More and more often people try to understand which among Joomla and Wordpress is the better CMS. I will solve this doubt in today's article and compare WordPress to Joomla in the most important areas, mainly concerning the suitability for search engine optimization and the possibilities of web design.
Beitrag von
Sebastian Prohaska
Inhaber & Geschäftsführer der SEO- & Online-Marketing-Agentur ithelps. Der Online-Marketing-Nerd beschäftigt sich seit 2013 intensiv mit der Suchmaschinenoptimierung von Unternehmens-Websites und Onlineshops. Mittlerweile gibt er sein fundiertes Wissen an namhaften Fachhochschulen wie der FH Wr. Neustadt, dem Joanneum Graz und der FH Campus Wien an seine Studenten weiter.
There are now numerous CMS on the market. CMS means Content Management System and stands for the easy handling of a website without programming knowledge. Our own website the one you are currently on is a Joomla website.
The following CMS are most frequently used:
CMS Statistics 2018
| CMS | Market share Austria | Market share Germany | Market share USA | Average Project costs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Wordpress | 38,17% (+) | 46,32% (+) | 70,28% (-) | € 2000 |
| 2. Joomla! | 12,15% (-) | 11,42% (-) | 2,73% (-) | € 2000 |
| 3. Typo3 | 20,91% (-) | 13,23% (-) | 0,09% (-) | € 4700 |
| 4. Drupal | 3,99% (-) | 3,19% (-) | 3,22% (-) | € 3500 |
| 5. Contao | 4,23% (+) | 3,99% (+) | 0,01% (-) | € 2500 |
| 6. Frontpage | 3,15% (-) | 2,14% (-) | 2,04% (+) | € 0 |
| 7. Web2Date | 1,12% (-) | 0,88% (-) | 0,00% (~) | € 2000 |
| 8. 1&1 Websitebuilder | 0% (-) | 0% (-) | 0,15% | € 0 |
| 9. Xara HTML Builder | 1,55% (+) | 1,26% (+) | 0,15% (~) | € 0 |
| 10. Magento | 1,02% (+) | 1,31% (+) | 0,89% (+) | € 7200 |
WordPress, Joomla or another system - The comparison
- more extensions (plugins)
- more design templates (Templates/Themes)
- more agencies or programmers who are familiar with it
- easy handling for the website operator (updates, putting content online, backup, etc.)
- better suitability for SEO (search engine optimization)
- Here you can download WordPress
- Here you can download Joomla
Here you can see a good comparison of both systems in one video:
WordPress vs. Joomla in comparison:
WordPress | Joomla | |
Suitable for beginners* | 3 | 2 |
Number of plugins | 55.449 | 8.500 |
Number of designs | 11.635 | 1.103 |
security* | 3 | 2 |
Support | 2 | 2 |
Suitable as webshop | 2 | 3 |
Suitable as a blog | 2 | 3 |
*1= very good, 5 = not sufficient
WordPress vs. Joomla for beginners - which system is better suited for beginners?
This question is as difficult to answer as the question of whether Apple or Windows is better.
Example WordPress:
In order to run a blog, however, Joomla requires some preparation (Joomla as a blog) With WordPress you can start immediately.
The reason is that Joomla only has "pages" to display its content.
WordPress has "pages" and "posts". Posts are blog articles. Pages are the normal content (e.g.: homepage or other static pages).
My tip: If you want to run your website (also) as a blog, then choose WordPress for the beginning. In all other cases use Joomla.
WordPress vs Joomla - the first steps
The start to your website is very easy with both content management systems. Here is the rough procedure:
- You need a reliable web host. (for example: all-inkl.com, world4you.com, etc. )
- You have to install WordPress or Joomla there (with all-inkl.com and world4you this is very easy)
- Choose a design (template / theme) and install it on your WordPress or Joomla
- Create your menu items and content in the backend of your website
- That's it!
- For Joomla: www.domain.com/administrator
- For WordPress: www.domain.com/wp-admin
How good are the extensions / plugins for WordPress or Joomla?
