. The site plans are categorized under General and E-commerce.

    General Plans

    Webflow’s pricing plans are tiered based on the features and capabilities they offer. The higher-tier plans come with more advanced features. Here is a quick breakdown of their general site plans:

    • Starter (Free) – includes a webflow.io domain and up to 50 CMS items so it is really only enough to test it out.
    • Basic ($18/m) – includes a custom domain but has no CMS for blogging so it is ideal for building a simple site.
    • CMS ($29/m) –  includes the CMS with up to 2,000 CMS items (or records) you can store in the database and up to 3 content editors which is good for small blogs.
    • Business ($49) – The Business plan gives up to 10,000 CMS storage items, 10 content editors, and 2,5000 monthly form subscribers, but you’ll need to upgrade to Enterprise if you want even more.
    • Enterprise – this plan is for those who need more storage bandwidth but you’ll need to call them to settle on a price.

    webflow pricing plans

     

    E-Commerce Site Plans

    If you want an eCommerce site, they offer three plans:

    • Standard ($42/m) – includes all CMS plan features and up to 500 eCommerce items (or products) so it is best for new businesses.
    • Plus ($84/m) – includes all Business plan features and up to 5000 eCommerce items for higher volume businesses.
    • Advanced ($235/m) – adds up to 15,000 eCommerce items for large businesses.

    It’s important to note that, unlike WordPress, Webflow includes hosting as part of its pricing plans. So, you don’t have to worry about paying for hosting separately.

    WordPress Webflow
    Pricing 🥇 Winner

    WordPress can be as extensive or inexpensive as you want.

    		In general, Webflow is more expensive than WordPress, especially for larger websites and businesses.
    Choose WordPress Choose Webflow

    WordPress vs. Webflow: Ease-of-Use

    When it comes to building a website, it’s important to have a platform that is easy to use. But you also don’t want to avoid a platform just because it has more of a learning curve. The key is to find the right balance. Let’s see how WordPress and Webflow stack up.

    WordPress: Ease-of-Use

    WordPress has a relatively steep learning curve compared Webflow, especially with the setup process which includes:

    However, once you get all the pieces in place, WordPress is a powerful tool for creating almost any type of website.

    The great thing about WordPress is that it can be as simple or complex as you want it to be. Making a post for a simple blog, for example, is really straightforward. Simply select Add New under the post option on the main dashboard. Here you have access to the block editor.

    wordpress block editor

    From here, you easily create and edit pages, posts, and media.

    That being said, WordPress is not the most user-friendly platform for beginners. While it is possible to easily create a simple website, users might need more technical knowledge to make the customizations they want. Plus, WordPress has way more options and settings to configure. This is great for those wanting more flexibility and functionality but can be overwhelming for beginners.

    Webflow: Ease-of-Use

    Webflow definitely has less of a learning curve than WordPress, especially with the setup process. And the visual site builder is beginner-friendly and intuitive and includes more design options than the basic block editor of WordPress. You can create a site with a drag-and-drop visual builder without any coding knowledge.

    It also comes fresh out of the box with useful tutorials and a handful of free templates to choose from.

    Webflow drag and drop editor

    However, there is still a learning curve with Webflow, especially for users who have never used a website builder before. Like any new software, users may find it difficult to find the customization options or features they are looking for, especially when it comes to adding more complex website elements. You may find the dashboard to be a little hard to navigate initially, but you should get the hang of it eventually. Those familiar with Figma will find it has a familiar feel.

    WebFlow Navigator

    Overall, though, Webflow’s ease of use and design tools make it a great option for building a site. While it may not have as many features and customization options as WordPress, it is a great choice for those who want to create a professional-looking website without additional plugins.

    WordPress Webflow
    Ease of Use WordPress does take a bit of time to get used too, but a beginner can start a blog in just a matter of minutes. 🥇 Winner
    Overall, Webflow is designed to be user-friendly, and once you understand the UI, it’s easy to navigate.
    Choose WordPress Choose Webflow

    WordPress vs. Webflow: Customization

    When choosing your first website platform, it’s difficult to foresee all the features you might need down the road. That’s why customization and flexibility are important factors to consider when choosing a website platform. Both WordPress and Webflow offer a range of customization options, but they differ in their approach.

    WordPress Customization

    WordPress is almost limitless when it comes to customization and flexibility. The WordPress ecosystem has all the tools, resources, and people you need to create any design and functionality you want.

    In terms of design customization and extendibility, WordPress will win over most website builder platforms, including Webflow. The WordPress theme repository has thousands of free themes for your website. And that doesn’t the premium themes and page builders that can take design customization to new heights.

    WordPress themes vs Webflow

    In addition to themes, WordPress has 50,000+ free plugins you can use to extend the functionality of your site in countless ways. in its plugin. You can add forms, social media integration, eCommerce functionality, email marketing, and so much more with free and premium plugins. Here is our collection of the best plugins for WordPress.

    Plus, for those who have coding skills, you can really make WordPress your own by extending and modifying existing themes with simple CSS tweaks or more advanced PHP coding.

    WordPress coding vs Webflow

    Overall, WordPress offers unparalleled customization options, making it an excellent choice for those looking to create a truly unique website.

    Webflow Customization

    WebFlow templates: WordPress vs Webflow

    Webflow provides a variety of templates (free and paid) that will help jumpstart the website creation process. However, changing templates in Webflow is not as easy as changing a theme in WordPress. If you want to use a different template, you must create a new project and choose another one. That means you will have to manually migrate data over (or copy and paste elements) to a site on another Workspace if you want to start with a new template. Luckily, modifying those templates with new designs and content is pretty straightforward.

    wordpress vs webflow visual builder

    Webflow offers 20+ design elements (or blocks) you can use to customize your site using their visual builder. These include everything from simple text headings to Lottie animation elements. You can even create “components” which operate much like global block styling in WordPress so that you can update all instances of a block of content at once.

    WordPress Webflow
    Customization 🥇 Winner

    WordPress is top of the line when it comes to customization.

    		 Webflow has a lot of customization options available, but not as much as WordPress.
    Choose WordPress Choose Webflow

    WordPress vs. Webflow: Security

    Every website is vulnerable to security risks no matter what platform they are on, including sites built with WordPress and Webflow. The trick is finding the platform that can offer the level of protection that is right for you.

    WordPress Security

    WordPress is a very popular open-source software that is free to the public. So it goes without saying that it has security vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. Because each WordPress site depends on other third-party themes, plugins, and hosting providers, you’ll need to take additional security measures to make sure everything is secure. And the more complex your site becomes, the more open you are to vulnerabilities. This may all sound scary, but the truth is that you can have more security with a WordPress site than you can with other hosted site builders. WordPress has a huge number of developers constantly working to make WordPress more secure. And you can use security plugins and other services to make your site as secure as you want.

    Jetpack plugin

    These plugins can help with tasks such as monitoring activity, automated backups, scanning for malware, securing login pages, and much more.

    But unfortunately, because it remains so popular, WordPress will continue to be a target for hackers, so you better take security seriously.

    Webflow Security

    Webflow is primarily hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) which is an industry leader in secure web hosting. And Webflow has taken many additional measures to secure how they handle information, customer data, payment processing, and more. They use strong encryption throughout Webflow to protect data from unauthorized access. In short, Webflow takes security seriously and will do a great job of keeping your website safe from hackers and cyber attacks. And the best part is that you don’t have to do anything. All that security is built-in into Webflow. The downside is that you don’t really have control over your website security and are completely dependent on Webflow.

    Webflow security

     

    WordPress Webflow
    Security WordPress needs security plugins to maximize its defenses against attacks. 🥇 Winner

    Webflow comes in box with state of the art cybersecurity.

    Choose WordPress Choose Webflow

    WordPress vs. Webflow: Who Wins?

    WordPress Webflow
    Pricing 🥇 Winner

    WordPress can be as extensive or inexpensive as you want.

    		In general, Webflow is more expensive than WordPress, especially for larger websites and businesses.
    Ease of Use WordPress does take a bit of time to get used too, but a beginner can start a blog in just a matter of minutes. 🥇 Winner
    Overall, Webflow is designed to be user-friendly, and once you understand the UI, it’s easy to navigate.
    Customization 🥇 Winner

    WordPress is top of the line when it comes to customization.

    		 Webflow has a lot of customization options available, but not as much as WordPress.
    Security WordPress needs security plugins to maximize its defenses against attacks. 🥇 Winner

    Webflow comes in box with state of the art cybersecurity.

    Choose WordPress Choose Webflow

    Ultimately, the winner between WordPress and Webflow depends on your specific needs and preferences. If you value a wide range of customization options and are a bit more tech-savvy, WordPress may be the better choice for you. If you prefer a user-friendly visual design interface and built-in features, Webflow might be the right fit.

    Would you like to know how WordPress performs in comparison to its major competitors? We did the hard work and compared WordPress vs. everything else so that you don’t have to!

    The Best Way to Get Started with WordPress

    Are you thinking about using WordPress? If so, we know it can be difficult to know where to start. Here is a quick guide to help you create the ultimate WordPress toolkit:

    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! Now you have what you need to build a powerful website with WordPress.

    The post WordPress vs Webflow (2023) — Which is Better for Your Website? appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress vs Weebly (2023) — Which Is Better?

    Website builders are everywhere these days. WordPress is the dominant platform with well over 1/3 of the internet having been built with it. A slew of other site builders has popped up to demand their fair share of the market though. One of the big players is Weebly, a free service that made a name for itself by being fast, reliable, and easy to use. Square is one of the top e-commerce payment gateways. They bought Weebly to use as an e-commerce platform. They can give WordPress a run for its money. But what features make each platform uniquely appealing? To assist you in determining which is more suitable for your business, we will compare WordPress vs Weebly.

    WordPress vs Weebly: Who Are They For?

    To be a little hyperbolic, WordPress is for everyone. What we mean is that no matter what kind of site you want to run, WordPress can create it. From portfolios to e-commerce shops to prolific magazines, WordPress has the capability and features to make it happen. The catch is that because it can do nearly anything, the setup can be a little more difficult. You, as a site owner, need to either hire a developer or find the plugins, themes, and features you need for your site, yourself. But if you can dream it, WordPress can do it. There is room for beginners and coders in the WP space.

    Weebly, on the other hand, started as a quick-and-easy builder that gave users fast access to static/informational sites, and it has since been acquired by Square and become an incredibly robust e-commerce platform. While the platform can still function as a quick-and-easy free website for you, the focus has shifted to being an e-commerce platform that has a full range of features built right in. If your main goal is to get an e-commerce site up and running as quickly as possible, Weebly may be what you’re looking for.

    Weebly Makes Building a Website Easy

    A major factor for anyone looking to build a website is how easy the platform is to learn and use daily. WordPress does not have the best new-user experience. But that has somewhat improved over the years. Weebly has always attracted users who wanted a nicely designed website. One that wasn’t hard to maintain, and Square’s acquisition hasn’t changed that at all. Both platforms are relatively easy to use, and each has quirks that make the learning curve about even between them.

    WordPress

    The hardest part about learning WordPress is figuring out where all of the options are located and what they do. To new users, learning what’s in Settings vs Tools vs Customize can be frustrating. Why are Menu options under Appearance? What’s the difference between the Theme Editor vs the Theme Customizer?

    These are very easy-to-solve frustrations, but the messaging for new users isn’t always clear. In terms of actual utility, using WordPress has never been easier. You create Posts and Pages using the new Gutenberg block editor. The new editor gives you drag-and-drop functionality for each element on the page. From images to paragraphs to lists and even rating stars, you have full control over each thing separate from everything else.

    WordPress vs Weebly page builder

    Editing the site and posts are incredibly easy, and as of WordPress 5.8, these blocks can also be used in nearly every editable space on your site. The ease with which you can customize WordPress has never been greater. Or easier.

    As we said, the dashboard can be a little confusing at times to navigate. However, you can overcome that with just a little use and practice. Additionally, themes such as Divi and plugins by companies such as 10Web can make the experience of using WordPress much easier to learn. It does, however, take external research or recommendations to find out which ones those are.

    Weebly

    Weebly is a fairly easy platform to use. Setting up your website and then running it on a day-to-day basis is pretty simple. Though there are some quirks with the software that put it on about equal footing to WordPress in terms of the learning curve.

    Weebly page editor

    The editor screen works almost exactly like the Gutenberg editor. You have different blocks available for elements such as text, images, lists, videos, and so on. (Some of these are available to premium users.) Editing each of these is a matter of clicking and selecting options from a pop-out.

    The quirkiness can come in with adding new top-level pages and product categories, blog posts, and individual products. The menus aren’t intuitive to use, but they’re not difficult to learn. To create a blog post, you will need to navigate to the blog feed page itself, edit it, and then press the New Post button.

    weebly blog post vs wordpress

    This isn’t hard or complicated, but when compared to WordPress and other blogging platforms, it’s pretty obtuse. On the other hand, consider that Weebly is not a blogging platform. In that context, the entire experience is easy to learn and use and is perfectly passable.

    WordPress Weebly
    Ease of Use Figuring out where the options are and what they do can take time. Learning what’s in Settings vs Tools vs Customizer can be difficult. 🥇 Winner

    Set up is easy, but adding top-level pages has a bit of a learning curve. That being said, it is a bit more user-friendly for beginners.
    Choose WordPress Choose Weebly

    When it Comes to eCommerce, Weebly Has the Edge

    WordPress has WooCommerce, a free e-commerce plugin that is used by hundreds of thousands of websites. Over time, an ecosystem of extensions and add-ons has sprung up around it, giving users access to any feature they could ever need. For example, companies such as Yith have a great list of plugins to expand WooCommerce capabilities. Weebly doesn’t need that level of ecosystem and plugin extensibility. It integrates fully with the Square e-commerce system. For quick setup and a few hassles, Weebly stores are great options. WordPress and WooCommerce are the better options for those who want the most customization and control over store options.

