39% of all websites on the Internet use WordPress. While it may be a familiar platform, there are better solutions out there for creating websites. In this article, we’ll dive deep into the differences between WordPress and Webflow.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is a free open source software. This means anyone can download and use it to create a website. It’s been around since 2003 and is one of the most well-known website builders out there. As part of their mission, they believe that software should work with minimum set up so you can focus on sharing your story, product, or services freely. All that is needed is to purchase a domain and hosting and Wordpress does the rest. So what are the pros and cons to using the Wordpress platform?
Pros of using WordPress
It’s a low-cost solution
The design, development, and maintenance are relatively cheap. WordPress is a self-hosted platform which means it can be installed with any hosting provider. Since the cost of a domain and hosting are reasonably low, WordPress is a good option for us to minimize upfront cost.
A trusted name in the industry
People tend to gravitate towards WordPress simply for the name itself. The platform has been around for nearly 20 years and is often linked to the idea of creating a website. With so much brand recognition, there’s no surprise that over a third of all websites on the Internet use WordPress.
Best for blogging
WordPress actually started as a blog platform. By using it, we get a blog by default. It also offers a range of blogging functionalities such as tags, plugins, widgets, categories, and more.
However this is a good segway into the cons of Wordpress, as this blog-first platform can be a blessing and a curse.
Cons of using WordPress
Tricky to use if expanding from blogging
While the blog-first nature of WordPress makes the blogging process seamless, what if you need an online shop for your website? While there are plugins like WooCommerce that allow us to turn a WordPress website into an eCommerce platform, it can be tricky to customize and use. The last thing we want is for something to go wrong for a potential customer trying to checkout an item from your online shop.
Open-source software
While open-source software is great for its low cost and easy setup, there’s always a chance your website may get hacked or break in some way. Resolving these security issues can be complex and expensive.
Messy code
When using a theme on WordPress, it tends to create bloated code on the backend which could make your website run slower, create errors, or crash completely. All of which can lead to Google not ranking your site high in search, a higher bounce rate (the rate at which a user visits and immediately leaves your site without taking any other action), and long-term retention.
Constant updates
While the use of plugins allows us more functionality and customization for your site, this also means you need to be mindful of updates once the site is completed. Since WordPress is a software, it also has its own updates. Between the two, there is a chance something could malfunction. Whenever you update a plugin or the WordPress software, there is always a risk of an error that causes your site to be down for a while. Sometimes a simple update can drastically change your website appearance or functionality, and it may take time to troubleshoot and resolve, which could ultimately cost you money.
You have to use a theme
WordPress utilizes themes to display websites. While there are thousands, if not millions of WordPress themes available for free and to purchase, this does come with its limitations. Customization of themes is possible, but it requires advanced coding to manipulate the theme.
Lack of design customization
One of the biggest cons of WordPress, is the lack of flexibility when it comes to design. Since we need to use a theme with WordPress, it’s difficult to build your design from scratch. What WordPress provides in ease of use and setup, it lacks in flexibility and customization.
