Despite being a popular CMS, there are other platforms worth exploring. One CMS gaining popularity is Craft CMS. Craft CMS and WordPress are both CMS platforms, but each system has its own approach to creating beautiful websites. We explore how the two systems stack up and which platform is right for you.
You’re probably familiar with WordPress. It’s the world’s most popular builder and 43% of all websites are built using the platform. It was first launched in 2003 as a blogging platform before WordPress 3.0 released more customisation that made it resemble the CMS we use today.
WordPress is a free open-source software that lets users create websites without an HTML editor or any coding knowledge. Users can rely on its huge library of themes and plugins to build websites that are unique and easy to use. Its ease of use and affordability make it very beginner friendly and have helped it become the most popular CMS on the market.
Unfortunately, not everyone loves WordPress. In 2019 and 2020, the site was crowned the Most Dreaded Platform to Use by developers in Stack Overflow’s annual developer survey.
As well as millions of bloggers, businesses and organisations around the world, WordPress is used by Sony, Wired, The New York Times, Vogue and Disney to name a few.
Craft CMS may sound like a newcomer, but this off-the-shelf content management system has been around since 2013. Founded by Pixel and Tonic, it’s fast earning a reputation as a tool that many developers enjoy using.
Around 40,000 Craft CMS websites have been built so far. While this number pales in comparison to WordPress, some examples of great Craft websites include Ikea, Netflix, Oakley and Adidas.
There biggest difference between WordPress and Craft CMS is who they were designed for. WordPress allows users to build websites without any coding knowledge. Through themes and plugins, you can find what you need and pick the tools that suit your level of skill. WordPress’ ease of use makes it the most accessible option for many people.
On the other hand, Craft CMS was built with web developers in mind. Users need at least a basic understanding of coding to use the platform as everything is built from scratch.
Plugins and add-ons might be a plus for beginners, but they're not the smartest tools for building a website. WordPress was originally built for blogging, not as a CMS or eCommerce platform. Each page is treated like an article, because that was its intended use. All that unnecessary code slows page loading speeds while the lack of functionality makes it harder to build a site with lots of customisation.
Craft allows users to build from scratch. With a blank slate, there are far fewer limitations when it comes to design. Craft allows developers to set up customisable fields, sections and content blocks which are baked into its core. This also makes Craft cleaner to use than WordPress where plug-ins appear in the sidebar. Craft has only 500 plugins versus WordPress’ 60,000 options, but there’s also less need for them.
WordPress’s origins as a blogging platform means it performs highly when it comes to SEO. Yoast is one of the best Plug-ins available and has helped millions of WordPress users increase their website traffic. It’s also super easy to optimise meta descriptions, links and other SEO details while making it easy for spiders to navigate.
Craft CMS includes CEOmatic as part of their build, a full SEO system that implements all the best practices of SEO. The plus side of Craft is that you can get the best of SEO along with a crawlable website unhampered by tags that slow loading speeds.
Performance and speed are important to the success of your website. Both users and Google penalise slow websites with lower Google results or by abandoning the site.
Craft CMS websites are generally faster, because they come with in-built functionality and aren’t bogged down by plug-ins. Most Craft websites are able to score 100 on Google’s PageSpeed tool. Craft uses functions like Imgix to optimise images and improve load speed, even on pages with heavy imagery.
In 2018, 90% of all hacked CMS sites were powered by WordPress. The leading form of infections came from plugins, themes and extensions. While WordPress does have regular updates to deal with security breaches, these don’t always run smoothly and old, out-of-date plugins can end up breaking your website.
Craft CMS uses one-click updates for its users, making it easy to stay on top of bug fixes and security. Craft uses a PDO for database queries. This extra ‘language’ helps prevent attackers from gaining access to a website database. To protect against SQL attacks, Craft validates important information stored in cookies (like login details) using a private key.
With WordPress, users will need to factor in extra security to achieve a similar level of security.
Craft CMS and WordPress are both capable of building beautiful websites, so who wins?
WordPress will continue to be the site of choice for users with no HTML knowledge. But businesses, professional organisations and e-commerce stores that want fast, secure, intuitively built websites should switch to Craft CMS. Its advanced security, flexibility and customisation make it the smarter, safer choice.
Is your website built on WordPress? Talk to us today about moving to a Craft CMS site.