    WordPress

    Creating stores and adding products to WordPress using WooCommerce is a straightforward process. Installing the plugin adds new menu items to your WP admin dashboard. Creating a product and categorizing it is as easy as creating or editing a Post or creating a new Page. WooCommerce builds products on WordPress custom post types, which can be extended with plugins like Toolset. This can both help and hinder WP users because the process is known to them. The extra e-commerce meta boxes for product information does make things a bit more complex than before.

    WordPress vs Weebly eCommerce

    WooCommerce comes with various payment gateways by default, including EFT, PayPal, Stripe, Amazon Pay, and the proprietary WooCommerce Payments. You can also purchase extensions that allow even more payment gateways to be used, including the Weebly-owner Square.

    WooCommerce payment gateways

    Some of these options are free, and some are premium. Using any and/or all of the options is up to the website owner. Which is going into one of WordPress’s most noteworthy features: freedom of customization.

    That customization and many options are also available to your product lineup. You can sell digital goods and physical merchandise from the beginning. If you want advanced analytics and in-depth management utilities, additional plugins or extensions may be necessary.

    Weebly

    Weebly, in stark contrast to WordPress, comes with all e-commerce tools built in because of its association with Square. We should note, however, that each of these options is not available to all users. Weebly restricts some behind different tiers of paid membership.

    Also, we want to note that while WooCommerce can be free, most users will be spending money on extensions and other costs. We have a complete rundown on what you can expect, and it is comparable to a paid membership with Weebly.

    WordPress vs Weebly products

    The strongest feature Weebly offers is that you can sell anything to anyone from the beginning. Even as a free user, you can populate your store with inventory. While some of the actual sales (such as for digital goods) are limited to paid users, you can get started with your site and store immediately. With WooCommerce and WordPress, you have to use different extensions to offer memberships, donations, and events.

    This inclusion, even for premium members only, makes using Weebly just a bit more accessible than WooCommerce. Users in WordPress would need to individually seek out methods to sell any additional product types.

    Weebly also has a much smoother interface for entering product information (as you can see above) than WordPress. This is because Square is actively developing Weebly as an e-commerce platform. WordPress is a CMS that can function as an e-commerce platform. In Weebly, products are their own thing, separate from blog posts and all other features. Learning how to use them may take more time for Weebly users. But in the end, they’re more intuitive than customizing WooCommerce products.

    Perhaps WooCommerce can be extended and eventually provide a more powerful and custom e-commerce experience. For those who want a no-hassle platform that’s relatively easy to learn, Weebly’s Square integration provides that.

    WordPress Weebly
    eCommerce WordPress is a CMS first, and an eCommerce platform only through extensions and plugins. 🥇 Winner

    You’re given everything you need to set up an eCommerce platform thanks to integration with Square.
    Choose WordPress Choose Weebly

    WordPress is King in Customization

    Both WordPress and Weebly use themes and layouts that change the design and apparent utility of the site. With WordPress that can go deep into the site’s code. With Weebly, though, it’s skin-deep and is based on how the information is presented. WordPress offers much more customization than is possible with Weebly in almost every way, but you do get a decent amount of choice with Weebly, similar to Squarespace in that it’s curated customization.

    WordPress

    Themes are the fundamental draw to WordPress. They give users the most control over their sites, offering both functionality and design. Some themes, such as Divi, come with page builders included so that editing your WordPress site can be as simple as using the block editor (or the Weebly builder itself, which is built around blocks and curated designs).

    You can find any number of free themes on the WordPress.org theme repository, as well as additional plugins on that repository, too. Both of these offer major customization. Some through design and layout, others through utility and additional features and function. Very few website platforms can compete with the total control (and ease of control) that WordPress gives its users.

    Weebly

    In terms of customization, Weebly users do have options. Just not as many as WordPress. There is a well-stocked theme repository of curated designs they can choose from. Many of them are optimized for e-commerce (again, a good thing because of Square’s integration).

    Weebly theme gallery

    They’re cleanly designed and put together. You should have no trouble customizing them. The options you get for each block and element are comparable to any basic page builder you could find in WordPress.

    wordpress vs weebly builder

    The downside is that some customization and elements are locked behind paid subscriptions. However, this is offset by taking into consideration that the most advanced page builders in WordPress are also premium subscriptions or licenses. If you’re a free user expecting full customization, however, that won’t be possible.

    Very little can compare to WordPress’s innate customization. However, Weebly competes well enough with WP that using its builder and having access to its options won’t feel cumbersome or a burden like some other builders.

    WordPress Weebly
    Customization 🥇 Winner

    WordPress shines with its unlimited customization options to make sites stand out from the crowd.

    		 There are a few themes to choose from, but Weebly is limited to those choices.
    Choose WordPress Choose Weebly

    WordPress vs Weebly Wrap Up

    In the end, Weebly is a very solid e-commerce platform but doesn’t have a lot of draw for people who want a blog or publishing website. If you need a fast, free, decently designed static website, sure. However, Weebly has very clearly moved toward targeting those who plan on selling things being the primary function of their website.

    WordPress comes in solid in this regard, too, simply because it was built as a blogging platform first and has since evolved into a CMS capable of most kinds of sites. With the sheer amount of customization options with plugins by third-party vendors such as Yith, Toolset, and 10Web, you simply can’t beat what WordPress can offer.

    But the WooCommerce and other e-commerce solutions can be a bit more cumbersome than using something like Weebly that is built for that specifically.

    WordPress Wix
    Ease of Use Figuring out where the options are and what they do can take time. Learning what’s in Settings vs Tools vs Customizer can be difficult. 🥇 Winner

    Set up is easy, but adding top-level pages has a bit of a learning curve. That being said, it is a bit more user-friendly for beginners.

    eCommerce WordPress is a CMS first, and an eCommerce platform only through extensions and plugins. 🥇 Winner

    You’re given everything you need to set up an eCommerce platform thanks to integration with Square.
    Customization 🥇 Winner

    WordPress shines with its unlimited customization options to make sites stand out from the crowd.

    		There are a few themes to choose from, but Weebly is limited to those choices.
    Choose WordPress Choose Weebly

    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!

    What have your experiences been with WordPress vs Weebly?

    The post WordPress vs Weebly (2023) — Which Is Better? appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress vs. Drupal (2023) — Which One is Better?

    You have a lot of options when it comes to deciding on a website platform. There’s Squarespace and Wix and Weebly and Joomla and WordPress and Drupal and…lots more. While that choice can be overwhelming, two of the main contenders for a content management system (CMS) for a lot of people seem to be WordPress vs Drupal. Both were released pretty concurrently around two decades ago, but WordPress was a blogging platform versus Drupal beginning its life as a CMS. Over time, WordPress has moved into overlapping a great deal with Drupal, and we want to help you choose between the two platforms by comparing them head-to-head.

    WordPress vs Drupal: Who are They For?

    When it comes to WordPress, the platform is easily accessible to anyone. Between the WordPress.com version where you can get a free site with limited functionality and a yoursite.wordpress.com domain, it takes very little effort to get started. Even the self-hosted WordPress.org that we’re going to be discussing in this article has a quick install from most hosting companies.

    Drupal hits this same demographic, only without the .com version. It’s a free, open-source platform like WordPress, and most hosting companies have a quick installer within their site tools. It’s very easy for anyone to get set up. But while WordPress’s interface and messaging help many new users acclimate to their new dashboard, Drupal doesn’t have great messaging.

    Both platforms, however, offer a modular experience that grants users the flexibility to create the site they want by extending features and design through plugins and add-ons. WordPress does this in a slightly more user-friendly way, while Drupal tends to be more aimed at users who are experienced in web design in some capacity.

    Which Platform is Easier to Use?

    Over the past few years, WordPress has come a long way in terms of user-friendly design and experience. Drupal, despite a lack of initial messaging on how to navigate and make use of the platform, has a fairly low learning curve for anyone who has a bit of experience administrating a website backend.

    WordPress

    Learning WordPress is much easier than it once was. With the plethora of blogs and tutorials out there, users who are confused about any aspect can learn quickly and easily about any topic. This is great because when opening up the dashboard for the very first time might be a tad overwhelming.

    In general, the dashboard is easy to navigate and relatively self-explanatory. However, it can take some time to get a feel for where things are and under which heading certain settings and options live. It can be a little frustrating to figure out which settings are under the Settings tab, which functions live under Tools, which options are in the Theme Customizer and which are contained within the theme or plugin settings themselves.

    Eventually, those confusions work themselves out as you use the platform. But on initial use, you might occasionally be a little flustered.

    Of course, the real question regarding WordPress’s ease of use is dependent on what kind of site you intend to create. Because WordPress can create any kind of site, the theme and plugin suite you choose will drastically affect usability. If you use WooCommerce, lots of extensions, and various forums and user-management plugins to run a membership site, your learning curve and ease of use dramatically increase over a more simplified website focused on simple content creation.

    For the most part, though, WordPress has a low-to-moderate learning curve and even those without lots of technical expertise can find user-friendly themes and plugins to walk them through the process of creating and managing their sites.

    Drupal

    Users just get kind of dropped into Drupal. Luckily, the interface is rather intuitive and well-labeled, though there is no initial messaging on where to go to begin.

    wordpress vs drupal dashboard

    However, even from the first time you log in, there are Add Content links. And, like WordPress, a menu invites you to Extend via modules and customize with different themes. Users have access to the Structure tab. This solves one of WordPress’s biggest stepping stones for new users. It consolidates the various options and settings for site construction in one place instead of having them spread out and compartmentalized.

    The downside to this consolidation is that using any of these settings is a bit more technical than in WordPress. If you’re coming into Drupal with no web experience, both the interface and terminology used can be a little off-putting. However, if you’re used to various web admin back-ends, learning and using Drupal is a big step up from other platforms such as Joomla.

    WordPress Drupal
    Ease of Use 🥇 Winner

    WordPress has a low-to-moderate learning curve and even those without lots of technical expertise can good tutorials to help them along the way.

    		 If you’re coming into Drupal with no web experience, both the interface and terminology used can be a little off-putting.
    Choose WordPress Choose Drupal

    WordPress Allows for Ultimate Customization

    Everyone wants a nice-looking website. That goes without saying. So the customization options for design are something to take into consideration when looking at WordPress vs Drupal. You also have to think about the customization of features, too. And how easily you can create, launch, and then modify the kind of site that you want. Be that publishing, e-commerce, membership, or anything else you might need.

    WordPress

    WordPress vs Drupal is about customization from the ground up. With plugins being a major part of adding features and design elements, you can create (or download and install) all features your website could ever need. Additionally, the theme-based structure for design gives designers and developers free rein on their creations.

    With the whole industry having sprung up around the plugins and themes in WordPress, you can be sure that someone has created the perfect theme and plugin for you. You just have to find it. Some of them are free (or freemium) through the WordPress repository, while others are premium products you can license directly from the developers or through marketplaces like Divi Marketplace.

    Either way, there are no limitations in the WordPress world. Users with zero technical experience can create amazingly designed websites using page builder themes/plugins like Divi and add any functionality they can think of through plugins like WooCommerce, Paid Memberships Pro, GiveWP, PublishPress, GamiPress, or literally thousands of others.

    Drupal

    Like WordPress, Drupal is a modular CMS that relies on external developers to help provide what users need. With that in mind, it’s incredibly easy for users of pretty much any skill level to extend Drupal to fit their needs.

    wordpress vs drupal extend

    With a large Add New Module button dead center of the page that takes you directly to the Modules tab in the extension library, Drupal makes it easy on you to find what you need.

    wordpress vs drupal customize

    The Themes tab is directly beside the one for Modules, and it works in much the same way. The themes that developers have created for Drupal are great, but many of them do require a lot of technical knowledge of CSS, JavaScript, and HTML to get in and make them shine. While page builders and drag-and-drop editors are becoming standard among WordPress sites, Drupal themes generally take a more manual process.

    That said, the installation process is the same for both WP and Drupal. You download an archive file, go back to the dashboard, upload it, and activate it. You can’t do this automatically from the repository in Drupal, but if you’re a command line user, each page has an installation command you can paste in using Composer.

    It comes down to how comfortable you are with the design and knowing what you need for your site. If you go in with a clear design and functionality plan, Drupal is pretty simple to handle. But if you’re piecing it together as you go, the interfaces and community in WordPress may be better suited for you.

    WordPress Drupal
    Customizations 🥇 Winner

    There are no limitations in the WordPress world. Users with zero technical experience can create amazingly designed websites using page builder themes/plugins like Divi.

    		 Drupal requires quite a bit of CSS, JS, and HTML to truly customize it. If you’re piecing it together as you go, the interfaces and community in WordPress may be better suited for you.
    Choose WordPress Choose Drupal

    WordPress Publishing is Unmatched

    You can’t have a website without content. And in some way or another, you’re going to be creating content for your website. Even the most barebones sites have pages and pages of content that has to get there somehow. WordPress always has an advantage in publishing content because of its roots as a blogging platform. However, Drupal isn’t that far behind because of how easy and well-designed the publishing tools are.

