Joomla is a popular CMS software and an open source WordPress competitor. It is a robust, multi-purpose and flexible CMS platform with a large community of users and developers. Joomla allows you to do many of the things that WordPress can do, and then some more. If you're looking for an alternative to WordPress, there are several options available.
Try Wix, Webnode or Shopify for free. Video backgrounds and animations are no problem with Wix. This website builder also does SEO well. Portfolio pages, in particular, are very good and, most importantly, easy to create. They have many business-centric applications (for example, for hotels or restaurants) that can make your life easier if you are in one of these industries.
Wix also offers dedicated email and live chat support, which can be very useful for beginners. However, you cannot switch to a completely new template once you have selected one, and you will have limited access to the source files. Also, compared to WordPress, you can't do much to optimize the loading speed of your site. By the way, we have a Wix vs. Squarespace comparison if you're interested.
Squarespace is a popular website builder among creative users. The layouts are very elegant and responsive, meaning they automatically adjust to each visitor's screen size. You can import your WordPress blog into Squarespace, which we really like. The Squarespace blog, in general, is the most powerful among the WordPress alternatives we list here. It also comes with all the SEO options you need right from the start.
There is no need to install any plugins, as is the case with WordPress. However, keep in mind that Squarespace is more difficult to use than Wix or Weebly, for example, due to its complicated interface. If your problem with WordPress isn't that it's too complicated, but that you feel too limited, then Webflow should be on your radar. The editor looks a bit like Photoshop and offers a lot of options. They're a little hard to use for beginners (like me).
Creating a site with Jimdo is a good option if you are looking for an assisted website builder. More than 20 million websites have been created on Jimdo, and there is a free basic plan that you can try. Paid plans include not only the web editor, but also images, content and a simple online store. However, you should keep in mind that Jimdo doesn't have as many features as other website builders. If you're a fan of WordPress, you might be disappointed that templates are much less flexible on Jimdo, and there isn't even a blog feature. Jimdo is made for beginners who want to have their website online as quickly as possible and don't care too much about the features; they are a particular aspect of the website.
Every couple of years there is usually a new platform that is promoted; this time it's Webflow. They provide a truly smooth editing experience through their editor. WooCommerce is the most popular e-commerce plugin for WordPress; turn your website into a complete online store (see our review). But as you can imagine, creating, maintaining and updating your online store will require technical knowledge. It is true that all the tools mentioned above (for example, Squarespace (or Wix) will allow you to easily create an online store. However, they are not the best solutions for larger e-commerce projects.
If you're looking for an easy-to-use alternative to WooCommerce, stop searching; Shopify is in our experience the easiest store builder for large projects. In addition, they offer clean and responsive layouts that will make your store look good on any device. They also have a large community of users, partners and developers; this ecommerce builder does not lack features. You'll be able to create product variants, manage &% shipping taxes effectively and even extend Shopify's capabilities through its App Store. Although it is a really good solution it does have a couple of drawbacks; working with multiple currencies is not as easy as it should be. Unless you use Shopify Payments as your default payment processor Shopify will charge a transaction fee (0.5% — 2%) for each sale (online or offline) you process. This Australian store builder is also a good choice for creating medium to large online stores with; especially if you're looking to create multi-currency ecommerce projects or if you need all the SEO features you can get. Another interesting thing is that BigCommerce won't charge you a transaction fee for every sale you process; however they have an annual sales limit that will force you to upgrade your plan if it is exceeded; check all their prices and plans here to make sure you understand their conditions. But if you opt for BigCommerce you should know that they come with some pitfalls; it is not possible to easily create multilingual online stores (not translated by Google) even with external applications or premium templates. Your designs might look a little more modern and there are more user-friendly alternatives (e.g., Wix or Weebly).
Editing a website with the WordPress platform is quite simple even for beginners but what about the installation process? If you are not very technically minded you may run into problems despite its famous 5-minute installation claim. Not everyone knows or wants to know how an FTP client works or how to configure it; screenshot of WordPress Editor Now I don't want to pretend that there were no cases where WordPress is the only real option there are definitely. If for example you want to run a website with a searchable database for real estate offers it's also a great option if you need a complex member area; You can find some tips on WordPress solutions in our WordPress Beginner's Guide. In addition the tools themselves are very easy to use; basically you see the result right away because you're working on the site itself; this is different from WordPress where you use an abstract editor: website builders show you what you get right away. Once you've found the right provider you can start focusing on generating content; any technical issues will be handled by your provider so don't worry about them too much!.
