Great Product for the Easy 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. …
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.
Recent Reviews
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
- Availability / breadth of extensions (45)8.080%
- Role-based user permissions (44)7.070%
- Page templates (45)7.070%
- WYSIWYG editor (46)6.060%
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
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?
18 people also want pricing
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.
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
Features
Return to navigation
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
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
- Drupal
- Kentico Xperience
- Plone
- Magnolia (V5 and later versions)
Joomla Technical Details
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
|---|---|
| Mobile Application | No |
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.
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).
Comparisons
Compare with
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!
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
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:
-
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.
-
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.
-
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 34)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
September 06, 2021
New Joomla! 4 jumps ahead of the others
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
June 17, 2021
My two cents on Joomla!
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.
May 06, 2021
Joomla is a developer's dream
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
April 14, 2021
A Satisfying CMS software
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.
April 23, 2020
Joomla! Is the best CMS that you don't know you need.
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.
October 23, 2019
Joomla Expert Admin Since 2006 - Technical Support Specialist
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.
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.
- 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.
October 16, 2019
Joomla! is a great open source CMS for businesses
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
February 11, 2019
Make sure it's the right fit for your team - for many, it's not
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.
December 22, 2018
Joomla is a Robust Open-Source CMS
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.
December 11, 2018
Joomla! A small business answer with a big ROI!
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
November 06, 2018
A great CMS with an even better community of developers behind it.
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.
June 28, 2018
Joomla! for CMS... Simple and easy...
At that time, we used Joomla! to address the specific needs to create and build company Portal and some web applications for business purpose. So, we were using Joomla! as the main platform to serve it for IT departments and other teams as well. Joomla! already quite popular and easy to be used when we search the solution for this requirement.
- It is very easy to create any project using Joomla. Easy to use and easy to publish and maintain.
- Joomla! has many add-on and extensions to support the full range of features.
- It is based on Open Source with the strong support from many communities
- Some of the Joomla! plugins and extensions are not free and not cheap as well.
- Difficult for own customization.
- Security concerns.
September 19, 2016
Joomla!, a view from the trenches
We use joomla! for a wide variety of projects, both internally and for clients. We use joomla! as a pure CMS for marketing projects as well as the core platform on which we build custom components servicing anything from price model calculations in the manufacturing sector to auction engine design in the food sector.
- In my opinion, the diversity of joomla! is its strength. The fact that we can have a marketing 'website' with minimal customization on the same platform as we have a transactional 'application' allows us to diversify the services we're offering.
- Another big advantage is the amount of knowledgeable people in the community. While being a FOSS (free open source software) assumes an active community, the joomla! community is eager to help at any level of question and for any user level.
- One of the biggest problems in my opinion is the requirement of backwards compatibility which has two side effects. First, it can't take advantage of new design (programming) principles and changes are very slow to be incorporated. Second, the code base is bloated and 'heavy'. Sometimes the wheel is being re-invented and outdated solutions have to be maintained because of code/functionality dependencies that have to stay active.
- Another (maybe even more problematic) issue is the lack of talent in certain markets. The US is a prime example for this. It is extraordinarily difficult putting a team of good developers together when announcing the project to be joomla based. (Tip: framing the project as PHP based and then on-boarding the team by explaining the nuances has been a proven remedy)
- Europe, on the other hand, has an abundance of talent, so if you're contemplating outsourcing, joomla! is a very good option.
June 14, 2016
Joomla! The Flexible Business Solution
We use Joomla! internally and externally on behalf of Fortune 50 to entrepreneurial firms. Joomla! addresses simplified management, great flexibility, and proper model–view–controller (MVC) development. With these tools, the least technical users in an organization can make significant content contributions, and developers are able to leverage a robust platform for significant customization with minimal distraction. Additionally, Joomla! is the first open source content management system (CMS) to be mobile ready and responsive utilizing Twitter's bootstrap framework. Out of the box Joomla! is ready to deliver.
- Built-in and built-upon a mobile ready framework
- Easy to utilize content creation
- Model–view–controller (MVC) framework for highly customizable web applications
- Powerful and detailed access control could be more intuitive
March 16, 2016
About Joomla!
We used it across the organization and granted different levels of access to employees. We used it for content management of a public facing website.
- Content management
- Build applications
- Build and design websites
- Creating your own templates and themes
November 11, 2015
Joomla - the mature, responsible older sibling in the CMS family
We use Joomla as the primary platform for the development of client and internal websites. It provides a robust framework for creating dynamic websites and meets the needs of web projects from simple informational sites to complex action driven projects. Over the years we have used a variety of Joomla versions to deliver web solutions and have enjoyed the new features that each upgrade brings. We find it to be the best overall CMS on the open source market.
