The distinctive elements that made Umbraco and WordPress different in the past have converged. WordPress is no longer just a blogging platform, and Microsoft-based systems are no longer the only ones that can use Umbraco. Both provide nearly infinite scalability and extensibility and are highly customizable.
Numerous illustrious organizations utilize both of these content management systems (CMSs). It’s used by companies like Mercedes, Microsoft, and McDonald’s, among others, according to the Umbraco.com website. WordPress has a retinue of A-list businesses, including TED, PlayStation, IBM, and more. WordPress has a CMS market share of 64.1% and is utilized by 42.9% of all websites.
Umbraco vs. WordPress – It should be a strategic decision
However, preference for one over the other shouldn’t be based on popularity. It shouldn’t start with a detailed feature comparison either, as both can be fast, secure, and modular with the right implementation. Our decision to use a CMS is frequently influenced less by technical features than by how simple it will be to accomplish our objectives. As a result, we just have to respond to a few straightforward queries:
1. Is there an in-house development skillset?
The software / development stack each uses is the key distinction between Umbraco and WordPress. This “stack” simply refers to the software needed to run the CMS and the programming or scripting expertise required to keep it updated and grow it.
As of Umbraco 9, the CMS is compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac. It was created in C# and needs the.NET 5.0 framework, as well as MS SQL Server 2012 at a minimum. Only Windows may be used to run earlier versions of Umbraco. C#, SQL, and.Net 5 / ASP.NET Core competencies are a bare minimum.
WordPress: Supports Windows, Linux, and Mac platforms and calls for PHP (version 7.4), MySQL (version 5.7), or MariaDB (version 10.3). You should be proficient in PHP and SQL, at the very least.
Umbraco is therefore a likely option if you already have access to.NET developers. WordPress is your go-to CMS if PHP developers make up your in-house skill set (or if you don’t have any in-house devs).
2. What is your desired time-to-market?
The speed at which a minimum viable product can be developed is possibly one of the main distinctions between Umbraco and WordPress. Practically speaking, “minimum viable product” refers to the lowest component of a branded online presence that may support your objectives, whether they are to begin offering goods or services for sale or to build a website for a particular community.
A branded website with at least one product or service and all the essential pages (home, about, and contact) is an illustration of a minimum viable product. Alternatively, a single landing page with a contact or shopping option.
WordPress makes it simple to get started with an outstanding selection of ready-to-use themes, page builders, and page builder templates. Displaying a portfolio, establishing an online store, and offering online classes are all made simple by the point-and-click installation of plugins that expand the capabilities of a website.
The time-to-market is a little bit longer with Umbraco because it was developed as a “CMS by developers for developers.” Although the CMS has a library of packages and templates (like WordPress plugins), these will probably need more customization before going live.
3. What other apps / services do you use?
The time when your website and other apps or services were separate entities is long gone. Today, improving customer experience, business intelligence, and general company ease is all about efficiency and communication between dissimilar systems.
Planning demands that the choices we make are based on efficiency and economy. As such, in an environment where there is a strong reliance on integration with other Microsoft applications, choosing Umbraco hosting is your best bet since it is built on the Microsoft Technology stack and provides more options (like using Microsoft SDKs), and could therefore result in streamlined integrations that require less maintenance.
WordPress offers the most code-free integrations for open source or web-based apps and internet services that you use. A few examples of these are Google’s apps and services (Gmail, Drive, Calendar), LinkedIn, SalesForce, and a plethora of others. And if there isn’t a plugin that can help with integration, automation services like Zapier are probably where you’ll find what you need.
(Note: Keep in mind that Umbraco can be integrated with WordPress-specific apps and services, whereas WordPress-specific apps and services can be integrated with Microsoft’s offerings. In this case, finding the least-effort route is our only objective.)
Why (some) feature comparisons are mostly useless
For this piece, I decided to take a “business decision” approach because there are many Umbraco vs. WordPress Hosting comparison posts online, many of which frequently concentrate on feature comparisons to favor one CMS over another. However, because a CMS is really a tool, the choice should be carefully considered: Which will offer the biggest benefit for the longest time at an acceptable time and financial cost?
The majority of comparisons unfortunately contain a lot of false information regarding CMS, which is another factor. We’ll look at a few:
Security
Officially, two yearly penetration tests are conducted on Umbraco CMS and Umbraco Cloud. Does this make it more safe than a CMS where each new release is immediately evaluated and vetted by millions of users, developers, and hackers? No.
Both Umbraco and WordPress have safe core installations. But despite any installed security, shoddy coding can make any system vulnerable. Both CMSs have seen their fair share of flaws, but WordPress more so than Umbraco due to the sheer volume of both free and paid themes and plugins available.
Whichever CMS you select, you should put in place a protocol to make sure the themes, plugins, and packages you pick have the fewest potential security flaws.
Modularity
With any coding experience, it is simple to add functionality to Umbraco using the modular.NET framework. The reason WordPress doesn’t have the same outstanding scaling and extensible possibilities, according to Umbraco supporters, is because of this. And certainly, despite having a wealth of features to make extension simple, WordPress is not a framework out of the box.
Two plugins that can turn any WordPress installation into a modular framework with improved site functionality are Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) and CrocoBlock’s JetEngine. WordPress may also be integrated with a number of PHP frameworks. Here are examples for CodeIgniter and Laravel, respectively.
Both CMSs also allow a variety of API connections, which makes it easier to connect to third-party apps.
Therefore, modularity on its own is irrelevant unless you need a very particular functionality offered by one CMS but not the other.
Performance
Umbraco has a reputation for being sluggish. You’ll find a plethora of performance-related results if you Google “Umbraco performance.” Pages now load in the single digits thanks to Umbraco 9 and, more crucially, switching the CMS to.NET 5 (also known as ASP.NET Core).
WordPress has never actually had this issue right out of the box. However, very few WordPress installations are still live. Unfortunately, it’s far too simple to install a plugin that adds functionality to a website but ultimately uses up server resources and slows down content delivery. The same result can be achieved with poorly coded themes.
So which should you choose – Umbraco or WordPress?
You’ll benefit from a quicker time to market, point-and-click website building, design, and expansion with WordPress. However, Umbraco might be the best option if you want to interact with Microsoft Products in the future or need a CMS that has audit trail and rollback features straight out of the box.