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Joomla

Joomla

Overview

What is Joomla?

Joomla! is a free and open source content management system used to publish web content. Included features are page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, a search function, and support for language internationalization.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Joomla is a versatile content management system used by various businesses and organizations to run and manage their websites. It is …
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Jammin' with Joomla!

10 out of 10
October 18, 2019
Incentivized
Joomla is used across our organization. It solves our website address needs and much more due to its flexibility and ease of use. We …
Continue reading
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 16 features
  • Availability / breadth of extensions (45)
    8.0
    80%
  • Role-based user permissions (44)
    7.1
    71%
  • Page templates (45)
    7.0
    70%
  • WYSIWYG editor (46)
    6.0
    60%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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What is Joomla?

Joomla! is a free and open source content management system used to publish web content. Included features are page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, a search function, and support for language internationalization.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Alternatives Pricing

What is Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)?

Adobe Business Catalyst was a cloud-hosted system for building and managing web content and online stores with a built-in CRM framework in addition to sales, service, and marketing features including eCommerce and Email Marketing tools. It has been end of life (EOL) since 2020.

What is Agility?

Agility CMS is a cloud-based content management system from the company of the same name in Toronto, Ontario.

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Product Demos

Joomla! 3 Quickstart Installation Step by Step Guide

YouTube

JA Elastica - Free Responsive Design Template for Joomla 2.5!

YouTube

Template Creator CK 3 - Overview, simple demo, create your Joomla template in 7minutes

YouTube

Template Creator CK 3 - Overview, simple demo, create your Joomla template in 8 minutes

YouTube
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Features

Security

This component helps a company minimize the security risks by controlling access to the software and its data, and encouraging best practices among users.

7.1
Avg 8.0

Platform & Infrastructure

Features related to platform-wide settings and structure, such as permissions, languages, integrations, customizations, etc.

6.6
Avg 7.7

Web Content Creation

Features that support the creation of website content.

7.2
Avg 7.6

Web Content Management

Features for managing website content

6.6
Avg 7.3
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Product Details

What is Joomla?

Joomla! is a free, open source content management system used to publish web content. Joomla is written in PHP, uses object-oriented programming (OOP) techniques and stores data in a MySQL, MS SQL, or PostgreSQL database. Included features are page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, a search function, and support for language internationalization. Its dashboard organizing administrator tasks into context menus, from which content is edited, permissions set and changed, contacts managed, and messages sent to users. Extensions modify functionality in widely varying ways and provide flexibility.

Joomla Video

What is Joomla!

Joomla Competitors

Joomla Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Joomla! is a free and open source content management system used to publish web content. Included features are page caching, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, a search function, and support for language internationalization.

Drupal, Kentico Xperience, and Plone are common alternatives for Joomla.

Reviewers rate Library of website themes highest, with a score of 8.9.

The most common users of Joomla are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(287)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Joomla is a versatile content management system used by various businesses and organizations to run and manage their websites. It is popular among marketing departments as it allows them to update web content without the need for a developer, saving time and resources. Web development teams also benefit from Joomla's user-friendly interface, using it to design websites for clients and teach them to make small changes independently. Additionally, Joomla serves as a content management system for a wide range of projects, both internally and for clients. Its flexibility and extendability make it a preferred choice for both non-technical users and developers.

Joomla is widely used across organizations to manage content on public-facing websites, including non-profit organizations and startup companies. It is also utilized by web hosting platforms for its user-friendly interface and automatic installation. Companies rely on Joomla to manage their company intranets, providing a centralized information clearinghouse. This CMS is also commonly used by website design and development departments to create and maintain websites for various industries. Furthermore, Joomla finds applications in educational institutions to manage department pages and provide control to individual representatives. Its ability to handle different features like e-commerce and blog sites makes it an attractive choice for businesses with diverse needs. Developers appreciate Joomla's customization options, allowing them to create templates and extensions tailored to specific requirements.

