Horses for Courses

It's a question I get asked weekly:

"WordPress or Umbraco?" 

To answer this question it's important to first understand what WordPress and Umbraco actually are:

Both products are Open Source Content Management Systems. 

Open Source means that the product is available to anyone, anywhere, anytime and that there are potentially hundreds of developers all over the world working on the platform at any given time.

Content Management System is the back end of a website which manages the content - both copy and visual elements.

WordPress and Umbraco are equal in the sense that they both fulfil the same requirements of managing the content or back end of a website, and both are open source.

Now that we've established that we're comparing 'apples with apples' we can step into comparing the finer details of the products and their best applications.

WordPress

WordPress is great for small content sites, such as blogs and mum and dad businesses (I am sure I'll cop some feedback on that comment!). It's quick, simple and cheap to set up a basic site. You can grab themes on a budget and make a simple content site look pretty great! WordPress is also great for those less tech savvy, on a budget and looking for additional functionality. You can easily (and affordably) grab plugins or extensions to add functionality to a WordPress site.

One of the less attractive aspects of WordPress is that sites often rely on off the shelf plugins to expand and add functionality. Where the original developer of a plugin fails to maintain the plugin with regular updates a site could be left looking less than it's best. Poorly maintained plugins can also leave a site vulnerable to hack attacks or leave a site lacking responsiveness.

To quickly summarise, WordPress is fantastic if you're on a tight budget, don't want to employ a developer or development firm and if you're running your own blog out of interest.

Umbraco

For those unfamiliar, Umbraco is functionally very similar to WordPress for the end user, however, it has some huge differences which make it an absolute dream to work with. Both as a developer and as a content creator/ manager, Umbraco is leaps and bounds ahead of WordPress in functionality and ease of use.

For those into Geek Speak - Umbraco uses ASP.NET and requires Windows server technology. For those of us who aren't quite there on our tech lingo, this essentially means that it's a good, strong and secure foundation to start building on!

The beauty of Umbraco is it's scalability.

It is perfect for any site, from a small blog all the way through to a big corporate. Umbraco gives developers the freedom and tools required to create bespoke solutions that can be expanded upon as a website grows. Airwick, Study in Scotland, Prostate Cancer Charity UK, Veet UK, Volkswagen NZ and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. are all users of Umbraco for their sites!

Unlike Wordpress, which is primarily a blogging tool, Umbraco takes a more holistic approach to content management. By providing full customisation across all aspects of the content management system, Umbraco can be tailored precisely to the publishing needs of any digital product.

Another bonus of Umbraco is it's security. Umbraco site's are much less likely to face security concerns compared to those built on Wordpress. This is thanks to the integrated .Net controls and Microsoft’s latest built in authentication technology ensuring that the digital product is both secure and robust.

As Umbraco is an Open Source Content Management System there a literally hundreds of developers working on the platform at any time given time. This means that Umbraco is continuously enriched by the brightest developers.

The Verdict

The short answer is that WordPress is not as flexible or adaptable as Umbraco.

WordPress is great for small content sites like blogs. However, as soon as you want to expand and add payment gateways or integrate with other systems it can become clunky and pose a potential security risk.

A Content Management System like Umbraco allows the development team to focus on functionality and design - Umbraco will adapt and allow the design and functionality to flourish!

At the end of the day, it's horses for courses!

If you'd like some more information on the differences between Umbraco and WordPress, feel free to get in touch: [email protected]