    WordPress

    WordPress vs Drupal is all about publishing. Over the past few years, the buzzwords from Automattic and the WordPress foundation have been “democratizing publishing,” which pretty much sums up their stance. While WP is absolutely a capable and well-crafted CMS that can handle any sort of site, all the functionality used on those sites comes down to being based on posts and pages.

    Publishing in WordPress, be it a post or a page, or even a product in your e-commerce store, comes down to using either the Classic Editor or the Block Editor and any number of meta-boxes and custom fields in a custom post type. All of which can be extended with the help of plugins such as Toolset.

    Additionally, you can separate and categorize your content in WordPress using parent/child taxonomies and tags. No matter how you want to display your content, you can. Different themes such as Divi, come with the ability to create templates, too, so you can often set your content to look different based on what focus it has. You might have specific templates for posts with audio or video players, for instance.

    And the publishing options only expand when you introduce advanced themes and plugins. It’s very hard to get lost in publishing with WordPress because it is very simple. That said, the Block Editor that comes in WordPress by default after version 5.0 is not a WYSIWYG editor with an interface like a word processor. That is a bit of a bump in the publishing workflow until you figure out how it works.

    wordpress vs drupal

    After that, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

    Drupal

    Drupal uses a WYSIWYG editor for its content, and it works great. You will find a Content menu item in the main dashboard. The next page is well-messaged. and you know exactly what kinds of content you can make. The same as WordPress: posts and pages.

    wordpress vs drupal

    The editing pages are clean and concise, and writing content is no problem. We ran into no issues in pasting from Google Docs, either, which can be a pain in WordPress.

    drupal 10 page editor wordpress vs drupal

    All of your options are available on one screen, and they’re easily navigable. If you need to customize the categories and taxonomies on your site, you can do that under the Structure menu, as we mentioned above.

    Drupal’s publishing tools are less-advanced than WordPress. WP makes creating specialized and highly formatted content a cinch. But Drupal gives you a quick, clean, and painless writing and publishing experience. And that means a lot.

    WordPress vs Drupal Publishing Comparison

    WordPress Drupal
    Publishing 🥇 Winner

    The Block Editor that comes in WordPress by default after version 5.0 is not as simple as the classic editor, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll find it to be very powerful.

    		 Drupal gives you a quick, clean, and painless writing and publishing experience. However, it’s not nearly as advanced as the block editor in WordPress.
    Choose WordPress Choose Drupal

    WordPress and Drupal Alternatives

    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! One of those posts compares WordPress vs Wix, and I think you will be interested to see the results!

    So Which Platform is Better?

    WordPress vs Drupal is beginner-friendly, with a less steep learning curve and user-friendly tools. It offers many options for customization, with themes like Divi and plugins like Toolset, and is a powerful SEO platform, especially with tools like Rank Math.

    WordPress Drupal
    Ease of use 🥇 Winner

    WordPress has a low-to-moderate learning curve and even those without lots of technical expertise can good tutorials to help them along the way.

    		 If you’re coming into Drupal with no web experience, both the interface and terminology used can be a little off-putting.
    Customization 🥇 Winner

    There are no limitations in the WordPress world. Users with zero technical experience can create amazingly designed websites using page builder themes/plugins like Divi.

    		 Drupal requires quite a bit of CSS, JS, and HTML to truly customize it. If you’re piecing it together as you go, the interfaces and community in WordPress may be better suited for you.
    Publishing 🥇 Winner

    The Block Editor that comes in WordPress by default after version 5.0 is not as simple as the classic editor, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll find it to be very powerful.

    		 Drupal gives you a quick, clean, and painless writing and publishing experience. However, it’s not nearly as advanced as the block editor in WordPress.
    Choose WordPress Choose Drupal

    Drupal has a steeper learning curve due to its technical nature, but experienced website managers should find it easy to use. It requires more design and development skills than WordPress but has a powerful platform that can meet your needs with the right expertise.

    The post WordPress vs. Drupal (2023) — Which One is Better? appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress.com vs WordPress.org (2023) — Which One to Pick?

    WordPress now makes up well over 1/3 of all internet sites. That’s a lot of websites. However, when we say “WordPress,” that could mean more than one thing. The base WordPress software is the same. But when you decide between WordPress.org vs WordPress.com, you are choosing a very specific set of features over another. While WordPress itself doesn’t change, the day-to-day usage can be pretty different. We want to walk you through both sides of WP so that you can decide which version works best for you and your site.

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    What is WordPress?

    First off, let’s take a look at WordPress itself. Many see WordPress as a blogging platform, and it is. But over the past couple of decades, it has also become a full content management system (CMS) that can manage every kind of site you could want. Even if you’re not writing and publishing content regularly, you can still easily use WordPress for your website. As a landing page, portfolio, learning management system (LMS), membership site, or even an ecommerce shop.

    wordpress.com vs wordpress.org features

    In a nutshell (an admittedly big one), WordPress does a lot of things.

    WordPress Features, Perks, and Details:

    • It is open-source software, through the GPL license, and receives consistent and regular updates that add new features and polish and enhance old ones.
    • Simple-to-use interface, both as an administrator and content creator.
    • The Gutenberg block editor is intuitive and allows full-site customization immediately on installation.
      • Additionally, content can be designed around various structures. Custom post types, possess unique metadata, various taxonomies, and more. These allow for impressive organization.
    • WordPress is a full CMS:
      • Content creation (blogging, podcasting, video, streaming, etc.)
      • Static landing pages
      • Media management
      • User management built into the base software which can be utilized for membership sites or e-commerce shops.
    • The WordPress themes system gives 100% customization of every aspect of your site.
    • Themes do more than just alter the design, but also add and adjust functionality.
      • Thousands of free and premium themes (such as Divi) out there for you to choose from, many available and hosted by WordPress itself.
    • WP can be hosted anywhere. It is near-universally supported by web hosts, with some excellent choices including Pressable and WPEngine.
    • WordPress domain and URL customization within the dashboard
    • Built for speed and page-load times
    • Custom widgets provide page-by-page customization in almost any area such as sidebars, footers, and headers.
    • WordPress is extensible, meaning that anyone can create a plugin to hook into the CMS and add a feature or change how something works.
    • Developers can do so much through the WordPress APIs, from the REST API to HTTP requests, URL routing, and MySQL databases, WordPress is ready for translation, user management, data manipulation, and whatever features they can dream up.

    Don’t Forget the People!

    On top of all the technical things that WordPress can do, the community that surrounds the software is tight-knit and welcoming. You can attend WordCamps to learn about it, go to Meetups in your town, or even just participate in social media groups and forums to meet people who can help you, work with you, and even become your friends.

    You get all of these with both versions of WordPress. With all that in mind, both technical and social, let’s look at WordPress.org vs WordPress.com individually to consider their strengths and weaknesses.

    WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Pricing

    WordPress.com offers a variety of plans, ranging from a free plan with basic features to a business plan with advanced features. The free plan allows you to create a website with limited features and includes a WordPress.com subdomain. The paid plans range in price from roughly $4 per month (billed annually) for a personal plan to $45 per month for an e-commerce plan. The more expensive plans offer more advanced features and customization options.

    With WordPress.org, the cost of web hosting can vary depending on the provider and the plan you choose. For example, some popular hosting providers like SiteGround and Green Geeks offer starter WordPress plans that start at $2.95 per month, while other premium providers like WPEngine might start at $20 per month.

    Additionally, you will need to pay for a domain name, which typically costs around $10 to $15 per year. Providers such as GoDaddy and HostGator offer both domains and hosting plans, but it’s generally recommended that you purchase a domain separately from a provider such as NameCheap.

    By purchasing your domain from a separate domain registrar, you can have more control over your domain and avoid potential issues that may arise from having your domain and hosting with the same provider. Additionally, using a separate domain registrar may give you more flexibility to switch web hosting providers in the future, without having to transfer your domain to a new provider.

    WordPress.com WordPress.org
    Hosting $4-45 per month $2 – $20 per month for starter plans
    Domain FREE $10-$15 per year

    What is WordPress.org?

    WordPress.org is very likely the software you mean when discussing generic “WordPress.” The version put out by .org is the self-hosted, independent, open-source version of the WordPress CMS.

    wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

    Backed by The WordPress Foundation, WordPress.org is free to install and use in whatever way you see fit. Obviously, there are some catches to that, but if you want to use WordPress in its most open and available way possible, head to WordPress.org and download it.

    You may also see the .org version of WordPress referred to as “self-hosted WordPress,” meaning that the software itself is free, but as previously mentioned, you must have a web host (such as SiteGround or Flywheel) to install it on. (Technically, you can run WP on your local machine, too, but that’s generally done for development and troubleshooting.)

    The Pros for WordPress.org Installations

    There are quite a few drawbacks to WordPress.com vs WordPress.org. The biggest and most prominent benefit of using .org installations of WordPress come with the total freedom to do what you want. Outside of your hosting provider, you are not bound by any terms of service, content limitations, or what kinds of development, themes, or plugins you can use on your site.

    You always own your content, too. You do not grant any services or platforms even the slightest consideration for what you write or put up. The absolute freedom of building and content production is the hallmark of WordPress and was one of the reasons it was created and released as open-source software.

    As we mentioned, you can use any theme, and any plugin, and do any kind of development that you want on your site. With WordPress.com (which we will get to below), you are limited to using approved plugins and themes, meaning that the freedom to have exactly the site that you want is impossible. You can get the exact site you want with .com, but you have to pay for the ability piecemeal. That isn’t the case with .org installations.

    Additionally, you can run any ads you want on your site, use any sort of monetization you want, paywall anything you desire, and sell any kind of products in your WooCommerce store. Only the terms of use for the ad networks and services you choose to use will limit what you can and can’t do.

    The Cons for WordPress.org Installations

    As with anything, there are downsides to WordPress.org installations, too. The most prominent of which is that same freedom that is its primary draw. By being fully in control of your site, you are also fully in control of maintenance, purchase of themes and plugins, additional development, and any hosting issues that might come up.

    Additionally, you have to sort through web hosts, making sure that the one you choose offers everything you need. (For instance, Pressable is a fantastic host for WordPress, but they don’t offer email service.)

    PROS CONS
    FREE to use Must maintain on your own
    Self-hosted Premium themes and plugins cost extra $$$
    Freedom to choose plugins, themes, and hosting provider Sift through choices of hosting provider
    Owning your content May have to pay for domain
    Paywall content
    Host ads, sell unlimited products

    Who is WordPress.org For?

    WordPress.org is for anyone who wants a website. Really. If you want a website of any sort, WordPress.org can create it for you. With full freedom and ownership of your site, design, and content, there is no reason not to give it a shot. With having responsibility for your site one of the only real drawbacks to using WordPress.org, it is a fantastic option for anyone who wants a website.

    What is WordPress.com?

    wordpress.com vs wordpress.org

    To start with, WordPress.org vs WordPress.com is comparing software to a service/platform. WordPress.com is a free website service, not a free website software like .org. You don’t have to download anything or install it. You sign up for an account and create a site that is hosted by WordPress.com vs WordPress.org, where self-hosting is required. To do so is free. You will be given a choice of templates and suggested plugins and a yoursite.wordpress.com URL.

    Essentially, everything is handled for you from the moment you sign up. Which, like .org‘s freedom, is .com‘s primary benefit and detriment.

    The Pros of a WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Website

    If you’re looking for a free, no-frills, no-hassle website, WordPress.com vs WordPress.org can give you that. From the moment you sign up, you’re walked through the process of setting up the site. Pick a name and URL and theme. Then you’re free to start publishing content immediately.

    You don’t have to find a host because WordPress.com is your host. They give you a decent, albeit limited, amount of space per site (3 GB) before requiring you to pay for a plan. If you are looking for a 100% free site where you can get started from nothing in essentially moments, you can do that here. No hosting costs, and no domain registration, just sign up and go.

    They also handle backups and maintenance and upgrades for you. Meaning that you won’t have to worry about your site getting security holes in it from not having X, Y, or Z plugin at its newest version.

    The hosting is the same that powers Pressable, and it’s top-notch. You won’t have to worry about your site’s stability when using WordPress.com.

    The Cons of a WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Website

    The limitations that come with a WordPress.com vs WordPress.org site tend to be the main things that drive people away from the platform. Because .com is a platform and not just software, the company that runs it (Automattic) is out to make a profit. So like any free service on the internet, you only get the most basic elements for free.

    If you want a custom URL (mysite.com instead of mysite.wordpress.com), you have to pay extra. To use any theme you want (from their approved list), you have to pay extra. Same for plugins. Want a run an e-commerce site? Yup, upgrade your plan. Do you see the pattern here?

    WordPress.com also shows ads on your site and doesn’t pay you for them. At least, if you’re a free member. The saying “if you’re not paying for a product, you are the product” holds very true here. Automattic definitely profits off your use of their service, whether you pay or not. (And in this case, at the expense of your users’ experiences.)

    You cannot use external services such as Google Analytics or Google AdSense, but you can apply for their proprietary ad system and use Jetpack stats. Unless, of course, you upgrade to a higher plan.

    And finally, you are bound by the WordPress.com EULA and ToS. Which means that they have the right to do with your site what they want. While you own the content there, they may choose to use it in advertising. And if they decide your content violates their terms, they can take your site offline without your consent (or knowledge, sometimes).

    Who is WordPress.com For?

    In its free version, WordPress.com websites are for people who want a no-frills publishing experience that doesn’t require any upkeep. Using the .com version of WordPress means that you can get your work out to the world with zero upfront cost and very little effort and almost no maintenance.

