What users are saying about
252 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener noreferrer'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 7.7 out of 100
Based on 252 reviews and ratings
45 Ratings
<a href='https://www.trustradius.com/static/about-trustradius-scoring' target='_blank' rel='nofollow noopener noreferrer'>trScore algorithm: Learn more.</a>Score 7.1 out of 100
Based on 45 reviews and ratings
Likelihood to Recommend
Joomla
Joomla! is intuitive and lends itself to robust, more complex websites. There are powerful extensions though it does not offer as many free plugins compared to other CMS platforms. The functionality is great with a well executed framework. It's easy to get started with little to none technical knowledge which is a big plus
Digital Marketing Manager
Orasi SoftwareComputer Software, 201-500 employees
Umbraco CMS
Umbraco CMS is the perfect tool for a company that is looking to keep their website updated. The simple to use tools and templates means updating and creating new pages is easy. The WYSIWYG editor is a nice feature, however, for accessibility, there should be some more guidance on what is suitable to be used on the CMS.
Operations Manager
CDSM Interactive SolutionsComputer Software, 11-50 employees
Feature Rating Comparison
Security
Joomla
8.6
Umbraco CMS
7.2
Role-based user permissions
Joomla
8.6
Umbraco CMS
7.2
Platform & Infrastructure
Joomla
8.3
Umbraco CMS
6.2
API
Joomla
8.2
Umbraco CMS
6.9
Internationalization / multi-language
Joomla
8.4
Umbraco CMS
5.6
Web Content Creation
Joomla
7.5
Umbraco CMS
6.9
WYSIWYG editor
Joomla
7.0
Umbraco CMS
5.4
Code quality / cleanliness
Joomla
7.6
Umbraco CMS
7.0
Admin section
Joomla
8.5
Umbraco CMS
7.5
Page templates
Joomla
7.7
Umbraco CMS
7.1
Library of website themes
Joomla
7.4
Umbraco CMS
4.8
Mobile optimization / responsive design
Joomla
7.5
Umbraco CMS
7.7
Publishing workflow
Joomla
7.0
Umbraco CMS
7.9
Form generator
Joomla
7.2
Umbraco CMS
7.8
Web Content Management
Joomla
8.1
Umbraco CMS
6.9
Content taxonomy
Joomla
8.3
Umbraco CMS
7.6
SEO support
Joomla
8.1
Umbraco CMS
8.2
Bulk management
Joomla
7.9
Umbraco CMS
6.2
Availability / breadth of extensions
Joomla
8.4
Umbraco CMS
6.7
Community / comment management
Joomla
8.0
Umbraco CMS
5.9
Pros
Joomla
- Multiple templates assigned on a page-level basis allow fine-grained control of your site design
- Excellent ACL out-of-the-box means you can have a mutli-user website up and running without needing to install anything additional
- Straightforward control panel and useful help features and documentation make it easy for people to manage their own websites
Owner | Principal
LMK Web Design & ConsultingInformation Technology and Services, 1-10 employees
Umbraco CMS
- Plugins - as an open source CMS, Umbraco is very customizable and flexible to the needs of the organization
- Publishing - Umbraco has powerful tools for publishing
- Media hosting
Data Manager
Foundation for Economic EducationThink Tanks, 11-50 employees
Cons
Joomla
- Updating was never as seamless/easy as it seems to be with Wordpress. Obviously we accounted for this with our own workflow/methods, but I remember whenever we did WordPress updates it always seemed a breeze compared to the time/energy involved with a Joomla update/upgrade.
- For a while (I think this has changed some) Joomla left itself open to attacks when administrators were not as well versed as they should be. There were developer additions that did security checks/audits for you, but the CMS was the subject of a lot of attacks when left in the hands of our clients for a long time (who had changed permissions to make editing easier/convenient). Ideally the CMS would have been more restrictive on some of these things to prevent easy abuse. Obviously this is more the fault of the misinformed/human then the CMS, but it could have been more dummy-proof.
