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Arthur Kh
Arthur Kh

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What would you use instead of WordPress?

WordPress is a popular open-source content management system (CMS) that enables users to create and manage websites with ease. It was first released in 2003 and since then, WordPress is one of the most popular CMS used.

However:

  • WordPress sites can sometimes become slow and sluggish, especially if too many plugins are installed or if the theme is poorly coded.
  • Being the most popular CMS, WordPress is a frequent target for hackers. Though the WordPress core is secure, vulnerabilities can arise from third-party themes and plugins.
  • While WordPress can handle sites with varying sizes, high-traffic sites might require significant optimization.

So let's discuss on this main questions:

  • What alternatives to WordPress do you know?
  • Which one have you used, and what was your experience with them?
  • Would you use dev.to as a data provider for your portfolios?

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Top comments (39)

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mrkbr profile image
Mario Kober

There are hundreds of better tools out there. Every single one is better for some and worse for others. You have to find the right one for you. You can create your personal optimized WordPress Themen with everything inside you need. I dont get why people install for example bloated Slider plugins when you, can do it quite simple yourself.

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reprodev profile image
Repro Dev

I've used Wordpress in the past and am moving one of my older websites away from it as I think too many plugins ended up causing it to become super slow.

I'm currently using Ghost for my personal blog but I've been enjoying Dev.To for it's community much more.

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mainarthur profile image
Arthur Kh

btw your personal blog looks great

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reprodev profile image
Repro Dev

Thanks dude. Really glad you like it, it's been really fun to write and set up

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mainarthur profile image
Arthur Kh

Yeah, community makes the difference

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kaustubhtrivedi profile image
Kaustubh Trivedi

This is an amazing question! Despite WordPress (WP) being a robust system and considered the most user-friendly, there are many different content management systems (CMS) available. The company I used to work for used to advocate for WP as the go-to solution for blogs and content-based websites.

However, one of our clients came in with their own requirements:

  • Frontend: NextJS (Page Router)
  • CMS: Strapi

We didn't need a backend as Strapi provided REST APIs for the data. Since Strapi is open-source, it boasts numerous existing extended plugins. It offers a great user interface and is self-hostable, although they also offer a paid cloud version.

Working with Strapi made me realize that we can create cutting-edge websites while enjoying the convenience of a CMS for managing content.

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mainarthur profile image
Arthur Kh

I've heard about Strapi and it seems really promising. As a full-stack dev, creating a front-end is not a problem for me, and it will be more efficient for my specific case than a template built for general use.

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kaustubhtrivedi profile image
Kaustubh Trivedi

Yes, Strapi is a good alternative to a lot of problems.
Although it might not be the best solution any places where you actually need a backend. I can recommend for working with a content driven website, but I can't say the same for other alternatives.

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

I'm curious what the popular sentiment on this question is. I don't have an answer I'm super sure of, personally.

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mainarthur profile image
Arthur Kh

I'm currently trying to utilize DEV's API as data provider for my portfolio instead of WordPress because WordPress is huge, and I don't need 90% of its functionality, and on the other hand, dev.to already has all my articles, stable and secure enough. However, DEV's API is missing info about series, and also it would be nice to have body_html alongside body_markdown to make integration easier without bringing Jekyll to the codebase

How hard it would be to add these fields to the response?

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uiuxsatyam profile image
Satyam Anand

I have been using WordPress for my personal works as well as clients since 7-8 years now. It has really evolved in terms of performance as well as ease of use with introduction to Block Editor & Themes.

But still to accomplish a complete solution out of it , you will require many plugins, widgets and adons. Thus making it heavy loaded and increase in response time.

I prefer Webflow and Framer as a great alternative to WordPress. Webflow & Framer gives you hassle free self hosted CMS you can use out of box.

The minimal interface & advanced tools, helps designers to create pixel perfect websites with dynamic data and even custom logic using flows.

But it's totally a preference of client. If flexible, I would go for Webflow.

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mainarthur profile image
Arthur Kh

"many plugins, widgets and add-ons" is also a problem. You have to learn them and know the differences to choose the most optimal ones.

Thanks for your suggestions! I'll take a look at WebFlow and Framer

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cavo789 profile image
Christophe Avonture • Edited

WP is one of the most "popular" meaning most installed. His challenger is Joomla, less "popular" (less installed) but certainly to my opinion better.

Much robust (his code is clean and strong), a lot of native things like multilingual support, ACLs (users's rights and permissions), an administration interface natively responsive and accessible (for people having some difficulties),...

For me, and this is purely personal, joomla is far better.

launch.joomla.org/

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palmiak profile image
Maciek Palmowski

It's a very "it depends" question :)

Overall, I find WP an excellent CMS, if done right. Too many plugins, not understanding hooks, and using them in the wrong way, etc may lead to a slow website.

Also, very often converting WP to static might be a great solution and a one better than going headless.

Apart from WordPress, I can also recommend:

  • Statamic - I even started a series of articles about it for WP developers - - I hope you don't mind the link. It's cool, Laravel-based, flat-file by default.
  • CraftCMS - similar to Statamic but based on a different framework
  • Frontmatter CMS - if you like markdown and using your Visual Code Studio
  • Nuxt Studio - this is only for Nuxt, but I really love the experience

It all depends on your needs. There are so many CMS flavors that it's not a simple task to pick the perfect CMS.

I also have an article about this :D

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mainarthur profile image
Arthur Kh

Thanks for the response! I'll check out the article!

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tekiegirl profile image
Jacqui Read

I was never hugely keen on Wordpress and then they changed a few years ago (probably longer than I think) to the blocks way of doing things and I lost the plot 😂
I currently use Hugo (gohugo.io) to create a static site. I really like it, but it definitely needs more tech knowledge than Wordpress...

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imtimmeta profile image
imtimmeta

It looks like Hashnode is eating up all the tech blogs that used to be on Medium, and even starting to challenge Dev. Although the community here is amazing, the headless CMS and general awesomeness of Hashnode is so great for personal things with your own domain.

I'd use Ghost before I'd use Wordpress. It's cleaner and lighter and more modern. Whatever those terms mean to you.

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mainarthur profile image
Arthur Kh

Yeah, hashnode is doing well on the market, but I like dev more for its simplicity

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annetawamono profile image
Anneta Wamono

In my company we take on a lot of clients WP sites, but internally when we create sites from scratch we use CraftCMS. It's free unless you want multiple users, but it's got a very robust templating language and the CMS is easy to use for devs and content writers.

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