WordPress vs Joomla: Which CMS Fits Your Site in 2026?

WordPress and Joomla are both free, open-source, PHP-based content management systems released under the GPL, and both have been around for close to two decades. They solve the same basic problem: letting you publish and manage a website without hand-coding every page. Where they differ is in how much they include out of the box, how big their ecosystems are, and how much effort it takes to run them well.

The short answer: for most small and mid-sized businesses, WordPress is the safer default because of its far larger ecosystem of plugins, themes, hosts and developers. Joomla is a genuinely capable alternative when you need multilingual content and fine-grained user permissions in core, and you have someone comfortable administering it.

As of October 2026, W3Techs reports WordPress on 40.2% of all websites and Joomla on 1.1%. That gap matters less for how good each CMS is technically and more for practical things: how easy it is to hire help, how many extensions are maintained, and how many hosts optimize for the platform.

This guide compares the two on versions and support, built-in features, extensions, ease of use, security, hosting, cost and SEO, so you can decide which fits your project.

WordPress and Joomla at a glance

Both platforms are self-hosted software you install on your own server. Neither charges a license fee. The table below summarizes the main differences as of October 2026.

Versions, release cadence and support windows

This is one of the clearest structural differences between the two projects, and it affects how you plan maintenance.

Joomla: dated major versions

Joomla 6.0 and Joomla 5.4 were released together on 14 October 2025. Since then the project has shipped paired security and bugfix releases for both branches, most recently Joomla 6.1.4 and 5.4.9 on 29 September 2026. A Joomla 6.2 release candidate followed the same day, and the official Joomla roadmap lists 6.2 for 13 October 2026.

The roadmap also publishes end dates for each branch:

• Joomla 5.x: regular bugfix support ends 13 October 2026; security-only support ends 12 October 2027.
• Joomla 6.x: regular bugfix support ends 17 October 2028; security-only support ends 16 October 2029.

Moving from Joomla 5.4 to 6.0 is described by the project as "an upgrade, not a migration," with a Backward Compatibility 6 plugin to keep most extensions working. Joomla 6 also added automatic core updates, which closes a gap that WordPress filled years ago.

WordPress: continuous releases, newest supported

WordPress 7.0 shipped on 20 May 2026 and 7.1 on 19 August 2026, with 7.1.2 the latest release as of October 2026. WordPress 7.2 is targeted for December 2026. The project states that only the most recent release is actively maintained, although security fixes have been backported to older branches (the 7.1.1 fixes went back to 4.7).

In practice, both approaches work. Joomla gives you a predictable calendar for planning big upgrades. WordPress asks you to stay current continuously, which is easier because minor and security updates install automatically by default and major updates usually do not break well-maintained sites.

Built-in features: where Joomla does more in core

Joomla's strongest argument is how much it includes without extensions. According to Joomla's own feature pages:

• Multilingual content: core supports multilingual content management, with over 70 translation packs for the interface.
• Access control: an integrated access control list lets you define granular access rights for different user groups and content access levels.
• Custom fields: 15 field types can be added to articles, users and contacts.
• Overrides: template, layout and language overrides let developers change output without editing core files.
• Database choice: Joomla supports PostgreSQL as well as MySQL and MariaDB.

WordPress takes the opposite approach. Core stays lean and the plugin ecosystem fills gaps. It ships with five standard roles (Administrator, Editor, Author, Contributor, Subscriber) plus Super Admin on multisite. Multilingual content is not in core; it is Phase 4 of the Gutenberg roadmap and has not started. Most multilingual WordPress sites use plugins such as WPML, Polylang (800,000+ active installs) or TranslatePress (400,000+).

What WordPress does better in core is editing. The block editor, full-site editing, patterns, Global Styles and the Notes feature for editorial comments give non-technical teams a visual way to build and update pages. WordPress 7.1 added per-screen-size styling without custom CSS and moved image processing into the browser, with AVIF and HEIC support.

Extensions, themes and ecosystem size

The WordPress.org directory lists 70,087 free plugins and roughly 8,700 free themes as of 1 October 2026, before counting commercial products. The Joomla Extensions Directory shows 4,924 extensions.

Raw counts overstate the difference somewhat, because Joomla needs fewer extensions for features that are already in core. Still, the ecosystem gap shows up in day-to-day work:

• Integrations: payment gateways, CRMs, booking tools and marketing platforms usually ship a WordPress plugin first.
• Ecommerce: WooCommerce runs on 8.0% of all websites per W3Techs. Joomla has ecommerce extensions, but nothing with comparable adoption.
• Hiring: it is much easier to find WordPress developers, designers and agencies.
• Documentation: far more tutorials, forums and answers exist for WordPress problems.

A larger ecosystem also has a downside: more variable quality. Check active installs, last-updated date, tested-up-to version and support activity before installing any WordPress plugin.

Ease of use and learning curve

WordPress is generally easier for content editors. The dashboard is simple, posts and pages are obvious, and the block editor is visual. Most clients can publish a blog post or update a page after a short walkthrough.

