WordPress vs Other Options
- January 20, 2021
- Posted by: Advansite
- Categories: WordPress, WordPress vs Other Options

WordPress vs Other Options
WordPress powers nearly 40% (up from 25% in 2015) of all websites on the internet, over one-third of the web! Compare that to Squarespace at 1.5%, and Wix at 1.3% and most other alternative platforms that also fall into that 1-2% range. WordPress is far and away the worlds most popular and most dominant website building platform.
Launched in 2003, WordPress was the improvement of an abandoned blogging software called b2/cafelog. Originally designed for blogging in mind, it has since been developed into a powerhouse website building platform that can power stunning websites of every kind ranging from e-commerce, to social media, and yes – blogging. WordPress has quickly risen to become one of the most sought after website building platforms ever.
It should be mentioned that when we refer to WordPress we are talking about the self-hosted platform from WordPress.org which is for building any and every kind of website. There can be confusion with WordPress.com, which is specifically for blogging and is not self-hosted. Self-hosted WordPress is the website building platform of choice for our agency.
Why build a website with WordPress
WordPress is simply the best option available to build and develop websites. It can be used to create absolutely any kind of website you can dream up.
Personal websites, e-commerce, small business or big business, and scalability is never an issue. It’s also open source so you own your own platform, you are not constrained by another companies terms, conditions and branding. Your website and branding will always be 100% you.
One of the biggest advantages of WordPress is the fact that it boasts the largest repository of themes, plugins, support, and customization options available (for a website building platform) in the world. There’s no shortage of reasons not to love WordPress.
What makes WordPress the best option
Here are some additional reasons we love WordPress and why you should consider building your website using WordPress’s content management system and website building platform:
SEO friendly
SEO is a set of website optimization signals that get sent to the search engines to help them determine where to rank website content on the search results pages. Having the right tools and proper infrastructure in place for successful SEO is critical. A poorly optimized website will simply get buried in the search engine graveyard for no one to find. SEO is vitally important for the livelihood of websites and businesses.
With the critical importance and constant changing of SEO – SEO now makes over 3,000 changes every single year – you need a platform that is built with adaptability for successful SEO. WordPress is one of the few platforms that provides complete on-page compatibility with SEO.
Through the use of special meta-descriptions for each link and page published as well as advanced schema markup, support for powerful SEO plugins, and direct connection to Google Analytics and Google Search Console, WordPress provides every resource and opportunity that is needed to achieve superior SEO performance.
Full ownership
WordPress is open source software. This not only means that WordPress itself along with all of its future core updates will always be free to use, but also guarantees that it won’t be acquired by any big-wig corporations, keeping it free from external branding.
Meaning, for as long as you run your website on WordPress you’ll own your own platform. This includes having complete and full ownership and control over your website data. This is an important factor for most and very often overlooked.
Unlimited customization
Millions of websites are powered by WordPress. Afterall, nearly 40% of the entire web is now inhabited by websites that are powered by WordPress. If you were to visit these sites each website would look considerably different from one another.
This is because WordPress offers an unlimited and unrivaled level of customization in regards to themes, plugins and additional resources. Consider the fact that the WordPress plugin directory features over 58,000 plugins. And nearly the same amount of WordPress compatible themes can also be found online.
WordPress is also available in over 100 languages, this fact alone is one of the biggest reasons that sets it apart from other platforms. Absolutely anyone can get right to building a website without any barriers.
Frequently updated and secure
WordPress is very frequently updated – almost once a month. With every update comes performance updates as well as security patches so websites running on WordPress are always secure and up-to-date. Every month, it becomes increasingly difficult to find security holes for hackers to peer through.
Facts about WordPress
WordPress reportedly powers nearly 40% of all websites on the internet. Spreading like wild fire over the last 15 years WordPress continues to grow annually, and the platform will continue to grow considerably because of its nature as an open source platform. Have a glance at these facts and stats.
Pros of WordPress
From hobby websites to e-commerce, social media, membership sites, forums, blogging etc, WordPress can do it all. Here are some additional pros of using WordPress, in no particular order:
- Scalable – The killer feature of WordPress is that it is adaptable to various hosting services throughout the globe. If you have a website that needs to be able to handle thousands – if not millions – of concurrent users, WordPress is considerably more adaptable and scalable than alternative platforms such as Wix and Squarespace etc.
- Support – The WordPress community is large and well established, this means that there will always be an answer to every question, a solution for every problem, and a work-around for every out of the box idea you could possibly think up.