- Framework stability and continuous development by a dedicated group of developers
- Comprehensive network of extension developers providing a wide range of solutions via components, modules and plugins that will accomplish virtually any web related functionality goal
- Well organized, active support community that is communicative and easy to tap in to.
- Reasonably priced template options offered by a variety of professional companies focused on the ongoing development of cutting edge templates to reflect the latest trends and features.
- Easy to customize and build off of without the need for repeated redevelopment when the time comes to revamp and renew a sites' look/feel
- It would be nice to see more of the "internet marketing" based extensions that easily incorporate marketing strategies like email list building, user/mobile friendly popups, etc. There are some available now but it will be nice when they become more plentiful.
- Would like for more SEO options to be built into the core framework but it is simple enough to install extensions to meet those needs.
- Transitioning from major versions can be a tough transition. (i.e. moving from J2.5 to J3) It can be time consuming and tricky to upgrade. They seem to be working on that in the latest version - J3
September 30, 2015
Joomla!, An Open Source CMS For The Rest of Us
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.
- 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.
- 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.
July 20, 2015
Joomla! Review
We've been offering a web hosting platform that supports Joomla since it's inception. Our customers like the fact that they can click a button and have our system automatically install Joomla for them. Joomla is one of our most popular apps and is one of the most user-friendly apps available right now.
- It is easy to use for most people.
- There are lots of extensions available.
- A wide variety of developers are able to expand Joomla due to it's open-source PHP code base.
- Joomla could be better if it offered automatic updates out of the box.
- Joomla could benefit from better documentation.
- Requiring plugin vendors to auto-update would be wise as well.
July 20, 2015
Joomla CMS 3.0 Solutions & Options
I provide freelance contractor services for global businesses and organizations. I have been using Joomla CMS from J1.0 to current release of J3.4. I also have experience with both responsive Joomla templates and frameworks and the over 8000 possible extension solutions.
Open Source Advantages:
• Integrated Store (eCommerce)
• Social Networking
• Responsive Mobile Compliant
• Non-Proprietary
• Cost Effective
• Reduced Development Time
• Built In Solutions
• Modular Framework
• Global Support Network
• Training & Tutorials
• 1000’s of potential solutions
• and much, much more
Open Source Advantages:
• Integrated Store (eCommerce)
• Social Networking
• Responsive Mobile Compliant
• Non-Proprietary
• Cost Effective
• Reduced Development Time
• Built In Solutions
• Modular Framework
• Global Support Network
• Training & Tutorials
• 1000’s of potential solutions
• and much, much more
- Cost effective, fast build, large support from contractors, developers and designers.
- Hosting support and options.
- As secure as any open source products and options
- Provides integrated solutions like, eCommerce/Store, newsletter, community, events, forms...etc, over 8000 extensions and 3rd party integrations.
- Free, while it can be customized, upgrades are released by the Joomla organizations.
- Feature and upgrade cycle is dependent on the Joomla organization timelines and based on their priority feature releases.
- General purpose core, good for many options, but some limitation for full customizations
July 08, 2015
Why We Went With Joomla Most of The Time
We implemented various CMS platforms for various size non-profit enterprises (small 1-10 employees to 100-1000 employee ranges). Some of them would select Joomla (others Drupal, WordPress, etc.) based on their specific needs/intentions for their web presence needs and requirements and expected use cases. Ultimately the decision was on the client as to which CMS they would choose/go with, but we'd make strong recommendations according to their needs.
- No CMS is perfect for 100% of a clients needs. Usually the base CMS get's 70-80% of the requirements out of the way with just a base install. Then there is another 10-15% that is covered by a standard set of extensions/modules that you would typically install for almost every client (SEO optimization, ACL/permission levels, etc.). The remaining 5-20% is usually custom module work (either building out a custom version of existing modules/extensions/components, or building a new one from scratch). The extensibility and ease of developing components/modules for Joomla is one thing it does very well.
- We used Joomla for a majority of our clients solutions because of their preference in the administrative interface for Joomla. Obviously administrative interfaces are something that can be customized/skinned/themed in most CMS's, but the native back-end interface was always more intuitive than Drupal (where a non-technical end-user always had a hard time telling if they were logged-in or not, and where the WordPress admin area was always very blog/post centric). Joomla was almost always the top choice for non-blog specific web platforms.
- The Joomla community was always the most helpful and responsive (WordPress maybe slightly greater, but most of the WordPress community at the time was focusing on themes/skins and less on the development of feature/functionality heavy plug-ins). Much of our work on Joomla went into making the modules/components available look good/consistent with our site designs, which was an easier feat then building out actual functionality/features that were missing from the communities of other CMS's.