    If you need a temporary site or a demo or just a place to blog as a diary/journal, .com can certainly be what you want.

    Also, WordPress.com is an option for people who run high-revenue businesses and high-traffic sites who also want a hassle-free experience. The WordPress.com VIP packages (starting at $2,000 per month) are about as hands-off as any website can get that’s WordPress-based, but it’s priced out of nearly everyone’s reach. The VIP portion of WordPress.com is targeting Fortune 500-level companies, not every other person who needs a free website for a bit.

    PROS CONS
    FREE to use Only basic elements are free
    Easy set up Certain plugins are prohibited
    Hosting is provided Ads are shown that you don’t get paid for
    Free domain Custom domain costs extra
    JetPack provided No Google Analytics integration
    Security is provided You don’t own your content

    WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Alternatives

    If you are interested in checking out alternatives to WordPress.com or WordPress.org, check out our comparison of WordPress vs HighLevel, WordPress vs Wix, and WordPress vs Weebly. They are all somewhat similar to WordPress and can give you insiintot on comparable platforms for your consideration.

    The Verdict: WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

    Overall, our verdict is that WordPress.org is by far the superior product. While you do have a little more to handle on your end as a site owner and user, the freedom you get (for free) is just too much of an incentive. Not being upsold to use whatever plugins or themes you want (even if you’ve purchased them) alone is worth using .org.

    WordPress.com WordPress.org
    Pricing Free – $45 per month Free + hosting fee
    Domain Free $10 – $15 per year
    Monetization allowed Selling products, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts and ads visible on site Unlimited
    Allows plugins With business or eCommerce plans Yes
    Own your own content No Yes
    Google Analytics With premium plan and above Yes
    Backup and storage Yes With plugin
    eCommerce Must purchase premium plan With plugin
    WordPress.com WordPress.org

    WordPress.com is an absolutely solid platform. If you decide to host your website through their service, it will be stable, easy to use, and it will have very little trouble. But if you want anything else, it will cost you. If you have the budget for it and don’t want the responsibility, consider a .com site. However, even though you have to pay separately for .org hosting, the cost is generally lower and you can run more sites than just one on that hosting service.

    In the end, whether you go with WordPress.com vs WordPress.org, you still get to use WordPress. And that’s a win, no matter which side you’re on.

    What are your thoughts on WordPress.com vs WordPress.org? Let us know in the comments!

    The post WordPress.com vs WordPress.org (2023) — Which One to Pick? appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress vs Tumblr (2023) — Which One is The Best?

    On the surface, the blogging platform landscape looks the same as it did 10 years ago. The same big names still dominate it: Blogger, Tumblr, and WordPress. Beneath the surface, however, almost everything has changed. All three platforms have grown up and transformed into something unique.

    WordPress has outgrown its blogging roots and has become the dominant content management system and website-building software on the web. It’s largely considered the platform for “serious” bloggers and website owners. Blogger (a free Google add-on service) has remained focused strictly on facilitating the act of blogging. It continues to target a general audience who wants a free and extremely easy way to publish blog posts. One that requires the bare minimum of technical know-how. As a result, it remains popular with that audience. Tumblr, on the other hand, has had a more interesting journey.

    Tumblr’s Content and Monetization Woes

    When it launched in 2007, Tumblr was more than a blogging platform. It was a blogging platform designed for a specific type of blogging called tumblelogging or microblogging. Much like Twitter with “tweets”, the unique formatting of Tumblr posts and feeds is essential to the experience.  Tumblr was both hosted and free, which meant monetization was tied to how people behaved once on the platform. This is instead of charging users for access to it or features/content on it.

    Naturally, advertising was meant to make all this possible. And at first, it did. Unfortunately, liability around adult content forced a tug-of-war between advertisers, Tumblr, and Tumblr users that would nearly destroy the platform.

    The content policy demand made it impossible for some of Tumblr’s most active users to keep content on the platform. This triggered a mass exit of users. Tumblr’s value plummeted, and it changed hands from Yahoo!, which had purchased it in 2013, to Verizon Communications in 2017, when they acquired Yahoo! After a few lackluster years as part of Verizon, Tumblr was sold again in 2019. This time to none other than Automattic, the company behind their direct competitor, WordPress.com.

    The Repercussions of Tumblr’s Acquisition by Automattic

    In a very real sense, the acquisition of Tumblr by Automattic meant the end of Tumblr as an active competitor in the blogging arena. However, it also seems to have meant the salvation of a type of blogging experience that only Tumblr provides. Up to a point at least.

    Right now, there is no plan to roll back the “no adult content” policy originally implemented under Yahoo!. However, there are other changes ahead that may cure the platform’s monetization woes and allow it to become more valuable for its remaining users.

    The long-term plan for Tumblr seems to be for Automattic to convert the backend of Tumblr to WordPress while maintaining the unique user experience Tumblr has already established. While this may seem like a change designed to make things easier on the parent company, what this actually means is that all of the ways WordPress.com has been able to monetize over the years will be available to the Tumblr platform. It is unlikely to result in Tumblr becoming a market share competitor of WordPress in terms of blogs or websites, but it will make the long-term viability of tumblelogging a reality for users and content consumers who prefer that experience.

    WordPress vs. Tumblr: as Blogging Platforms

    In this article, we’ll be comparing WordPress and Tumblr in a slightly different light than we might normally compare competing companies. Since they’re both owned by Automattic, they’re no longer competitors but rather complimentary products that offer different user experiences. We’ll do our best to highlight those differences so you can choose the best platform for your blog.

    WordPress vs. Tumblr: Ease of Use

    When looking for blogging software that you will be using regularly, making sure that you like (or at least don’t mind) how it feels is pretty important. Both Tumblr and WordPress have drastically different user experiences (UX), but outside of their individual quirks and unique features, neither platform has a terribly high learning curve.

    WordPress

    Learning WordPress can be intimidating. While the world’s #1 CMS is decently user-friendly, the learning curve is somewhere in the middle. The user interface (UI) is functional but not always intuitive. And the number of features at your disposal from the beginning can be overwhelming (especially with onboarding messaging being pretty sparse).

    However, after some trial, error, and various Google searches, you will be flying through the WordPress admin dashboard like a pro.

    The post editor for WordPress has changed over the years, but the most recent version is the Gutenberg Block Editor. It gives you full control of your content, with each element being its own block that you can manipulate individually.

    wordpress vs tumblr

    You can also adjust the Post Format in the right sidebar, which will alter the composition and design of your post to adequately match whether it is primarily an audio post, video, gallery, and so on.

    wordpress vs tumblr post format

    Keep in mind, however, that because of the ultra-customizable nature of WordPress, these post formats will differ based on the theme you have chosen. Some themes may use the video in place of the featured image or use a pre-styled audio player. Some themes may not even make use of this feature, meaning every post uses the same template regardless.

    All of this to say, once you learn how to use WordPress to create the content that you want and find the right theme for your style of content, the creation is a breeze. You get tons of control, and as many options as your theme and plugin setup allow for. But it comes at the price of a slightly cumbersome dashboard that takes a bit of time to get used to.

    Tumblr

    Tumblr, on the other hand, is the epitome of intuitive. From the moment you log into your dashboard, the options for publishing are all right there. While the editor and platform may be a bit less powerful overall than WordPress, the ease of use and learning curve are certainly better.

    wordpress vs tumblr dashboard

    Because Tumblr is as much a social network as it is blogging software, the top nav bar contains notifications and messaging links. As well as a New Post button. And just below that, a series of icons gives you immediate access to each kind of post that you can make. It doesn’t get a lot easier than that, really.

    For a head-to-head comparison, the text-post editor in Tumblr is much simpler than the one in WordPress. It can’t do quite everything the WP editor can, though.

    tumblr post editor

    That said, you can do a lot with a simple Tumblr post. In the image below, you can see each paragraph is separate, images are put in-line, and then each new line break has the full media insertion list of icons, where you can also include audio, video, links, etc. in the post.

    wordpress vs tumblr editor

    This is the traditional blog post creation. Notice at the bottom where it says #add tags. This is where you would choose the tags that allow the post to show up in other people’s feeds. Maybe the steepest learning curve on Tumblr is figuring out the right tags to meet the right people. And how to reblog and become a part of the community. But the actual act of doing so is easy to do.

    WordPress Tumblr
    Ease of Use WordPress can take some time to learn, plus the seemingly endless features might be overwhelming at first. 🥇 Winner
    Tumblr is ultra intuitive, anyone with experience with social media will be able to pick it up instantly.
    Choose WordPress Choose Tumblr

    WordPress vs. Tumblr: Customization

    WordPress has made its name by being customizable. Tumblr, on the other hand, doesn’t really come to mind when you think of custom websites. And for good reason, the customization options on WordPress vs. Tumblr are night-and-day different. However limited they are, Tumblr gives you many more options as, say, Medium. To be fair to the platform, however, very few services offer as much customization and control over your site as WordPress.

    WordPress

    There really isn’t any doubt that WordPress is the victor in a head-to-head comparison of customization options. Between the WordPress.org theme and plugin repositories, the open-source code itself, and the thriving third-party extension industry, if you want something on your WordPress site, you can get it.

    Or maybe, more importantly, you can do it. Users can implement any changes they want on their site. You can dig into the code and alter anything you want (given you have the experience and skill to do so). You can choose what theme you use and how it works. Any feature can be added through plugins, of which you have thousands of choices.

    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.

    Depending on the theme you use, however, the ease of customization differs. The default way to adjust themes is in what’s called the Theme Customizer. The options contained there differ from theme to theme, but in general, you get basic color and typography settings, as well as a space for custom CSS.

    wordpress theme customizer

    Themes such as Divi and other popular page builders give even more granular control over customizations. Rather than digging into PHP files to create templates or write them in HTML, visual builders give real-time adjustments and settings and feature drag-and-drop placement of elements.

    divi theme builder

    Divi and some other builders also give you the option to fully customize each and every aspect of your site, even allowing for individual templates for specific categories, post types, search results, and anything else. All of this is built into the WordPress core. But you need requires JavaScript and PHP knowledge to take advantage of that.

    But because of the healthy development industry around WordPress, customizing your site can be limitless. You just have to find the theme and plugin combination that suits you the best.

    Tumblr

    Tumblr, on the other hand, is a far more limited platform for customization. And that’s okay. As a platform, Tumblr isn’t designed for customization. Nor would having major site customization increase usability. Unsurprisingly, you can find an Edit Appearance entry on the main menu, and it looks not dissimilar to the WordPress theme customizer.

    tumblr customization options

    You can change header images, show avatars, update the title and description, and add/remove features such as endless scrolling, visible navigation, sliding header, and so on. You can also add a new page to the site from here, which can be useful if you need an About Me page or something similar. Your primary URL is going to be a feed of your posts, but Tumblr blogs do have nav menus built in.

    If you want a different look, you can always head to the Tumblr theme repository, which is very useful. It isn’t nearly as robust as the WordPress one, but again, it’s not meant to be. If, however, you want your Tumblr blog to appear more traditionally (such as with a feed and sidebar, and author bio), these themes are the best way to do it.

    Finally, you can also adjust how the user dashboard appears, too. In the dropdown for your account settings in the header bar, a Change Palette link will cycle between 12 different color schemes for your dashboard.

    color palette changes

    From a Matrix-style green-black computer theme called “Cybernetic” to the pictured “Goth Rave”, you’ll be able to find some combination that works for you.

    WordPress Tumblr
    Customization 🥇 Winner
    WordPress is the clear winner in customization due its vast library of plugins and themes.    		 You can make some minor customization changes easily, but Tumblr just doesn’t compare to WordPress.
    Choose WordPress Choose Tumblr

    WordPress vs. Tumblr: Social

    We would be remiss if we didn’t touch on the social aspect of these platforms. Whether it’s integration with social media and community building or maintaining a close network of contacts and readers, both WordPress and Tumblr have big social aspects. They’re just very, very different.

    WordPress

    As we mentioned in the above section on Customization, you can find a plugin or theme that integrates any feature you can think of. In terms of social experiences, some of the standouts in the WordPress ecosystem are membership sites and forums using plugins such as MemberPress, bbPress, or BuddyPress. You can even build community by gamifying your content and bringing people together through bite-sized dopamine hits.

    You can also use the Jetpack plugin to tie into WordPress.com accounts which will allow users to Follow and Like your blog posts. Though, to be honest, this is a very underutilized feature by most people. It’s a pale competitor to the blogging/reblogging system on Tumblr. But the “Following” option is great for those who want a built-in contact/email list.

    wordpress follows

    Additionally, the block editor will use any connection you’ve made to social networks and automate sharing whenever you make a new post.

    wordpress social

    By default, you can make this a final check to customize before scheduling or publishing. And none of this includes the typical WordPress comment system, where people can simply leave messages on your content. And even that can be customized with other, more social systems such as Disqus.

    Tumblr

    Within a short time of your beginning to use Tumblr, you will definitely see the social aspects baked into the platform. As we’ve said, Tumblr is as much a social network as it is a blogging platform. On each and every post, four icons appear.

    tumblr icons

    They’re relatively universal in what they do, making using Tumblr’s social tools very easy.

