WordPress vs Strapi, How to Choose the Right CMS? - Experts Zone Talks #12

The right CMS makes your business and its website more efficient. How to choose CMS? How will the choice affect the Google positions and marketing performance? In the EZ Talks interview, Frontend Developer Patryk will reveal all the truth.

In the "WordPress vs Strapi. How to Choose the Right CMS?" episode you will find:

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:32 What is CMS? What are the types?
• 03:23 Which aspects we have to pay attention to while choosing the CMS?
• 05:23 Is WordPress slow?
• 08:21 Can we do all the work by ourselves or we have to find an implementation partner?
• 12:09 Safety gaps and CMSs
• 13:16 How does CMS affect marketing and SEO characteristics?
• 15:29 Tips for those who want to choose CMS
• 17:00 How soon will WordPress's technology become outdated?

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Transcription

Olga

Hi. My name is Olga and this is Expert Zone Talks. Today we'll speak with Patrick about CMSs and how to choose the right one for your business. But first, let's watch the intro. Are you ready Patryk to answer the first and the most important question of this talk?

Patryk

I think yes.

What is CMS? What are the types?

Olga

What is the CMS and what are the types of CMSs?

Patryk

Okay. So the CMS is a Content Management System, and that system allows us to create new files, new content, adding actually existing content or delete it. And it's the best solution for people who are not developers, are not technical but still want to manage content on the CMS. And of course, we have a lot of different types of CMSs. For example, we have ECM, it is an Enterprise Management System. You know, these solutions totally depend on the company. We have a Document Management System.

In this type of Content Management System, you can manage the document, you have an access to create a document, add the assigned document for the correct person or print this document. So I think it's good stuff for some businesses and of course, we have a standard CMS standard. Standard I mean, the CMS when you can manage the web content. So it's a WCMS. Of course it's not enough because we still can divide the CMS in two different ways. The first way is a monolithic CMS, like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla or some solution for shops like, for example, PrestaShop or Magento.

And on another hand, we have the headless Content Management System, like GraphCMS or the most popular solution where we're talking about the headless is a Strapi. And the difference between these two solutions is what we have when we decide for the monolithic Content Management System (standard one) and the new type - headless CMS. I mean, when you decide to use the headless CMS, you have only admin panel, and when you decide to use the full CMS, you have the of course, the control panel, because it's an obligatory part of each CMS.

But also you have the integrated database, you have some user views, you have the place, like shops where you can buy the extensions or install extensions plugins for free. The same situation we will have when we're talking about the themes or skins. So the full Content Management System is a package. When you use the full Content Management System, you will have a package and in an easy way you can manage the website. I think this is the main difference between CMSs.

Which aspects we have to pay attention to while choosing the CMS?

Olga

What are the main aspects we have to pay attention to choose the right CMS for us, for our business and services?

Patryk

Olga, it’s a simple question. Yeah, it's a good question.

Olga

Yeah! Tricky questions!

Patryk

Yeah, it's a simple question, but the answer it's not very simple. Because like always, it depends. It depends on the clients. It depends on the budget. It depends on the client's budget.

Olga

Needs of the customer.

Patryk

Yeah, customer needs, exactly. So, for example, if you are a small company, very small company, you are a startup… In my opinion, WordPress can be even a better solution than Strapi, because you can create the website in a few hours, and if you only need some basic solution, you want to have the only basic information on your website, WordPress is totally enough. But if you want to have some more complicated things, WordPress is not so good. WordPress it's not the best solution for a bigger company, because it's slow.

Is WordPress slow?

Olga

Slow?

Patryk

Yeah, WordPress is slow. So that's why, for example, if you want to build the shop, of course we have some CMSs prepared for creating the shop, like Magento or PrestaShop. But the performance of these solutions is not good. And for example, if another company uses the other solution, like, for example, Strapi and on the front end use React View or some other modern solution, the position in Google search will be higher. So that means this company will have more clients and in a result will earn more money.

Olga

You said WordPress is slow, but wait, more than half of all websites are on WordPress. You want to say that every website has bad performance and could be better if it was built on Strapi, for example?

