Did you know that WordPress is used by 42.9% of all the websites which is a content management system market share of 64.1%? Although there are so many free blogging platforms available, WordPress is undoubtedly the king of all the content management systems (CMS). But here’s the thing: WordPress is not the ONLY best way to create a blog or website. Yes, WordPress is the #1 blogging platform but there are also other viable platforms that provides extremely useful features. So if you’re looking for the best WordPress competitor websites, we’ve few ultimate recommendations for you. Let’s dive into the details to find more about them.
12 Of The Best WordPress Alternatives to Use In 2023
1. Blogger.com
Blogger is undoubtedly one of the most powerful WordPress competitor. Blogspot.com is a widely popular blogging platform which was initially developed by Pyra Labs, which was later bought by Google in 2003. It doesn’t matter what your website needs are but you can use Blogger blogging platform to create anything ranging from online magazine to shopping to blogging to portfolio sites.
Why should you use Blogger as an alternative to WordPress? There’s always a HUGE debate goes on when it comes to picking the best platform from Blogger Vs WordPress. Few people say is Blogger is better and the rest will say WordPress is an incredible option. But let’s not just get into those details and focus only on the benefits of using Blogger. Blogger platform is easy to use, lightweight platform which loads fast and extremely reliable but if you’re still wondering about why should you choose Blogger over other alternatives to WordPress, here’s the #1 reason: affordability. Extremely cheap: Millions of people use Blogger over WordPress or any other blogging platform is it is free. You can set up a free blog on Blogger within minutes for zero dollars. All you need is an email account to sign up for their platform and you’re ready to roll. Not only that, it also provides you the option to purchase your own domain name (ex: www.blogger.com instead of www.blogger.blogspot.com) so you can maintain a professional looking website or business online. Although most people avoid Blogger platform for one reason: it doesn’t give you 100% full control but it’s still a great alternative for entry level bloggers. Quick note: If you’re wondering about how to start a blog or website using Blogger platform, here’s an easy to use tutorial on creating a free blog using Blogger which will be really helpful for you. Blogger.com Features list: Here’s the list of features that you get from Blogger platform. Pros of Blogspot.com: Cons of Blogspot.com: How to get started with Blogger blogging platform? You can create a blog on Blogger for completely free. Here’s the link where you can create a free account using your Gmail account.
2. Wix.com
Wix.com is a cloud-based website builder that allows you to create websites using drag and drop interface to customize however you like. Wix is considered as one of simplest website like WordPress most people use to create free websites within minutes.
Why should you use Wix as WordPress altenrative? if you don’t want to deal with any kind of programing, coding scripts like CSS, PHP etc, WiX is an excellent option which gives you extremely intuitive site building tools. Here’s a strong reason why one should pick Wix free website builder over other alternatives to WordPress. Create a beautiful blog with drag and drop builder: Wix offers you amazing drag and drop builder unlike WordPress which offers you fully customizable templates, intuitive drag and drop interface to easily create a business website no matter what industry you are in. Apart from that you will also have access to domains, secure hosting, easy invoicing, online bookings and so on to build a powerful business website to collect leads and turn them into customers. Wix Features list: Here’s the list of features that you get from this platform. Wix Pros: Wix Cons: How to get started with Wix blogging platform? Wix basically offers you a free version where you’ll get access to easy to use drag and drop editor, unlimited pages, 500 MB storage, secure hosting and a mobile site. Click here to start using Wix for free to create an amazing website for your business needs. You’ll also have an option to choose various plans from their premium feature where you’ll get access to more incredible features with better storage and premium customer support.
3. Weebly.com
Weebly is another incredible drag and drop website builder which is used by over 40,000,000 people worldwide. You can create anything from an online store to portfolio sites or SEO friendly websites to increase your website’s traffic and sales with ease.
Why Weebly is one of the best WordPress competitor in 2023? There’s a reason why over 40 million people use Weebly. The primary reason is Weebly comes out of the box with curated website templates, powerful ecommerce apps and integrated marketing tools (which include SEO and lead generation tools) to launch your websites. Weebly Features list: Here’s the list of features that you get from this platform. Weebly Pros: Weebly Cons: How to get started with Weebly blogging platform? Use this link to sign up for Weebly and start your website or eCommerce store today.
