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Umbraco Vs WordPress: Which CMS is the Best Choice?

By James LePage
 on November 30, 2021
Last modified on January 7th, 2022

Umbraco Vs WordPress: Which CMS is the Best Choice?

By James LePage
 on November 30, 2021
Last modified on January 7th, 2022

The Umbraco CMS and WordPress CMS are both popular open source content management systems that make it easy to craft websites and grow them into the future. In this article, we're coming to compare the two platforms, taking a look at market share, tools, ease of development, support, pricing, and more for 2025.

Umbraco is an open-source .NET content management system. It is built on top of Microsoft Dynamics CRM or SQL server databases, and it utilizes the MVC framework. It's written in C#, which can be deployed on Microsoft-based infrastructure.

WordPress is a content management system that was initially released in 2003. It is based on PHP and MySQL, and it is currently used by millions of people around the world. Both Umbraco and WordPress are open-source software, which means that it is free to use and modify.

At their cores, they are both open-source systems for content management, but each tool is very different and may fit into different situations depending on the project's requirements. Let's take a look at how each of them stacks against one another.

What It Boils Down To: Umbraco is focused on enterprise solutions, where teams of developers work together to support a mission-critical platform. It uses C#, Razor, MVC, and Angular. WordPress can be adapted to enterprise use, but is more focused to companies needing an easy way to create a website and manage content. It uses PHP and MySQL. A WordPress website can be expanded by developers, plugins and themes.

Umbraco vs WordPress: Ease Of Use

Umbraco is very oriented to Enterprise use cases, and if you find yourself creating a platform for that environment, it may be a better choice than WordPress.

Even with that said, Umbraco claims that it can be used by anyone, from designers and marketers who need a powerful website to content editors that want the freedom to manage content. This claim is based on its tried-and-true success stories of high volume websites like:

WordPress is much easier to use for those without a developer team. It has a plethora of resources, including the official documentation that may be extremely useful to those who are not well-versed in web development. Developer skills will be necessary for creating themes and plugins, but in many cases, they create them and sell them as products to end users.

For the average person, working with WordPress requires basic knowledge of web design. You will need to learn some HTML, CSS and PHP to be able to modify the website beyond its initial look-and-feel. However, there are plenty of themes and plugins available for free or for purchase that can extend the CMS' capabilities.

There are also major websites using WP; most are blogs/content sites:

It all comes down to what you need. If you need a system that can be used by anyone on your team, WordPress offers more extensive documentation and tutorials than Umbraco does. Umbraco, however, is a better fit for organizations that need to scale their web infrastructure and create advanced configurations.

Growth & Expandability

WordPress plugins and themes allow a developer to seriously expand the functionality of the website.

WordPress has a vibrant community that is constantly creating and selling themes and plugins that can be installed by anyone with administrative rights to the website. There are also premium plugins that come at a cost, but offer advanced features that allow you to take your site far beyond what it could do otherwise.

These tools not only allow you to build features that are not included in the base code, but also to create new areas of your website. You can have entire sections or even multiple websites within one installation of WordPress. Keep in mind that third-party plugins and themes need updates so they will work with newer versions of WordPress, while keeping these tools up-to -date is your responsibility as a website builder.

On the other hand, Umbraco offers sophisticated possibilities just like WordPress does.

While it is possible to create multiple websites within an installation of Umbraco, there are better alternatives for building a platform that can scale with your business needs. With its namesake content management system, you can create a deep integration with a third-party service, building external functionality in a way that is not possible with WordPress.

For example, you can use Umbraco to store product details from an ecommerce site in a catalog and share them across multiple websites via the CMS. This is something only available on platforms like Umbraco that are designed with extensibility in mind.

If you need to create a dynamic, scalable platform for your business and expect it to grow as your needs do, Umbraco is the better choice. It's not only more powerful than WordPress, but also simpler and easier to use thanks to its modular structure that allows anyone on your team to extend the CMS without knowing any code.

SEO

Regarding SEO, both CMS has their own solutions for 2021.

SEO is in the core of WordPress. The content management system offers a lot of functions to optimize your website for organic traffic, but the value (when it comes to SEO) is in the collection of themes and plugins oriented towards organic visibility. WordPress SEO plugins range from basic options like Slim SEO to advanced tools like Rankmath. You can change OG images, automate internal linking, change meta titles, structure articles properly and more using WordPress core and a SEO plugin.

For Umbraco, SEO is only possible via the collection of features made available by Umbraco HQ. The list is pretty much small here, but does include some very interesting tools like Umberto that you can use to optimize your website for search engines. Pagespeed, responsiveness, technical seo and more are baked into the core of the Umbraco platform. And of course, if you have a good team, the developer friendly nature of the content editor makes anything possible.

WordPress and Umbraco both have core SEO features, making them both viable options if you're looking to create a SEO friendly website. However, WordPress wins in terms of easy extensibility of SEO features via prebuilt plugins.

Content Editing

A CMS is by definition, a system for managing content. Both WordPress and Umbraco offer tools in the default installation that allow you to quickly create content for your website.

