Are There WordPress Alternatives
We talk a lot about cheap hosting WordPress sites. WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems out there for blog, online retail site, or website. However, are there any alternatives?
If you're considering WordPress for your cheap hosting website, here are five WordPress alternatives compared it against to make a more informed final decision. Just know that these WordPress alternatives don't feature the massive community of developers there to help you when you get stuck or have a question that WordPress has.
1. Are There WordPress Alternatives: Plone
This is a free open source CMS option that is a little better than Drupal and Joomla!. Why? Plone performs well, relies on the Python programming language, and is easier to use. Available in 40 languages, Plone has come to be a well-respected CMS in its ten years of existence. Their newest version, released last year, features many improvements beneficial to the user, making it easier to set up your website.
The administration tools and process for creating your user profile are said to be better than WordPress, and its internal search is function is highly useful.
2. Are There WordPress Alternatives: Adobe Business Catalyst
This is a SaaS-based CMS and e-commerce tool offering, available for $6 per month. It's perfect for the user who doesn't possess a lot of technical knowledge, featuring simple drag and drop functionality. You should have just a little HTML or CSS familiarity, but just the basics.
Installation is similar to WordPress, edit content directly on the web page, and add forms and analytics that are highly useful. The downfall: it's an Adobe product. That means excellent support comes with a price tag.
Pick up the webCommerce edition for $60 each month, which can support up to five users. Social media integration, custom-built FAQs, apps, and other modules are a bonus but storage is just two gigabytes. If you begin an Adobe Creative Cloud membership, Adobe gives you five free Business Catalyst webBasics sites.
3. Are There WordPress Alternatives: Typo
Built on Ruby on Rails, this CMS is free and open source. The style and layout is similar to WordPress, so if that's what you're used to, the transition should be smooth! They just don't have the massive developer community WordPress has. However, out of the alternate CMS options, this is one of the most popular.
It's highly reliable for many uses, and features customizable SEO interface and themes, individual user dashboards, and category support. It's also simpler than WordPress to get up and running, meaning less time getting used to using it.
4. Are There WordPress Alternatives: eZ Publish
Just like WordPress, eZ Publish is built with PHP. It is offered in an open source version for small businesses and publishers, and an enterprise version as well. It takes a bit more work to get it all set up as compared to WordPress, but it offers more features and is highly scalable. Check out eZ Publish's App Factory tool to build mobile apps!
5. Are There WordPress Alternatives: Umbraco
This is another free, open source CMS, with version 6.0 released this January. It offers backwards-compatibility with Umbraco v4, a new public API, and faster data layer. It is becoming increasingly popular worldwide due to the fact it is highly customizable, and development is picking up in response.
It supports HTML5 uploads, and oEmbed tooling for embedding various media. To get an idea for the enterprise uses of an Umbraco site, the UK Wired site, Heinz, Tesco, and SanDisk all run on the CMS.
Have you tried any of these alternatives to WordPress for your cheap hosting site? Tell us about your experience!
Photo courtesy of PhilCampbell via Flickr Creative Commons
