Why I no longer use Wordpress

Did you know that 455 million websites use WordPress?

WordPress is the most popular open-source content management system on the internet.

I used to develop websites for clients using WordPress for the following reasons:

  • It was extremely easy to install and set up
  • There were lots of templates out there for me to pick and choose from

However, this year in 2021 I decided to move away from WordPress to another open-source CMS called Grav CMS.

Here are some of the reasons why I no longer use WordPress:

Security

The immense popularity of WordPress comes with downfalls. WordPress websites are targeted by many hackers. To prevent your website from getting hacked, you need to ensure your websites, plugins, and themes, and hosting are constantly up to date. You'll need to constantly ask the question - is my WordPress up to date? Are my plugins and themes safe?

When I just started web design and development many years ago, I have had a couple of self-hosted WordPress websites get hacked.

To prevent this situation, I decided that I would only host my clients' website managed hostings such as WP Engine or Anchor Host so that if it did get hacked, they can fix it. However, I wanted to use a CMS which wasn't so prone to the numerous security attacks on WordPress websites.

Costs add up

Although people think setting up a WordPress is free/cheap, that's not necessarily the case.

As mentioned above, I would only host it on managed hosting but that comes with a price.

If you purchase templates, you must be committed to paying fees to receive updates to templates often.

If you were to have a total custom WordPress website, you'll need a specialist WordPress developer who knows how to work the PHP backends.

Frustrating to customise

If you want to deviate a little from the purchased templates, then it's extremely hard to customise. You'll need an actual PHP developer who knows what they're doing on WordPress to do this.

Speed

One of the biggest reasons why I no longer develop in WordPress is because websites can get extremely slow. There are several reasons for this:

  1. The purchased templates and website builders have lots and lots of code in them and they slow your website right done
  2. You'll need to install lots of plugins to get some specific functionality required for a marketing website which will slow it down

Client's User Experience

I found that clients always ended up breaking WordPress websites, especially if the website has been hacked together with different plugins and templates. For example, to add a page or to edit a text, it can be a bit tricky to know where to go. Worse, if you built your website using Elementor and requires sub-pages to use Elementor, then clients end up breaking it.

Summary

WordPress is a great open-source platform. However, if you're looking to build a faster and more customisable website with better security, then know that there are alternatives available - such as Grav CMS.