6 Reasons Why WordPress is a Better CMS for Enterprises Than Sitecore
Find out why WordPress is beating Sitecore in the content management race for enterprises!
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Challenges like multiple stakeholders, complex approval processes, and different content types slow enterprises down while producing content. The workflow can become even more slower if the content management system (CMS) is difficult to use.
An easy-to-use CMS streamlines the overall content creation, publication, and management process. Not only can teams release articles in a timely manner, but also keep their operations lean and quick.
WordPress and Sitecore are two great options for large enterprises looking for a robust digital presence. The open-source platform is (typically) known for its flexibility and cost-effectiveness whereas the proprietary option is known for enterprise-grade compliance and reliability.
Truth to be told, both WordPress and Sitecore are neck and neck in various performance and security parameters. The key difference, as far as content management is concerned, lies in flexibility, customizability, and ease of use.
In this article, let’s look at why WordPress outperforms Sitecore by delivering a better content management experience, unlocking agility and adaptability for enterprises.
1. Simplified Content Management
WordPress’ dashboard is pretty straightforward, even for new users. With a bit of exploration, everyone, including non-technical stakeholders, can get the hang of the backend. After a few minutes of tinkering around, anyone can quickly create, edit, and publish content.
On the other hand, Sitecore’s backend can be intimidating, particularly for team members who aren’t familiar with such layouts. This may require hours or days of specialized training, which apart from driving up costs, slows down operations.
The open-source CMS inches further in content management capabilities due to its extensive plugin repository. The official directory of WordPress features more than 59,000 plugins for various needs including content creation and optimization.
Everything from AI-powered plugins for content writing to SEO plugins to improve search engine rankings, teams can bring any functionality to their CMS within seconds.
Sitecore users will need to work with dedicated developers to build these capabilities on their platform. The process can take anywhere from a few weeks at least to some months, depending on the complexity of that functionality.
To put it together, WordPress’ simple interface and robust plugin options allow enterprises to manage content easier and faster. Sitecore users often need technical assistance and custom development to achieve similar results after significant investment.
2. Cost-Effectiveness and Open-Source Benefits
Sitecore costs enterprises and large organizations millions of dollars in licensing, hosting, and maintenance fees in just three years:
Cost | WordPress | Sitecore XM (On-Premise) | Sitecore XM Cloud |
---|---|---|---|
License Cost (Annual) | $0 | $80,000 to $150,000+ | $100,000 to $200,000+ |
Design and Build (One-time) | $50,000 to $100,000 | $100,000 to $300,000+ | $100,000 to $200,000+ |
Cloud and Hosting (Annual) | $25000+ | $100,000+ | $0 |
Average Cost of 5 Premium Add-ons (Annual) | $25000+ | $100,000+ | $60,000+ |
Support and Maintenance (Annual) | $12,000 to $24,000 | $25,000 to $75,000 | $30,000 to $100,000 |
Non-Production Installations (Annual) | $0 | $20,000 to $50,000 | $0 |
Total Cost (1st Year) | $100K to $180K | $400K to $800K | $300K to $600K |
Total Cost (3 Years) | 🏆 $200K to $350K | $1M to $2M | $700K to $1.5M |
In contrast, WordPress has no licensing fees, and its popularity translates to an abundance of experienced developers at competitive prices. Moreover, a lot of the routine tasks like keeping the platform and plugins updated can be done without any technical assistance.
All of these factors contribute to WordPress’ cost-effectiveness right from the start. This advantage alone encourages enterprises to migrate from Sitecore to WordPress.
Even if teams want to build custom plugins for their specific use cases, they can do it easily, considering the open-source nature of WordPress. Proprietary CMS options like Sitecore require companies to walk the extra mile for the same result.
Another benefit of WordPress, stemming from its open-source characteristic, is its global community. Users, developers, entrepreneurs, and businesses around the world share their tips and tricks about WordPress in various online forums and communities.
The open-source ecosystem promotes constant exploration and encourages teams to push the boundaries of what’s possible with a WordPress-powered website. This brings an unparalleled learning opportunity for enterprises which is simply absent with closed-source Sitecore.
In summary, WordPress is cost-effective, requires low maintenance, offers great flexibility, and makes users a part of an actively learning global community, making it a better option for content management in the short and long term.
3. User Experience and Usability
As mentioned earlier, WordPress’ intuitive interface makes it easy for content writers and marketers to manage pages and posts effectively. This is crucial to remaining agile as producing content on trending topics is significantly time-sensitive.
Furthermore, onboarding new team members, especially if they are coming from a non-technical background, becomes quick. There are also plenty of free learning resources across the internet that streamline it further.
On the other hand, Sitecore’s powerful and feature-laden CMS offers a complex backend that has a steeper learning curve. This can pose a bottleneck, particularly when collaborating with external stakeholders.
Additionally, enterprises using Sitecore have to use its native editor. Although it gets the job done, it may not address all the needs, leading to slower operations.