The City of Pomona's website is managed using Joomla, enabling web administrators to easily edit and disseminate important information to the public. The built-in Access Control List features of Joomla allow the creation of users and groups with specific rights, granting access only to authorized individuals. These specific users can sign in to the website from the front-end to edit or update content as needed. Additionally, Joomla's Social Network AutoPoster feature automatically posts new articles from the City's website onto its Facebook Page. The CMS also includes a contact manager that lists the contact information of city departments, council members, and the mayor. The user-friendly interface provided by the Joomla Content Editor Component, known as JCE, makes it easy for standard users to edit and update content, similar to using Microsoft Word. Overall, Joomla offers a range of features and functionality that make it a valuable tool for managing websites across various industries and organizations.

Versatility and Customizability: Users have found Joomla to be highly versatile and customizable, allowing them to create websites that meet their specific needs. Several reviewers have mentioned how they were able to tailor the CMS to their unique requirements, making it a popular choice for businesses and organizations.

User-Friendly Interface: Many users appreciate the user-friendly interface of Joomla. They find it easy to navigate and perform various tasks without much hassle. The logical and intuitive admin interface has been praised by several reviewers, highlighting its contribution to a smooth user experience.

Availability of Third-Party Components and Extensions: Reviewers have expressed their satisfaction with the availability of third-party components and extensions in Joomla's marketplace. This wide range of options allows users to enhance the functionality of their websites by adding features like e-commerce capabilities, social media integration, and more. Some users have even mentioned specific third-party components that have greatly benefited their website development process.

Confusing User Interface: Users have found Joomla's user interface to be confusing and not user-friendly, making it difficult to perform tasks quickly. Several reviewers have mentioned this issue.

Security Concerns: There were concerns about Joomla's security, with users mentioning that it was not the most secure platform in the past and needed regular updates and secure file permissions to combat vulnerabilities. Some reviewers have expressed worry about the security of their websites.

Menu Items Rearranging Themselves: Users reported frustration with menu items rearranging themselves after adding new ones. This inconsistency in menu organization has been mentioned by several reviewers as a source of annoyance when managing their websites.

Based on user reviews, users commonly recommend the following for Joomla:

  1. Consider other CMS alternatives: Explore other CMS platforms, especially if you are not tech-savvy or lack previous web programming experience. Compare different CMS options before committing to Joomla.

  2. Invest in learning Joomla: Highly recommend dedicating time and effort to learning Joomla. It is particularly beneficial for small business owners who publish their own web content but have limited experience. Having someone at your business who knows code, including HTML and CSS, is recommended.

  3. Use Joomla for specific purposes: Joomla is suitable for developing web applications and websites, especially for small businesses without the resources for a website agency or in-house management team. It is also recommended for associations and small to medium-sized businesses with the help of a Joomla expert. Additionally, it is seen as a good option for beginners and creating multilingual websites due to its ease of use and flexibility.

It's important to note that while Joomla offers powerful features, it may not be suitable for all users or scenarios. Users advise considering other platforms if SEO is a major part of your company's future or if advanced or e-commerce features are required. Checking out WordPress as an alternative before deciding on Joomla is suggested.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 68)
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Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We used Joomla to edit our content and maintain our website. All of our page edits were done via Joomla, as well as building new pages. This solved the problem of bulky editors plus allowed us to edit on the fly or remotely off site, which was a huge plus.
  • Simple editing
  • Easy page setup
  • Great templates
  • Has a steep learning curve
  • Must have a basic understand of website development
  • Must understand the language
It is more suited in an environment where there are several team members who work from different locations. It was easier for us to use Joomla if we were working off-site or we were working remotely.
Sanjeev Raghuwanshi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
I am a Joomla! Developer having around 8 years of experience. I have started working [with] Joomla [since the] 1.5 version. I really like the Joomla! structure. While I am also working on WordPress, I love Joomla! because of its strong backend and MVC structure.
I have worked for many clients in Joomla!. It is more secure and well managed than WordPress but it has fewer templates or themes available for everything compared to WordPress. The same thing for SEO purposes, WordPress has lots of plugins available to boost website blogs. So nowadays Joomla! [is] going down in comparison to WordPress. Every Blogger recommends WordPress.