Patryk

Yeah, like I said, for the basic solution WordPress is okay. But for the more complicated - not. And of course, I know WordPress has at the moment about 40% of websites on the market, because this is the old solution. People like WordPress. The first WordPress release was in May 2005 or 2003, I don't remember. So a lot of years ago. And so this is the reason why WordPress is so popular. I'm quite sure everybody at least knows its logo.

Olga

Yeah. But I know it is intuitive and easy to use for just a regular user.

Patryk

Yeah, exactly. Because WordPress, like a solution, has a very good, in my opinion, very good admin panel. But it's not the finest solution. That was a very good solution a few years ago. They have a great UX experience. But for now, the Strapi also has a very good experience. And it happens, sometimes if you show how the Strapi looks like on the control panel and show your client the client’s view, he says okay, it's not bad. So for example, I have some cases like this. I work in WordPress and then show my clients Strapi and I show how it looks like and they say, okay, it's a good solution.

Olga

So we will show you how it looks here.

Patryk

Like you see, the standard admin panel in WordPress and in Strapi, maybe it's not very similar, but it's similar. So for example, if someone worked previously in WordPress it's not a big deal to change the behavior and change the control panel CMS. And for performance, for the safety, for I don't know, for the SEO, it definitely will be better.

Olga

Why did you choose WordPress and Strapi to compare?

Patryk

Why? Because WordPress is the most popular solution when we're talking about the monolithic Content Management System. And on the other hand we have the Strapi. It is the best and the most popular solution when we're talking about the headless Content Management System.

Olga

Okay, so to choose we have to understand our needs, our budget and all the stuff. But to implement the solution, we need an implementation partner, right?

Patryk

Definitely.

Can we do all the work by ourselves or we have to find an implementation partner?

Olga

What does this implementation partner have to do? Maybe we can do it by ourselves?

Patryk

Of course, if you use, for example, WordPress you can do it by yourself. But definitely, if you want to have a good product, you have to call us, call the Frontend House, and we can help you and tell you why, because we have the all process for our clients. So we have the workshop team, we have the UX/UI team, we have the SEO team, and of course we have the development team so we can support you and help you to find the best solution for your business.

Even if you choose WordPress, for example, then Strapi, the implementation partner will be very helpful for you. The main difference between these two solutions is when you will need this partner, the implementation partner. Because like you said, you can do some work by yourself, but after that, if you want to have some more complicated things, you want to modify actually existing features, you will have to go to us and contact with us, and we will have to get to know your the business.

Our business partner has to come to us and we will need some time to recognize what's going on in this code and find out how we can help you. And on the other hand when you use Strapi, the implementation part will be important for you at the beginning. And then, when will create the finest solution for you, it's much easier. Because when you use Strapi, we create a personal application for you. This will be a personal admin panel.

Olga

You mean that it is based on our needs. Right?

Patryk

Exactly. For the future, that will be the better solution for you.

Olga

But what are the differences between WordPress and Strapi? Just to know.

Patryk

The main difference? Like I said at the beginning, WordPress is a monolith so we have all the necessary stuff to display a web site, for example, on the internet. And on the other hand, we have Strapi and we can decide what kind of solution we can implement and what solution will be the greatest for our clients, for the client’s business. And this is the main difference. And from the developer's perspective, the Strapi is the best at the moment. Is the top, trust me.

Olga

Trust me, I'm a developer.

Patryk

Yeah. Trust me, I'm a developer. At the moment I'm a React developer, but for several years I was a WordPress developer and I created a few different plugins, themes for clients.

Olga

So I have the perfect person here..

Patryk

And at the moment I prefer Strapi than WordPress because we have more freedom. You know, it's a better modern solution. And if you still don't know what kind of Content Management System will be better for you, soo maybe the next sentence will be very helpful. WordPress is the most hacking CMS in this world at the moment.

Olga

Hacking?

Patryk

Hacking, yeah. We have a lot of hacker attacks for the websites built in WordPress.

Olga

So it's about safety.

