Finding an Alternative Website Builder
Over 43% of all websites use WordPress. As the world’s most popular content management system (CMS), WordPress offers an easy way for beginners to create professional websites without needing to know code. However, WordPress isn’t for everyone. As a small business owner struggling to build my own online store, I quickly became frustrated with WordPress’s steep learning curve and lack of ecommerce features.
I soon realized I wasn’t alone. WordPress touts its flexibility and customization options but that same openness requires a commitment to mastering the platform that many users simply don’t have the skills or time for. Additionally, for advanced developers or anyone focused specifically on ecommerce, WordPress may not provide the right set of tools out of the box.
That being said, WordPress still leads the market for a reason. Before abandoning it altogether, you may want to consider some alternatives designed to solve common WordPress pain points. In this post, we’ll break down the top website building alternatives to WordPress based on your skills and needs. Whether you’re a coding pro or total beginner, want to launch an online store or just share your creativity, there is likely a better option if WordPress isn’t working for you.
Easier Website Building with Drag and Drop Site Makers
For those looking to create a website without needing to learn web development or code, user-friendly drag and drop website builders like Wix and Squarespace provide a simpler alternative to building a site on WordPress.
With over 200 million registered users globally, Wix is one of the most popular options in the DIY website builder space. The Wix editor allows you to drag and drop elements like text, images, shapes and more onto a canvas to build custom page layouts. Their database contains over 500 designer-made templates spanning categories like business, photography, online store, and portfolio sites. So you can either start from scratch or use an industry-specific template as the base.
Wix also offers a free plan that lets you connect a custom domain while removing Wix ads. Their paid plans then add features like more storage, eCommerce capabilities, and enhanced SEO tools. For small business owners or bloggers looking for an intuitive way to build a great-looking site without coding, Wix is definitely worth considering.
Squarespace is another frontrunner, with templates designed for various niches including retail, restaurants, wedding sites, and galleries. Their unique Cover Pages feature lets you create a visually impactful introduction to grab visitors’ attention right away. And with built-in eCommerce and top-notch SEO capabilities, Squarespace sites can also drive sales while getting found online.
The user-friendly editors from Wix, Squarespace, and similar DIY site builders allow you to customize layouts, colors, fonts and add multimedia content without technical skills. So while WordPress offers more flexibility for advanced users, options like these offer a more beginner-friendly path to getting a site live quickly.
eCommerce Platforms
Shopify and BigCommerce as Alternatives
When it comes to building an online store, Shopify and BigCommerce stand out as the top eCommerce alternatives to using Woocommerce with WordPress.
Shopify powers over 1 million businesses worldwide, helping entrepreneurs sell everywhere from social media to brick-and-mortar retail locations. Since its launch in 2006, Shopify merchants have processed over $200 billion in sales, showing the immense growth and popularity of the platform.
For small to medium sized online stores, Shopify strikes an excellent balance between customization and ease of use. Their app store offers over 7,000 integrations to choose from, allowing you to add advanced functionality like shipping carriers, accounting, CRM and more. Shopify also handles secure checkout and PCI compliance for you, reducing the headache of building a safe store.
Pricing on Shopify starts at $29 per month for their basic plan. This covers standard cart and checkout features, themes to customize the look and feel of your store, and enough bandwidth and storage space for most smaller merchants. As your business scales, you can upgrade to higher level plans like Shopify Plus to unlock more advanced functionality.
BigCommerce is another rapidly growing eCommerce platform used by over 60,000 online stores. Companies like Skullcandy, Sony, and Toyota use BigCommerce to power their online stores and sell globally.
The platform is praised for its combination of flexibility and built-in features covering areas like inventory and order management, shipping, tax calculations, reporting, and CRM. BigCommerce also plays nicely with WordPress, allowing you to connect your store to an existing WordPress site using plugins.
Pricing is competitive starting at $29.95 per month for their standard plan. BigCommerce offers a 15 day free trial to test drive their platform, while also providing access to an app marketplace with over 700 integrations similar to Shopify. This allows you to easily add extra functionality as your business grows.
Choosing the Right Platform
When choosing between the two platforms, Shopify is generally recommended for simpler eCommerce stores that don’t require advanced backend customization. BigCommerce appeals more to mid-market and enterprise level merchants looking for deep integration capabilities and customizable reporting.
Both deliver immense value as alternatives to building an online store with Woocommerce and WordPress – which can become complex and costly as your store expands. Unless you require a truly bespoke eCommerce solution, Shopify and BigCommerce cover the needs of most online retailers.
CMS Platforms
As popular as WordPress is for website building, it’s not the only content management system (CMS) option available. A CMS allows you to build and manage content for your website without needing to code everything from scratch. While WordPress is beginner-friendly, more advanced CMS platforms like Drupal, Joomla, and Concrete5 offer deeper customization for experienced users.
Drupal: The Open Source Specialist
Over 2% of all websites rely on Drupal – an open source CMS with a passionate community behind it. Originally created in 2000 by Dries Buytaert, Drupal has powerful content management capabilities that lend itself well to building news, government, and editorial websites. The White House itself runs on Drupal!
