Joomla vs Umbraco

Last Updated:

Our analysts compared Joomla vs Umbraco based on data from our 400+ point analysis of CMS Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Joomla Software Tool
Umbraco Software Tool

Product Basics

Joomla is a free, open-source solution to manage and publish content online and design websites. Built on a model-view-controller (MVC) framework, it enables building a variety of websites like blogs, business websites, intranet, community forums and more. It comes with built-in templates with the option to change colors, fonts, layouts and features without the need to code. With a variety of publishing tools and a WYSIWYG editor, it includes content versioning and article management through a media manager.

Users can choose from more than 8,000 third-party extensions to set up reviews, run contests, allow post liking and additional functionality on their websites. It provides out-of-the-box SEO optimization with metadata and keywords, including support for SEF URLs. Available in more than 70 languages, it is maintained by a volunteer community of developers, support personnel and IT professionals.
read more...
Umbraco is a .NET-based open source solution developed on the Microsoft stack to help users manage content. It provides integrated workflows for intuitive editing, multi-device previews and scheduled publishing and updating of content. It empowers developers to build professional websites through its low-code/no-code website builder, Uno. Its main technology, Heartcore, enables content publishing on multiple channels including websites, smartwatches, apps, digital signage and more. Powered by the Content Delivery Network (CDN), it ensures quicker delivery of content through a network of servers.

Hosted on the Microsoft Azure cloud, it integrates with content apps that provide feedback and statistics on already published content. More than 300 free extensions and plugins built by its vast online developer community are available directly from within the application. The vendor offers a free 14-day trial.
read more...
$0 Open-Source
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
$50 Monthly
Get a free price quote
Tailored to your specific needs
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Small 
i
Medium 
i
Large 
i
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Windows
Mac
Linux
Android
Chromebook
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile
Cloud
On-Premise
Mobile