  • Joomla! [has the] best component for eCommerce website that is Virtuemart and Hikashop.
  • Joomla! [has the] best component for membership like RS Membership. It manages memberships in [a] very well manner.
  • Joomla! [has a] Drag and Drop template like Helix Ultimate framework - JoomShaper.
  • [It] is [a] very good theme provider.
  • First of all, I suggest to Joomla! Support Team, it should be more flexible to reply. There are no live chat options available. It should be developed.
  • Joomla! templates need to develop more functionalities like WordPress where templates [are] available for most of [the] functionalities.
  • Joomla! SEO options [are] not enough.
Joomla! is well suited for membership, eCommerce website, quizzes, and portfolio website, while you can create your blog's website.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We used Joomla! to make our website. It was so easy to set up with just a few clicks of the mouse and the database details added. Odd as its the same process as WordPress yet a lot of blogs say its harder, I think they are just comparing with older versions. There are a lot of new features in the new Joomla! 4 that we needed, workflows, and the very high accessibility standards so that our site can be viewed by all. There [are] a lot of helpful videos and documentation out there which really helped get us up and running. It's also a free product with 16 years of development behind it so the community who are making this know what they are doing. The media manager has come on leaps and bounds.
  • Security. Its got many new features in the new Joomla! 4 which make the already good security even better. I like the ability to use my Yubi keys to log in with the new webauth standard, I don't think any other CMS has that built in
  • W3C Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 (with AA compliance)
  • Really good SEO that gets our sites to the top of the search engines again without the need for any extra things
  • Speed, it gets a really good score (100%) in the google lighthouse on our server, can't beat that
  • There is not much. I think perhaps a built in cookie system but thats planned for 4.1
  • Always welcome more tutorials but they seem to have a fair few
  • Not all extensions have been converted to [Joomla!] 4 but the important ones are there
It seems with the release of Joomla! 4 that the weak areas have all been covered. Its always been good for the mid-level small to large business, the blogging was WP, and the large-scale enterprise was probably bespoke.
But the new interface is so simple it seems pointless using WP when Joomla! is as easy and can then grow as big as you like.

The Workflows feature which allows you to set up work pipelines easily is going to be a boom to any larger enterprise sites.

Couples with the new API which I got to see at one of their user groups, is amazing. They were creating articles on one site then another site was taking the feed directly for just certain categories. Really blows your mind what you could do with that and the new workflows.
Johann Joubert | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Joomla! CMS for all our website design and development. This is the foundation of the website design department but even our own website was designed and developed using Joomla!. Once a website is designed we train the owners to manage their own content. This helps us to focus on new developments rather than to have to maintain websites for other companies.
  • Joomla! has a vast quantity of developed extensions available. There are very few applications for which there isn't an extension available, paid or free.
  • The Joomla! CMS back-end administration control panel is extremely user friendly. Once you have mastered the basics of Joomla! editing it is very simple to manage the content of your website.
  • Joomla! is easy to install and there is a legion of information available on how to use the software, once installed. Using Akeeba Backup, makes the backing up of sites simple and easy to move around, if necessary.
  • Joomla! needs to be constantly updated. Some of the extensions makes it vulnerable to attacks from hackers. This makes it very important to always update to the latest version.
  • One has to be very thorough before updating Joomla!, or any of it's extensions. Backups are extremely important as some updates are known to "break" the site.
  • One can do a lot with Joomla! using CSS and PHP but both these languages are fairly difficult to learn. This forces you to do a lot of research if you want to be able to tweak sites using CSS and PHP.
I have recommended Joomla! to quite a few of our clients who wished to build their own websites. The one website without which one cannot go if you are using Joomla! is http://extensions.joomla.org/

If you do the research and you learn how to, properly, work with Joomla! you will never look back.