Patryk

Yeah, it's about safety. And why? Because it's so popular. So for example, hackers can create one solution and send to a lot of different places on the internet and try to find some space where our application is not safe.

Olga

If Strapi will be as popular as WordPress, will there be a lot of hacker attacks too?

Patryk

It's possible. But I don't think so, because please remember that Strapi is an individual solution and WordPress is not. So it means, if the WordPress engine has some security gaps, every web site that uses WordPress has these gaps. And when we were talking about the Strapi - no, because it's individual. It's a personal solution, so this is a reason why it will be definitely safer, safer than WordPress. And the biggest problem when you're talking about WordPress, its extensions, its plugins, because WordPress, like Strapi, is an open-source solution and every developer can write its own plugins. Like for example me.

And if the plugin has some bugs, your web too.

Olga

So personal solutions are more safe?

Patryk

Exactly, because they are individual.

How does CMS affect marketing and SEO characteristics?

Olga

And what about marketing and SEO characteristics?

Patryk

What about marketing or SEO characteristics? It's a good question. Like always, it depends what kind of the web we will have or our clients have. Like I said before, WordPress has a bad performance. It depends on the PHP version. It depends on the server. It depends on a lot of external things. And it's the old solution. For example, WordPress still uses the jQuery library. So it’s an extension from JavaScript. So every time you open this web site, the library has to be loaded. So it takes time and the performance is not so good. And the search results, they’re not so high as can be when you will use another solution, like Strapi. And for the SEO.

I think at the moment, performance, especially on mobile devices, is the most important thing for Google results. This is the main reason why I'm not choosing WordPress at the moment.

Safety gaps and CMSs

Olga

But maybe there are some gaps where WordPress is better? Or not? Our Strapi is absolutely a leader?

Patryk

Strapi is a leader when we're talking about the headless CMS, but WordPress is definitely the best solution... the most popular solution. Well, it’s not the best because we have the safer solutions among the monolithic CMSs, for example, Drupal. But it's not so popular. So that's why we're talking about WordPress at the moment.

Olga

Why do you think it is not popular?

Patryk

Because the control panel on Drupal, it's not as easy to use as on WordPress. People don't like using Drupal.

Drupal has a problem because the competition is strong. Drupal has strong competitors, like WordPress. We’re still talking about the same type of Content Management System. And basically, WordPress has won this battle a lot of years ago.

Tips for those who want to choose Content Management System

Olga

You have a lot of experience in the field of CMSs. Maybe you can give some tips or advice to people who just want to choose the right CMS for their business.

Patryk

In short, the advice for the company who wants to choose the best solution for the business? If your budget is small. and you don't have a lot of time to create a personal solution. and you want to display only the basic description on your website, in this case, I would prefer WordPress. For another, no. For example, it will be strange for the company, the big company to use the old technology, especially if we're talking about some modern agency, the IT company or even our Frontend House.

It will be strange when we will be talking about Strapi, Strapi is the best, and we will use WordPress. No, it’s not working like this.

How soon will WordPress's technology become outdated?

Olga

And I have the next question for you. WordPress, it's like how many years? 15 or more than 15 years on the market. Do you think that it will become outdated? Finally? Because it is still used and it still works. But maybe in a few years it will lose its power?

Patryk

I don't think so. It will be pretty popular, we still have the new WordPress releases. Like I said, the first release was in March or May 2003. So it's a long, long time ago. But of course, at the moment we use a totally different version of the WordPress engine. But we still use the same solution, we still use the same technology and this is the problem in WordPress. We still use PHP, we still use the jQuery library, we still use open-source extensions. And people like it.

But like I said, it's not a safe solution. It's not good for performance. And even if, for example, someone likes the admin panel on WordPress and installs a lot of extensions, it won't look good. The UX and UI on this panel are changed and it's not good even for people who like WordPress. Really.

Olga

Thank you, Patrick. Thank you for answering today. If you have more questions for Patrick, you can ask them in the comments section.

Patryk

Comments section or please contact us via Frontend House contact form (menu at the top of the page).

Olga

You will find it on our website and see you soon. Thank you. Bye.

Patryk

Bye.