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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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Learn from top reviewers

Joomla!: the only CMS you will ever need.

Rating: 10 out of 10
June 19, 2024
IncentivizedVetted Review
I run a digital agency and the majority of our web builds are with Joomla! CMS. Since changing from Wordpress we can deliver completed sites more quickly, with more features a...
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Richard Gosler
Director - Other
Managing Director
Phooenix Digital Media Ltd
Joomla!7 years of experience

Great Product for the Easy User

Rating: 6 out of 10
December 27, 2023
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
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 editor...
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Verified user
Contributor
Joomla!1 year of experience

New Joomla! 4 jumps ahead of the others

Rating: 10 out of 10
September 6, 2021
Vetted ReviewVerified 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 ...
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Philip Walton
Director - Information Technology
Owner
SoftForge
Joomla!12 years of experience

We are creating creative websites with unparalleled ease

Rating: 10 out of 10
June 11, 2021
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
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 benefi...
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Sergey Gvozdetskiy
Manager - Sales
Sales Manager
Cleveroad
Joomla!3 years of experience

Be satisfied with Joomla

Rating: 8 out of 10
May 29, 2021
IncentivizedVetted ReviewVerified User
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 use...
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Fernanda Ministerio
Professional - Information Technology
Especialista de Desenvolvimento Industrial
SENAI-DN
Joomla!2 years of experience
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Pricing

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Joomla

Joomla

N/A
Unavailable

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

Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?

19 people also want pricing

Alternatives Pricing

WordPress

WordPress

$3
per month 6 GB storage
What is WordPress?

Wordpress is an open-source publishing platform popular with bloggers, and a content management system, known for its simplicity and modifiability. Websites may host their own blogging communities, controlling and moderating content from a single dashboard.

ExpressionEngine

ExpressionEngine

$249
per year
What is ExpressionEngine?

ExpressionEngine is a content management system from EllisLab in 2002, a successor to pMachine Pro, a blogging system, which is written in object-oriented PHP and uses MySQL for data storage. ExpressionEngine is their flagship Content Delivery Platform.

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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.

8.8
Avg 8.1

Platform & Infrastructure

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

7.4
Avg 7.8

Web Content Creation

Features that support the creation of website content.

8.5
Avg 7.8

Web Content Management

Features for managing website content

8
Avg 7.4
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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 Integrations

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 Admin section highest, with a score of 10.

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

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Reviews From Top Reviewers

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(1-5 of 34)

Joomla! - Open Source CMS for Business

Rating: 9 out of 10
January 23, 2015
TB
Todd Bellamy
ERP Specialist
MATECH Solutions (Machining Technologies, Inc.) (Defense & Space, 51-200 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Joomla!
7 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Joomla is currently the content management solution for our website. Joomla provides for a user account based front and back end as well as a public website presence. We have also implemented customer contact forms within our Joomla site for reviews, quote requests and more. The entire organization provides content for our Joomla site. Sales and Marketing are the largest users and responsible for the majority of the content.
Pros
  • User management, the creation of custom groups of users, various security levels, and the ability to separate back end from front end users. For example you could grant a customer access to a particular front end page that has content dedicated to them only with a username and password, yet keep them from other customers files on the back end of the system.
  • Numerous free extensions, Joomla provides a solid foundation for whatever kind of site you would like to build and offers a range of not only free templates but free functions such as photo galleries, contact forms, shopping cart functions.
  • Joomla! extension development and customization for plugins and modules. With knowledge of MySQL and PHP a skilled developer, or in many cases, even novice users can create their own extensions. For example, we created a custom FTP front end to share files with users.
Cons
  • Joomla! is open source and therefore does not provide immediate support for the product. If a problem occurs during setup or operation the best way to solve a problem is report it to the Joomla! community support, but a quick fix to your problem is not guaranteed.
  • Joomla!'s data is held (typically) in a MySQL database that the user will never see. When a Joomla! site becomes very large with an extensive number of users and/or information it can become sluggish, but this can be mitigated with some basic database management skills, specifically someone who can create new indexes, procedures or someone who knows the data well enough to archive at a certain point.
  • Content Management Solutions, such as Joomla!, continuously update and change with the market requirements and security requirements of the online community. I would like to see a standardized backup and restore process implemented so that if a user does upgrade there system it is easily reverted and or changes are tracked more thoroughly.
Likelihood to Recommend
When a powerful CMS is needed for a business I would recommend Joomla! over its competitors. Joomla! is great for handling data driven applications such as real estate, online shopping and so forth. Querying the database for properties and clothes is much faster than with competitors and the extraction of data into other systems for reporting is quite simple.

Joomla is the best open source platform

Rating: 9 out of 10
February 20, 2014
PW
Pradeep Wickramanayake
Joomla Web Developer
Binarix Corporation Pty Limited (Education Management, 1-10 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Joomla!
6 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
Working with many industries, I have come to realize that the website is essential. The growth of online marketing and website performance play a major part. Many clients needs different features to start and implement new features to their website in the future. Depending on the overall specifications we mostly suggest the Joomla platform to clients so that they can manage their users as well as their content. Joomla gives extra benefit to the users in the form of management of their e-commerce sites as well as their blog sites.