Product Assistance

Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Documentation
In Person
Live Online
Videos
Webinars
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
Email
Phone
Chat
FAQ
Forum
Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Flexible Content Management: Joomla allows users to easily create, edit, and manage content without needing extensive technical knowledge, making it ideal for businesses aiming to maintain dynamic websites.
  • Extensive Customization Options: With thousands of templates and extensions available, Joomla offers unparalleled customization, enabling businesses to tailor their websites to their unique branding and functionality requirements.
  • Robust User Management: Joomla provides a comprehensive user management system, allowing for detailed control over user roles, permissions, and access levels, ensuring secure and efficient management of website contributors and content.
  • SEO Friendly: Joomla is designed with SEO in mind, featuring options for meta tags, keywords, and SEF URLs, helping businesses improve their search engine rankings and online visibility.
  • Multilingual Support: Offering support for over 75 languages, Joomla enables businesses to create multilingual websites, reaching a broader audience and catering to global markets.
  • Strong Community Support: Joomla boasts a large, active community of developers and users who provide extensive support, tutorials, and forums, making it easier for businesses to find help and resources.
  • Highly Secure: With regular security updates and built-in features like two-factor authentication and CAPTCHA, Joomla prioritizes website security, protecting businesses from potential threats and vulnerabilities.
  • E-commerce Ready: Joomla supports a wide range of e-commerce extensions, allowing businesses to easily set up and manage online stores, complete with product catalogs, shopping carts, and secure payment systems.
  • Responsive Design: Joomla templates are generally designed to be responsive, ensuring that websites look great and function well on all devices, from desktops to smartphones, enhancing user experience and engagement.
  • Powerful Extensions: With over 8,000 extensions available, Joomla extends its core functionalities to include social networking, forums, galleries, and more, enabling businesses to add complex features without heavy custom coding.
read more...
  • Streamlined Content Management: Umbraco simplifies the process of creating, managing, and publishing content, enabling users to maintain their website with ease and efficiency.
  • Flexible Customization: With its open-source framework, Umbraco allows for extensive customization, ensuring that businesses can tailor their websites to meet specific needs and preferences.
  • Scalability: Umbraco is designed to grow with your business, easily accommodating increases in web traffic and content volume without sacrificing performance.
  • User-Friendly Interface: The intuitive back-office interface of Umbraco makes it accessible for users of all skill levels, reducing the learning curve and enhancing productivity.
  • Robust Security: Umbraco takes security seriously, offering built-in features and regular updates to protect websites from threats and vulnerabilities.
  • SEO Optimization: Umbraco facilitates better search engine rankings with SEO-friendly URLs, easy metadata management, and integration capabilities with various SEO tools.
  • Community Support: Being open-source, Umbraco boasts a vibrant community of developers and users who contribute to its development, offer support, and share knowledge.
  • Multi-Language Support: Umbraco's multilingual capabilities make it easy to create and manage content in multiple languages, catering to global audiences.
  • Cost-Effectiveness: As a free, open-source platform, Umbraco reduces the cost of website development and management, making it an attractive option for businesses of all sizes.
  • Integration Capabilities: Umbraco can seamlessly integrate with a wide range of third-party tools and systems, enhancing functionality and enabling a more cohesive digital ecosystem.
  • High Performance: Websites built with Umbraco are known for their fast loading times and smooth performance, contributing to a better user experience and higher satisfaction rates.
  • Content Versioning: Umbraco automatically saves versions of content items, allowing users to easily revert changes or review historical versions, enhancing content management and control.
  • Responsive Design Support: Umbraco supports responsive web design, ensuring that websites look and function perfectly across all devices, from desktops to smartphones.
  • Comprehensive Documentation: Umbraco provides extensive documentation and resources, making it easier for developers and content managers to find the information they need to effectively use the platform.
read more...
  • Extensions: Choose from over 80,000 extensions to personalize sites and create unlimited menus and menu items while maintaining site speed with caching capabilities.
  • Access Controls: Produce business sites, blogs, community websites and more with the free-to-use platform.Have full management capabilities over what customers can view and do with an access control list (ACL).
  • Multilingual: Create sites in over 70 different languages.
  • Web Design: Build custom designs and templates to control the website’s look and feel through customizable attributes such as color scheme, images and effects, fonts and more. Choose from external template frameworks and add them to the designated pages. Provide HTML from objects and an array of data. Produce responsive designs with LESS CSS and Bootstrap.
  • Content Editing and Publishing: Create content with a WYSIWYG editor tool, edit while browsing sites and add to content with one click. Manage articles, choose publishing start and finish dates and create new versions of the content every time a change is made while preserving the old ones. Drag and drop images directly from a computer and use the media management tool to upload and consolidate images and files.
  • Core Website Functionality: Enhance websites with banners and ads, contacts and departments, including contact forms and external news feeds.
  • Tags: Attach tags to various content types and create up to 15 custom fields to keep content, users and contacts organized for customer search.
  • Messaging: Communicate with administrators via private messaging on the site’s back-end.
  • Backend Management: Update core software and extensions with one click and install extensions and plug-ins from the site’s back end. Permit visitors to register and access additional resources on the site.
  • Development Tools: Access developer documentation and secure coding guidelines for assistance. Integrate microdata into extensions and sites, write web and command line applications and utilize Model-View-Controller design patterns. Runs on PHP support.
read more...
  • Cloud: Host on Microsoft Azure and automatically keep sites secure and up-to-date with the latest software updates. 
    • Environments: Connect to a local device or add multiple environments by utilizing core technologies that divide metadata and content into two separate spaces.  
    • ContentFlow: Its two-part deployment strategy allows editors to simultaneously edit and publish content while developers work on feature development, creating an efficient workspace. 
    • Baselines: Build multiple websites easily by re-using project templates from the main site. 
    • User Controls: Invite team members, grant permissions to edit and review projects and more. 
  • CMS: Flexible CMS capabilities create a seamless editing experience that is custom-made to editor’s preferences. 
  • Uno: Easily create and personalize a website by selecting from pre-built widgets, no coding required. Customize using unique images, text, colors, fonts and more. As a Software as a Service (SaaS) technology, it is an all-in-one hosted product that installs updates automatically instead of manually, keeping the site up on security and bug fixes.  
  • Heartcore: A headless CMS that utilizes RESTful API technology to enable omnichannel delivery, allowing customers to view content on the front end, on anything from smartwatches, apps, smart speakers and more. 
    • Backoffice: Automatically exposes content and media via a REST API, fully serviced through the vendor’s backoffice to keep codebases updated without any work from the customer. 
    • Content Delivery Network: Cloudflare enables fast content delivery to any visitor or frontend in the world via data storage through nearby servers. 
    • GraphQL: Receive precisely what is needed from the server; it defines and structures the information needed, reducing loading times, API calls and data over-fetching. 
  • Support: Support, included with all paid plans, provides subscribers with a direct line of communication to a team of specialists, guaranteed to respond in 12 hours or less. Extensive training resources and an onboarding procedure for all clients help to ensure customer success. 
  • Forms: Produce content forms, multi-step questionnaires and more with the ability to select from input types, validation rules and conditions. Create forms tailored to customer needs. 
  • Courier: Deploy content straight from the Content section while maintaining updated templates, media and data. Design custom features in a deployment environment. 
  • Deploy: Test configurations, latest code changes and updates with the deployment engine. Editors and developers can work in the same environment or test their content codes and content against code updates in another, ensuring confident final publishing. 
read more...

Product Ranking

#21

among all
CMS Software

#53

among all
CMS Software

Find out who the leaders are

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 1429 reviews
Great User Sentiment 235 reviews
81%
of users recommend this product

Joomla has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 81% when considering 1429 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

82%
of users recommend this product

Umbraco has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 82% when considering 235 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

4.3 (14)
n/a
3.9 (321)
4.2 (163)
4.14 (516)
4.06 (18)
4.1 (453)
3.9 (10)
n/a
4.0 (22)
3.9 (125)
3.5 (22)

Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Extensive Extensions: A vast library of extensions is available to expand Joomla's core functionality, catering to diverse needs such as e-commerce, social networking, and SEO optimization.
Multilingual Capabilities: Joomla's built-in multilingual support simplifies website creation and management in multiple languages, eliminating the need for extensions or complex workarounds.
Active Community: A large and active community of users and developers provides support, resources, and extensions, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Show more
Flexibility and Customization: Umbraco is an open-source CMS, giving developers complete control over the code and the ability to customize it to meet specific needs. This is in contrast to closed-source CMS options, which may have limitations on customization.
User-Friendly Interface: Umbraco has a clean and intuitive interface that is easy for content editors to use, even if they have limited technical experience. This can help to streamline the content creation process and make it more efficient.
Active Community and Support: Umbraco has a large and active community of developers and users who provide support and resources. This can be helpful for troubleshooting issues and learning new skills. The community also contributes to the ongoing development of the platform, ensuring that it remains up-to-date and relevant.
Show more
Extensions Can Be Pricey: While Joomla offers a wide array of extensions, many of the most useful ones require a financial investment, which can be a deterrent for budget-conscious users or those just starting out.
Learning Curve: Joomla has a steeper learning curve compared to some other content management systems, especially for users without prior experience. The interface can feel overwhelming at first, and understanding the extension ecosystem takes time.
SEO Challenges: Optimizing a Joomla website for search engines can be more complex than with other platforms. Achieving good SEO often requires additional extensions and a deeper understanding of technical SEO principles.
Show more
Steep Learning Curve: Umbraco has a steeper learning curve compared to other CMS platforms, especially for users without prior development experience. The interface can be overwhelming for beginners, and understanding the underlying concepts requires additional effort.
Limited Built-in Features: Out of the box, Umbraco offers fewer built-in features compared to some other CMS options. Users often need to rely on third-party packages or custom development to achieve specific functionalities, which can add complexity and potential compatibility issues.
Smaller Community and Ecosystem: While Umbraco has a dedicated community, it is smaller compared to those of more widely used CMS platforms. This can result in fewer readily available resources, plugins, and support options for users.
Show more

Joomla's open-source CMS platform has been making waves in the web development world, but what are users saying about it? Let's dive into the nitty-gritty of Joomla's strengths, weaknesses, and unique features based on recent user feedback. Joomla shines with its user-friendly interface and extensive customization options. Users appreciate the intuitive layout and ease of navigation, making it a great choice for beginners and experienced developers alike. The platform's flexibility allows for creating diverse websites, from simple blogs to complex e-commerce platforms, thanks to its vast library of extensions and templates. Joomla's multilingual capabilities also make it a popular choice for international audiences. However, some users find the abundance of options overwhelming and the learning curve steeper compared to simpler CMS platforms like Wix or Squarespace. One of Joomla's key strengths is its active and supportive community. Users can access numerous forums, tutorials, and documentation, making troubleshooting and learning a breeze. Additionally, Joomla's open-source nature fosters continuous development and improvement, ensuring the platform stays up-to-date with the latest web technologies. However, some users express concerns about security vulnerabilities and the need for regular updates to maintain a secure website. Compared to WordPress, Joomla offers more built-in features, reducing the reliance on third-party extensions, which can be a double-edged sword as it limits the platform's extensibility to some degree. So, who is Joomla best suited for? Joomla is an excellent choice for users who value flexibility, customization, and a supportive community. It's perfect for small to medium-sized businesses, non-profit organizations, and individuals who want to create professional-looking websites without extensive coding knowledge. However, for users seeking a simple drag-and-drop website builder or those with limited technical skills, simpler platforms might be a better fit. Ultimately, Joomla's versatility and powerful features make it a compelling option for those who want to take their web development game to the next level.

Show more

Umbraco has been making waves in the CMS world, and for good reason. Users rave about its ease of use, highlighting the intuitive interface that makes content creation and management a breeze, even for those with limited technical expertise. Flexibility is another key strength, as Umbraco allows for extensive customization to meet specific needs, whether it's building a simple blog or a complex e-commerce platform. This adaptability is a major differentiator from more rigid CMS options like Wix or Squarespace, which can feel restrictive for users with unique requirements. Umbraco's open-source nature fosters a vibrant community that contributes to its ongoing development and provides support to users. This collaborative spirit sets it apart from proprietary CMS platforms, where users may feel isolated and dependent on the vendor for assistance. While Umbraco shines in many areas, some users note that its flexibility can also be a double-edged sword, as it may require more technical knowledge for advanced customizations compared to simpler platforms like WordPress. Overall, Umbraco is a top choice for businesses and individuals seeking a CMS that balances user-friendliness with powerful capabilities. Its flexibility, scalability, and supportive community make it ideal for projects of all sizes, from small personal websites to large enterprise applications. If you're looking for a CMS that empowers you to create without constraints, Umbraco is definitely worth exploring.

Show more

Screenshots

Top Alternatives in CMS Software


Alfresco

Box

Confluence

DocuShare

DocuWare

Egnyte

Epicor ECM

Laserfiche

M-Files

Nuxeo

OmniDocs

OnBase

OpenText ECM

Oracle WebCenter Content

Revver

Related Categories

WE DISTILL IT INTO REAL REQUIREMENTS, COMPARISON REPORTS, PRICE GUIDES and more...

Compare products
Comparison Report
Just drag this link to the bookmark bar.
?
Table settings