4. Pixpa.com
Pixpa is an all-in-one, easy to use website builder designed to empower photographers, creators and businesses to create beautiful, professional websites effortlessly, without touching a single line of code.
Why is Pixpa one of the best WordPress competitors in 2023? Pixpa offers robust portfolio building and management tools, feature-rich website builder platform, with integrated ecommerce, client galleries and blog. It’s main selling points are the extremely affordable pricing plans and proactive customer service, setting it apart from other website builders on the market. Here’s the list of features that you get from this all-in-one website builder platform. Pixpa Feature Highlights: Pixpa provides 24×7 customer support for all its users through live chat. Their customer service is rated 4.9/5 on Capterra and has an average response time of under 3 minutes. Pixpa Pros: Pixpa Cons: Pixpa Pricing:
Light – $3 per month (billed annually) Personal – $7 per month (billed annually) Expert – $10 per month (billed annually) Business – $16 per month (billed annually)
How to get started with Pixpa’s blogging platform? Use this link to sign up for a full-featured 15-day trial and start building your portfolio website and store today.
5. Drupal.org
Just like WordPress, Drupal is also a powerful content management system (CMS) which is an open source project that helps you build powerful websites for any kind of audience. From healthcare to eCommerce to media and publishing, you can use Drupal CMS to create great websites.
What makes Drupal a better alternative to WordPress? The #1 reason to consider using Drupal over other WordPress competitor sites is that it provides exceptional security. In fact, Drupal CMS is considered as one of the most scrutinized and secure platforms on the world wide web. Hacking a website which is hosted on Drupal platform is almost an impossible task because it considers each element of a website as an object and has security algorithms working for every element. So if you’re concerned about your website’s security, go for Drupal. Not only that, Drupal seamlessly integrates with all the popular and essential tools like;
Shopify Yoast Salesforce MailChimp Google analytics and so on
Drupal Features list: Here’s the list of features that you get from Drupal CMS platform. Drupal Pros: Drupal Cons: How to get started with Drupal blogging platform? Click here to download and try Drupal platform for free to create highly secured and advanced websites.
6. Joomla.org
Joomla is the 2nd biggest content management system in the world after WordPress which is used by 2 million websites worldwide. It is also considered as one of the top WordPress competitor websites which includes add-on extensions, a ton of user-friendly templates and so on. Just like WordPress, Joomla also has the large community support where you can ask other Joomla users for any kind of support. Joomla also runs on almost all of the hosting platforms such as HostGator, InMotion, GoDaddy and so on.
Why Joomla is one of the powerful WordPress competitor? Here are some of the fascinating stats about Joomla.
Nearly 2 million active websites are using Joomla Over 9% of all known business websites are using Joomla Over 6% of the CMS market worldwide is using Joomla Over 3% of the entire web is using Joomla platform
If you’re still wondering about why you need a platform like Joomla, here’s the #1 reason to pick it over other alternative to WordPress. Joomla is SEO friendly out of the box: Joomla is search engine friendly right out of the box and offers features like creating an alias. Let us explain it more clearly. Whenever you create an article or a menu item, Joomla automatically creates an alias for its default PHP string so that the links to particular pages are optimized well both for your website audiences and search engines like Google. Joomla Features list: Here’s the list of features that you get from this platform. Joomla Pros: Joomla Cons: How to get started with Joomla blogging platform? If you want to get started with Joomla, click on this link and Joomla for free. You can use Joomla community forum or their video tutorials (which are available for free) to find out how you can setup a website using Joomla!
7. Ghost.org
Ghost.org is an open source publishing platform which is focused solely on professional publishing and writing. It is also one of the widely used blogging platforms with over 1.3 million websites using it.
Why should you use Ghost? WordPress used to be a great platform for publishers and writers but it is definitely going in a different direction by extending its features. So if you’re someone who’s looking for an ultimate platform for writing, blogging and publishing – Ghost should be your first choice. Ghost Features list: Here’s the list of features that you get from Ghost: Ghost.org Pros: Ghost.org Cons: How to get started with Ghost blogging platform? Click here to try Ghost and use it as a publishing platform to engage with your target audience online.