    • Message
    • Comment
    • Reblog
    • Like

    On top of that ease, each post within a feed or on a page has this same collection of icons to make sharing and reblogging incredibly easy.

    tumblr icons in the feed

    Reblogging is simply putting someone else’s content on your page, sometimes with a comment and sometimes not. It’s the precursor to Twitter’s Retweeting and Quote Tweeting. When reblogging content, it’s important to note that your content, as well as the original content, will show up in any tag feeds included. So you can add your own, which will increase the viral spread of the content.

    social network sharing

    If you just want to share your content or anyone else’s, the Message arrow also includes the most popular social networks. All of this combine to make Tumblr an incredibly social platform that’s built on the premise of sharing content freely among a community. You can absolutely do a traditional blog using Tumblr, but if you do, keep in mind that the social aspect is still important. Your audience will come primarily from the community of other Tumblr users.

    WordPress Tumblr
    Social WordPress can be made into an effective social media platform with a few plugins or setting changes. 🥇 Winner
    Tumblr is designed to be a social platform as much as a blogging platform.
    Choose WordPress Choose Tumblr

    Wrapping Up WordPress vs. Tumblr

    WordPress and Tumblr are two very different products in the end. WordPress is an amazing content management system and blogging platform. It is best used by those who want complete control over their sites. Tumblr works more like a traditional social platform but can’t function as a CMS. Both are suited for long-form content as well as short.

    WordPress Tumblr
    Ease of Use WordPress can take some time to learn, plus the seemingly endless features might be overwhelming at first. 🥇 Winner
    Tumblr is ultra intuitive, anyone with experience with social media will be able to pick it up instantly.
    Customization 🥇 Winner
    WordPress is the clear winner in customization due its vast library of plugins and themes.    		 You can make some minor customization changes easily, but Tumblr just doesn’t compare to WordPress.
    Social WordPress can be made into an effective social media platform with a few plugins or setting changes. 🥇 Winner
    Tumblr is designed to be a social platform as much as a blogging platform.
    Choose WordPress Choose Tumblr

    However, in the end, the choice between the two platforms comes down to audience and intent. If you’re about social sharing and being part of a community, Tumblr is the way to go. If you’re more traditional in use and need e-commerce or massive search traffic, it’s WordPress.

    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, for instance, compare WordPress vs. Google Sites, and I think you will be interested to see the results.

    If you’re looking for a way to integrate social media with WordPress, we recommend spotlight or 10Web to help you get started.

    What do you think about WordPress vs. Tumblr? What have been your experiences?

    The post WordPress vs Tumblr (2023) — Which One is The Best? appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress vs Joomla (2023) — Which is Better?

    WordPress isn’t the only modular content management system (CMS) that has an established base and active community. Joomla is also a free-to-install, open-source platform that thrives on its third-party support. Many developers work to extend their capabilities beyond what comes built into the base software. When taking a look at WordPress vs. Joomla, you will see several functionality differences, as well as user experience and technical requirement differences.

    In this post, we’ll compare WordPress to Joomla, so you can decide which one will work best for you!

    WordPress vs. Joomla: Who Are They For?

    WordPress does its very best to be the jack-of-all-trades CMS. What we mean is that anyone who needs a website can build it with WordPress. And generally, with minimal experience. It might not be the most advanced website out there, but the tools are easily accessible and understandable by anyone through various third-party plugins and themes.

    Users will find a mild learning curve with WordPress, but it doesn’t take long to get beyond that. You will quickly find yourself using posts, pages, themes, plugins, and widgets like a pro. Users who have never had a website before can feel relatively confident in having a nice-enough WordPress site built without too much trouble.

    Joomla, too, is a be-everything-to-everyone CMS. Its development history is much different than that of WordPress, especially in that it was created to be a full-site CMS from the beginning. WordPress began as blogging software, so features and updates are still built on that foundation. Both are built on PHP, but Joomla users (especially developers) have a much more traditional foundation in that Joomla can be used out of the box with straight HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP without having to learn the “WordPress way” of doing things.

    That said, Joomla does feel like a CMS that beginners would have a good time using. The backend interface is clunky, and the terminology and messaging for new users (inside Joomla itself) are barebones. Installing modules and getting things in working order is far more technical than WordPress. For those with tech and website experience, though, there’s a lot of freedom to be had in Joomla.

    WordPress vs. Joomla: Ease-of-Use

    While WordPress has a moderate learning curve for new users, the core of the experience is based on blogging. This means that nearly every feature can be boiled down to creating a post or page in some manner. Themes and plugins simply expand on that functionality. Joomla has always been a CMS meant for site developers, meaning that new (non-technical) users would have a greater learning curve. For those with a background in traditional computer science and web development, Joomla may even have a smoother learning curve than WordPress.

    WordPress

    WordPress is easy to use. The admin dashboard is straightforward in most ways, highlighting the main areas of focus (Pages, Posts, Media, and so on) in the left-hand sidebar.

    wordpress vs joomla

    You do have to learn where certain elements are, such as various settings, tools, and menu editing. But in general, once you learn where those are and how to access them, the interface is relatively intuitive.

    One of the more difficult aspects of using WordPress is making sure that you have the right suite of plugins to complement your theme. There are thousands of free themes and plugins in the WordPress.org repositories and even more premium options, such as Divi, available from third-party developers.

    Making the right choices—and even knowing which choices are necessary—can take a little figuring out. If you’re just getting a feel for WordPress, you might not know what features your site needs and which plugins and themes can provide those. All of that becomes much clearer and simpler once you’ve spent just a little time using the platform and doing some outside research.

    For typical users, most WordPress features can be carried out with just a few clicks. Since the base of the platform is based around posts and pages, the basic workflow becomes familiar very quickly, with only a few variations depending on the task.

    Joomla

    We’d like to say that Joomla has the kind of quick-to-learn workflow that WordPress offers. But that’s just not the case. At least for many users. If you’re an average web user who is looking to set up a new website, Joomla might not make a whole lot of sense at first. (And for a good while after that.) If you’ve built and/or coded websites before, Joomla shouldn’t be that hard to pick up.

    The backend, though, is not intuitively put together. Joomla’s admin panel does have a quick-menu sidebar to the left, like WordPress. But most of the features and utilities live on the top menu, and you access those via dropdown.

    joomla admin

    Additionally, on installation, you will be asked if you would like to import blog sample data. We recommend that you do. That’s where you will find most of the new-user orientation material set up as content on your new site.

    joomla content

    Having any new-user content being an optional import as sample data is just weird. It is not an intuitive way to introduce someone to the Joomla platform. At all. However, the Joomla community has some fantastic training content with which you can learn Joomla.

    With the time we’ve spent learning and exploring Joomla, it never really became smooth and second nature to perform any tasks. The menus in Joomla do make sense (unlike WordPress), but navigating through them is frustrating. You can’t click a new menu item until you’ve closed the current one.

    All-in-all, Joomla’s not that easy to use. It is developer-friendly, for sure, but not end-user friendly at all.

    Ease-of-Use Comparison

    WordPress
    Ease-of-Use 🏳 Draw

    WordPress is relatively easy to use and most users will be acclimated within just a few minutes. However, the advanced features will take much longer to master.

    		 🏳 Draw

    Joomla’s primary focus is on more advanced technical user, so it has a larger learning curve.

    Choose WordPress Choose Joomla

    WordPress vs. Joomla: Customization

    WordPress thrives on customization. Extensibility via plugins and themes allows for unlimited choices in terms of design and feature sets. Even a user with no technical experience can start a WordPress website and have it look more or less professional without a lot of hassle. Joomla, too, is built around customization. But not for the end-user. If you’re a content creator or site owner without a great deal of technical expertise or design experience, Joomla’s customization options may be both confusing and near-impossible to decode.

    WordPress

    Through plugins and themes, WordPress can be whatever you need it to be. You can add e-commerce features with a few clicks. You can install a new page-builder tool for more advanced options over the Gutenberg editor. And each theme you install comes with its own unique set of customization options. Most of the time, these are consolidated into the built-in Theme Customizer.

    wordpress customize

    Users with more advanced skills can add CSS through this page, or they can delve into the core WordPress files and edit the PHP directly. The file structure is designed so that any customizations are held separately in a child theme so that the base you’re customizing is always there to go back to.

    In that way (and many others), WordPress encourages poking and prodding and seeing what is the best fit for your site. Try on different themes, widgets, and plugins to add features and design to see what works and what doesn’t. Resetting things back to as they were only taking a few clicks, regardless.

    Joomla

    Joomla is also an incredibly customizable platform. It, too, has hundreds of templates and themes, and extensions to install to customize your site. You can download them from the official Joomla repo that is directly accessible from the dashboard. Both design and functionality add-ons can be found in the same place, separated by category.

    joomla customization

    Installing them doesn’t take more than a few clicks. You can then navigate back to the admin dashboard to enable and adjust their settings.

    And while you do have every bit as much freedom as you do in WordPress, the Joomla options and customizations are generally less user-friendly and more complicated to get right. Placing them on the site often has you choosing a “position” number that has no human-readable name. With that and because of how the content on the site is displayed, it takes some real time to get things displayed where you want. Not to mention actually testing and implementing features and utilities.

    Joomla has a ton of power under the hood, and you can customize it however you want. But you will definitely work for it using Joomla vs. WordPress.

    Customization Comparison

    WordPress
    Customization 🥇 Winner
    You can’t really compare to WordPress when it comes to customization. It’s what they’ve built their platform on and it requires little technical knowledge to integrate.    		 Joomla has a lot going for it in terms of customizability. But, it takes more technical experience to fully take advantage of the options available.
    Choose WordPress Choose Joomla

    WordPress vs. Joomla: Publishing

    The internet is about content. And your website is about displaying your content. So we have to touch on what your experience will be in terms of content creation and publishing using WordPress vs. Joomla.

    WordPress is a blogging platform at heart. It’s built to win this head-to-head from the beginning. It’s simple and intuitive. Anyone can publish to their site’s feed without hassle or add a static page just as easily. Joomla, on the other hand, isn’t made solely for publishing regular content. And it shows. Every page, post, and note on your Joomla site is contained under the header of Articles. This kind of obfuscates the publishing process enough that it’s just not a pleasant experience.

    WordPress

    WordPress 5.0 introduced the block editor. Replacing the classic WYSIWYG editor, content creators can now control options and settings for every paragraph (even sentence if they so choose), image, gallery, or embed on the site. While the block editor is not everyone in the WordPress community’s favorite new feature, the interface is slick, simple, and new and old users tend to like using it to create content. Both in terms of blog posts and static pages.

    wordpress editor

    With various post types delineated in function and separated within the interface, it’s easy to understand what you’re creating and how to use it. Posts are for regular content. Pages are for static content that won’t enter the feed. You can use Custom Post Types to add features like Products to plugins like WooCommerce.

    The entire process is simple and understandable within WordPress itself. The Add New button under Posts brings you to the editor, in which the placeholder text explains what to do, and a big, blue Publish button sits up top. In that same window, you have the option to adjust that content’s permalink and meta information.

    Joomla

    In Joomla, creating content is technically as easy as it is in WordPress. The publishing editor Joomla uses is TinyMCE, which is the same editor that WordPress used until version 5.0. So anyone with familiarity there (or with other WYSIWYG editors) will feel right at home.

    Joomla editor

    Like WordPress, you can edit your permalink here (called an Alias in Joomla), tags for your article, whether the article shows up as featured on your site, and various other permissions and options such as access levels and meta-data display.

    One of the more confusing and confounding parts of the Joomla publishing process is that you press the same button (Add New Article) in the header menu to be taken to this same editor to create both regularly updated blog content (such as Posts in WordPress) and static pages (Pages in WP). The Category feature in Joomla is what keeps these separate.

    Depending on the modules and extensions your site has installed (which we mentioned in the Customization section above), the category you choose dictates where this content appears.  And they’re all created and managed from this single tool. This is incredibly powerful. And it’s actually pretty simple. But it’s a headache to use in practice, as setting up a site with the right categories to match all the content to match all the modules is not as simple as, for instance, WordPress taxonomies.

    For sites that aren’t publishing regular content (or using a different platform for that), Joomla’s publishing tools may be just what you need to keep things organized.

    Publishing Comparison

    WordPress
    Publishing 🥇 Winner
    WordPress is built for bloggers and content creators to publish their work quickly. Their interface is tried and true.     		Joomla’s main goal isn’t centered around writing, so it’s no wonder that their publishing work flow isn’t as well-rounded as WordPress. Still, once you get used to it, it’s not a bad solution.
    Choose WordPress Choose Joomla

    The Verdict

    In the end, we feel that WordPress vs. Joomla comes down to the tech experience of the end user and what kind of site they need. For new site owners with no website experience, WordPress is by far the winner of this head-to-head. It does everything, and the learning curve is much lower. Plus, the ecosystem and third-party support are phenomenal. Everyone, from new users to veteran developers, can dig into WordPress and find their niche.

    Final Comparison

    WordPress
    Ease-of-Use 🏳 Draw

    WordPress is relatively easy to use and most users will be acclimated within just a few minutes. However, the advanced features will take much longer to master.

    		 🏳 Draw

    Joomla’s primary focus is on more advanced technical user, so it has a larger learning curve.

    Customization 🥇 Winner
    You can’t really compare to WordPress when it comes to customization. It’s what they’ve built their platform on and it requires little technical knowledge to integrate.    		 Joomla has a lot going for it in terms of customizability. But, it takes more technical experience to fully take advantage of the options available.
    Publishing 🥇 Winner
    WordPress is built for bloggers and content creators to publish their work quickly. Their interface is tried and true.     		Joomla’s main goal isn’t centered around writing, so it’s no wonder that their publishing work flow isn’t as well-rounded as WordPress. Still, once you get used to it, it’s not a bad solution.
    Choose WordPress Choose Joomla

    Joomla, on the other hand, caters very heavily to the experienced developer. Nowhere near as user-friendly as WordPress, Joomla gives you complete control over the entirety of your site. And it does so in the standard way, not the “WordPress Way.” For someone coming out of a boot camp or computer science program, Joomla may be where you feel more comfortable because it is definitely a more utilitarian platform. For content creators who will be using it daily to push out news or blogs, Joomla isn’t the best. But for sites not using it to create new content and run by developers, Joomla has a lot to offer. If you can find out how to do it.