- 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.
July 07, 2015
Joomla is best now, and will be in the future.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
If you are new to CMS development, Joomla is a good solution to learn and use. I started in web dev. as a designer with low coding skills. When the time came to make myself more productive to my clients, I knew CMSs were the way, so I researched many and the two I chose to learn were WordPress and Joomla, which I picked because of their open scalability. That was four years ago and I almost exclusively use Joomla today because in my opinion it far exceeds the functionality of WordPress and only is widening the gap with its advances like Joomla Framework, which will soon bring RAD to the masses. I am about empowering my clients to do for themselves and even if Joomla (currently) has a more steep learning curve than WordPress, if trained correctly, I find my clients quickly going from newbie to developer in a short time. I taught high school for ten years and know what and when something works for my students, so trust this former teacher and make your choice Joomla. You won't regret it.
- Scalability
- Responsive
- Functionality
- Intuitive
- Open
- Mobile
- Modular
- Steeper learning curve than WordPress
- Less customization than Drupal
- Newest 3x versions are lagging with 2x modules keeping up
June 30, 2015
10 Year of Joomla Use
We use Joomla! as the backbone for our content management system for our clients. We use it for over 100 of our clients in the insurance and banking industries. We find it very easy to develop on while allowing our clients to fully manage their sites. What is unique is that it is open source which saves money for our clients in licensing fees.
- The ability to build a site with no coding experience.
- The ability for free software and hosting from joomla.org.
- One of the world's most popular CMS systems.
- Core in-line editing would be a nice feature.
- Better marketing to help people understand why Joomla! is unique from other CMS systems.
March 10, 2015
Joomla, Drupal, or WordPress? Oh My! How to Choose.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I currently specialize in using the Joomla CMS for an extensive range of web site types; From simple writer blogs to full corporate extranets, intranets, sales, portals, and knowledge bases. Joomla is easily used by employers and employees across an organization. In order to keep IT costs down, users with very little web knowledge can manage a Joomla web site with a few days of training. It is not necessary to know or understand coding or design.
- Joomla has one of the largest communities of developers in the CMS market. With easy to install plug-n-go applications there is no need to hire a developer to custom build your web sites main features or functionality.
- Joomla 3.2 and the available template frameworks are responsive, clean, and current. These frameworks keep updated on the cutting edge of mobile and web use.
- With a few hours of training, most users can maintain and update a Joomla site as easily as you would write up a document.
- Over the past few years Joomla remained behind in the ability to update a site easily, with few issues. Joomla is getting much better at one-click updates, but there can still be issues with other applications (components) that do not stay current.
- Joomla does have a small learning curve. Although it is not necessary to know or understand any coding when utilizing Joomla, a user will need to understand how Joomla compiles it pages and how to create use the main features.
- The choice of applications available can make it difficult to find the right one for your company. For example, there are 5-6 top eCommerce solutions on the market for Joomla. Careful thought and investigation should go into selecting the right one.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
As a self-employed IT consultant and web developer, Joomla! allows me to offer my customers an affordable yet very powerful and scalable solution. Our customers our mostly small and medium-sized businesses as well as other self-employed folks. Joomla! lets them have the privilege of having a solid, well maintained and professionnal web platform. The ease of updating and maintaining their own website is one of the biggest selling points. A website being in a constant 'work in progress' state, the multitude of extensions available allows me to answer 'YES!' even before my customers finish their 'Can we....do this, or do that?' questions pertaining to website functionality. Complex (configurable) enough for the developer and yet easy enough to teach a customer how to use an editor in the front end (as easy as using MS Word!) is just an awesome recipe where everybody wins! Like a good wine, Joomla! is definitely improving with age and this loyal developer is enjoying every sip.... Cheers !
- Functionality. Thousands of great extensions
- Ease of use for customers
- Price: can you beat free?
- Maybe just a bit more 'drag and drop' for editing purposes, especially in the front end for non-developers (clients).
- A little elbow grease never hurt anyone. I have always found a solution to anything I have needed....can't really say I've ever been really disappointed.
- Not really Joomla!'s doing, but some third party extension licences are all over the place. As a web developer, you have to be very careful when purchasing components, plugins etc. You may buy something incredible for a few bucks and be allowed to install on multiple domains or pay a fortune for something not as good and only licenced for 1 domain. You need to do your research very well before spending any money.
January 23, 2015
Joomla! - Open Source CMS for Business
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
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.
- 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.
- 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.