- No native versioning. There are some community extensions that add this functionality, but they pale in comparison to the versioning plugins of other CMS's (WordPress specifically). Again this was some time ago and in our experience, it could have changed by now.

Verified User
Engineer in Engineering
Computer Software Company, 1-10 employeesUmbraco CMS
- Umbraco can initially be challenging for new users with limited or no development experience. After initial installation, there is a lot more work required to 'see' a site.
- Umbraco isn't stable. For example, even on a fresh new site sometimes you'll get errors when trying to save something in the admin panel. It's not common, but it happens often enough to be annoying.
- No out of the box contact forms. Umbraco sells their forms plugin that we've used in the past, but the plugin is disappointing. It isn't well maintained and it's very buggy. Making a new contact form with the paid plugin can take a lot of time to get everything right (fields, validation, confirmation emails, etc). This is especially frustrating for new users.
- Documentation / resource links frequently 404. Umbraco seems to change their site URLs often enough that, when you encounter an issue, you're likely to find a number of bad links in Google's search results. This makes it difficult to research solutions to a problem.
- Posts often go unanswered or without resolution in their community support forums. Hopefully this will improve as the community grows.
- The update process is clumsy at best. Many people are familiar with the simple WordPress upgrade button for the core and plugins. This doesn't exist at all for Umbraco. Instead, you'll need to select specific files to overwrite and potentially update any old code references.
- Migration between development environments is clumsy. Umbraco offers a premium plugin to address this because, as they state on the premium plugin page, deployments are "complicated, headache-inducing"
Founder
UpticaMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees
Likelihood to Renew
Joomla
Joomla 10.0
Based on 28 answers
I gave it a rating of 10 because I just love how Joomla! works, how it is set up and how it handles many users. Also it is very fast, and there is no overload on the MySQL database or servers ever.
Owner
Lionsites Web DesignInternet, 1-10 employees
Umbraco CMS
No score
No answers yet
No answers on this topic
Usability
Joomla
Joomla 9.9
Based on 7 answers
Joomla! 3.x is easily installed either manually or via a script provided by your host. It contains most of the tools needed to begin creating websites right from the start. Those features that it doesn't have are easily installed via links and buttons from the thousands of extensions available in the community
Freelance Web Designer and Content Strategist
Words To Web, Inc.Online Media, 1-10 employees
Umbraco CMS
Umbraco CMS 4.0
Based on 1 answer
Many end users will be overwhelmed with the admin interface. Some common functions are buried in menus
Founder
UpticaMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees
Reliability and Availability
Joomla
Joomla 9.9
Based on 2 answers
No answer on this topic is available.
Umbraco CMS
Umbraco CMS 7.0
Based on 1 answer
Occasionally, errors will appear in the admin that make it impossible to work without developer support.
Founder
UpticaMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees
Performance
Joomla
Joomla 7.8
Based on 2 answers
Today's Modern Joomla performs very well and is robust and durable. The pages load faster than they ever did in the past and Modern Joomla's integration into other software or systems has become seamless. Modern Joomla sites will last long and will stay running forever.
Webmaster \ Web Developer for the City of Pomona
Jaymersun Website ServicesInformation Technology and Services, 201-500 employees
Umbraco CMS
Umbraco CMS 3.0
Based on 1 answer
Working in the admin panel (adding / reviewing / editing content) is very slow.The public facing site speed is dependent on what the pages are doing and how well the code was written (whether it is optimized for speed).
Founder
UpticaMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees
Support Rating
Joomla
Joomla 10.0
Based on 4 answers
Between the core Joomla developers who are excellent at answering questions and providing support, you have a whole community of developers who work with Joomla and are happy to help fellow developers out answering questions and supporting the Joomla project. Out of the many communities I am involved in for open-source software, Joomla's community is by far the best.
Owner - Web Designer/Developer/Marketer
Programmer JenInternet, 1-10 employees
Umbraco CMS
Umbraco CMS 2.0
Based on 1 answer
Support for Umbraco-owned paid plugins is nonexistent.
