I launched a poll a little over a week ago – asking users which blogging platform they prefer to use – and the results so far have been quite astounding (hardly shocking), and it’s clear that WordPress is dominating the whole blogging and CMS industry. You can preview the results on the poll’s page, hosted by Polldaddy.
WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.
Is it better than premium services like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace? I’m more than certain that the opinions on this matter are going to differ quite a lot, especially for those who’re working with smaller scale websites, and don’t yet understand the potential of self-hosted CMS platform.
By default, WordPress is incredibly easy to use, most hosting platforms will offer a one-click installation feature and you’ll have a ready-to-go website in less than two minutes. The same goes for using WordPress as a full-scale CMS platform, it’s so easy to find pre-built templates and plugins that can help with this.
I’m going to try and attempt to list some of the advantages and disadvantages of using each company, and will sum up my thoughts of WordPress at the bottom of the page, I do hope that you find the opinions sincere, and will not cling on to them just because one person told you to do so!
Why is WordPress better than Squarespace?
Right out of the bat, the first problem we encounter is the pricing. You’re entitled to a free 14-day trial, but I don’t think that is going to be even remotely enough to understand the service, and all the features that it has to offer. After the trial ends, you’re given a choice to upgrade and become a customer, or leave and find a different website builder.
$8/month is not that bad, but given the fact that WordPress offers full flexibility with both internal and external problems, I find it difficult to pay so much for such a limited amount of features. For example, the cheapest plan – personal – will only enable you to sell one product at a time, seems kind of restricting!
Why is WordPress better than Wix?
We do have to take into consideration the fact that a WordPress self-hosted installation is going to require a hosting account somewhere, but companies like DigitalOcean, BlueHost, and HostGator can take care of that problem for us, for a very cheap price. Wix gives you a free webpage to build, hosted and maintained by their team of engineers.
It also seems very silly of Wix to provide a blogging service to its customers, while themselves – operate a WordPress installation on their official blog. Yes, the blogging tools that Wix provides for its customers are very different, and lack any serious features. In short, Wix is more of a service for those who need a single page website, showing a few pictures and information on how to get in touch.
Why is WordPress better than Weebly?
Hooray, Weebly knows how to use its own software to power its many pathways. Great! All jokes asides, Weebly has been around for what seems like an eternity. They’re definitely a household name when it comes to website builders, and provide a reasonably good quality service.
Weebly gives millions of people a surprisingly easy and affordable way to create a site that is as unique as they are. With a Weebly site, people can start their own business, communicate with their clients, showcase their achievements, and be an authority on personal and professional interests.
I’m quite happy with the service that Weebly provides, their premium plans start at as low as $4/month, and you always get access to their extensive list of features. Truth to be told, I’d probably recommend Weebly over WordPress to a beginner webmaster – any time of the day. Weebly is a learning curve in the world of novice development.
WordPress Continues to Stack Up in Popularity Points
I’m sure we all could find faults and problems within many different hosting platforms out there, as the title suggests – this was a quick overview of why a WordPress self-hosted installation might be better than depending on a website builder like the ones mentioned in this post.
WordPress provides the user with a lot of flexibility, and although some common HTML/CSS knowledge is required, these days – developers themselves build plugins and themes around the fact that not everyone is a programmer, and so in turn make the process of customizing the site a very easy one.
Besides, website builder platforms aren’t really built to scale for a large audience, and trying to serve 50,000 users on a free hosting plan might come biting back at you. Have you used a free website builder before, and what has your experience been?
About the author: Alex has been working with the web for nearly ten years, his experience ranges from single tasks like managing a website, to full blown web development, mostly within his own projects. Find more of his writeups on CodeCondo.
Mike Power
11 Sep 2014A site selling WP themes publishes a poll in which most people prefer WP, which requires themes like the ones the site sells. Hardly surprising, is it? Not sure what it proves. It seems like a justification for the article but you could just have published the post without reference to users preferences. It doesn’t add anything, really. A review is a review, after all.
tesla
12 Sep 2014Hi Mike, the poll was conducted by the author of this post not by TeslaThemes, anyway you got a backlink to your site, thanks for reading 🙂
blaise
12 Sep 2014I completly agreed. WordPress is the best solution for blogging. I tested Ghost too but It’s not an opensource solution and demand complicated manipulation on terminal.
tesla
12 Sep 2014Hi, we agree too, Ghost is good solely for blogging, we’re planning to review it one day, but in any case it’s not a WordPress killer 🙂
Ken
14 Oct 2014Created my first wordpress site. Happy to see I’ve made a decision not to go with Wix, heard some bad stuff about SEO
Tom
16 Oct 2014I design using WP, I have myself tested places like wix etc. What may sound great and easy is really not all that great. *shrugs* I would take custom built over anything like wix. Good post btw.
Gary
5 Nov 2015Just curious. You said “but given the fact that WordPress offers full flexibility with both internal and external problems” … and I was curious what you meant by “with both internal and external problems”? Just let me know.
Chris Payne
5 Nov 2015I love WordPress and typically build with it, but I’ve used Squarespace for the easy-to-use interface for a few clients who aren’t very “tech savvy”. I actually use Squarespace as a lower-tier priced web site solution when someone isn’t looking to spend a lot, needs a quick turnaround, doesn’t need anything too in-depth, and I plan on knocking it out fairly quickly to focus more on the overall graphics. Especially when I can tell they’re going to want to build pages and add content themselves. But I mostly try and use WordPress for the purpose of making it more expandable so their web site can grow as they do.
Jonathan Richards
28 Jun 2016WordPress is definitely the best choice and any website builder doesn’t even come close to what WP has to offer. With the thousands of plugins available, WordPress offers an unlimited range of potential features and anyone who is serious about their business should give this platform a go.
The problem is WP takes a while to master and most beginners either don’t have time for this or don’t want to learn how to use WP.
No More WIX!
14 Jul 2016Well, let’s also make the distinction that WIX, Weebly and Square Space are website builders while WordPress is content management system (CMS).
Many make the argument that services like WIX are easy to use. Personally, I disagree and I am web developer! When I log into WIX I am totally confused and I get frustrated… For me installing a theme is so much more simple and less overwhelming. Granted, with WordPress you need to take care of your website while website builders like Weebly and Square do the job for you (that’s pro for creating a website with them)
Anyways, apples and oranges, comparing a website builder to WordPress is like comparing a Porsche to a Peugeot 🙂
Jamie Rockers
7 Aug 2017Hello,
I have started blogging myself. I am trying to find out the basic problems that my blog is having and looking for solutions. Also, I’m searching for some basic things like themes and other stuff.
I have read your whole article, I am looking forward to getting a positive result after performing this myself.
Can you suggest me any basic idea that I might need in the future as a new blogger?
Thank you
sumant kumar
3 Sep 2018Wp is my best choice. WordPress offers an unlimited range of potential features and anyone who is serious about their business should give this platform a go. thank you for sharing useful post
loomfenix
21 May 2019In my opinion WordPress is much better because it has more options obviously. Its SEO optimization is better. Though it’s harder to use. If it’s necessary to create some small landing page, maybe it’s even better for user to use Weebly or Mobirise. But that depends on the goal.