WordPress has a rich editor in its core, but this is often criticized because it's too complicated. It's called Gutenberg and it's not a sandbox, but a full-fledged WYSIWYG editor that allows you to manage your content in a more natural way. With Gutenberg, everyone from beginners to experts can create rich content for their website with the click of a button. This was added in WP v5.0, but some don't like the change. Of course if you're in that camp, it's easy to revet back to the Tiny MCE editor.

With Umbraco, creating content is much simpler because the editor resembles the text editor in most common operating systems. It combines a WYSIWYG experience with what you can find on WordPress, but offers better functionality out of the box. This includes an auto-save function that prevents you from losing work.

Both WordPress and Umbraco offer intuitive ways to create rich content for your website. Both also have an extensive collection of themes, styles and extensions that allow you to change the way these processes look. However, if you're just starting out or require a simpler approach to content management, the Umbraco editor will serve you better.

With WordPress, you can easily publish and schedule content using a plugin. You don't need to touch your CMS to add an article, image or video. This is because there's a rich collection of plugins that offer these tools among others. Some common examples include Jetpack for WordPress and the Yoast SEO plugin.

The only way you can do this with Umbraco is via the Umbraco HQ plugin and an additional package like Andy or Jumla. These guys will allow anyone on your team to schedule content using a web browser, but they're not as popular as their WordPress counterparts.

Security

WordPress is one of the most popular platforms out there. This means that hackers are constantly looking for new ways to inject malicious code into WP websites, making them vulnerable to attacks.

The security of a CMS is influenced by many factors, but in WordPress you can easily avoid common pitfalls if you choose the right hosting provider . If something goes wrong, you can easily restore your site to the state it was in before.

WordPress websites are also easier to update because the platform has many extensions that allow auto-updates for core, plugins and themes. This can be frustrating because not everyone knows how to deal with this type of process. However, if you need security updates as soon as they're available, you can easily automate the process.

With Umbraco, your options are limited because not many can offer auto-updates for core and plugins as a standard feature.

This can be frustrating depending on your budget and level of expertise. If security is important in your project, Umbraco may make it harder to keep everything up-to-date and this means that you need to do more maintenance work. However, there's no denying that WordPress makes it easier to keep everything under control.

At the core, both platforms are very secure. However, WordPress and the vast collection of themes and plugins make it easier for you to protect your site. This makes WordPress the winner when it comes to security and ease of management.

Performance and Hosting

The performance (which impacts SEO) of both CMSs is influenced by the hosting provider you choose. Choose a good hosting platform, and your site will deliver the results you need (assuming you follow best practices).

WordPress is mostly used for blogs and news sites, so there are hundreds of tutorials to help you learn how to improve performance. With Umbraco it's more difficult because most tutorials are written for big enterprises, not small businesses. This means that your site may not perform as good as others unless you find the right resources.

This is also the reason why WP dominates the market. Because there are more tutorials to learn from, you'll spend less time searching for answers and building your own knowledge base. This allows you to build sites faster which will help you beat your competitors. However, performance depends on how well you understand your site's needs and what kind of hosting provider you decide to use.

Both platforms are equally easy to manage and highly scalable, but if you want better performance out of the box, WordPress wins this battle hands down.

WordPress hosting is dominated by many third-party companies like WPEngine, Cloudways and Pressidium. They offer great products and support that will help your website perform better out of the box.

On the other hand, Umbraco isn't used as often so there aren't many hosting providers for it. This means that you're mostly left with expensive options like VPS and dedicated servers.

Umbraco Cloud

Umbraco Cloud is a hosting service for an Umbraco site (offered by the devs behind the CMS). It is a hosting package, with additional support and other tools. With a monthly fee, you'll get the same benefits that WordPress hosts offer plus scalability and performance improvements an enterprise CMS deserves.

If you're looking for a stable hosting solution to host your website, Umbraco Cloud is the best option. It works great with both versions of Umbraco and offers easy control of your site.

The pricing is also very competitive, with plans starting at $39 for the first month. If you're looking for an affordable package that comes with support, this is the best option available right now. It will be hard to find features like these elsewhere on the web.

Organizations Behind The CMSs

The Umbraco Community is limited but good. The developers behind the platform are highly committed to open source and this means that there's a lot of support available online. For example, the Umbraco TV offering is a collection of video tutorials that are easy to understand for anybody. However, there are only 700,000 active sites using this CMS, so this limits the support and community.

WordPress community is much larger. This means that there are tons of tutorials available online. The WordPress Foundation is also known for its efforts to keep the platform safe and secure so you can use this CMS without any worries.

However, something to note is that with themes and plugins, it's up to the devs behind it to offer support ot their users. That means sometimes, it might be tougher to get great support! If you're an organization using WordPress, you'll typically want a dedicated employee for intimidate WordPress support.

With both platforms, you'll have no issues finding help if something goes wrong. However, since WordPress has more resources, your site will likely have better support.

Of course, the open source version of each is 100% free.

Pros and Cons of Umbraco and WordPress

The pros and cons of using these tools are detailed below:

Umbraco

Pros: Great editing tools, it offers the best in terms of design and UI

Cons: It's difficult to find support and resources. Some devs may struggle to use this platform well enough to build a website. There isn't much flexibility when compared to other platforms.

