Best WordPress Alternatives: 12 Great Options Compared

WordPress is a content management system (CMS) capable of creating just about anything: a blog, a portfolio, or even a business website. Since it's so versatile, the platform's difficulty depends on your skill level as well as the complexity of your project.

WordPress absolutely dominates the market, accounting for nearly 75% of websites whose CMS we could identify. So, what are the alternatives?

Even though it's extremely popular for a number of valid reasons, WordPress isn't perfect. Before introducing you to some of the available alternatives, we'll highlight a few of WordPress's disadvantages.

WordPress might not be the ideal solution for your Web project for any of these reasons:

Don't get us wrong: WordPress is a powerful CMS capable of realizing nearly any sort of Web project, however, it isn't the be-all and end-all.

Deciding which alternatives to WordPress are right for you and your business depends on what kind of project it is you're trying to realize, as well as the type of website that you have in mind. While WordPress can do just about anything, other solutions are geared towards specific niches, making them better suited for those undertakings.

Our 12 alternatives are grouped into four categories: Site builders, self-hosted CMSs, ecommerce solutions, and blogging platforms.

Site builders are extremely popular since they don't require any programming knowledge. So long as you have something of an eye for design (and even that isn't necessary), they allow anyone to create almost any kind of sleek website. The secret is in their editors, with which users can build a website visually and edit it in a frontend similar environment.

There are lots of site builders on the market. Below, we've listed three that we consider among the best:

What WordPress is to CMS, Wix is to site building, being one of the most popular solutions on the market. And little wonder, as its nifty drag and drop editor prioritizes user-friendliness, making the platform far easier to use than WordPress.

The basic version of Wix is free, however, be aware that you'll need to put up with ads, storage limits, as well as a Wix subdomain. Paid, ad-free subscriptions that include a unique domain start at $16 per month.

If you regularly listen to podcasts or watch YouTube, chances are that you've already heard of Squarespace, since their marketing team seems to sponsor just about every content creator.

But, this isn't all just a gimmick: Squarespace really does make setting up a website child's play. WIth it, you won't need to give a second thought to things like hosting or a domain either. To get started, just create an account, select a subscription, and you'll be good to go.

Squarespace's pricing structure is straightforward: A personal website costs just $16 a month if paying yearly, while a business website will set you back $23 a month. You can open an online store with the Commerce Basic package for $27 a month.

By the way: If you can't make up your mind about which of our two leading site builders is best for you, check out our Wix vs. Squarespace comparison for more details.

Weebly is our third alternative to WordPress and works similarly to the two site builders above. With its intuitive drag and drop editor and a nice selection of templates, you'll be able to quickly and easily create your own website. We particularly liked its smartphone app, which you can use to build anywhere when on the go.

Unfortunately, you won't be able to unleash as much creativity with Weebly as with some other site builders: Its drag and drop isn't as free as Wix's, somewhat limiting your customization options. But that platform does score thanks to its powerful ecommerce features.

The platform's free version ties websites to a Weebly.com subdomain, includes ads, and comes with a number of other limitations.

Premium subscriptions for personal, organizational, or business use are available. The Professional subscription, which is ad-free and includes a custom domain costs $12 per month (billed annually), while the Performance plan, which includes advanced ecommerce features, will set you back $26 a month.

Website builders revolutionized the Internet, removing most of the barriers to creating a Web presence. While great for those who don't want to worry about HTML, CSS, or the like, they do impose some limitations. Self-hosted CMSs, on the other hand, provide a useful WordPress alternative that grants their users maximum freedom.

Drupal is an open-source CMS that's great for creating blogs, websites, and even social networks. The CMS is particularly geared towards experienced developers who want to build more intricate Web projects.

Drupal is free, and you won't need to pay any licensing or usage fees. Of course, there will be other costs, such as those for hosting and a domain.

Joomla is a dynamic, open-source CMS that also enjoys quite a bit of popularity. Both seen as more versatile than WordPress and easier to use than Drupal, it is the go-to solution among less experienced developers.

Joomla is also free to use with no licensing or usage fees. Like Drupal, you will have to pay to get your website up and running though. Among other things, costs include premium extensions and plugins.

