Joomla is an open-sourced content management system (CMS) that utilises PHP thereby allowing additional functionality in terms of look & feel. WordPress is also an open-sourced CMS and is the one usually offered to SMEs as it is easier to code for developers. However WordPress started life as a blog and has limitations compared to Joomla in terms of technology.

In addition Joomla 4 is out which means that the technology running the website will be faster, designed for improved SEO, enabling added functionality and is designed to be more secure. The Joomla community spent 3+ years developing this completely new framework and ensures Joomla 4 websites are now at a different level compared to WordPress and other lesser options.

Joomla and WordPress websites are open source which results in being able to install these websites with any hosting provider such as Blacknight or GoDaddy. This means that you own / control your website and are not “building on rented land”.

Squarespace, Weeby & Wix are hosted environments allowing users to create websites without needing to know coding using drag & drop features. They are closed ecosystems because you must use their web hosting when using their site builder. This means you cannot move these websites to an independent hosting provider so you lose control of the time & money spent developing your website. Their developers maintain tight control over tools and resources because they are a closed space which means that you are limited in terms of your website’s content & functionality.