One can honestly make a very good living as a website developer using Joomla! CMS
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Joomla as a web development source for some of our clients. We love how the Joomla! user interface is very user-friendly and allows us to design in a very fast and productive way. it might not be as complete and technical as other CMS products, but it definitely is a good option to consider when searching for something basic but solid.
  • Very light interface and fast loading response.
  • Easy content manager.
  • Good builder.
  • SEO should be better.
  • Limited to certain things such as customization.
  • More intuitive.
We like how easy and user-friendly is for us to do edits with Joomla! When we want to deliver a basic but stable site, especially for landing pages, we take advantage of the basic and simple tools that the CMS has. No need for coding at all so I will recommend it for those who do not have much web design knowledge.
Sergey Gvozdetskiy | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Joomla! is adequate for working on website development; we use it frequently, which has helped us save time and effort while getting the most creative websites. We have benefited from each tool and its default templates that have streamlined the construction of websites remarkably; it has many extensions that help us achieve excellent results.
  • We use Joomla to build our websites and web applications because of its incredible intuitiveness and tools to make everything more manageable.
  • Its working environment is quite comfortable for my development team, and its web design resources significantly speed up our work when carrying out web development projects.
  • It allows you to use blocks to create and visually manage websites and divide them into different categories without programming knowledge.
  • Its interface is complicated to understand; it is not as friendly as other tools and text editors to develop web pages.
Using Joomla!, you don't need to be a web development expert to build the most creative websites; it provides everything you need and is quite intuitive. Most tasks can be easily accomplished using Joomla! modules. The benefits of Joomla! include learning site analysis, metadata, structure, and navigation to create a professional website. It's worth it.
Fernanda Ministerio | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Joomla was adopted in my company as a content generator for the internet, with the objective of making websites quick for temporary or permanent projects. 
It is basically used in only one area of ​​the company, but it has the potential to be expanded in the future. 
It is not used alone, we have other complementary tools for our communication portal.
  • Easy for portals with forums
  • Easy setup
  • Framework is robust
  • Variety of useful features
  • Dashboard should have more options
  • It can't create a very complex website
  • Some extensions should have a free version
There are constant security updates that you need to be aware of and keep the current version. 
You must always read the instructions before making the updates, to ensure that certain Modules continue to function correctly.
It works in a very dynamic and comfortable way. 
It has a comprehensive navigation system for managing hierarchies. 
I also used this content management system to build the internal sites and it works very well.
Another important issue is that the community behind Joomla is very active and it is easy to find development issues in the forums.

Nuno Reis | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It was suggested (more like selected) by a development company as the only CMS for a client with multiple localizations, and I'm running two of those sites (Spain and Latin America). The site was implemented by that company and I am only in charge of maintenance/security for the client.
  • Image gallery
  • Statistics
  • Localization
  • Terrible for updates (compared with alternatives)
  • Poor in links customization (for SEO)
  • A big learning curve (takes time to learn where options are and easily forgotten)
Joomla! can be an option when you have full control (hardware, PHP versions, database) and devote time to it. When you can (and know how to) do everything, it is a powerful tool. When you use it regularly, you will learn where functionalities are.

I enjoyed very much the gallery functionality and some minor article settings (change author, date) but in general, from my experience and compared to WordPress, it was a disappointment. The learning curve is steep for the occasional user and things get hard to find after a few days away from it. It is only a viable option for content creators who use it on a daily basis (agencies, for instance).
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Joomla is used as our main CMS for all things web-related. We run our web pages, the online cart and all the communication for wood gallery through this CMS.
  • Content management.
  • Image management.
  • free templates
  • extension help
Joomla is very easy to set-up, even for the nontechnical user. Once it is set-up, ongoing maintenance is very easy. The community behind Joomla is very active and it is easy to find questions related to development in forums.
Lonela Marinela | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Joomla! is a customizable software, we have used it to create web applications for our organization because it only takes a few minutes. It is more effective than other tools for developing web-oriented projects.
  • It provides control and personalization to your website.
  • The third party components are also easily available for Joomla!.
  • Joomla! has built in revision control. Going back and fixing previous work is easy.
  • It's free and open source.
  • Sometimes cache buildup becomes a problem..
  • Its learning curve is more complex compared to others.
  • It can't create a very complex website.
It works very dynamically and is comfortable. It has a comprehensive system of navigation for managing hierarchies. I have also used this content management system to build my clients' websites and it works great.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Joomla is being used across the whole organization as the CMS of our main websites, including anything from simple documentary ones, to complex content managing databases.
  • Moderate control of features.
  • Extensive customization.
  • Robust and secure structure.
  • Should have better interface, automatizing more features
  • Should have a better customer service, even when it's an open-source project.
  • Should have better outreach for beginner customers.
Joomla is best appropriate for websites that are out of the norm, but in general, I prefer it for everything over WordPress or Drupal. Granted, the level of specificity might be daunting to someone that's used to creating websites on something like WIX, but this system gives you complete control if you're a person with basic understanding of web design, architecture and so on.
Vinny Hebert | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We design websites using Joomla as the base and it works great!
  • Security.
  • Expandability.
  • Their built-in editor is not as user-friendly as WordPress.
  • Canonical links are not a thing unless a third party extension is used.
Joomla is a CMS for all types of projects, especially if you have multiple people editing your site. With its ability to control access to different articles, categories or even different components, it makes it a great tool for businesses or government where there are multiple branches of the same organization but handled by different people. It can handle bloggers, news organizations, towns, cities, corporate giants, or mom and pops.
Jason Montoya | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Joomla (inspired by the Swahili word meaning all together) is a community-driven (as opposed to a corporate backing) content management system that gives its users and managers complete control for building and sustaining simple and complex websites. Out of the box, this open-source CMS provides an intuitive admin experience with an array of active components to deliver the user experience and functionality required for something as simple as a blog or as complex as an online news publication and community. Working with Joomla almost since its 2005 inception, I've witnessed the progress and leaps this tool has managed over the last 13 years. As I look forward to Joomla 4 and beyond, I see a powerful back-end engine most websites will want under the hood of their digital platform.