WordPress, in contrast, provides many visual editors like Elementor and WPBakery that bring a graphical, drag-and-drop experience to the content creation process. Consequently, teams can enjoy an immersive content creation experience.
To put it simply, WordPress excels in usability and delivers a tailored user experience. Enterprises can choose everything, from the plugins they use to the layout of the content editor within minutes.
4. Enterprise Suitability and Scalability
It may appear that Sitecore is a better option for enterprises, compared to WordPress. This is because Sitecore only has a few advantages to begin with. WordPress’ prowess in powering enterprise sites is often overshadowed by multiple other advantages mentioned above.
In reality, WordPress beats Sitecore in enterprise use cases as well.
First and foremost, it allows enterprises and large organizations to scale seamlessly without vendor lock-in. Teams have the freedom to choose everything from their hosting provider to custom functionality at their own accord.
Similarly, when it comes to security, companies can easily add additional layers of data protection with the help of various plugins such as Wordfence and Sucuri Security. On top of that, WordPress is known for sending frequent security updates and patches.
Sitecore doesn’t provide any of this. Enterprises have to select a hosting provider within the platform’s closed and proprietary ecosystem and make peace with limited customizability.
While the CMS does a great job of sending timely updates that protect a company’s sensitive information, it lacks the option to bolster it further with plugins. Moreover, Sitecore has a small community that may be less vigilant to the latest cyber threats compared to its WordPress counterpart.
5. Community and Support
WordPress has a vast, active global community that continuously shares resources for the users to make the most out of their websites. Enterprises can look forward to tutorials and guides from developers and experienced contributors to elevate their platform further.
Moreover, the open-source nature of the CMS encourages members to push the boundaries of WordPress even further. As a result, many plugins, themes, and extensions are developed by passionate users rather than dedicated companies.
The proprietary Sitecore has nurtured a community over the years, but it is quite small and the activity is limited. Teams can definitely expect some quality guides and tutorials, however, the interaction is only a fraction of what WordPress offers.
For support, apart from the extensive documentation for WordPress, teams can choose from free community forums or premium support services. This allows them to optimize maintenance costs over time.
Sitecore does offer great enterprise support but provides limited flexibility. Enterprises have to choose from the proprietary options which may not be the right choice, both in terms of services and pricing.
6. SEO Friendliness
The most critical component of content management is ensuring search engine visibility.
WordPress makes it easy through plugins like Rank Math and Yoast SEO. Enterprises can leverage these tools to optimize their posts and pages. This enhances crawlability and increases the chances of a higher ranking.
On top of that, teams can also install AI-powered writing plugins and caching plugins. These tools further simplify the process of content production and website performance optimization.
Sitecore comes with some SEO capabilities but it does require a bit of a hands-on approach. Users need to spend a few hours to days to learn how they can optimize their articles and content for search engines.
The advanced configurations within the proprietary CMS allow for efficient caching leading to faster loading. However, here too, teams may require technical support, which could slow the implementation.
Wrapping Up
Enterprises need a user-friendly CMS that streamlines content management to remain agile and proactive while producing posts or pages. WordPress’ intuitive interface, vast plugin repository, open-source flexibility, and enterprise-grade security make it an ideal choice.
Large organizations can also save resources by cutting licensing and maintenance costs and speeding up their content production workflow.
Teams using Sitecore can leverage these benefits by swiftly migrating to WordPress with the help of an experienced agency.
Multidots has successfully helped many large enterprises and organizations to move from Sitecore to WordPress within tight deadlines and minimal downtime. Our team’s battle-tested approach will ensure a seamless transition while preserving content integrity and improving site performance.
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FAQs
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WordPress offers an intuitive, beginner-friendly interface that even non-technical users can master quickly. Its streamlined design and extensive plugin options simplify content management, whereas Sitecore’s complex backend often requires specialized training and technical expertise.
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Yes, WordPress can meet enterprise needs, offering scalable, secure, and customizable solutions. With multisite capabilities and powerful plugins, WordPress supports complex requirements, enabling global organizations to manage diverse sites and content effectively.
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WordPress is generally more affordable due to its open-source nature, lack of licensing fees, and availability of cost-effective developers. In contrast, Sitecore’s proprietary licensing, setup, and specialized maintenance needs can lead to significantly higher expenses.
Additionally, WordPress offers many hosting options for enterprises allowing teams to choose a vendor that fits their tailored needs. This freedom is unavailable with Sitecore due to its proprietary nature, leading to vendor lock-in.
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WordPress has a vast global community providing continuous support, regular updates, and extensive resources. This ecosystem fosters innovation and quick fixes. Sitecore, being closed-source, relies on limited vendor-provided support and lacks the same community-driven benefits.
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WordPress offers simplicity, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and robust community support, making it ideal for agile content management. Its scalability and ease of use empower teams to manage content efficiently, while Sitecore’s complex setup often hampers flexibility.
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