    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! One of the comparisons we’ve done is WordPress vs. Drupal, 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. Joomla?

    The post WordPress vs Joomla (2023) — Which is Better? appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress vs Blogger (2023) — What Are The Key Differences?

    Blogging isn’t what it used to be. When WordPress and Blogger both started out, most people saw blogging as an online journal of personal thoughts. MySpace blogs were the rage, and Google apps weren’t nearly as ubiquitous as they are now (or advanced). Fast forward a couple of decades, and blogs have gained legitimacy and become a major part of marketing for brands and individuals. With that in mind, we want to take a look at the current state of two leading blog platforms–WordPress vs. Blogger–to see which is the better option for you.

    WordPress vs. Blogger: Who Are They For?

    WordPress comes in two varieties: .com and .org. The .com version is a hosted SaaS (software as a service) platform with a popular free option, while .org is the open-source, self-hosted version where you handle and control things yourself. That choice is indicative of the freedom that WordPress offers; whatever kind of website you need or want, you can build it with WordPress. If you need a full e-commerce website to sell your products? Done. WooCommerce has you covered. Membership site? Yep. Personal blog? Of course. Want to monetize? No limits.

    On basically anything. WordPress has evolved into a fully developed CMS (content management system) that has options for any and all kinds of websites. WordPress does its best to be everything for everyone, even if that takes a bit of tweaking and customization.

    Blogger has far more akin to WordPress.com than .org, being a free service from Google that, like everything else from Google, Blogger is hosted and managed within your Google account. The first major difference that you will note with Blogger is that it’s not a full CMS. It is definitely blogging software (as per the name). You won’t be running a shop from Blogger or managing an online course or school. But for those looking to create content and get it out to their audience relatively seamlessly, Blogger works great.

    Writing Comparison

    Given that Blogger is primarily a blogging platform, we are going to focus on the features that most closely go head-to-head. WordPress vs. Blogger would be an unfair competition if we were comparing e-commerce and CMS features, but as blogging platforms for content creators, it’s a much more even playing field.

    Writing in WordPress

    WP got a new page and post editor in version 5.0. Called Gutenberg, the new block editor is a pseudo-page builder where each paragraph and element are individual blocks that can be placed, rearranged, and styled individually. This is a big departure from the previous editor, which was a traditional WYSIWYG (like Blogger is).

    wordpress block editor

    In terms of user experience, writing in the Gutenberg block editor is fast and smooth. You get options for each block as well as the overall post itself. Plus, you get access to individual blocks for different elements, such as videos, Spotify playlists, rows, and Twitter threads.

    If you’re not a designer, you can totally use Gutenberg to lay out your site and customize your theme. Though, if you want full site editing capabilities, you’re going to want to grab a page-builder theme or plugin like Divi.

    Overall, if you’re going to use WordPress as a blogging platform, the content creation experience has never been better.

    Writing in Blogger

    While Blogger’s user interface has evolved over the years, if you’ve ever used the platform before, it will still be familiar to you. Or if you’ve ever used Microsoft Word. Or Google Docs. The post editor for Blogger is a traditional WYSIWYG document.

    wordpress vs blogger editor

    You can create engaging content with no hassle using Blogger. If that’s what you’re looking for, this platform has you covered. In the right sidebar, you can adjust various options for the post. You can change the permalink and date, apply labels (Blogger’s form of Tags on WordPress), and allow/disallow comments.

    But other than that, you’re locked into what you see. There aren’t options for “featured images” or “excerpts/meta descriptions” because Blogger tends to pull the first image in the post to feature and the first part of the post as the excerpt (like the WordPress default, so that part is the same).

    wordpress vs blogger post appearance

    In general, writing posts in Blogger is painless and easy, and straightforward. You don’t get nearly the customization options that you do in WordPress these days. For pure blogging and content creation, though, it’s fast, intuitive,  and stable. You can’t ask for a lot more than that when writing.

    WordPress Blogger
    Writing 🏳️ Draw
    The WordPress block editor is intuitive and will let you get writing immediatly.    		 🏳️ Draw
    Blogger comes with a standard word editor that will be familiar to most users.
    Choose WordPress Choose Blogger

    Who’s the King of Customization?

    Anyone who has ever started a blog has probably switched themes and layouts half a dozen times. Finding just the right look for your site is important, and both of these platforms give you some level of customization options (unlike something like Medium).

    Customizing WordPress

    At the heart of WordPress is the idea that you have complete control over every aspect of your site. From features to design, if you want to customize it, you can. This is done with a robust theme and plugin system based on PHP, HTML, and CSS, where you can simply create anything you want to extend and customize WordPress.

    You don’t have to be a coder to take advantage of this, though. The WordPress.org theme and plugin repositories contain a plethora of free options for WordPress users.

    wordpress theme repository

    There is also a huge industry based entirely around premium WordPress themes like Divi, and plugins, so if you can’t find just the right thing on the repos, and you can’t code it yourself, there’s most likely a developer who has already created the theme or plugin themselves.

    The specific customizations depend entirely on your theme and plugin combination, but WordPress has a built-in Theme Customizer that developers can tie into so that you can poke and prod at not only the WordPress defaults but the theme features and designs as well. In addition, WordPress lets you use custom CSS (handily through the Theme Customizer itself) so that you won’t have to deal with custom.css files.

    theme customizer

    And none of that even touches on the site settings you can customize, from user roles, permalinks, comment structure, menus and navigation, taxonomies, and even custom post types to make organizing your content easier.

    Customizing Blogger

    Here’s the biggest hit to Blogger of them all. It’s barely customizable. Sure, it’s a lot more customizable than a site like Substack or Medium, but that’s not saying a lot. Blogger is a no-frills blogging platform, but you can still do a little to make your corner of the internet a little cozier.

    wordpress vs blogger themes

    Blogger also has a theme repository, but it isn’t nearly as robust as WP’s. In general, you will find a few designs (such as the one called Contempo in the image above) and then palette variations of it. While there are choices, those choices are limited to only 12 different themes at the time of this writing (though the color variants increase that number significantly).

    When the theme is installed, you can also customize how it will look by adding menus, gadgets (Blogger’s version of what WordPress calls widgets), and adjusting colors, fonts, and content spacing. But that’s really it.

    You do have the option of adding custom CSS in the Blogger theme customizer. And, if you choose, you can always write up a theme in HTML or adjust the HTML of the one you install from the provided list.

    You can make some very aesthetically pleasing blogs using this platform, for sure. But there’s not nearly the support for customization as in WordPress, and writing a theme in HTML isn’t something most people can or will do (but that’s still easier than writing a WordPress theme in PHP, so there’s that).

    Blogger also has a layout editor, which works similarly to a WP page-builder plugin, but it is pretty limited.

    wordpress vs blogger

    You can drag elements from your theme around to new places, choose ad locations, and adjust other basic options. But you can’t actually design the page.

    WordPress Blogger
    Customization 🥇 Winner
    WordPress gives you complete control of all aspects of your site.    		 Blogger is barely customizable, you can adjust the layout of your blog, but not much else.
    Choose WordPress Choose Blogger

    Which Platform Has Superior Integrations?

    A blog isn’t an island. The internet is a connected ecosystem of APIs and services talking back and forth, and your blog is going to be part of that. Considering that, we’re going to take a look at how WordPress vs. Blogger handles connecting to external services such as CRMs, advertising networks, and analytics tools.

    WordPress Integrations

    Because of the customization possible in WordPress, connecting to external services is a breeze. The platform is designed from the ground up to be used this way. You can search the repository and find hundreds of plugins that help you connect things like HubSpot to your site, MailChimp to WooCommerce, WordPress posts to Zapier, podcast players to your RSS feed, ad networks to the right places in your pages, and so on.

    Additionally, themes often have their own places to insert code so that you don’t have to dig into PHP files. Divi, for instance, has an Integration tab in its theme options where you can add any header, footer, or body code that you may have. Such as Facebook pixels, AdSense code, Pinterest buttons, site verification scripts, and whatever else.

    wordpress vs blogger integrations

    Because WordPress is an open-source project that is designed for freedom, you won’t be limited in what apps and integrations you can use. The integrations themselves might charge a fee or not support WordPress, but as a platform, WP is neutral. You can choose to use a plugin for Amazon affiliate links, set up a WooCommerce membership site, use Taboola ads, and plaster your site with Patreon and use plugins for donations and pledges. Whatever you want to associate with your site is your choice. And there’s probably already a way to make it happen.

    Blogger Integrations

    Blogger is the exact opposite of WordPress in this regard. But don’t let us scare you away by saying that. Blogger is a Google product, so by policy and tradition, you’re going to be locked into the Google ecosystem. That’s just the way it is. As we said above, Blogger sites are tied to a Google account.

    google analytics on blogger

    Similarly, analytics and site stats are integrated with (and limited to) Google Analytics. More than likely, you’ll be using GA anyway, so this isn’t a huge deal. Same for Google AdSense. If you want to run ads on your site, Blogger requires that you use AdSense because it’s a Google product. Same for comments. No Disqus for you. You’re using Blogger comments that can be tied to Google accounts.

    Again, none of this is a bad thing. These pieces of software are excellent and the leaders in what they do for a reason. Well, reasons. One is that they work well, and the other is that they’re owned by Google, and we can’t escape them. The lack of external integrations is only a bad thing if you need those to set up something outside of the straight “blogging” parameters set by Blogger.

    If you want full choice for your site, Blogger is definitely not the way to go. However, if you want easy integrations with apps you’re probably going to be using anyway, it’s great.

    WordPress Blogger
    External Integrations 🥇 Winner
    WordPress lets you connect to external services with ease.    		 Blogger has you locked into the Google suite of products.
    Choose WordPress Choose Blogger

    WordPress and Blogger Alternatives

    Still not convinced that one of these platforms is right for you? No worries. We have other comparison posts for you to peruse. Check out WordPress vs Medium or WordPress vs Ghost. If you’re looking for a wider comparison, check out WordPress vs Everything Else to really take a look at all of your options.

    WordPress vs Blogger: The Final Verdict

    It’s hard to compare WordPress vs. Blogger these days because the platforms have evolved to be two very different pieces of software for different people. WordPress is a general CMS now, while Blogger has stayed the course and remains a content creation platform.

    WordPress Blogger
    Writing 🏳️ Draw
    The WordPress block editor is intuitive and will let you get writing immediatly.    		 🏳️ Draw
    Blogger comes with a standard word editor that will be familiar to most users.
    Customization 🥇 Winner
    WordPress gives you complete control of all aspects of your site.    		 Blogger is barely customizable, you can adjust the layout of your blog, but not much else.
    External Integrations 🥇 Winner
    WordPress lets you connect to external services with ease.    		 Blogger has you locked into the Google suite of products.
    Choose WordPress Choose Blogger

    Blogger is an excellent option for those who want a quick-and-easy blog where they can write and post easily within an ecosystem they already know. Site setup is minimal, and there are almost zero barriers to entry. With services such as AdSense and Analytics built-in, you can have a fully operational blog in under 10 minutes. And from there, it just works. It doesn’t feel quite as polished as a publishing platform such as Ghost, but again, that’s offset by it just working.

    WordPress, on the other hand, is an excellent option for people who want more options. Customization is the WP’s claim to fame, and they have certainly earned it. Themes and plugins allow you to do anything you want with your site. From digging into the code itself or just within the dashboard options provided, you can tweak anything at all in WordPress. Under that same umbrella, there is nearly unlimited support in WordPress for external service integration.

    For blogging and writing, WordPress has the more modern experience with the Gutenberg editor, but Blogger’s WYSIWYG is fast and light, and easy to use. It’s a matter of preference, really, as to how you prefer writing your content.

    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! Most recently, we reviewed WordPress vs. Ghost, 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. Blogger?

    The post WordPress vs Blogger (2023) — What Are The Key Differences? appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.

  • WordPress vs Showit (2023) — Which One is Right For You?

    Confused about which website platform to learn and use for your personal and business projects? Both WordPress and Showit offer competitive features, but they are quite different from each other.

    WordPress is a popular CMS that holds up an impressive one-third of the internet. Showit, a drag-and-drop website builder, is a smaller player that has currently garnered over 40,000 customer websites in the last 13 years. Both are unique platforms that provide valuable solutions for website creators.

    Let’s compare how these platforms get a website up and running so you can see which one is right for you.

    WordPress vs. Showit Website Builder: Who are They For?

    WordPress has been and will be a website platform for all types of website owners. Showit is built to be easy to use for those new to website building or who prefer a purely visual, drag-and-drop editing environment from the moment they open an account.

    While the technology people prefer to use (think Mac vs. PC) is largely up to what works for each individual, it does seem like Showit is built for a particular type of customer. These customers tend to need less true customization built into their websites but want an unbridled page design process. And the fact that Showit has a large customer base that appreciates the product is proof enough that they deliver.

    It is worth acknowledging that Showit utilizes WordPress as its blogging platform. So even with Showit websites, if they have a blog, it is built on WordPress.

    With that said, Showit promotes itself to photographers and small businesses. WordPress users create sites ranging from personal blogs to e-commerce powerhouses.