Here are many of the situations where I've been involved in Joomla projects with clients paying me to guide them and serve their digital platform building needs.
  • Comprehensive online websites with sophisticated front and back-end functionality (with ecommerce, event booking, email marketing, etc..).
  • Basic small business websites
  • Online product gallery websites (non-ecommerce)
  • Online blogging platforms
  • Online content repositories
  • Complete control over your website content, menus, SEO elements, and site layout.
  • A logical and intuitive admin interface for creating and managing the website.
  • An engaged and supportive community and marketplace of people, tools, and extensions.
  • A module management system to provide more control over a page layout and content in flexible ways.
  • A flexible design layout paradigm easily allowing for different design use across different pages.
  • A strong community of design template creators and page builders.
  • Joomla eliminates antiquated code with two-year deprecation pathways. This ensures all active components stay up to date and are currently supported.
  • Out of the box Joomla lacks a powerful built-in page editor like WordPress' Gutenburg (the one technical advantage of WordPress). But, with an array of marketplace extensions, this can be easily overcome.
  • The functionality power of Joomla can make users feel overwhelmed that they may break something.
  • Joomla doesn't have a corporate backing, so the growth and future of the tool is based on community involvement. It is currently strong and well-organized, but has had issues in the past.
Joomla is quick and easy to set up on a server. With Launch.Joomla.org, it's even easier. If you're looking to start a website for your small business or a blog, it's a great out-of-the-box tool to get started.

With the countless extensions, Joomla's functionality can be extended to provide you with more advanced tools the default install lacks. This includes email marketing, event booking, online store, online community, and popup boxes. It is, by far, has the best multi-lingual support system in a CMS.

Joomla, out of the box, has terrific access control and privacy settings. This allows you to tier both admin access and public user experiences based on the level of the user and in many cases, the level of their paid subscription.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I have used Joomla! for many years to create websites for many different companies. It is fairly simple to use and provides excellent results. It can also provide a good starting point with templates, both free and paid. Joomla!'s use of modules makes accomplishing most tasks easy.
  • Joomla! is easy to install. It takes about ten minutes from installing to get it up and running.
  • Joomla! uses modules, they are easy to install, configure and use.
  • Results are excellent and SEO friendly.
  • Because there are many options, beginners may find it overwhelming.
  • Some modules are paid only (though there are many free).
  • Customization of themes and modules can be confusing.
Joomla! is an excellent content manager which has a control panel which can be used to manage and customize all the elements of the website. It is ideal for managing large amounts of content. Having said that, really large websites may use large amounts of server resources and become slow.
October 18, 2019

Jammin' with Joomla!

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Joomla is used across our organization. It solves our website address needs and much more due to its flexibility and ease of use. We needed a web presence, mailing list, and shopping cart system. Joomla! solved all of these business needs.