WordPress

Pros: Great community, lots of support available. It's easier to find information about this CMS. In our opinion the stack (PHP/SQL) is much easier and more supported than Umbraco.

Cons: There are a ton of themes, and users may get lost in them. However, this is solved with a good support team behind you.

WordPress may have scaleability issues but it is easily the most popular platform right now. So, you'll have a lot of support available. This comes in handy especially for large organizations that need instant fixes or specific help from dedicated WordPress devs.

On the other hand, Umbraco may be better suited for companies with stronger IT/dev teams.

FAQ's Regarding The CMSs

Umbraco FAQs

  • Is Umbraco any good?

Umbraco is built using ASP.NET technology which makes it easy to manage complex code and templates without any steep learning curve. It includes a robust set of features like version control, responsive layouts, SEO capabilities out-of-the-box (even though it's just as simple to extend) among other things that make building websites with Umbraco fast and efficient straight out of the gate.

  • Why Umbraco is used?

Umbraco is used because it's a robust system that is easy to use.

  • Is Umbraco difficult?

No, Umbraco is not difficult to use. It includes a robust set of features among other things that make building websites with Umbraco fast and efficient straight out of the gate.

  • What is Umbraco Form?

Umbraco Forms are fully integrated with member, content item types and item templates. They can take virtually any type of input (except for structured SQL, which is reserved for editors only) including text fields (string), binary files (like pictures or videos), numbers, email addresses and more.

  • Is Umbraco good for SEO?

Yes, Umbraco is good for SEO. It features automatically generated sitemaps, friendly URLs, and meta data that can be used by search engines to index your content. You can easily extend Umbraco's SEO capabilities with plugins or custom code.

  • What is Umbraco used for?

Umbraco is used for all sorts of things – it can be as simple as managing a blog or an online store, and just as easily scale up to more complex requirements.

  • How secure is Umbraco?

Umbraco is a very secure CMS. It has a number of features that make it safe for use, including password protection, version control, and encrypted data. Umbraco is also regularly updated with the latest security patches to ensure that your website is as safe as possible.

WordPress FAQs

  • Is WordPress any good?

Yes, WordPress is good. It's a very easy to use web editor that can be used by anyone who wants to create their own website without the need for any special skills. Anyone can install and use WordPress with ease.

  • What is the difference between WordPress and Umbraco?

WordPress is great for creating websites quickly and easily, while Umbraco is a more robust system that offers more features and options for managing and publishing content. However, both systems offer very similar features and can be used in a wide range of circumstances.

  • How secure is WordPress?

WordPress takes security seriously and has a number of features that make it safe for use.

  • How old is WordPress?

WordPress was first released in 2003.

  • How much does WordPress cost?

WordPress is free to use, but you can also purchase themes and plugins to extend its functionality.

Use Cases for WordPress and Umbraco

Umbraco is often used for:

- Content Management Systems

- Ecommerce Solutions

- Property Listings Sites

- Social Networking Platforms

- Web Portals

As you can see, Umbraco sites are relatively complex. However, it can be used for most situations. Web developers enjoy using it, but the feeling is mutal with WordPress.

WordPress is often used for:

-Blogging

-Ecommerce

-Portfolios

-Membership Websites

-Nonprofit Websites

-School Websites

-Church Websites

WordPress websites are more focused on small businesses/content websites. It's seriously a blogging platform, but can be used for pretty much anything. There's a reason it's the most popular platform!

Conclusion:

WordPress and Umbraco are both excellent CMSs. They're both relatively easy to use, but come with enough features and options to be used for complex websites too. WordPress is free and very simple to use, while Umbraco offers more advanced functionality out of the box. It really all depends on what you want from your site. If you need a simple website, stick with WordPress – for bigger and more complex projects you should consider Umbraco.

As a web developer, you may prefer WordPress. As an enterprise, you probably would be better off with Umbraco. Both platforms offer a great experience, and if you do it right, and Umbraco website will be just as good as a WordPress site.

Thoughts, questions, comments or concerns? Comment below!

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Leo
Leo
2 years ago

Hi James,

Good post. Just a quick question regarding this statement:

If you need to create a dynamic, scalable platform for your business and expect it to grow as your needs do, Umbraco is the better choice. It's not only more powerful than WordPress, but also simpler and easier to use thanks to its modular structure that allows anyone on your team to extend the CMS without knowing any code.

Most other posts I've come across say the opposite: Umbraco requires some dev chops right out of the gate, whereas WordPress is pretty much point-and-click. Perhaps you could clarify?

Huw
Huw
2 years ago

Umbraco is not built on top of dynamics CRM at all.

David
David
1 year ago

Thank you, this is the article I was looking for. Btw may I know what you use for your great and fast website? I'm also planning to create a simple website for my business, but I need a domain and hosting recommendation. Can you recommend them or are there any alternatives?

Article By
James LePage
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James LePage is the founder of Isotropic, a WordPress education company and digital agency. He is also the founder of CodeWP.ai, a venture backed startup bringing AI to WordPress creators.
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