WordPress is the clear winner here. WordPress is more widespread worldwide than Joomla. The share on the world market is about 58.8 percent. Therefore, there are more software developers and programmers who create free and paid extensions. WordPress currently has 55,449 plugins and Joomla about 8,500 plugins to choose from.
To program plugins or extensions yourself, both systems are very similar.
What about security? Joomla or WordPress?
Joomla! clearly wins here.
The wide distribution and enormous number of plugins is for WordPress can be in terms of security, more of a curse than a blessing. Because of its widespread use, WordPress is the most popular target for hacker attacks.
Most attacks are successful because of weaknesses in the plugins. Due to the large selection, it is not always guaranteed that the extensions are always kept up-to-date.
Tip: Check before installation if your WordPress plugins are regularly updated by the manufacturer. If this is not the case, I would leave it alone.
You can do this best on the plugin page at wordpress.org. Here as an example the plugin Yoast SEO:
You can increase security on both systems with the following tools:
We are happy to offer you WordPress or Joomla maintenance. We do all maintenance, updates and backups to keep your website safe and up-to-date. Would you like to know the price? Write us an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the keyword "WordPress or Joomla maintenance prices".
Which system has the better designs?
- For WordPress there are 11.635 different themes available
- There are 1103 different themes available for Joomla!
The number of free themes on wordpress.org is almost endless. You can filter there as needed and find the right design for almost every requirement.
- With Joomla we recommend JoomShaper Helix 3 Templates
- The Ava theme is very popular with WordPress.
Here a video how such a PageBuilder works (Helix3)
Which system has more advantages in the field of SEO (search engine optimization)?
Since we are an SEO agency ourselves, this aspect is very important to us. Both systems have advantages and disadvantages. Here are a few examples of the disadvantages:
- Joomla has unsightly URLs (index.php/123-name)
- WordPress has no possibility to define meta descriptions without a plugin
- Joomla creates multiple URLs on the same content
- WordPress generates many URLs for "authors", "tags" etc.
Therefore you have to work with plugins for both CMS. Here are our recommendations:
- For Joomla we recommend the plugin Easy Front End SEO and JCH Optimize for speed
- For WordPress we recommend the tool Yoast SEO
Conclusion: Both systems are equal when it comes to SEO.
Support & Help for WordPress or Joomla
WordPress is a company that wants to make profits. It makes profits with its own blogging platform WordPress.com. This is free in the basic version. But if you want to publish a little more than just a blog post every now and then, if it is worth your money. You have to pay for extra wishes regarding design or functionality (plugins).
Joomla is a community, which is not geared towards profits.
WordPress.com itself does not offer support in German language.
But for the self-hosted version of the CMS there is the German language support page of wordpress.org
Joomla offers support through the community. For example through the joomla.de support forum.
There are also Facebook groups for both platforms where you can get support.
Joomla Facebook-groups:
Just join the groups and wait for confirmation.
Joomla and WordPress as webshop? Which has more advantages here?
From my point of view WordPress wins here with its solution.
With WordPress there is an extension called WordPress WooCommerce to create webshops. You install this plugin on your WordPress system.
Here a short introduction video:
Joomla has the plugin Virtue Mart.
To see a demo shop, click on the image.
This plugin is not so widespread and sometimes requires a lot of customization.
If you are thinking about creating a website which should primarily be a webshop look towards Shopify as a solution. If you want to talk to an agency about which solution is best for you, I recommend the e-commerce consultants of A-Commerce.
WordPress or Joomla as blog system
WordPress or Joomla Conclusion
If you run a business and have others create your website, it doesn't matter wheterit is with WordPress or Joomla developed. Both systems are easy to learn in main and operate.
If you want to build your website yourself, you have to decide. Just watch a few YouTube videos about it. Then simply decide which system suits you best. Where do you have the better feeling?
As you have noticed, there is no way to say which CMS is the better one. Both have advantages and disadvantages.
If you're unsure, write us an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or leave a comment here.