We love the additional plugins/components that can be integrated into Joomla! that solves our business needs without relying on hosted services that may hold your services hostage due to their policies. With Joomla, you have the freedom to do what you need and that's what we love.
  • Joomla! now does automatic updates very easily by just clicking one button. Vulnerabilities are patched quickly with automatic notifications.
  • There are so many additional plugins, many of which are free or for a nominal cost, that extend your business capabilities. These plugins are mostly a perpetual license model so they continue to work after their support date has expired so it gives you the freedom of choice to either continue to use it without any strings attached by hosted services.
  • The framework that is available to Joomla! such as the Gantry framework makes it easy to rapidly deploy and structure Joomla to our liking.
  • Joomla is doing a great job so far. They should continue to improve their guidelines in which they have the developers conform to their policies and motivate the developers to make use of automatic updates of their extensions. In turn, it's easy for the end-users to keep their extensions up to date in order to reduce any vulnerabilities with outdated extensions.
  • Any system requires some level of a learning curve. Like many people, in regard to complexity, I feel that Joomla! is in the middle ground compared to other CMS. If there's a way for Joomla! to make it really simple to adopt, then I think it will be a big win for them.
  • If Joomla! can capture the market where it's a matter of drag and drop or a friendly WYSIWYG, then it's a huge win for them. While drag and drop environment is extremely useful for a novice or someone who just needs a basic website, we love the extensibility that Joomla! provides so having both would be immensely valuable.
Joomla is not suited if you want a drag and drop environment. If you need to custom control and integrate other solutions, then Joomla is a perfect system. For example, if you need a shopping cart system on your website, Joomla has many offerings to choose from. If you need a mass mailing subscription system, Joomla has many too choose from. There are so many extensions available in Joomla, the challenge is to find the one that fits your needs. What we love about these extensions is that it gives you the freedom to choose and not locked into or abide by the policies on hosted system. For example, many hosted shopping cart system have strict policies in what you can actually sell on your website. They can cancel your entire shopping cart system if you inadvertently violate their policy. With Joomla, you have the freedom and won't be held hostage by arbitrary policies from hosted systems because you are the one hosting yourself, not others.
Josh Randall | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Joomla to run and manage our website as well as send email blasts and provide banner ads to sponsors. It works very well and we plan to continue to use it for the foreseeable future. It's pretty easy to use overall and there are tons of features and extensions that allow you to do almost anything from running a store, photo gallery, classified ads, etc.
  • Joomla is great for managing various website pages and updating content regularly.
  • We've also used it to sell items in our store. We installed a shopping cart and integrated it with PayPal.
  • We have users register to be able to get access to all features of our website, such as posting on the forums. Works great for that.
  • Updating Joomla and some extensions can be a little clucky at times.
I think it's well suited for running all kinds of websites, especially ones that require more advanced features like having forums, classified ads, shopping carts, etc. I've found Joomla's blog capabilities to not be as good as WordPress though. I think it takes a little more technical ability to work with Joomla than some other content management systems.
Lisa Keyser | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Joomla! is the second-most popular open source Content Management System (CMS) and by far my favorite. My very first website was built on the Joomla! platform for its ease of installation, variety of customization features, and built-in Access Level Control (ACL) that makes it easy to have multiple users for the website right out of the box. I recommend it for all of my clients who need more than just a website with content, particularly if they have membership needs, high-level security and control needs, or extensibility.
  • 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
  • Because Joomla's user community is smaller than WP, it lacks as many choices from 3rd party developers, meaning it can be a little more difficult to find the right extension for what you need to accomplish
  • Along the same vein, most of the best 3rd-party software for Joomla! is paid
  • Simple features such as Add to Menu and Cache cleaners should be adopted as part of the Joomla! core, though they are available as extensions
  • Joomla! could use a simpler and easier URL rewriting process
Joomla! is a great CMS for companies who are looking for flexibility and extensibility. With the right set of extensions, it's extremely secure and able to power any type of website, from simple to complex. Any time a business wants to do more than just put up content and pretty pictures on their website, Joomla! is my recommendation. For companies, however, that are looking for simple brochure websites without a lot of complexity, it might be too much. Also, for companies that are looking for enterprise-level solutions with white-glove support, an open-source CMS may generally not be the best path, unless they also have a dedicated vendor who provides that type of support.
Miles Szkoda | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Joomla to run a few websites that are on-offs because it is very easy to set up and get started. Our entire organization has access to Joomla sites and we can roll out or build sites in multiple platforms, including Joomla, for one-off websites that are significantly different from our standard business model.