With over 4,000 free plugins and thousands of designers and developers supporting it, Drupal allows immense flexibility to build secure, high performance websites. The tradeoff is that Drupal has a steeper learning curve so it’s better suited for coders and development teams rather than small business owners.
Joomla: User-Friendly and Versatile
Joomla is another established name in the CMS space used by the likes of Harvard, Ikea, and Linux. It has a slightly easier learning curve than Drupal with a user-friendly admin interface. One of the advantages of Joomla is the ability to assign granular user permissions to content and functionality. This comes in handy for larger teams collaborating.
Concrete5: Front-End Editing Ease
An interesting option I came across in my research is Concrete5. The key differentiator is that it allows users to edit content directly on the front-end interface rather than a separate backend admin panel. This creates a WYSIWYG style experience that is great for non-technical users. Concrete5 also handles multi-lingual sites particularly well.
While WordPress still leads the overall CMS market, these alternatives demonstrate that experienced developers have options too. Choosing the right platform depends greatly on the specific site needs and capabilities of the team behind it. For advanced use cases around security, user permissions, multi-lingual setups, and top notch performance – it’s worth exploring Drupal, Joomla or Concrete5 as featured CMS alternatives.
Specialized Platforms: Unique Solutions for Specific Needs
Ghost – The Go-To for Bloggers
Ghost is a publishing platform developed specifically for professional bloggers and online publications. Known for its clean interface and intuitive editing experience, Ghost allows authors to easily create content-focused sites without technical complexity.
With over 4 million monthly readers across Ghost sites, the platform has proven popular for building niche blogs and online magazines. Features like membership programs, email newsletters, and podcast hosting make Ghost a feature-rich WordPress alternative for ambitious creators.
While Ghost offers robust blogging functionality out of the box, it lacks the expansive theme store and third-party integrations available in the WordPress ecosystem. However, its focus as a dedicated blogging tool makes it a top contender for those looking to avoid WordPress.
Webflow – Design-First Website Creation
Webflow flips the traditional CMS model on its head with a visual design-first approach. Instead of tackling website development through code, Webflow offers drag and drop building tools for crafting sites through intuitive design interfaces.
This makes Webflow a standout choice for designers, agencies, and artists looking for fine-grained creative control when constructing beautiful, modern websites. Client sites built with Webflow include major brands like Netflix, Nike, and Samsung.
Unlike traditional page builders, Webflow writes clean code behind the scenes as you visually design. There’s no bloat or performance lag. Sites remain fast and search engine-friendly.
The biggest tradeoff is Webflow’s lack of blog functionality. While superb for brochure sites, ecommerce stores, and portfolios, content publishers may still be better served by WordPress or Ghost. Nonetheless, over 500,000 sites have been crafted with Webflow, speaking to its strengths as a design-driven alternative.
Pixpa – The Photo Portfolio Builder
Pixpa focuses specifically on meeting the needs of photographers, visual artists, and graphics creators through dedicated portfolio features for showcasing visual works online. As a modern, design-forward alternative to WordPress, Pixpa makes it simple for creatives to highlight their talents digitally.
Useful portfolio-focused capabilities include password-protected galleries, customizable branding, built-in SEO, streamlined client proofing workflows, and even integrated ecommerce functionalities for selling prints. This tailored approach has won over many previous WordPress users.
However, Pixpa’s niche audience targeting does mean functionality limitations in other areas like blogging, which is not the platform’s focus. For photographers and visual professionals, Pixpa provides an elegantly designed alternative to setting up an artistic portfolio site through WordPress.
Wrapping Up: The Best Alternatives to WordPress
After exploring various alternatives to WordPress across different categories, a few clear options stand out as the best choices depending on your website needs and skill level.
For beginners looking for the easiest drag-and-drop website building experience, Wix and Squarespace lead the pack. With intuitive interfaces and hundreds of professional templates to choose from, you can create a beautiful website in no time, even with no coding skills. Though they may lack some advanced customization options, they make up for it in simplicity.
More tech-savvy users willing to climb a steeper learning curve should consider open source CMS platforms like Drupal or Joomla. Though they require more effort to set up and maintain, you get rewarded with unparalleled flexibility to build a fully custom site on your own terms. The sky’s the limit for developers and agencies managing large, complex websites.
Ecommerce merchants, on the other hand, will find the most robust feature sets with Shopify and BigCommerce. Everything from secure checkouts to marketing tools is baked right in to help you effectively run an online store, though the monthly fees can add up.
At the end of the day, while WordPress dominates the overall CMS market, it pays to explore alternatives that may be better suited to your specific needs. The options keep expanding year after year. And who knows – maybe the next big web building trend will dethrone WordPress someday. But with over 43% market share today, its reign remains steady.
When it comes to website wizardry, I proudly wield the conductor’s baton leading our development orchestra towards success in perfect harmony. As project maestro, I direct meticulous execution across project game plans, juggle timelines, and ensure all instrumental members come together to make digital magic happen. My job is part logistical coordination as we traverse project lifecycles, part motivational percussion keeping spirits bright under pressure. I decided long ago a genuine passion for helping teams succeed beats skill alone every time.