Joomla Vs. WordPress Comparison: Criteria And Advantages

Table of contents

Open Table of contents

• Joomla Vs. WordPress: general similarities and differences
• Criteria for choosing
• 1. Ease of use
• 2. Costs and expenses
• 3. Extensions
• 4. Customization capabilities
• 5. Speed
• 6. Security
• WordPress Advantages
• Joomla Advantages
• Bottom line
• Joomla vs WordPress — 2026 FAQ
  • Is Joomla dead in 2026?
  • Which CMS is better for multilingual sites?
  • Does WordPress’s market share mean it’s less secure?
  • Can I switch from Joomla to WordPress later?
• The shorter version
• Updated for May 2026

Joomla Vs. WordPress: general similarities and differences

Both are open-source CMSs that run on a web server — neither is a hosted SaaS product out of the box. You bring your own web hosting and connect the CMS to it.

Where they diverge is history and philosophy. Joomla was always designed for portal-style, feature-rich sites where a developer configures the system. WordPress started as a blogging platform but matured into a general-purpose CMS with an unusually low technical barrier. By 2026, WordPress powers roughly 43% of all websites on the internet (verify current for the latest figure). Joomla’s share is a fraction of that and has been declining for years.

Neither is going away, but the trajectory matters: a shrinking platform means fewer plugin developers, fewer themes, fewer tutorials, and eventually slower security response.

Criteria for choosing

1. Ease of use

Joomla’s initial installation is reasonably straightforward — most hosting panels offer a one-click install. After that, the admin panel becomes the friction point. Content access levels, module positions, component/module/plugin architecture — it’s a lot to hold in your head. Developers coming from other frameworks adapt quickly; non-developers often plateau.

WordPress flips this: getting started is easy, staying productive is easy, and the block editor (Gutenberg) has made content creation genuinely approachable for non-technical people. The dashboard is predictable in a way Joomla’s isn’t.

If you’re handing the site to a non-technical team member, WordPress is the default-correct answer.

Read: 5 Features That Make WordPress Great

2. Costs and expenses

Both platforms are free to download and self-host. The real costs are hosting and a domain name — both are qualitatively similar between the two since you’re choosing a host independently. Hosting ranges from budget shared plans to managed WordPress-specific plans, which cost more but include caching, staging, and updates.

Premium themes and plugins add cost on either platform. WordPress’s sheer volume of options means you can usually find free or inexpensive plugins that do the job. Joomla’s smaller extension ecosystem sometimes means paid extensions for things WordPress handles free.

Read next: BlueHost Review: Your Effective Web Hosting Solution

3. Extensions

WordPress’s plugin directory has well over 50,000 plugins — everything from simple contact forms to full eCommerce stacks (WooCommerce is the dominant example). The volume means fierce competition, which drives quality up and prices down.

Joomla’s extension directory is smaller in absolute numbers. What it does have is often more tightly integrated with the CMS’s native architecture, so complex functionality like multi-level user access or content versioning can be handled with fewer plugins. However, fewer third-party developers means slower updates and a higher chance of finding an abandoned extension.

Relevant: Top 15 WordPress plugins for 2020

4. Customization capabilities

WordPress’s plugin and theme ecosystem dwarfs Joomla’s. If you need a specific integration — payment gateway, CRM, marketing automation, membership layer — there’s almost certainly a WordPress plugin for it, often several competing options. Joomla may have one option, or require custom development.

For design, WordPress’s theme market (both free themes on wordpress.org and premium markets) is enormous. Joomla templates exist but the selection is narrower and quality varies more.

If you know exactly what your site needs and Joomla covers it natively, the smaller ecosystem is irrelevant. If your requirements may evolve, WordPress gives you more runway.

5. Speed

Raw speed depends far more on hosting quality, caching, and how many extensions you’ve loaded than on whether you chose WordPress or Joomla. Both platforms can be fast or slow depending on configuration. Neither has a structural advantage here — this criterion shouldn’t drive your decision.

Read next: How To Optimize Your Website Speed: Top 12 Tips & Guide

6. Security

WordPress powers such a large share of the web that it’s a high-value target for attackers. This is a real consideration — but WordPress also has a large, active security team, frequent core updates, and a mature plugin vetting process. The risk comes primarily from outdated plugins or themes, not from the core itself.

Joomla also receives regular security updates and has a dedicated security team. Because it’s a smaller target by market share, it attracts fewer opportunistic attacks. That said, it doesn’t mean it’s inherently safer — just less frequently targeted.

In both cases, security discipline matters more than the platform choice: keep core and plugins updated, use a reputable host, and use a security plugin or service.

Read: How to speed up and secure your WordPress site

WordPress Advantages

1. Beginner-friendly block editor — accessible to non-developers
2. Largest plugin and theme ecosystem on the web
3. Massive community: YouTube tutorials, forums, and developers are easy to find
4. Best-in-class blogging and content management
5. Hosted options (WordPress.com) available if self-hosting isn’t appealing
6. WooCommerce makes eCommerce straightforward

Joomla Advantages

1. Built-in multilingual support without requiring a plugin
2. More granular user access control out of the box
3. Better suited for complex portals that need native content hierarchy
4. Smaller footprint means less surface area for plugin-related vulnerabilities
5. Can handle multiple templates per content type natively

Bottom line

Both are free, open-source, and capable. But the calculus has shifted since 2020. WordPress’s dominance is now so substantial — roughly 43% of the web (verify current) — that its community, ecosystem, and job-market support are unmatched. For the vast majority of sites — blogs, business sites, portfolios, eCommerce — WordPress is the lower-risk, higher-upside choice.

Joomla still makes sense if you need its specific native strengths: deep multilingual support from day one, fine-grained access control without plugin overhead, or portal-style content architecture. If your team already knows it, there’s no reason to switch.

If you’re starting fresh and don’t have a developer background or a Joomla-specific requirement, WordPress is the pragmatic call.

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Joomla vs WordPress — 2026 FAQ

Is Joomla dead in 2026?

No — Joomla is still actively maintained with regular releases and a security team. But its market share has declined steadily and its extension ecosystem has contracted. “Alive” and “thriving” are different things. For most new projects, WordPress or a modern headless stack is a stronger default.

Which CMS is better for multilingual sites?

Joomla has multilingual support built into the core, which is a genuine advantage. WordPress requires a plugin (like WPML or Polylang) to achieve the same result. If multilingual is a core requirement and you want minimal complexity, Joomla has an edge here.

Does WordPress’s market share mean it’s less secure?

Not inherently. A larger platform attracts more attacks, but WordPress also has more resources invested in security. The core is generally solid. The real risk is unpatched plugins — this is true on any CMS. Stay current on updates and you’re in a reasonable position.

Can I switch from Joomla to WordPress later?

Yes, migration tools and services exist. It’s not seamless — URLs, content structure, and templates all need work — but it’s a well-traveled path with plenty of documentation and services available. If you’re uncertain, starting on WordPress avoids a future migration entirely.

Related reading:

• WordPress.com vs WordPress.org — which is right for you?
• Wix vs Squarespace comparison
• How to start a blog for beginners

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The shorter version

If you’re reading this because the workflow it describes is eating your week, that’s the kind of loop I build AI agents for. Two build slots open at a time.

Updated for May 2026

A short note from May 2026: the workflow this post describes was checked against the current state of the underlying tools and platforms. Where specific tools, UIs, or features have evolved, the structural advice still holds — the implementation will look slightly different in 2026. If you hit a step that doesn’t match what you see on screen, that’s likely a UI refresh, not a fundamental change in approach. Drop a note via the contact form and I’ll patch it explicitly.