Joomla has been used for small 3-4 pages sites and for 100+ page sites with a significant amount of content.
  • Joomla is relatively easy to deploy.
  • Joomla has a lot of developers and templates available, so it is easy to get support or find answers quickly.
  • Joomla offers a ton of add-ons/extensions that help build things a lot quicker.
  • Joomla has a pretty complicated back-end that could be more user friendly.
  • It can be difficult to initially dive into a Joomla site for new users without a thorough guide.
Joomla is a great CMS that can be easy to use and easy to manage, but there are a lot of alternatives now. They have made a lot of great changes and provide a very robust and complex platform that can be used to produce any type of website. There are a ton of add-ons and extensions that make it easier to create certain things without having to know or understand any code. It is very simple to deploy on nearly any web host and you can always find support for it.
Brittney Collier | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I've utilized Joomla to manage site content for a university, a startup company, and a nonprofit organization. The product was used mainly in one department at each company -- marketing. It addresses the fact that we needed to update our web content without having a developer on staff. It also helps that Joomla is free, especially when being utilized for non-profits and startup companies.
  • Joomla's top strength is its simplicity. Even if everyone on your team is a beginner, they will be able to easily adapt to using Joomla. It mimics WordPress, but it's easier to use.
  • Joomla is also great with helping beginners optimize their site for search engines. If your content does not already include keywords that your audience typically searches for, Joomla has a section where 'tags' can be added to a page so that potential visitors are more likely to find your site.
  • Joomla is great at organizing content for a large website. Everything you publish can be listed by title in alphabetical order so you can search for different pieces of content easily.
  • Joomla needs improvement when it comes to SEO features in comparison to other CMS's like WordPress. The features it currently has are great for beginners, but over time, users will realize that they need a more advanced system to continue to grow their site. I wouldn't choose Joomla if your team is already accustomed to using a CMS. It's only best for beginners or interns.
  • I feel a little limited with Joomla as far as adding a personal touch to the website. It's more difficult to make layout changes to your website with Joomla than it is when you're using other platforms like WordPress or Wix.
  • The most difficult part of using Joomla, for me, is that there aren't many good web developers who specialize in Joomla. If you want to make big changes to your site that require a developer, it's much easier to find someone who's great at building WordPress sites.
  • There are not as many plug-ins for Joomla as there are for WordPress so, if you need to add any special features to your site using Joomla, you will be limited.
Joomla is great if a beginner or intern will be using the platform. I would also recommend it for small business owners who publish their own web content and don't have much experience. It's perfect if you're solely looking for ease of use and don't plan to heavily customize your site.
Ricardo Melo | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Joomla! is used by our IT division to rapidly develop dynamic sites according to the needs of each department of the company. We tried to use WordPress but realized that when we had to develop something different from the focus of blogs, WordPress did not meet us and we had to migrate to use Joomla!. We had no problems using Joomla! here.
  • Quick and agile websites.
  • Easy website content management.
  • Lots of extensions for customization.
  • Nothing to improve, just keep always releasing update patches.
When you need something done quickly and automated and with good looks and experience for the user, Joomla! is the best option. For other more specific purposes like an e-commerce site, other tools should be considered such as OpenCart and Magento. It is worth mentioning that even e-commerce sites can be made with Joomla!, using a component called VirtueMart, but we did not feel much security in using it, but that seemed very good too.
Chris Putnam | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We work with the Joomla CMS when helping customers with website updates, maintenance, and new functionality. Joomla is a Content Management System - so it provides an interface for customers to make updates to their website on their own. It also provides a framework for custom functionality and a library of extensions written by the community to extend its core functionality.
  • The menu/category/article structure provides a decent organization.
  • The check-in/check-out system can work well to prevent overwrites with large numbers of editors.
  • Creating a community-driven site - with large numbers of contributors.
  • The Process is smoother with the latest versions.
  • There is a bit of a learning curve in order to make edits as compared to other CMSs.
  • Upgrading from older versions is very difficult.
  • The framework is decent, but it's not the most flexible, nor the most intuitive.
If you have a large team that is already accustomed to using Joomla for site management, it is a good enough solution to stay with it. If not, then take a careful look at other options, such as WordPress, which can be much more intuitive to work with. These alternatives are also more popular (and therefore, you'll find more support, more plugins, themes etc.).
Shawngela Pierce | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Joomla is the content management system used for my companies main site and training site. It will also be the CMS for an online summit that is in the process of being built. All departments use it and it addresses the need for a CMS that is effective, useful and overall easy to use.
  • Joomla has great core functionalities and is free to use.
  • Joomla has a built-in user management system which allows you to control who accesses certain aspects of your site.
  • Joomla is search engine optimized out of the box.
  • Joomla is continuously updating itself and I am amazed at what has been accomplished for the better since I started using it.
  • Joomla allows me as a simple website designer and developer to build complex sites without much of a need to hire developers.
  • The out of the box blogging situation with Joomla definitely needs improving. It is pretty basic, however, there are extensions both free and paid that handle this gap. Joomla 4 is fast on the horizon so I hope this feature is addressed there.
  • Joomla's media management system has improved, however, it could use more updating. It would be nice to be able to make simple edits for images.
  • Joomla needs more modules to choose from for certain things users may be trying to create.
Joomla is a great open-source CMS for someone who wants to implement a more complex site. For instance, if you want a site that needs an e-commerce solution or a community website.