Joomla's admin is more structured and has more concepts to learn: articles, categories, menus that control which content appears where, modules placed in template positions, and components. That structure is powerful for complex sites, but it takes longer to learn, and menu-driven routing confuses new users who expect each page to be a single editable item.

For developers, both are approachable PHP codebases. Joomla's structured component model and override system appeal to developers who like structure. WordPress's hooks system (actions and filters) is simpler to start with and is documented in enormous depth.

Security and maintenance

Neither CMS is insecure by design. Both have dedicated security teams and regular security releases. Most real-world compromises on either platform come from outdated software, vulnerable extensions and weak credentials.

For WordPress, Patchstack's 2026 report counted 11,334 new vulnerabilities in the ecosystem during 2025: 91% in plugins, 9% in themes and only 6 in core. That pattern is a direct consequence of the large plugin ecosystem. Joomla's smaller extension count means fewer third-party components to track, but the same discipline applies. Our Joomla security guide and WordPress security guide cover hardening for each.

Maintenance basics are the same on both: keep core and extensions updated, remove unused extensions, use strong passwords and two-factor authentication, keep off-site backups, and test major upgrades on staging.

Hosting and server requirements

WordPress has the widest hosting support of any CMS. Managed WordPress hosts handle updates, caching, backups and staging, and plans range from a few dollars a month on shared hosting to custom enterprise contracts. See our guide to managed WordPress hosting for what those plans include.

Joomla runs on any standard PHP host that meets its requirements, but there are far fewer Joomla-specialized managed hosts. The requirements are also stricter. Per the Joomla technical requirements, Joomla 6 needs PHP 8.3 or newer and MySQL 8.0.13+, MariaDB 10.4+ or PostgreSQL 12+. WordPress's official requirements recommend PHP 8.3+ and MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.11+, but it still runs on PHP 7.4 and MySQL 5.5.5.

Joomla does offer a free starting point: launch.joomla.org provides a free hosted Joomla site on a subdomain with 500 MB of space, hosted by CloudAccess.net, as long as you renew it every 30 days. Paid upgrades start at $5 per month according to that page. It is useful for testing, though most businesses will want their own hosting.

Cost of ownership

The software is free on both sides, so the real cost comes from hosting, premium extensions, design and ongoing maintenance.

• Hosting: comparable for similar traffic, though WordPress has more managed options at every price point.
• Extensions: Joomla may need fewer paid add-ons for multilingual or permissions. WordPress sites often add premium SEO, forms, backup or multilingual plugins, typically priced per year.
• Development: WordPress talent is easier to find, which tends to mean more competitive rates and less risk if a developer leaves. Joomla specialists exist but are a smaller pool.
• Maintenance: both need regular updates and monitoring. Joomla's dated major upgrades are a planned cost every couple of years; WordPress spreads that cost into continuous small updates.

Our WordPress cost breakdown goes through typical budgets line by line.

SEO capabilities

Both can rank well. Search engines care about content, site speed, crawlable structure and links, not which CMS you use.

Joomla ships with search-engine-friendly URLs, metadata fields and automatic alias creation in core. WordPress has clean permalinks and basic metadata in core and relies on SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO (10+ million active installs), Rank Math or All in One SEO for sitemap controls, schema markup and on-page guidance. Those plugins are a real advantage for non-technical editors, because they put SEO checks directly in the editor.

Multilingual SEO is one area where Joomla's core support is convenient: language-specific content and associations are built in. On WordPress, multilingual plugins handle hreflang tags and translated URLs.

Community and governance

Joomla is backed by Open Source Matters, Inc., a non-profit that holds the Joomla trademarks, and the project describes itself as run by volunteers. WordPress is a community project at WordPress.org with a much larger contributor base (WordPress 7.1 credited more than 800 contributors) and heavy involvement from commercial companies.

WordPress governance has seen public disputes since 2024, including litigation between Automattic and WP Engine that, according to Search Engine Journal, continued in September 2026 with antitrust claims allowed to proceed. WordPress core kept shipping releases through this period.

Which should you choose?

Choose WordPress if

• You want the largest choice of plugins, themes, hosts and developers.
• Non-technical staff will publish content regularly.
• You plan to sell online with WooCommerce or connect many third-party tools.
• You want managed hosting that handles updates, backups and staging for you.

Choose Joomla if

• You need multilingual content and granular permissions without relying on plugins.
• You already have Joomla expertise in-house or a trusted Joomla developer.
• You prefer a published support calendar for each major version.
• You want PostgreSQL support or a structured, override-based development model.

If you are already on Joomla and considering a move, our Joomla to WordPress migration guide covers content mapping, redirects and SEO protection. If you are still comparing options, see WordPress vs Drupal and the rest of our WordPress hub.

Conclusion

Joomla is a mature, well-run CMS with real strengths in core multilingual support, access control and predictable support windows. WordPress wins on ecosystem size, editor experience, hosting options and the availability of help. For most business websites, those practical advantages make WordPress the better default, while Joomla remains a sound choice for teams that need its built-in features and know how to run it. If you choose WordPress, eSEOspace can help with WordPress SEO once the site is live.

Frequently asked questions