Is WordPress Really the Best Platform for Building Websites?

Around 30% of the internet is powered by websites built with WordPress. For a while now, WordPress has been one of the most reliable content management systems for many industries. It’s used for building websites, blogs, e-commerce sites, membership platforms, and editorials. To be specific, I mean WordPress.org, not WordPress.com.

The difference is that WordPress.org is a self-hosted website system, while WordPress.com is a website builder within the WordPress hosting platform. Self-hosted means that the owner of the site has control over where they park their website, be it an inexpensive blogging plan on Bluehost or a 50-slot Flywheel plan for website developers.

WordPress vs. Website Builders

Building a website is an essential part of any business, but some business owners don’t have enough money to hire a professional web developer or designer. That’s where “free” website builders come in. Wix, Squarespace, and Format are the usual favorites for creating websites fast and easy.

All of these website builders come with templates to help users create sites fast. They are relatively easy but don’t offer too much customization on the backend. That means that there is a limit to how the templates can be styled and personalized.

WordPress, on the other hand, is limitless when it comes to customization. WordPress.org offers thousands of pre-built themes for faster website development but are more customizable. There is also a large selection of plugins for WordPress, which are third-party systems to help style and format a website to the user’s personal preference. On top of that, lots of developers have created themes and builders which work seamlessly with WordPress, like Divi, Beaver Builder, and The Genesis Framework.

Another big difference between WordPress and website builders is the URL of the website. If the user wants a free website, then it will have the name of the builder in it. Only by buying a domain and a paid subscription can they have a URL wholly their own. On WordPress, users have a personal domain from the get-go.

So which is better? Well, that depends on the budget of each individual. Also, it depends on how much traffic will come to the site. A small portfolio site or blog is ok on Wix or Squarespace, but for an e-commerce site or large build, WordPress is definitely the best option.

WordPress vs. Other Self-hosted Content Management Systems

Even though WordPress is the website system many people talk about, it’s not the only one in the market. There are others, like Joomla and Drupal which are technically just as good! Joomla and Drupal are not as easy to use like WordPress, especially for beginners. These options are more suited to web developers with a good grasp on coding and tech.

So is WordPress better than Joomla and Drupal? Not necessarily. Is it better for people who are relatively new in tech or are more web designers than developers? Definitely, yes. Even professional web developers choose WordPress anyway. Joomla is an open source platform, meaning that you really need to know what you are doing. The learning curve on WordPress is definitely not as steep.

WordPress vs. Medium and Tumblr

Two other platforms worth mentioning, which are a different type of competition to WordPress, are Medium and Tumblr. These are used only for blog and publication type websites. Medium, especially, has grown so much in the past few years that it might just be better than WordPress for that specific purpose. If someone wants to publish only written content along with some photos and multimedia, Medium is good enough if not better.

The SEO on Medium is pretty good right out of the box and is one of the reasons why it’s better than WordPress for a storytelling oriented publication.

WordPress vs. Shopify

Last but not least, is WordPress the best choice for e-commerce? Many Shopify users will say otherwise. The Shopify platform is easy, fast and offers plenty of support; the kind of support online sellers need the most. Sure, a web developer can build a great e-commerce site on WordPress which works and looks great! But what if a small business owner who makes handmade good needs an online selling platform fast, their best bet might be Shopify!

Is WordPress really the best then?

Is WordPress really the best platform for building websites? There is no easy way to say this, but there is no straight answer; it really depends on each specific situation. WordPress might be better for some but not for others. There are tons of resources online detailing the pros and cons of all available content management systems and website builders. We suggest you do your research and then we’ll let you decide!