I would not recommend Joomla if all you need is a simple website to just blog and give basic information about your business. I would more than likely recommend WordPress for that.
Trish Lofton | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Joomla to build and edit a website for a higher education association. The main goal of the site is to promote the organization as well provide information about their annual conference.
  • Easily update pages
  • Great website templates can be found for free
  • Publishing websites are a breeze
  • Provide easier ways to format text
  • More template options
  • Easy to understand instruction manual
Joomla! is a great open source software that can handle most website needs. Some of the extensions can be difficult to use.
Rahul Kumar Singh | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Joomla! is used in our organisation just for training purposes and giving ideas about the CMS to the newly hired interns. It is used for the development team so I can say it is not for the whole organization but the development section of each team.
  • Joomla! does some things like content management, banner management and templates management very well. So these features are strength of Joomla!
  • If I talked about details then managing and creating menus is very easy in this tool.
  • Templates are flexible to use so one can easily use templates according to one's need
  • Joomla! has a problem with installing plugins that may [cause] problems sometimes when you try to install a plugin that is incompatible
  • Once you [have] made your website layout and then if you change your mind to change the layout then it's a big pain in Joomla!
  • I have not observed it but people say it is not [very] SEO friendly
Joomla! is the latest technology used CMS with which one can use the front as well as back end of website very easily. Managing users is again an advantage while you can not see these things in Blogger.
Jen Garfinkel-Canseco | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Joomla for a number of websites for my clients. I've used Joomla for over 10 years. Joomla is an excellent CMS for building simple to complex websites. I've used Joomla for everything from small business websites, to real estate portals, to ecommerce websites, to social networks. The possibilities with Joomla and the many extensions and community members behind it makes it one of my top choices for web development.
  • Joomla provides a strong core to get website development started quickly and easily.
  • The possibilities that the many Joomla extensions offers are unlimited.
  • Joomla's templating system is quick and easy to create a custom design for your website.
  • The community of experts are second to none, the community offers excellent support.
  • The administration can be difficult for non-technical people to use, some of my clients find it daunting and not very user-friendly.
  • Security...Joomla is a really big target to hackers...I do know that Joomla works hard to get security patches out as quickly as they can though.
  • Speed, I'd like to see the core Joomla sped up with out having to put in tons of work to speed it up.
Joomla is especially great for complex sites where non-technical clients won't be using administration. I use Joomla for my clients that want a robust CMS where, between extensions and customizations, I can create very specialized website projects. I'm not a big fan of any of the e-commerce extensions for Joomla, but the social network capabilities of some of the extensions are excellent! I do highly recommend using a dedicated server so server settings can be tweaked to optimize Joomla, though it will run on a shared hosting for a simple site.
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