There are many different CMS platforms - content management systems, for those not familiar with the term - out there. They are software applications that allow users to build and manage a website without having to code it all from scratch.

W3Techs report that 59% of all websites are built using a CMS. They let you manage, modify and publish content in a user friendly interface. Most CMSs use templates and extensions to customise the design and functionality of your site, rather than code.

With a more accessible CMS - like CMS Hub - even team members who don’t know the difference between Python and JavaScript can get stuck into the website building process.

We are going to run through a comparison of CMS Hub with the two most popular alternatives - WordPress and Joomla. We’ll compare features like ease of use, technical resources and support, and security.

Usability

WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world. According to W3Techs, a whopping 63.6% of all sites that use a CMS are built on WordPress. And there’s a reason it’s popular - it has a reputation for being user friendly and there are already plenty of developers out there with WordPress experience. Its dashboard is highly intuitive, so users can easily tweak their site’s appearance, install plugins, upload blogs and more.

However, it doesn’t have the drag-and-drop editing, multi-column support or advanced styling options that other CMS packages offer.

Some pretty major sites use WordPress. For instance, the BBC America site is built on the WordPress CMS.

Joomla is another popular CMS system. It’s a little more complex to use than WordPress because it has more built-in flexibility. You can configure many of your site’s settings on the back end without having to install additional plugins.

Understanding all the extra options included in Joomla will take more time and effort to set up. However, it allows you to create more complex sites, providing you don’t feel overwhelmed by all the options.

Joomla is quite a popular option, powering 3.1% of the web. A few major websites use Joomla, including Northern Railway and Peugeot.

HubSpot’s CMS prioritises flexibility and ease of use - it has a nice combination of simple features, like its drag-and-drop editor - and more advanced features that you can use to create a highly customised site that drives your firm’s growth.

What sets CMS Hub apart from WordPress is its usability for marketers: it is the world’s only combined CMS and CRM system. It enables you to capture leads, A/B test and personalise content without having to leave the comfort of your HubSpot dashboard. Wonderful stuff.

Some major sites are starting to use CMS Hub (see Trello, for instance).

Community Support

WordPress and Joomla are open-source platforms. This means that you have a community of developers and designers to ask if you need advice,

WordPress has the largest global CMS community with millions of members dedicated to improving the platform. There is a whole host of support forums and Slack channels. Codex is an online manual that covers everything from installing the software to creating your own custom plugins.

Joomla also has a powerful global community, although it’s not quite as large as the WordPress one. As of 2017, Joomla core developers had contributed over 380,000 lines of code to improve it since its launch. As with WordPress, there is a range of online forums and ‘how to’ videos dotted across the web.

HubSpot is a proprietary CMS, offering a totally different support experience. When using CMS Hub, you have a dedicated customer service team and HubSpot Academy instructors to keep you supported as you use CMS Hub.

It’s a lot easier to find support for issues when using CMS Hub - all the information is in the HubSpot Knowledge base. There are literally hundreds of articles and training videos. What’s more, HubSpot Academy features over 300 free courses on subjects ranging from software to marketing trends.

Another option is to use a HubSpot developer. At Karman Digital, we offer specialised help in everything CMS Hub, from designing a site to using it to run effective inbound marketing campaigns.

Security

It goes without saying that a secure website is important for a business.

CMS’ like WordPress and Joomla are open source. Over time they have been developed to be secure by their users. If you like, you can add extensions and add-ons to supplement core code, allowing for additional security features.

Security is perhaps the biggest reason against using WordPress.

WordPress is the most hacked CMS of them all. A study analysed 8,000 ‘infected’ websites and found that 74% of them were built on WordPress. This is a high proportion when you consider that only around 30% of the internet is built using the WordPress CMS. The same study found that out of date WordPress plugins were a common source of hacks.

Joomla places the responsibility for security on individual site owners, offering support in the form of extensive documentation about securing Joomla sites. This approach makes sense when you consider that Joomla has a tiny support team, consisting of just 13 people.

Of the three largest CMS packages - WordPress, Joomla and Drupal - Joomla has had the largest number of vulnerabilities discovered in its code since its launch back in 2005.

Joomla’s vulnerability mostly comes from code flaws that allow attackers to inject shellcode that gives them the ability to gain administrator privileges.

HubSpot has a range of built-in security features to keep sites safe from the internet’s baddies, including a global CDN and a Web Application Firewall. It also has a dedicated security team who spend their days monitoring the CMS for attacks and potential abuse.

What’s more, HubSpot partners with third-party applications to create integrations with existing HubSpot portals. The great thing about this for website owners is that you no longer have to worry about plugin compatibility or maintenance. It means you don’t risk opening up your site to attackers by not keeping up-to-date with your plugins.

Our thoughts…

We think that CMS Hub is the best CMS available for businesses who want to get serious about their digital marketing. It has an unbeatable level of integration with the CRM, meaning that you can measure and track leads from your site in one place.

If you’re thinking of setting up a personal blog - for instance to share your recipes to the world - and digital marketing isn’t an issue, you might be better off using an open-source platform like WordPress or Joomla. However, when it comes to creating a website that drives revenue growth, CMS Hub is unrivalled.

As CMS systems go, the HubSpot CMS allows you to do a lot from within the framework of the CMS itself. Unlike WordPress, you don’t need to rely so much on third party plugins. However, there may be times when you will want to integrate additional applications - such as heat mapping software -  into your site.