    WordPress vs. Showit: Ease of Use

    Both website-building platforms try to make aspects of building a website dead simple. WordPress makes complex customization as simple as possible. Showit created a platform for users to build websites the way they would a scrapbook or collage. Both approaches solve interesting problems for website creators of all skill levels and experiences.

    WordPress’ Ease of Use

    WordPress requires a hosting environment of some kind to get started. This can be accomplished with a solution as easy as using WordPress.com or as custom and reliable as using WordPress’s first hosting companies. Once a host is picked, and WordPress installed, you may start creating your website.

    WordPress comes with default themes pre-installed and all the basic functions of a true website baked in. You can use the default theme and start off running, or you can search for a theme that gets you closer to an idea you have for your website.

    From there, you can easily change WordPress settings to make sure the website functions as you want it to. After going through basic settings like Permalink Structure, Static vs. Blog Homepage, and Blog Commenting, you can get started on creating your first pages.

    WordPress Block Theme Repository

    WordPress Editing Tools

    WordPress offers several options to users for creating amazing pages. Built-in is what is known as the Gutenberg Editor. This editor lets you build pages with WordPress Blocks. These work particularly well if you are using a block-based theme for your website.

    There is also the Classic WordPress editing experience that uses the WYSIWYG editor or something like the Divi theme, which is a visual page-building theme built for designers.

    Creating a blog on WordPress is easy since the tools to do so come standard. Simply add a new Post to create your first blog. Your settings will determine what page the blog feed shows up on. Taxonomy is easily customizable by creating categories and assigning posts to them (and tags).

    Showit’s Ease of Use

    Showit employs a visual builder that is about as simple as they come. The page builder reminds us of the Wix editor but is more simple and pared down. This is a welcome change, as even Wix sites are getting confusing to build for the “average website DIYer.”

    Learning the platform is meant to be as easy as possible since it was built for creatives who don’t have coding skills. After creating a Showit account (they offer a 14-day trial), selecting a template, and inputting basic website information, you can start editing your site. On paid plans, they let you publish your website on a custom domain. The hosting, SSL, and site publishing are all done through Showit’s platform with minimal work from you. Showit employs a great onboarding flow for new customers. Prompts to how-to articles guide new users every step of the way.

    Showit Live Chat Support

    Showit’s Built-In Tools

    They offer this support over social channels and Live Chat in the editor itself. Their support team is on the smaller side, and sometimes that means that your chat question can go unanswered for up to one business day.

    Showit has built-in tools for SEO, including:

    • SEO Page Title
    • SEO Meta Description
    • Share Image

    Showit does not have advanced tools for SEO like readability scores, keyword density, or native support for Schema markup. But, it does allow adding custom Javascript, CSS, and HTML to individual pages and site-wide. This lets you use tools like Google Analytics, Search Console, and Optimize if you wish.

    One downside to Showit’s ease of use is that they recommend only using Google’s Chrome browser for full compatibility. While this is a popular browser, it is limiting for those using Firefox, Safari, and others. You will have to use Chrome to use Showit.

    Showit Section Layers

    Assuming you are on Google Chrome, editing the entire website is simple. Pages are easy to jump-to to edit page-wide settings. Once on a particular page, you can edit section settings or click on individual elements to edit or move them on the page. Elements within a section present themselves like layers in photoshop for an easy view of the content within each section. Showit lets you see both desktop and mobile versions of your page at once. It also sports a dark mode that many people will appreciate.

    WordPress Weebly
    Ease of Use Figuring out the interface can be a challenge and will definitely take some getting used to. 🥇 Winner
    It’s incredibly simple, but requires you to use Google Chrome.
    Choose WordPress Choose Showit

    WordPress vs. Showit: Customization

    Customization is an important aspect of any website platform. Usually, the deciding factor is going to be the extent of the web builder’s functionality. WordPress offers a wide variety of complex customization, while Showit offers less complexity to free up the design process.

    WordPress Website Customization

    Customization is a huge upside for WordPress. Many people think that WordPress is only customizable via custom code. While WordPress does offer a lot if you know CSS, PHP, or Javascript—you don’t need to plumb the depths of front-end web coding to get the benefits of WordPress’ customization.

    WordPress' Plugin Repository

    With WordPress, the primary mode of customization is through finding the right combination of themes and plugins. This requires research and testing, but you usually come out with a unique and custom solution. WordPress has a repository of an unthinkable 59K+ free plugins. Even more premium themes/plugins offer advanced features and helpful customer support.

    Popular WordPress Plugins and their Uses:

    The wonderful thing about WordPress is that every aspect is customizable. Your desire, skill, and imagination are the only limits.

    Showit Website Customization

    Showit is a website builder that offers an easy drag-and-drop interface. Its visual builder helps beginners create their own websites without any coding knowledge. In the eyes of many Showit users, this visual builder equals customization.

    Showit customization

    Customization with Showit is different than with WordPress. It is a closed system which means only official feature releases extend Showit’s website capabilities. The only caveat to that is with the highest-tiered pricing plan. This allows for an attached WordPress installation to the Showit website. On this pricing tier only, Showit will allow WordPress to extend the functionality of the WordPress side of the website. These plugins do not affect the main pages of the Showit website.

    WordPress Weebly
    Customization 🥇 Winner
    Customization is where WordPress has no equals. It has tons of options regardless of technical experience.    		 Showit seeks to be a simple solution—and because of that, they don’t offer a ton of customization
    Choose WordPress Choose Showit

    WordPress vs. Showit: Themes and Templates

    WordPress and Showit both have a deep cache of theme and template options. How they handle those are different, but both platforms help website creators start strong.

    WordPress Themes and Templates

    WordPress has traditionally relied on themes to mandate the look of a website but also the functionality. Currently, WordPress offers thousands of free themes that should get any WordPress user started on the right foot.

    WordPress Theme Repository - Free Themes

    For those wanting a more custom approach and a visual building UI, Page Building themes/plugins like Divi bring hundreds of templates into an endlessly customizable drag-and-drop interface. This brings the customization of WordPress to any easy-to-use design workflow.

    Showit Templates

    Showit Templates are purely used for page design. They do not bring any other functionality to Showit’s feature set. Showit templates give website creators a head start in the design process.

    Free Themes for Showit Websites

    This is helpful for people as they already know they don’t need a ton of features (Showit’s primary users are photographers). Since templates don’t add more features that require more training, they can simply pick a theme and start editing it to suit their needs.

    Showit Premium Themes - Expensive

    There are several free templates to choose from. There is also a robust ecosystem of paid templates for sale. Something that would shock an average WordPress user is the price tag on many of these premium templates. The average template in their store is well over $500. WordPress commonly has themes from $49 to $200, with most on the lower end.

    WordPress Weebly
    Themes and Templates 🥇 Winner
    WordPress has thousands of themes and a ton of great free options.    		 Showit has themes that provide aesthetics but no new functionality, plus they don’t have nearly as many free themes.
    Choose WordPress Choose Showit

    WordPress vs. Showit: Publishing Tools

    The publishing tools comparison gets murky here. Showit uses WordPress for the blogging infrastructure, which means that everything is the same when it comes to blogging features.

    There are unique traits to each outside these couple of similarities.

    WordPress Publishing Tools

    WordPress allows you to build and publish web pages and blog posts and has the ability to create custom post types.

    WordPress' Block Editor

    The default interface for creating content is the Block Editor. You build pages through intuitive blocks (think text block, image block, etc.) that stack to make your page’s content.

    WordPress' Classic Editor

    The Classic Editor is an option for those who prefer the tried and true content input interface. It features a strong WYSIWYG editor that used to be the staple of WordPress sites in the past.

    Divi Frontend Visual Editor for WordPress

    Page builders (like Divi) allow you to visually build your pages using a robust, design-first interface. Page Builders let you design with front-end visuals, so you know what you are designing as you go.

    Publishing is simple with any of these options. Once your content is ready for the world, you can change the post status from Draft to Publish. This publishes the page to your site for your visitors to see. User rules can be created to restrict some users from publishing content without being reviewed first—giving powerful editing features to teams of writers and designers.

    Showit Publishing Tools

    Showit famously has its visual builder that lets you see what you are designing as you design. It still offers a preview button that removes all the editing options to give you a clear view of the page you’ve created thus far. Publishing all site changes is easy with the Publish button in the top right-hand corner. With any mistakes, there are undo/redo buttons on the bottom right to quickly revert changes.

    Showit Vidual Editor in 3 Parts

    Showit has two separate editing interfaces. One for pages in the Showit editor and one for blog elements using WordPress.

    Showit Blog and Single Post Template Editor

    All designing for either blogs or pages happens with the Showit visual editor. For designing blogs, Showit ties design elements (featured image, author, post content, categories, etc.) to dynamic content from the blog (for blog and single post pages). This lets you design the post template in Showit (using placeholder content) and pull in blog post content from WordPress. Creating individual posts on Showit + WordPress is exactly like creating them in WordPress proper. When the post is published on WordPress, Showit simply grabs the post content and publishes it according to the design template.

    Including blogs, pages in Showit have to be designed twice. Once for desktop and once for mobile devices. This may add a little extra design time to your plate. But Showit has a side-by-side editing interface that allows you to see both designs at once, which does speed it up.

    WordPress Weebly
    Publishing Tools 🥇 Winner
    WordPress was designed for blogging, and has all the tools needed for it.    		 Showit has two separate editing interfaces. The side-by-side interface can be helpful, but overall leads to a slower design period.
    Choose WordPress Choose Showit

    WordPress vs. Showit: Security

    Security is a very relevant topic when considering a website platform. Website security needs have increased dramatically every year, with no indication that it will slow down. Understanding your platform will help to cover the bases as far as security goes.

    WordPress Security

    Security with WordPress can be tricky. Many opportunities exist to create custom security solutions within WordPress. That is because multiple layers need protection.

    For form and comment submissions, you can set up honey-pot and CAPTCHA plugins that limit the number of bot and spam submissions. This protects site viewers and administrators alike, who might have to wade through fake submissions to find the real ones. This is a problem no matter your website platform.

    WordPress Website Security

    Image by eamesBot / shutterstock.com

    On the more technical side, there are simple security solutions that cover most insecurities. These come in the form of WordPress security plugins. These free versions are usually good enough to cover most bases. These same plugins also come with Premium features that offer more hardened protection.

    Hosting level security is also worth looking into—including free CDN to protect against DDoS attacks. Free CDN options are a must if your host offers one. CDNs also offer premium packages that protect more and increase the efficiency of your website.

    As always, proper passwords and zero-trust solutions will help keep a website secure. There is no substitute for a strong password and two-factor confirmation.

    Showit Security

    Showit manages site security for hosted websites. This takes out the stress of finding and implementing custom solutions. This also means that you rely on Showit for complete protection.

    Showit provides and automatically sets up an SSL certificate with your published website. Also, none of the source codes is editable. They also maintain backups of websites for easy retrieval if something does go wrong.

    They offer additional managed security with Showit websites that have an attached WordPress blog.

    Showit remains pretty secure because it is a simple website builder. Outside of web forms, there is not a whole lot of customization. The main appeal is the simple page builder interface which creates a fairly static website in terms of user interaction. This keeps risk factors down, which is a net positive for simple websites.

    Password hygiene is very important with Showit as well. If you use leaked passwords, no matter the security level of Showit, bad actors can get in and do a world of damage in very little time.

    WordPress Weebly
    Security WordPress has a ton of security plugins available, practicing proper security is a must. 🥇 Winner
    Showit manages site security so you don’t have to find your own solutions.
    Choose WordPress Choose Showit

    WordPress vs. Showit: E-commerce

    This section is a short comparison as Showit has no true, built-in eCommerce capabilities. Though, with their Showit + Advanced Blog package, they allow the use of WP plugins—including WooCommerce.

    E-commerce on WordPress

    WordPress Website Security

    WordPress’ eCommerce options are some of the most enticing features of the whole platform for many. WordPress boasts a diverse array of tools to enable creators, store owners, and service-based businesses to create ways to get paid online.

    WooCommerce is the total and expandable package for WordPress store owners. It boasts powerful plugins for marketing, merchandising, shipping, dropshipping, and custom checkout experiences.

    Other honorable mentions for WordPress e-commerce are Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress, and LearnDash—depending on the business model at hand.

    Showit E-commerce

    E-commerce on Showit requires a third-party solution. This means that store functionality takes place on a different domain/website or through an embeddable code snippet that adds external functionality directly on the Showit website.

    Showit allows for inline custom code. This means that you have the pick-of-the-crop for an external payment solution.

    Shoprocket Embeddable Store

    Potential embeddable third-party eCommerce solutions to explore:

    With their highest paid tier, WordPress can be expanded to include WooCommerce. We’re going to still consider that 3rd party and not a native function of Showit, but the lines are admittingly blurred with their unique approach. We’d recommend that you go for a full WordPress website if you were wanting to use WooCommerce for your website, as Showit would complicate the proper setup and configuration of your store.

    WordPress Weebly
    E-Commerce 🥇 Winner
    WooCommerce is a simple and cheap way to convert your WordPress site to an online store.     		Showit relies on expensive third-party solutions for e-commerce.
    Choose WordPress Choose Showit

    The Verdict

    Showit and WordPress are both powerful platforms that give their users the tools that they want. The tool sets are different but effective at what they were built to do.