8. Squarespace.com
Squarespace is the an ultimate solution if you’re searching for better blogging platform to create a beautiful website. Squarespace is used by millions of people worldwide and its known for its customization controls along with a variety of incredible templates to choose from.
What makes Squarespace a better WordPress alternative? There are literally hundreds of incredible features offered by Squarespace ranging from images to audio to managing your blog content blocks. The primary reason most people prefer Squarespace even though it’s bit expensive is it takes care of most of the SEO and technical side of building websites. Squarespace automatically generates and links a proper sitemap.xml, robots.txt file, automatic tagging, clean URLs, automatic redirects and so on out of the box. So if you want a blogging platform where you can peacefully focus on content creation and still get better search rankings, Squarespace should be your choice. Read: The Complete Guide to Affiliate Marketing to Make More Money for Beginners In 2023 Squarespace Features list: Here’s the list of features that you get from this platform. Squarespace Pros: Squarespace Cons: How to get started with Squarespace blogging platform? If you’re looking to start your website on Squarespace, click on this link to get started and pick a plan that meets your budget and website needs.
9. Medium.com
Millions of people love Medium platform for one specific reason: Medium as a beautiful, minimalistic user interface which is indeed a perfect blend of functionality and simplicity. If you’re looking for a publishing platform where it offers great visibility to your content, Medium should be your top pick.
Why should you use Medium over other alternatives? The #1 difference between Medium and other platforms like WordPress or any other such sites is its network. There are millions of users who are actively using Medium to consume and create content online. That’s what gives you an edge to get wider coverage for your content even if you’re just getting started. Medium community offers you a wide range of topics to choose from. It’s completely free to use. Although you can spend $5 a month to get additional features and benefits. Medium Features list: Here’s the list of features that you get from this platform. Medium Pros:
Purely focused on publishing and writing. Gives you access to complete freedom of writing. Just sign up with your email account for free and you can start writing Access to easy content management where you can easily embed images, links, add subheadings, bullet points so on with ease Completely free to use You don’t have to pay anything for hosting or maintaining your blog on Medium It’s a powerful platform for publishers, writers and content creators
Medium Cons:
You don’t have full control over your site or content as Medium owns it unlike WordPress You can’t customize a URL or build your own professional website using it. Medium is just another publishing platform where you can create content to grow your audience online
How to get started with Medium blogging platform? Click here to get started with Medium for free and start publishing great content to reach wider audience to build and grow your online community.
10. Tumblr.com
Tumblr is used by over 400 million blogs worldwide which comes with easy to use tools to get you started with your website where you can share literally anything you want from stories to images to gifs to TV shows.
Why should you use Tumblr? Tumblr has so many ready made templates and gives you access to a wide range of useful and integration options to help you literally post anything on Tumblr ranging from;
Text, photos, chat Quotes and links Audios and videos And what not?
Tumblr Features list: Here’s the list of features that you get from Tumblr platform. Tumblr Pros: Tumblr Cons: How to get started with Tumblr blogging platform? Click here to sign up for Tumblr and enter your email to start your Tumblr blog for free. Read: How to get more followers on Tumblr?
11. Shopify.com
Shopify is not your regular blogging platform or content management system like WordPress. In fact, Shopify is an all in one eCommerce solution that helps you easily set up an online store to sell your products online.
Why should you use Shopify other blogging platforms? If you’re looking to start a website for eCommerce, Shopify should be your #1 choice as it gives you excellent features and reports. Shopify offers amazing eCommerce platform features like “Abandoned cart recovery” where you can easily recover any of your missed sales from your eCommerce store by automatically emailing a prefilled cart link (where you can send a customized message) to all the customers who don’t complete their purchase. Shopify Features list: Here’s the list of features that you get from this platform. Shopify Pros: Shopify Cons: How to get started with Shopify blogging platform? Click here to start your eCommerce store on Shopify and start selling your online products from today.
12. Magento.com
Magento is undertaken by Adobe company and it’s an incredible cloud commerce platform which is an open source platform that allows you to build all types of eCommerce websites at affordable prices.
