Joomla!

Joomla! is an open-source CMS that sits between WordPress and Drupal in terms of complexity and flexibility. It has been under active development for over 20 years and powers around 2% of all websites — a substantial install base that reflects genuine adoption rather than GitHub activity, since Joomla’s community has always been centred on its own forums and extension directory rather than GitHub.

The two features that distinguish Joomla from simpler alternatives are its access control system and built-in multilingual support. The access control layer lets you define custom user groups and assign viewing, editing, and administration permissions independently for each group and each section of the site. WordPress requires a plugin to approach this level of granularity; Joomla builds it into the core. Multi-language content is similarly built in — you can maintain the same content in multiple languages from a single admin interface without a third-party extension.

The extension directory covers most common needs: SEO, caching, forms, e-commerce, social login, and more. The ecosystem is smaller than WordPress’s, which means fewer options for any given requirement, and more variation in extension quality and maintenance activity. Vetting extensions for active maintenance and security track record matters more on Joomla than on WordPress, where popular plugins tend to be well-maintained by default.

The admin experience is functional but has historically been less polished than WordPress for non-technical editors. Recent versions have improved the UI significantly, but site owners who want to hand off content management to non-technical staff will find WordPress easier to explain.

Joomla is the right choice when multi-language support and flexible access control are requirements, and the team has the PHP knowledge to manage it. For straightforward publishing or blogging, WordPress requires less investment to operate.

Joomla!: Pros & Cons