Being a senior developer for my company, I realize most of the required features can generally be achieved using Joomla, so we mainly try to customize our own templates as well as create extensions (modules and plugins) as we go.
Pros
  • Joomla is capable of handling medium to large online stores
  • Joomla is capable of handling large content as well as blogging websites
  • Joomla overall is easily accessible and client friendly
Cons
  • More versality in Extensions
  • - Shopping Cart
  • - Blogging
  • - Forums
  • - Slideshows
  • - Galleries
  • More support needed
  • They release quick new versions too freqently
Likelihood to Recommend
I'm a bit concerned about the security. but overall its a great product.

Joomla is a Robust Open-Source CMS

Rating: 9 out of 10
Incentivized
December 22, 2018
SP
Shawngela Pierce
Law of Attraction, Meditation & Spiritual Life Coach
Seek Within You (Professional Training & Coaching, 1-10 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Joomla!
8 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
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.
Pros
  • 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.
Cons
  • 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.
Likelihood to Recommend
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.

Joomla! is a great open source CMS for businesses

Rating: 10 out of 10
Incentivized
October 16, 2019
LK
Lisa Keyser
Owner | Principal
LMK Web Design & Consulting (Information Technology and Services, 1-10 employees)
Vetted Review
Verified User
Joomla!
12 years of experience
View profile
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
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.
Pros
  • 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
Cons
  • 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
Likelihood to Recommend
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.

Joomla!, An Open Source CMS For The Rest of Us

Rating: 10 out of 10
September 30, 2015
RL
Rita Lewis
Freelance Web Designer and Content Strategist
Words To Web, Inc. (Online Media, 1-10 employees)
Vetted Review
Reseller
Joomla!
10 years of experience
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I am a freelance web designer and content strategist who uses Joomla! as my platform of choice to implement websites for small businesses and non-profits. These websites run the gamut from brochures, landing pages, e-commerce storefronts, to major information portals. Joomla! and its extensions handles all aspects of each of these types of sites.
Pros
  • Joomla! is a content management system based on a database so it creates web pages dynamically based on a single editor and keywords. This allows users to update the site themselves and let Joomla create the pages from their input in a familiar environment.
  • Joomla! is Open Source software managed by a non-profit organization called Open Source Matters. Because it's free under the GNU GPL license, there are millions of programmers worldwide working on the platform honing it and maintaining it. Open Source also means that there is a strong community of approximately 8 million users who cooperatively share this free software platform.
  • Joomla! is modular. You only use what you need for your particular project. Joomla! has an extremely strong value-added software community providing add-ons for security, editing, forms, newsletters, storefronts, payment gateways, SEO, and so forth.
  • Joomla! is currently split into a framework and kernel and because it is Open Source, programmers are using Joomla!'s framework to build enterprise-level content management systems and cloud-based systems such as Nooku. Joomla! complies with most standard modern software protocols and runs on LINUX/Apache/MySQL/PHP so it is highly secure and easy to set up.
Cons
  • Joomla!'s organization consists of a front-end and a backend (called the Administrator). The Administrator area is meant to be intuitive but falls short because of the complexity of its structure -- areas where you perform work. There is a strong learning curve to get used to modules, plug-ins, and components plus articles and categories and how they work together.
  • Joomla! has a rigid structure that allows only certain types of pages, namely blogs and lists of articles based on how you classify subjects. Everything in Joomla! is an article. You have to know content strategy to add appropriate keywords to ensure that your articles show up on the appropriate pages either with others tagged similarly, or by themselves. Navigation is based upon these keywords as well. You need to design the site before you jump in and add articles.
  • Joomla! is built using PHP and runs on an Apache server. As such, it is not totally secure from malicious attacks at the server level. Extra care has to be taken to set up passwords, roles, and permissions to ensure that spammers and hackers cannot touch the database or Administrator.
  • Joomla! is not meant to handle more than a medium- to small-sized website with up to one million concurrent users. It can be placed on the Cloud, such as Amazon Web Services, where instances of the platform can take more users, but it is not enterprise-level software.
Likelihood to Recommend
In order to work with Joomla! you have to feel comfortable with software that is in perpetual beta testing. Joomla! is Open Source meaning that its programmers are volunteers and its maintenance is based on community support. You become part of that community of users when you use the platform. The various vendors create add-ons that cost for annual subscriptions for their support and updates. In fact, you also have to be comfortable with the idea that you don't own any of the software, rather you are leasing it under the Open Source license from these vendors who offer varying levels of help.

Joomla! is best used for projects that are stand-alone and created by developers who are used to the Open Source LAMP (LINUX/Apache/MySQL/PHP) environment as well as working in the browser rather than an organization structured around an IT department and its software development protocols. You build the site on your computer inside your browser and test it on the Internet. When your users are happy, you move the site to its home on the host server. You can also build the site directly on the host but hide it until it is built, but the bottom line is that Joomla! can be created by a single person or a small team but is not appropriate for an Enterprise organization.

Joomla! requires a hosting service that offers access to their root and provides high priority to the servers, high memory allocation, and the ability to display and upload large files. It is very I/O intensive. Always purchase a business-class hosting service with plenty of storage and bandwidth. Most Joomla! designers (vs. programmers) like to use a host that offers CPanel as its graphical user interface to the server.
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