Why should you use Magento platform over other sites? Magento is primarily used by thousands of people worldwide for ONE reason: it’s the most eCommerce friendly platform which gives you a wide range of options, tools and features to create a profitable eCommerce store online. Magento offers you mobile friendly designs so you can easily create a mobile responsive eCommerce site without any hassles. Not only that, it probably has the biggest community of users related to eCommerce industry to help you build an effective online store. Above all, Magento gives you a ton of extensions, themes and partners to help you choose products ranging from payments to shipping to website optimization. Magento Features list: Here’s the list of features that you get from this platform. Magento Pros: Magento Cons: How to get started with this blogging platform? Visit Magento from here and choose a product of your choice to sign up and start using Magento eCommerce platform to create powerful websites.
3 BIGGEST disadvantages of WordPres
As we discussed earlier, WordPress is the widely used blogging platform which is used by around 60% of the people worldwide who are using content management systems to create a blog or websites. But WordPress has its own flaws. Here are some of the drawbacks of using WordPress and that’s why you should look for other WordPress competitor websites mentioned in this post.
- Security vulnerabilities WordPress is probably the #1 platform which is targeted by hackers and spammers worldwide. Do you know why most hackers target WordPress sites? WordPress is an open-source platform and thousands of people create themes, plugins, and updates worldwide. It is also the most popular platform which is used by millions of people worldwide. You never know which plugin or theme you’re using has security vulnerabilities. Anyone can inject malicious codes or malware into the plugins or themes while developing or updating them. That’s the BIGGEST security vulnerability where WordPress theme or plugin developers can insert malicious codes to steal links or traffic from your website. Above all, WordPress is also the most popular blogging platform where thousands of WordPress sites get hacked every single day. Yes, that’s true. Thousands of WordPress sites get hacked and the blog owners may not even know about their security threats.
- WordPress is expensive Unless you’re a website designer or if you’ve enough time to learn about how to properly make changes to your site – WordPress is going to cost you a bomb. Not just website design, but you’ll have to spend money on so many things if you’re on WordPress. If you’re wondering about the expensive costs of using WordPress, here are few things where you need to invest money
Domain name (every year, $10) Web hosting (monthly or annually, typically starts from $100 a year and goes upwards to thousands of dollars if you want faster and better hosting) Website design (getting a unique WordPress design from a developer costs you few thousands of dollars although you can pay for premium themes which are affordable, but still you’re paying anyhow) WordPress tools (such as premium plugins and tools) WordPress security related stuff (such as paying for a backup tool or plugin, getting your hands on premium WordPress security plugins to make your site safe etc)
From your blog’s logo to hosting to maintaining your WordPress site costs you several hundred dollars every single year. 3. Technical skills are required to customize Out of the box, WordPress CMS really sucks. There’s no drag and drop builder. There are no easy customizations. You’ll need to play with CSS and PHP in order to make changes to your WordPress design. Although WordPress has an amazing discussion forum where you can get all the help you need to customize your website, themes, plugins and so on but most of the people don’t know what they are talking about. In other words, you’ll rarely get help from WordPress experts. So the chances of messing up with WordPress customizations will be more and not to forget the part of customizing HTML, CSS, PHP files. It’s not a piece of cake. If you look at the above 3 disadvantages, WordPress clearly is not so user-friendly. That’s the reason why we created this post to show you some of the best alternatives to WordPress so you can decide the right one which is right for your blogging needs. Here are some of the frequently asked questions you may have while looking for few WordPress competitor sites mentioned here. More Posts Worth Reading: Whereas Medium is a publishing platform for writing content. At the same time, Medium is a great platform that promotes and gives more visibility to the best stories from around its network providing wide coverage. If you’re a writer or publisher, looking to spread your name with your content, pick Medium.
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Final Thoughts
If you’re still thinking about using WordPress, you’re just following the herd. If you’ve gone through the list of websites similar to WordPress mentioned here, you’ll notice that most of the blogging platforms are easy to operate, cost effective and extremely reliable when compared to WordPress. So go through the features and benefits of the alternatives to WordPress carefully and decide the right platform to create your blog or website. What are your thoughts about the WordPress competitor sites mentioned here? Share your comments below.
