MODX and WordPress - essentially two different content management systems. Still, MODX is often compared to this CMS. Which isn’t that surprising when you look at the popularity of WordPress. Its usability and thousands of themes and plugins allow anyone to build a website. However, there are good reasons for us being such huge fans of MODX. To show you why we’ve written this blog showing the differences between these two CMSs. So you can make the right decision for your organization and hopefully, you’ll understand why MODX sites are often more expensive than WordPress sites.
The differences summarized:
- Usability: MODX is for both developers and non-developers very flexible, whereas WordPress is easy to use for any non-techie
- Themes & Plugins: Almost 1,000 MODX Extras, while WordPress offers 55,000+ plugins and 31,000+ themes
- Speed: MODX is proven to be in the top 3 fastest CMSs, while WordPress is second last
- Security: The dedicated MODX team that checks any code makes MODX a very secure CMS. WordPress, on the other hand, is less secure since anyone can add plugins and themes
- Support: Both MODX and WordPress have many agencies all around the world, support forums, a community, and online documentation
- Community: MODX has a dedicated MODX community that organizes Bug Hunt days, meetups, and hackathons. WordPress also organizes WordCamp and several meetups each year.
As you can see MODX and WordPress are very different CMSs. But there’s much more to tell, so let’s dive in!
MODX vs. WordPress in a nutshell
MODX stands for flexibility, security, scalability, search engine friendliness, and connectivity. This flexibility even goes as far as allowing you to manage any digital product in the same CMS. So you can manage your website, webshop, and intranet in one place and in multiple languages. You can always add more products and languages, so MODX grows with your organization.
WordPress, on the other hand, is the most popular CMS. This makes sense when you look at all the possibilities WordPress has to offer anyone. Even without developing knowledge, you can easily build a site and style it to match your branding. The wide variety of plugins allows you to quickly add a useful feature to your site. That’s how any business - no matter how small - can quickly start digitalizing their business.
At the core, MODX and WordPress are totally different CMSs that help you achieve different goals. It’s key to find out what you as an organization are looking for - both now and in the future - to make the right decision.
Usability
The biggest difference between MODX and WordPress is usability. MODX offers loads of freedom for developers to build whatever they want. This allows us to build anything our customers desire. This flexibility is one of the reasons why we have chosen MODX (yes, we used WordPress in our earlier years too).
However, it’s still very understandable that WordPress is as popular as it is. Users can choose from many designed themes, quickly make changes, and create their own website within hours. Add some useful plugins to it so that you can improve usability and findability. This all makes WordPress accessible to anyone.
Speed
The arrival of Google’s Core Web Vitals made speed an essential part in online findability. Research of Sistrix1 shows that the choice of CMS also contributes to this speed. They’ve analyzed 18.5 million domains and came to the following conclusions:
As you can see, MODX is in the top three fastest CMSs (yay MODX!), whereas WordPress shows itself at the bottom at the second to last place. Less yay… But we can explain it. MODX is built for speed. So it doesn’t add any extra code to the front end of the website (where the PageSpeed is based on) and doesn’t require this through weird plugin systems. Something other CMSs do require.
Learn more about the speed of MODX in our blog about MODX speed
This makes the MODX CMS as clean and lean as possible, whereas WordPress and its many plugins have to load loads of code where only a small amount is needed. You can also suffer problems with the plugins contradicting each other or not being compatible with the theme your website is built on. This slows down your site so that you won’t achieve a high PageSpeed score.
Do keep in mind that this doesn’t have to be the same for your website. But with a WordPress website, you can come across several issues slowing down your site.
Security
Any CMS safeguards security. Still, there is a huge difference in security between the different CMSs.
Since the beginning of MODX, security is the top priority. A dedicated team within the MODX community checks every contribution to the CMS before it’s added to a new version. Existing code is continuously monitored too, looking for vulnerabilities and solving them immediately. That’s how you are guaranteed a secure MODX site.
Hackers are more likely to hack a WordPress site. That’s because most websites are built within WordPress, which makes the chance of success greater. Besides that, anyone can create and add plugins to WordPress. This makes it easier for you as a WordPress site manager to install poorly programmed and even unsafe plugins. So always look for plugins that have many good reviews and are installed many times to define which plugins are safe to install and which aren’t.
source: MODX.com
Want to learn more about how MODX offers you a secure CMS? Read all about it in our blog about MODX security
Support & Community
professionals.modx.com shows all MODX agencies from around the world. Sterc can also be found here. These agencies can build any digital product for you or help you answer your questions and solve issues. Besides that, you can request an audit to improve the speed, security, and usability of your site. Lastly, MODX has an international, dedicated MODX community that continuously works on improving the CMS.
There are also many agencies around the world that work with WordPress. The only difference is that WordPress doesn’t have a web page dedicated to these agencies, so you have to find one yourself. Nonetheless, given there are so many agencies, you’ll quickly find one right for you. Another benefit of the many users is that you can find loads of information online. So you’ll easily find a solution to your problem.
So WordPress is a perfect CMS for anyone wanting to get their site up and running fast which looks good too. But if you want a customized site that’s flexible, secure, and fast, you may want to look into MODX. The many agencies help you keep your site up-to-date, and if you have any desire of scaling up, the flexibility of MODX allows you to do just that. This CMS always grows with you, so you don’t have to create an entirely new environment or add unnecessarily many plugins if you want to make a huge change.
1: https://www.sistrix.com/blog/core-web-vitals-wix-vs-wordpress-shopify-vs-shopware-whats-fastest/