- SEO friendly – You won’t notice as many Wix, Squarespace or Shopify sites at the top of the SERPs. Meanwhile, there are millions of WordPress websites dominating those positions. Combining custom WordPress SEO strategies with top notch SEO WordPress plugins is a recipe for ultimate ranking success.
- Customization – There is no other platform on the market that offers as many customization options through its themes and plugins than WordPress. There is a plugin for almost anything, whether it be SEO, e-commerce, m-commerce, site maintenance, security plugins etc. The choices are essentially infinite.
- Integration with third-party – Because WordPress is the biggest website building platform on the market, it has integration with third-party services and applications like SEO tools, CRM software, marketing software, business software and even most payment platforms.
Cons of alternative options
Cons of using some of the other alternative website building platforms that are currently out there include limited design flexibility, slow page speed, slow development and poor price vs features ratio etc. Here are some additional noted cons:
- Paid services – Services like Wix and Squarespace do offer a free version of their services, but that comes with a big silver lining. You have to use their branding on your website, which can considerably downgrade your own professional image. Most alternative options will cost a minimum of $20-$30 per month and usually require you to pay in bulk annually.
- Limited customization – Options like Wix and Weebly come with fixed templates that you can drag about and change, but in terms of customization, they are pretty limited. Plus, since these themes are made in HTML5, you won’t see much support by the community.
- Lack of several features – Most alternative platforms available right now are not complete solutions and they lack several features that are available by default in WordPress. For example, in Wix, you can’t make a dedicated native commenting system, you have to rely on Facebook comments.
- Not your platform – Every alternative platform has its own set of terms and conditions that you must agree too. If even by accident you do something they don’t agree with they can cancel you and shut you down immediately. This has even happened with many Shopify websites. With WordPress you are free, its YOUR platform.
- SEO limitations – Whether it be slow page speeds, slow loading websites, slow development, poor navigation, or simply a lack of proper SEO tools and features – all these factors will affect adequate SEO optimization. You’ll find that alternative platforms suffer from one or all of these limitations.
Companies that use WordPress
You never really hear of many professional organizations or corporate companies using these other alternative platforms. However, there are countless mainstream companies that use WordPress as their trusted website building platform.
It’s not just the popularity factor or the trust factor, even though that would be enough. The reality is this: branding is 100% yours, customization is 100% yours, and the possibilities are 100% limitless. No other platform can make these claims. Some mainstream companies that currently use WordPress include:
- Spotify
- New York Post
- CNN
- Sony Music
- The White House
- Microsoft News Center
- The Walt Disney Company
- Facebook Newsroom
- TechCrunch
- TED Blog
And so many more. Always consider your growth options and scalability. Again, these other alternative platforms usually hit a tipping point. With WordPress you can scale up as much as you like. Popularity, powerful features, scalability, and ease of use – WordPress has no limitations.
WordPress is excellent for E-commerce
In a post-covid world, e-commerce is growing even more rapidly then before. Because of WordPress.org’s previous association with blogging many people get confused about the possibility of e-commerce on WordPress. And the answer to those wondering if e-commerce is possible using WordPress is, yes – absolutely.
WordPress is actually leading the way. In fact, 22% of the top performing e-commerce websites in the world are powered by WordPress.
There are many benefits of using WordPress to build your e-commerce store. Some of the major benefits are listed below.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the main plugin used within WordPress to start an online store. WooCommerce is a free plugin, simple to configure (including taxation and shipping methods), and offers complete customization and control.
Payment gateways
All the major payment card options are available on WordPress e-commerce, and all payment gateways available according to your location. In case you can’t find your particular payment gateway, WordPress almost always has an alternative.
Full control of your store
You own it all. You own the platform, the store, the data, you have full oversight and control over every aspect of your business. From terms and conditions to customizations and features. Operate how you want to operate, dictate your own moves. There’s no limitations.
You can get creative with plugins
You will have the luxury of installing from a wide selection of plugins according to your customization requirements. There are over 58,000 plugins available for WordPress. Thousands of those are specifically for e-commerce, adding additional features to the default WooCommerce setup.
SEO and Digital Marketing made easy
Performing simple SEO tasks on products and product pages is a breeze. And there are excellent SEO plugins available for on-page SEO to help guide the way. You can add schema markups and your tags, categories and comments can be handled with simple customization.
“owning your platform is the best investment of all”
Final thoughts
Besides being the most popular website building platform, WordPress is also the fastest growing. If you were to take the best features from every other alternative platform currently available and combine them into one all-inclusive mega platform you would get WordPress.
With an unrivaled amount of themes, plugins, resources and features, WordPress will remain the premium website building platform for the foreseeable future. Best of all, WordPress gives you the freedom to own your own platform and that’s the best investment of all.