Choosing the right Content Management System (CMS) is crucial for your website's success. It's the engine that powers your online presence, affecting everything from how easily you can update content to the overall security of your online business. When comparing against popular CMS systems like WordPress, we still usually recommend Craft CMS for our clients, and here's why:
We guide our clients toward the best solutions for managing their digital presence and conducting business online. Time and again, we've found that Craft CMS consistently proves to be a powerful and versatile choice. This article will help you understand our comparison between Craft CMS vs other popular choices like WordPress, Webflow, Squarespace, and others.
1. Security: Protecting Your Investment and Your Data (Secure CMS)
Craft CMS: Built with security at its core, Craft minimizes vulnerabilities and reduces the risk of hacking. This means less worry for you and more focus on your mission or business. It's a truly secure CMS.
WordPress: Popular, and due to its popularity it's "low hanging fruit" that's often targeted by hackers.
According to WPClipboard, a WordPress site is 90% more likely to be hacked than any other CMS. The four leading causes of WordPress vulnerabilities include Plugins (52%), Cross-site scripting issues (39%), Core files (37%), and Themes (11%).
WordPress requires constant vigilance and security updates, especially due to its many plugins.
(When's the last time you audited the security of your WordPress site? We'd be happy to help you with that!)
Webflow: Webflow's security is handled by their platform, which is continually updated and offers a degree of protection. However, Webflow offers less granular control of its configuration, users, and permissions than a custom self-hosted solution like Craft CMS.
Squarespace/Wix: Generally secure for basic sites, but like Webflow these are Saas apps that offer less control.
Drupal: Powerful, but complex security requires enterprise-level dedicated expertise.
2. Ease of Use: Empowering Your Team (or Yourself!) with a User-Friendly CMS
Craft CMS: Craft's intuitive interface is designed for content editors, marketers, and even developers. It's clean, organized, and easy to learn, saving you time and resources. Whether you're updating content, adding products to your store, or managing your online presence, Craft puts you in control. It's a truly user-friendly CMS.
WordPress: Can be cluttered and less intuitive, especially when a site becomes populated with many plugins.
WordPress developers vary vastly in their competence. Many WordPress developers are true professionals, while other "developers" simply install an page builder, a paid theme, load up dozens of plugins, and deliver their client a Frankenstein's monster of other people's code. When something breaks or the needs of the organization evolve, the client is left helpless with a developer that is over his or her head. Unfortunately, this is quite common with "low budget" website developers.
Webflow: Visually driven, making design changes easy. However, some design and development knowledge is helpful. Content management features are not as robust as Craft.
Squarespace/Wix: Very easy for basic sites, but limited in functionality.
Drupal: Complex and requires technical expertise.
3. Flexibility and Scalability: Growing with Your Vision (Scalable CMS)
Craft CMS: Highly flexible and tailored to your specific needs. Whether you're building a simple website or a complex web application, Craft adapts and scales easily as your vision grows. It's a truly scalable CMS for growing businesses.
WordPress: Flexible through plugins, but this can create conflicts and performance issues with slow loading sites and bloated code.
Webflow: Good flexibility for many businesses, but can have limitations for very large or complex sites, especially custom applications.
Squarespace/Wix: Limited flexibility, not ideal for complex websites or applications.
Drupal: Very flexible, but complex to manage.
4. Performance: A Fast and Engaging Experience (Best CMS Performance)
Craft CMS: Optimized for speed, resulting in fast loading times, which is crucial for engaging your audience and improving search engine rankings. It offers the best CMS performance.
WordPress: Performance depends on plugins. WordPress Core is quite fast, but can be slow.
Webflow: Generally good performance.
Squarespace/Wix: Performance can be an issue.
Drupal: Optimizing performance can be challenging for inexperienced end-users.
5. Control: Your Website, Your Way (Custom Website Development)
Craft CMS: Full control over design and functionality, allowing us to create a truly unique and branded experience for your organization through custom website development.
WordPress: Control limited by themes and plugins.
Webflow: Good control, but still platform-dependent.
Squarespace/Wix: Limited control, platform-dependent.
Drupal: High degree of control, but complex for a small-midsized business to handle without dedicated IT staff.
Runner Up: Webflow
A Great Starting Point for Visually Rich Sites
Webflow is a fantastic platform for quickly creating visually stunning websites, especially well-suited for smaller projects or marketing websites with more straightforward content and needing a strong visual impact. It's a great option for businesses on a tighter budget who need a clean, uncomplicated, and functional website.
The Winner: Craft CMS
The Undefeated Powerhouse for Ambitious Projects with Minimal Development Overhead
For businesses, non-profits, startups, and anyone with ambitious online goals, Craft CMS is the clear choice. Any web functionality or content scenario you can imagine can be built with Craft CMS. Its robust content management features, superior security, and unmatched flexibility make it the ideal platform for organizations that are serious about their online presence and plan to grow. Whether you're building a website, a web application, or an online store, Craft is up to the task. When choosing a CMS, consider your long-term needs.
Which is Right for You?
Craft CMS: Best for any organization needing custom solutions, strong security, high performance, and long-term scalability. Ideal for websites, web applications, and online stores.
Webflow: Ideal for smaller, straightforward websites that want rich visuals. Great for businesses on a budget needing minimal custom functionality but wanting to offer a modern web experience for their visitors.
WordPress: Built for blogging, and very good at it. Endlessly customizable with plugins. Those plugins can be inconsistent in quality, don't always "play well" with each other, can cripple site performance, and become potentially dangerous when they present vulnerabilities. WordPress requires more ongoing website maintenance and security vigilance, and can quickly becomes a false-economy when compared to Craft CMS.
Squarespace/Wix: Good for very simple websites and DIY projects.
Drupal: A good choice for larger, complex organizations with dedicated development teams.
Let's Talk!
We're here to help you choose the best CMS for your needs. Contact us today for a consultation!