Founder
UpticaMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees
Online Training
Joomla
Joomla 6.0
Based on 1 answer
No answer on this topic is available.
Umbraco CMS
Umbraco CMS 3.0
Based on 1 answer
Online training is often based on older versions of the platform. So, you'll have to fill in the gaps on your own.
Founder
UpticaMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees
Implementation Rating
Joomla
Joomla 8.7
Based on 3 answers
Joomla has gone through tremendous growing pains. It is now better than ever. But before, when it was going from 1.5-2.5, the templates and plugins would break over and over again. If you don't understand what Joomla was trying to do back then, you might have a bad attitude toward it. Today, those pains are over and things don't break like they used to during that time period.
Webmaster \ Web Developer for the City of Pomona
Jaymersun Website ServicesInformation Technology and Services, 201-500 employees
Umbraco CMS
Umbraco CMS 7.0
Based on 1 answer
Spend the time to wireframe the content structure prior to diving in. This helps speed the process of implementation and it serves as documentation for end users.
Founder
UpticaMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees
Alternatives Considered
Joomla
I think Joomla is on-par with Drupal and Umbraco and similar platforms, but WordPress does seem to be above it. WordPress has become so common that there are more and more features becoming available to it that exceed the Joomla platform and make it hard to compete with. WordPress is also a lot easier for new users to get into and understand, but Joomla is still relatively simple.
Web Content Manager
VertMarkets, Inc.Publishing, 51-200 employees
Umbraco CMS
There is not really an alternative when it comes to CMS based on ASP.Net (MVC4 with Razor). There are a few frameworks, like Booststrap; however framework is not content management system. I will compare it to Drupal, because the second one is well known. Against Drupal, Umbraco is very clean and fast framework/CMS. It does not have as much of big community, support or range of plugins as Drupal.
Web Developer
TMP WorldwideMarketing and Advertising, 501-1000 employees
Scalability
Joomla
Joomla 9.9
Based on 3 answers
No answer on this topic is available.
Umbraco CMS
Umbraco CMS 4.0
Based on 1 answer
Without significant development, the product does not scale well.
Founder
UpticaMarketing and Advertising, 1-10 employees
Return on Investment
Joomla
- Reduces Maintenance Expense - Simple interface saves clients money on site management by allowing inhouse management where desired
- Ease of Updating - Reduces website upgrade expense by allowing template upgrades without the need for redevelopment of content
- Scalability is huge - Client gains entry to an enterprise level web presence with a smaller budget and can grow/add functionality as the budget allows without a redevelopment of the entire site.

Verified User
Partner in Other
Internet Company, 1-10 employeesUmbraco CMS
- It's a .net solution and we program in .net so it was faster
- thanks to their good SEO, we have more leads
President & Co-Founder
EnovatioComputer Software, 1-10 employees
Screenshots
Joomla
—Pricing Details
Joomla
General
Free Trial
—Free/Freemium Version
—Premium Consulting/Integration Services
—Entry-level set up fee?
No
Joomla Editions & Modules
—
Additional Pricing Details
—Umbraco CMS
General
Free Trial
Yes
Free/Freemium Version
Yes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
Yes
Entry-level set up fee?
No
Umbraco CMS Editions & Modules
On-premise Edition
Umbraco Free | $0 |
---|---|
Umbraco Professional | $5,0002 |
Umbraco Enterprise | 5000+2 |
- per year
SaaS Edition
Umbraco Cloud Starter | $391 |
---|---|
Umbraco Cloud Standard | $2091 |
Umbraco Cloud Professional | $5691 |
Umbraco Cloud Enterprise | 5000+1 |
Umbraco Heartcore Mini | $491 |
Umbraco Heartcore Starter | $2391 |
Umbraco Heartcore Professional | $9991 |
Umbraco Heartcore Enterprise | 1000+1 |
- per month