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CMS Recommendations? Alternatives to Wordpress?

by Myles Sinclair
16 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
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Hi Guys and Gals,

I'm looking for any recommendations of CMS platforms, other than Wordpress. I already use Wordpress, so am quite familiar with it.

I'd like something that is a bit less demanding on the server, fast to load, (backend and pages) and a fairly short learning curve when it comes to site design. I am fairly competent with html, css and php, but it took me a while to learn how to build themes for Wordpress. So something with a shorter leaning curve would be nice!

I'm leaning towards Open Source, not just because it's free, but it is usually really well supported. However, I will consider a paid solution if it's really good, and there's a try before you buy option.

So if you've been using something that fits the bill and you can't live without it, please let me know!
#alternatives #cms #recommendations #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author WPcrew
    Hard question.
    Most of the people here would tell you WordPress, cause it's the shortest learning curve, easy theming, great docs, and on.
    If I compare it to Joomla and Drupal (the big 3), WP is/should be the fastest and lightest.
    Drupal is more dev oriented, Joomla is more user friendly, but more robust than WP.

    I tried long time sNews, it's very light CMS, but never really used it anywhere.
    Check this list: 10 Simple and Light Weight CMS Solutions | Tools.
    Good luck.

    P.S.
    Maybe you should invest in better host, or switch hosting company, since I have pretty heavy sites that are working quite good on shared hosting.
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    • Profile picture of the author Myles Sinclair
      Hey, thanks for the feedback and the link. I'll check them out.

      I'm not unhappy with Wordpress, I just thought I'd step out of my comfort zone for a while and see how other platforms stack up in comparison.

      I have used WP with shared hosting sucessfully in the past, but switched to VPS hosting last year.

      Although the pages of sites load fast enough, I notice that the backend has sometimes been a little sluggish over the years no matter what hosting I've been with. This doesn't seem to be just my experience, as I've observed the same thing whenever watching different tutorials on WP.

      I read somewhere recently that WP can be quite demanding on a server, but other than that I don't know how it compares with the demands made by other platforms.

      I've come across Concrete5 which looks interesting, and I'll check out sNews that you mentioned!
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  • Profile picture of the author brianh781
    I use Concrete5 now instead of Wordpress, unless the client says, "I want a Wordpress site." It's easier to incorporate custom designs and there is a plugin called "Designer Content" which allows you to build custom content modules very easily and quickly.

    It doesn't have the community behind it that Wordpress does, and therefore, it's much more limited when it comes to plugins, themes, etc. However, if you just need a content site, a blog, a gallery, or a simple shopping cart, you'll pretty much find anything you need.

    Drupal and Joomla have become much too bloated, and are more of a development platform now than a CMS. I'm afraid Wordpress seems to be following in their footsteps, but it's kept it's learning curve down to a manageable level.

    If you simply need a website with editable content, I've built a roll-your-own simple CMS solution for an ad agency here, that is easy to implement and extend as you'd like, but it does require a bit of PHP coding. Let me know if you're interested in a sample.

    Good luck!

    Brian H.
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  • Profile picture of the author aksingh000
    concrete5
    joomla
    drupal
    tumblr
    weebly
    /
    /
    /
    /
    /
    least blogspot
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  • Profile picture of the author Ekushey
    My suggestion would be Joomla.
    Signature

    I'll solve your PHP, MySQL, WordPress or any website or server related problems.
    Hire me on Freelancer.com at an affordable rate with fast turnaround time.

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  • Profile picture of the author Paul M Smith
    Another good cms that I have used is modx takes some time to learn but is very good at what it does. A great support team back it and the community is also quite large. Two platforms to choose from Evolution and Revolution depending on your skill set. Try it out.
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  • Profile picture of the author georgeweb13
    I think the best CMS, is a custom CMS.
    Just exactly as you want it.
    No need to adapt it as you want it, with wp or anything like that.
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  • Profile picture of the author kpmedia
    Originally Posted by Myles Sinclair View Post

    I'd like something that is a bit less demanding on the server, fast to load, (backend and pages) and a fairly short learning curve when it comes to site design.
    Plain HTML still works.

    I did one last week. It was just a few pages.
    Signature
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    • Profile picture of the author Myles Sinclair
      Thanks for all the suggestions and comments. It's been a few months since I posted the question, and I have been a bit sidetracked with other things. However, I keep coming back to Concrete5, so will probably try that out first.

      Originally Posted by kpmedia View Post

      Plain HTML still works.

      I did one last week. It was just a few pages.
      I still do create sites in HTML, and yes, they work great. But most of the sites I build now for other people tend to be CMS driven.
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  • Profile picture of the author ThomasDWright
    Use blogspot. It is also good for website designing. You will easily handle it because it is mostly same as WordPress.
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    • Profile picture of the author Myles Sinclair
      Originally Posted by ThomasDWright View Post

      Use blogspot. It is also good for website designing. You will easily handle it because it is mostly same as WordPress.
      As I host sites that I build for people, I'm only looking at self-hosted CMS solutions.
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  • Profile picture of the author muncheech
    Not Open source but I like to use Perch.

    Very lightweight and does the job. They have been around for a while so i wouldn't worry too much about updates.
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  • Profile picture of the author LuckyIMer
    Joomla and Drupal are other popular CMS scripts with many free plugins and themes available online.
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    Increase Sales With These Business Consulting Tips !
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    • Profile picture of the author wiifm
      One if the big drawbacks with WordPress is the hoard of hackers trying to see how many they can cripple. Anyone know what the security is like with Concrete5?
      Signature
      Now ANYONE Can Create and Sell Their Own Product!
      http://2trk4.us/show/how
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  • Profile picture of the author jaman4mbd
    I recommend joomla. It is user friendly software. I am using it since a year ago.
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    • Profile picture of the author buildawesomewebsites
      I know it was already mentioned, but MODX is great, and only getting better. As a front-end developer, what I like most is the ability to have complete control over the HTML, and easily be able to create templates, custom template variables, chunks to hold various reusable components, and snippets which are very similar to "short codes" in WordPress.

      If you have a good handle on HTML and CSS, but want to leverage a CMS and create custom reusable components without having to write any PHP, MODX is the way to go.
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