    WordPress Weebly
    Ease of Use Figuring out the interface can be a challenge and will definitely take some getting used to. 🥇 Winner
    It’s incredibly simple, but requires you to use Google Chrome.
    Customization 🥇 Winner
    Customization is where WordPress has no equals. It has tons of options regardless of technical experience.    		 Showit seeks to be a simple solution—and because of that, they don’t offer a ton of customization
    Themes and Templates 🥇 Winner
    WordPress has thousands of themes and a ton of great free options.    		 Showit has themes that provide aesthetics but no new functionality, plus they don’t have nearly as many free themes.
    Publishing Tools 🥇 Winner
    WordPress was designed for blogging, and has all the tools needed for it.    		 Showit has two separate editing interfaces. The side-by-side interface can be helpful, but overall leads to a slower design period.
    Security WordPress has a ton of security plugins available, practicing proper security is a must. 🥇 Winner
    Showit manages site security so you don’t have to find your own solutions.
    E-Commerce 🥇 Winner
    WooCommerce is a simple and cheap way to convert your WordPress site to an online store.     		Showit relies on expensive third-party solutions for e-commerce.
    Choose WordPress Choose Showit

    It is nice seeing a non-WordPress solution still using part of WordPress in their technology. That gives credence to the capabilities of the platform and how it empowers website owners to express themselves and do business online.

    WordPress Deep Dive

    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 compared WordPress vs. Web.com, and I think you’ll be interested in the results.

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

    Have you discovered any benefits of using Showit vs. WordPress? Let us know in the comments!

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

  • WordPress vs GoDaddy Website Builder (2023) — Let’s Compare!

    If there is a more ubiquitous and well-known name on websites than GoDaddy, then it’s at the top of a very, very short list. GoDaddy has made a name for itself by being the Everything For Everybody web service, from web hosting to domain registration to website selling and now template-based, WYSIWYG website building. In comparison to that, WordPress is also filling that Everything for Everybody niche, but only in terms of website building. To help you decide which builder-centric web software you should use, we’re taking a look at WordPress vs the GoDaddy Website Builder, showing you the head-to-head comparisons of their most important features.

    WordPress vs GoDaddy Website Builder: Who Are They For?

    As we said above, both of these platforms do their very best to be everything for everyone. Not by being a one-size-fits-all solution but by having options available for whatever kind of site or service you might need. They handle this in very different ways, however.

    WordPress is free, open-source software that you can install on virtually any web host out there. Having evolved from its roots as blogging software, WP is now a full-fledged content management system (CMS). That means that any kind of website that you need to run with WordPress can be run with WordPress. From blogs, news sites, magazines, stores, portfolios, ticket vendors, event booking, and so much more. If you can conceive the site, WordPress has a way to do it.

    GoDaddy, on the other hand, isn’t solely based on the website itself but rather the entire suite of services anyone might need. Including the website software itself. Within the GoDaddy platform, you can buy a domain name, purchase hosting, and build your website with their site builder (which also then offers add-ons for functionality and utilities). Whatever particular service a user needs, they can find it at GoDaddy.

    But in terms of the site builders themselves, how does WordPress vs GoDaddy go?

    Ease of Use

    The first thing most people consider when looking at WordPress vs GoDaddy is how easy they are to use. The steeper the learning curve, the longer it takes to build a site, and the more frustrating it can be to use daily. While WordPress does have a slightly higher learning curve, it’s not enough to penalize it, and the entire head-to-head here seems comparable.

    WordPress

    Your first login to your WordPress website can be startling. The left side of your screen has a large menu of options, and the primary dashboard space is full of widgets with information and tools that you may not need now (or ever).

    wordpress vs godaddy website builder

    You may take a while It doesn’t take long to learn the software, as most things are laid out relatively intuitively. Posts, Pages, Plugins, etc., are easy to find and understand, but some features, such as Menus and Themes, are hidden away in submenus, and the difference between Settings, Tools, and the Theme Customizer isn’t documented anywhere, which causes headaches for many new users.

    The Page and Post editor itself is called Gutenberg. And it utilizes blocks of content (such as an image, gallery, or single paragraph) that you can manipulate individually. These blocks are the basis of site customization in WordPress now, and the themes that you purchase or grab from the WordPress.org theme repository are likely to support them for customization.

    wordpress vs godaddy website builder

    Using the editor is very simple once you get used to it. It may take a few Posts or Pages to feel it out. But the gist is that you click a + button that brings up a menu of available blocks. Then you simply add the content and place it in the document where you need it. Each block has a separate options panel you can edit. And you can even set some as global/reusable blocks that can be used to template posts and pages later on.

    You can learn more advanced site creation techniques such as taxonomies and custom post types, which do have a very steep learning curve initially. However, they are huge (yet advanced) factors in tweaking your WordPress site to be perfect. They are, though, in no way necessary to use or manage a WordPress site for years.

    GoDaddy Website Builder

    When looking at GoDaddy Website Builder vs WordPress, it has a very low learning curve. Which is great. But the reason the learning curve is so low is that the amount of customization you get is significantly lower than with WordPress. It lines up even with Wix or Squarespace in that regard.

    wordpress vs godaddy website builder first login

    The GoDaddy Website Builder starts you off with a 3-step introduction to how to use it.

    1. Choose a theme
    2. Click on any image or text to edit
    3. Publish your site

    And…it is about that easy. GoDaddy made their website builder for people who want a professional-looking site without needing a professional designer. You can choose from several different themes (really, templates) and then manipulate the elements involved exactly like you can in the WordPress block editor.

    godaddy theme gallery

    When the intro says to click an image or text to edit, it means it. You can either edit the page itself, typing in the front end of the site itself or the sidebar textbox. Whatever is more comfortable for you.

    wordpress vs godaddy website builder text edit

    Additionally, you can use the service formerly known as Over (now GoDaddy Studio) to edit photos and add text and other effects directly in the browser.

    wordpress vs godaddy website builder image editing

    This integration is fantastic, and if you haven’t tried the mobile app, we highly suggest it for quick image editing.

    You also get easy access to site analytics and tracking features under the settings gear, including the cookie warning for GDPR consent, Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, and more.

    wordpress vs godaddy website builder basic options

    However, some of them, like Search Engine Optimization (SEO), only offer basic tools (naming the site and including a meta description. To take advantage of the more advanced features, you will pay for them individually as premium access.

    WordPress Weebly
    Ease of Use The interface take a bit to get used to, but most will be acclimated in a matter of minutes. 🥇 Winner
    It’s bare bones, and simple, made for people who don’t want to put a lot of time hand crafting their website.
    Choose WordPress Choose GoDaddy

    Which Platform is the Better E-commerce Solution?

    Setting up an e-commerce shop is a top priority for many website owners. Physical merch and digital goods are one of the major selling points (pun intended) for setting up a website in the first place. But how does WordPress vs GoDaddy’s website builder compare in this commonplace battleground? We think WordPress has a solid advantage here, and GoDaddy can’t quite compete.

    WordPress

    WooCommerce is WordPress’s premier e-commerce plugin. Free to download and start selling immediately, WooCommerce is amazingly extensible.

    wocommerce dashboard

    Being based on custom post types, adding products and variations in WooCommerce is as simple as creating a new post or page. The same process applies to everything in WordPress (pretty much).

    making a product page

    There is a huge ecosystem of plugins, add-ons, and extensions for WooCommerce to wade through, both free and premium. And while there is a learning curve to perfecting your WooCommerce shop, you can get it off the ground and sell items within just a few hours.

    The cost of running a WooCommerce store differs based on what you want, but we have a full rundown of what you can expect. For a fully featured store, stacked to the roof with all the features you could need, you’re running around $1,200 to $1,500 for the first year, with it recurring approximately $500 depending on your suite of extensions and hosting and other miscellaneous costs.

    GoDaddy

    E-commerce using the GoDaddy site builder is a bit different. From the outset, everything about the e-commerce options is premium. You don’t get the free options to launch a store and accept payments from the beginning as with WooCommerce.

    godaddy ecommerce

    For the first year, you can expect to pay $16.99 per month, and after that, it’s $24.99 per mo. That doesn’t quite even out to the base $500 we estimated you’d need for WooCommerce at its most expensive, but that is also only a single extra feature in GoDaddy, each of which you must purchase separately.

    E-Commerce

    WordPress Weebly
    E-Commerce 🥇 Winner
    WooCommerce makes it simple, cheap, and efficient to create an online store.    		 It has less customization features available and is much more expensive.
    Choose WordPress Choose GoDaddy

    Publishing Tools Breakdown

    WordPress has grown into a full CMS over the years, but at its heart, it is still a blogging program. Most features are tied into Posts and Pages. Though you can have an entirely custom, static site that never publishes any content to its feed. The sites you make using the GoDaddy site builder are generally not great at publishing regular content like a blog but rather information for products, brands, individuals, or companies. Both platforms can excel at creating easy, beautiful static pages, but if you want to write articles and post regular updates, WordPress is the clear victor.

    WordPress

    It should come as no surprise that WordPress is the clear victor here, either. The software is decades old and designed from the ground up with publishing of all kinds at its heart. The redesign of the post editor (the Gutenberg block editor that we showcased earlier) is a further indication that WP is staying true to its roots, giving you a universal tool to create and publish any kind of content you want, dynamic and updating or static.

    The WordPress editor has multiple templates to highlight audio, photos, links, videos, and more. You can use these templates on static Pages as well as Posts. And you can use that same editor to design your site as well as publish new content.

    Additionally, themes such as Divi exist to increase the options and functionality of WordPress publishing, giving you the ability to create entire templates for various types of posts or pages, depending on what categories, tags, and other criteria you may set.

    divi theme builder

    WordPress is built around this kind of extensibility and highlights what you can do with publishing on the platform. Whatever kind of publishing features you need, there are plugins for them. You can get editorial calendars, comments on posts, templates, themes, notifications, and more from a wide array of third-party developers.

    Regardless of what and how you want to publish, you’re going to be able to do it with WordPress. Because, at the end of the day, that’s what WordPress was built for.

    GoDaddy

    The GoDaddy website builder, on the other hand, was built for creating business sites. Or informational pages. Any site that is going to exist without needing a lot of maintenance after launch. Sites where the owner may come in occasionally to adjust information or add new sections (or delete them later). But not sites where new content is published daily.

    godaddy site builder

    You can create a blank page and add any elements you need, such as timers, text blocks, images, and so on. Or you can choose from their pre-designed templates for About pages, Galleries, Contact, Lists, and the storefront itself.

    Adding and publishing content is simple and easy. As we showed above, learning and using the software is quite straightforward. The main concern regarding the builder is that it’s not set up to easily create a blog. You can access the blogging dashboard from the menu in the top left, selecting My Blog.

    godaddy blog

    On the next page, you will see that your site isn’t set up for a blog. You have to create a new blog page before any of your content will be visible to the public.

    godaddy

    To do so, you must add a new blank page, then add a new blog section from the menu. Then navigate back to the dashboard and click Create Post to start. The editor itself is basic but functional. The elements you can work with are images, dividers, and text. You can categorize and add a featured image, too.

    godaddy builder blogs

    Using the GoDaddy blogging tool to create content isn’t particularly nice. It’s serviceable, and it does what it does without issue. It’s just nothing special. And that’s why it loses in this particular category. It doesn’t do anything noteworthy, but that may be fine for some people. If you need a simple website that displays information and/or sells products, the GoDaddy site builder works pretty well. But if you’re creating regular content for user consumption, it’s just not set up for that.

    WordPress Weebly
    Publishing 🥇 Winner
    WordPress is the go to platform for bloggers and content creators.     		GoDaddy functions primarily as a place to display products or show off your brand rather than for bloggers.
    Choose WordPress Choose GoDaddy

    Final Verdict on WordPress vs GoDaddy

    WordPress Weebly
    Ease of Use The interface take a bit to get used to, but most will be acclimated in a matter of minutes. 🥇 Winner
    It’s bare bones, and simple, made for people who don’t want to put a lot of time hand crafting their website.
    E-Commerce 🥇 Winner
    WooCommerce makes it simple, cheap, and efficient to create an online store.    		 It has less customization features available and is much more expensive.
    Publishing 🥇 Winner
    WordPress is the go to platform for bloggers and content creators.     		GoDaddy functions primarily as a place to display products or show off your brand rather than for bloggers.
    Choose WordPress Choose GoDaddy

    The GoDaddy site builder is a pretty nice piece of software, and it works quickly and smoothly. We didn’t run into any issues during the creative process that limited us in any way. But it’s very much not a publishing platform for regularly updated content. You can write updates and blogs and articles, but the feature seems like it was implemented as an afterthought. Creating a static site, however, is painless, and the templates look good enough to use on a public-facing site. Especially after you tweak the options and fine-tune the templates to your liking.

    WordPress, though, is the better platform for publishing content. After all, it’s a content publishing platform. It is a lot more than that, too. Using built-in and third-party tools, you can create any kind of static site you want, complete with landing pages, squeeze pages, special event registration, and more. It takes a little more time to learn WordPress than using the GoDaddy builder, but if you are creating a site that you intend to stick with for the long term, WP is just a stronger platform in nearly every way.

    WordPress Deep Dive

    Especially when you consider the quality of page builder plugins and themes that exist. The GoDaddy builder is fine, but some of the builders you can get with WP are phenomenal. If you are already using Godaddy and want to make the switch to WordPress, you’re in luck. It’s easy to move your website from the Godaddy Website Builder to WordPress in 6 simple steps.

    One more thing. 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 Duda, 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 the GoDaddy website builder?

    The post WordPress vs GoDaddy Website Builder (2023) — Let’s Compare! appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.