WordPress has dominated the content management system (CMS) landscape for the last 15 years. It accounts for roughly 40% of all websites currently online. This dominance has led to a very large business for the creator of WordPress and other companies.

If you have been following recent news, the WordPress community is going through a challenging time. Matt Mullenweg, who created WordPress, has filed a trademark lawsuit against WPEngine over the use of the WP trademark.

He has even banned WPEngine WordPress websites from updating the core of WordPress and plugins. Matt has taken a hardline stance and is suing for 8% of WPEngine's gross revenue.  

This has created considerable concern about splitting WordPress into two separate but opposing systems.

With everything going on, looking at alternatives is more important than ever.

Why even consider an alternative to WordPress?

With everything happening, it may be as simple as saying, "I don't want to have to worry about my CMS."

But there are plenty of other reasons to consider a switch:

  • With WordPress as the CMS for 40%+ of websites, security concerns exist. Just like Microsoft Windows in the 2000s, there is so much usage that hacking WordPress is more advantageous.

  • With this new bifurcation of the WordPress ecosystem between WordPress and WPEngine, you may be concerned about who to pick and whether they will still be functional in a few years.

  • WordPress and all of the plugins create very complex updates. For some, clicking that update button can take your site down.

In addition to those issues, there are still all of the issues we presented in our article from last year, including:

  • Slow admin experience

  • Slow front-end website

  • Being reliant on a database

  • General bloat of the system

  • And more...

Let me introduce you to Statamic.

First up, we love statamic. Statamic is a CMS like WordPress but without all the baggage.

Here are a few features we love about Statamic:

  1. It's fast. Statamic uses a flat file structure that makes your site fast on the front and back ends.  

  2. It's lightweight. Because it doesn't need a database, it requires less of everything.

  3. It's built on top of Laravel, the best PHP framework available.

  4. It's modular and customizable right out of the box, whether you need a simple website and authoring experience or a complex content setup with multiple user roles and permissions.

  5. The content management is feature-rich while maintaining its easy-to-use feel.

Statamic vs. WordPress: Key Differences

There are critical differences between Statamic and WordPress. Here are a few we feel are essential:

Content Management Philosophy—Statamic is designed around structured content and custom fields, as opposed to WordPress's "one-size-fits-all" content model.

This approach simplifies content management and makes it more contextual to your actual site, compared to WordPress, which tries to provide a "canned" solution that works for too wide a range of situations.

Statamic has an intuitive control panel - Statamic often feels like what we all want WordPress to be. We immediately loved how things are named, organized, and optional upon logging into Statamic for the first time.

This is in stark contrast to many WordPress control panels, which have a left nav so long that you have to scroll and search for what you need.  

Security and Maintenance — Statamic operates with a flat-file architecture. This difference alone makes it much more secure.  

You don't have to worry about SQL injection attacks, weak authentication, outdated plugins, and database backup issues.

With Statamic, your whole site is often in version control, which means you have an automatic backup system from day one.

Statamic is a paid license. While this may not be attractive to everyone, the license only costs ~$300. This is very affordable when you consider premium WordPress plugins and other related costs associated with operating a WordPress site.

So, Who Should Consider Statamic?

Businesses and Developers Seeking Simplicity and Control - Statamic is ideal for small to enterprise businesses that need a clean, straightforward CMS to support marketing, company sites, and more.

Laravel Developers—Statamic is built on Laravel, making it an attractive choice for developers familiar with the framework.

Content Teams Who Want a Streamlined CMS Experience - Statamic offers a clean, efficient content editing experience without WordPress's sometimes cluttered admin interface.

Recent events don't suggest that the WordPress ecosystem's future will be simple.

So, Should you switch to Statamic? If you have a WordPress site and are concerned about it, you should consider all your options. And Statamic is a fantastic choice.  

We'd enjoy talking to you and showing you around a Statamic site so that you can see why we think it's a great WordPress alternative.

Lets talk