Perhaps the biggest trend in CMS recently has been "headless" content management. These CMSs separate backend features (such as content creation and management) from the front end (how content is presented). Once created, this allows content to be better and more easily output on a wide range of different channels.

Contentful is one of the most popular headless CMSs. With it, you'll define content elements and page types, thereafter filling them with content that can be displayed in a variety of different ways. Once this basic framework has been created, no further development work is needed to display content across any number of mediums or channels.

Contentful offers a free Community package, which is really only designed for small projects and testing the platform. Its Team subscription costs at least $489 per year, which works out to just over $40 per month - definitely not one of the more affordable options on this list.

Most websites exist to sell something, whether it's an idea, a service, or a physical product. WordPress does offer ecommerce features and add-ons like WooCommerce, however, there also exist CMSs that specialize in this area. Any one of these would likely be preferable if you're looking to set up an online store.

Shopify* is an ecommerce site builder that makes setting up an online store easy. Its free and paid ready-made apps and themes help to not only design your digital storefront but also to present and sell your products more effectively.

Three Shopify subscriptions are available: Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify. These differ mostly in terms of the number of personal accounts, features, and transaction fees. The last of these are only incurred if you use an external payment gateway: None are charged with Shopify Payments.

BigCommerce* is another ecommerce builder that includes hosting and a drag and drop editor that can be used by anyone, even without a lick of coding experience. Setting up an online store with the platform is a piece of cake too, making it easy to offer and sell as many products as you'd like.

Multiple payment methods including PayPal, Amazon, and Apple Pay are supported, along with third-party apps and extensions.

Four different subscription packages are offered: Standard, Plus, Pro, and Enterprise. Each differs in terms of the number of shops and features that are available, however, none include transaction fees.

Adobe's Magento is an ecommerce solution for business owners with some programming experience. The open-source platform allows for stores to be customized to your preferences but is much more intricate and versatile than competitors like Shopify or BigCommerce.

Thanks to its marketing tools, you can keep tabs on all of your sales, while the handy add-ons make it possible to fully customize your digital store.

How much you'll pay for Magento depends on the size of your store and your needs. With that said, compared to shop builders, the open-source solution is definitely more expensive.

Believe it or not, before WordPress dominated the market, it began life as blogging software. Following its rise in popularity, it did leave something of a gap, with a number of smaller services emerging in its wake.

Ghost, a crowdfunded CMS is particularly well-suited for bloggers, journalists, and editors - in other words: anyone who needs a text-based website.

The platform is nowhere near as complex or flexible as WordPress, however, that's by design, since it allows anyone to create an elegant and easy-to-manage website.

Ghost's costs are linked to your blog's success: The more readers (or "members") it has, the more you'll be charged. Rates start at $9 (up to 500 members) and increase from there. Beyond that, a number of different rates are offered which vary in terms of the features they include (such as additional templates, or support).

Medium continues to enjoy widespread popularity as a blogging platform that helps authors to reach millions of readers. Of course, comparing WordPress to Medium is difficult. Whereas WordPress is a fully functional CMS that offers nearly endless possibilities, Medium is a blogging platform that's geared towards text-based sites. All the same, supposing that you don't need more, setting up your website using Medium could spare you quite a few headaches.

Medium is a publishing platform on which authors can make their content available, tag it, and follow other bloggers. In this way, anyone can create their own digital newspaper.

Medium is free, however, for $5 per month, or $50 per year, you'll get unlimited access. This allows you to read as much content as you like, listen to audio versions of articles, as well as take advantage of a few other features.

Blogger is a simple, free, and reliable service offered by Google that's geared towards one thing: Blogging. In contrast to WordPress, Blogger is not a CMS. Still, anyone who just wants to get their texts online in as user-friendly a way as possible, and doesn't need too many features, will likely be pleased with the service. All you'll need to get started is a Google account.

Blogger and its domain, Blogspot, are completely free.

All it takes is a quick look at WordPress's competitors to see that it's a true all-arounder. Still, depending on what it is that you intend to accomplish, the all-in-one CMS might not be the best solution: Depending on your programming experience, the type of project you're looking at, and what sort of compromises you're willing to make, there are a number of good alternatives.

In our website & ecommerce center, you'll find plenty of information about how to set up your own website, as well as what the best site builders are.