WordPress is the most hated and loved CMS among all CMS platforms. Recently, one of my clients wanted to switch away from WordPress for a new project for multiple reasons. When asked about my opinion on other CMS platforms, here’s what I told my client…
Pros
WordPress is best at security
This could be a joke for many. But, seriously, WordPress core is one of the most widely scrutinized software for the past 10 years and it will continue to be in the eyes of all security researchers for the next 10+ years to come. There has rarely been a breach of security due to a flaw in WordPress core. Most security breaches happen due to poorly coded theme or plugins or poor password management.
WordPress is best at managing content and users
As a CMS, nothing comes close to managing posts written by multiple authors. Do you have different content for different language? WordPress can handle it. Do you want assign different privileges to different people in your organization to manage content (such as for planning, writing drafts, publishing, editing, etc)? WordPress has been handing it for years. Most new news sites are now based on WordPress.
WordPress backend is unbeatable
All static site generators come with zero backend to manage content and users. If you try to migrate your workflow from WordPress to an SSG (static site generator), then it could be a big shock initially, especially if your authors don’t know markdown.
WordPress is best at managing images
Can you show me a CMS that manipulates images, galleries, etc., better than WordPress?
There are lots of other advantages too. For example, any new feature mentioned elsewhere comes almost immediately to WordPress. AMP, TFA, etc.
Cons
WordPress sites are most hacked sites on the internet
True. However, it is due to not following best practices. Following some simple steps can help in increasing the security of a WordPress site, such as turning on automatic plugin updates.
WordPress is too slow
True. Let’s divide this into two categories. Back-end slowness and front-end slowness.
Back-end slowness
Again, WordPress core is just as fast as any other CMS. The slowness is most likely due to poorly coded plugin or the theme. Again, keeping the theme and plugins updated regularly (and possibly automatically) can help to fix the slowness as most authors can catch such drastic change in slowness in their plugin (or theme).
Front-end slowness
Basically WordPress generates html, CSS and JS. Every other CMS platform and SSG generate the plain old html, CSS and JS too. So, this argument doesn’t even make sense to me.
If I’d want to move away from WordPress, why would I move?
There are some use-cases where other CMS platforms or an SSG makes more sense. For example, static site generators can be hosted on a CDN letting it be served all over the world with minimal latency. For example, my other site tinywp.com is being hosted in Google’s own hosting environment. It is possible to host a WordPress blog on a CDN too. However, it is not as easy as serving a static site via a CDN. Also, if you only have a low-traffic blog, some CDNs offer free tier that is good enough for most such sites. So, you’d be hosting your site for free without having to worry about the cost for hosting. Who doesn’t like free hosting when hosting WordPress takes at least USD10 per month?!