What is the difference between ProntaCMS and WordPress?

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There are many ways to create a website these days. I have done extensive research and I currently use only 2 software applications for all my websites: ProntaCMS and WordPress. Both have their pros and cons. I thought it would be helpful to highlight the similarities, pros and cons of the 2 options and who should be using what.

What is the main difference?

ProntaCMS is easier to use and comes with more inbuilt features and functionality. ProntaCMS is specifically built for business websites and a blog can be integrated into the website. It also gives a bit more flexibility when it comes to sidebars; on a prontaCMS website these can be different on each page. As it is a business owned solution it comes with a higher security level and dedicated support.

WordPress started as a bloggers application. Although it is increasingly used for business websites as a CMS it still focussed on the blogger. WordPress is therefore the best choice for a blogger or topic based website. If you don’t like the idea of hosted solution and would like to be in control of your own hosting, then WordPress is also the way to go. WordPress is an open source solution that can be easily extended and is supported by the larger number of online users. System security is the responsibility of the site owner.

Pronta CMS

ProntaCMS is an easy to use content management system that lets you easily create and edit websites. ProntaCMS can work with any design and has lots of incorporated features. Features like forms, image galleries, evites, and calendars are easy to use and integrate into the site.

Recommend for

I recommend ProntaCMS for small businesses that want to have an effective web presence and like to maintain their website themselves. ProntaCMS allows small businesses to have a high quality website at a low budget. When the business grows then your ProntaCMS website can grow with you. ProntaCMS is easy to use and you can edit your website directly in your page.

Pros

• Easy and quick setup (if you choose one of our templates as the base)
• Low setup cost
• Many features included like: slideshows, online forms, evites, calendars and others
• Integrated image editor where you can edit and manage images
• Flexibility with individual pages (side bar can be different on each page)
• In house hosting which makes your website very secure
• Full dedicated support

Cons

• ProntaCMS is a hosted solution so you can’t move the website to another host
• Although it has a lot of functionality built in it is harder to extend beyond that
• Higher ongoing hosting costs for a large site (although hourly maintenance costs will be lower as there will automatic updates and no security maintenance)

WordPress

WordPress is a publishing platform that is focussed on blogging. However, it is increasingly used as a content management system for businesses and organisations. WordPress comes in 2 flavours: .com and .org. The .com version allows you to setup a blog quickly online. You cannot use it with your own domain and customisation is limited. .org is the self-hosted WordPress version which allows you to customise your website as you please and install plugins that add extra functionality to WordPress.

Recommended for

I recommend WordPress for businesses that want to make their blog an important feature in their site and who don’t mind a bit of a learning curve. WordPress is also good for large sites that have lots of pages and categories and want to continuously extend their site.

Pros

• Free software that can be downloaded from the Internet
• Very popular so lots of help available on the Internet
• Nice interface that allow for easy website management
• Highly customisable
• Many free and premium themes available
• No extra costs when more pages are added

Cons

• Higher learning curve than Pronta
• Many features will have to be installed separately
• Higher maintenance costs as you will need to make sure that your WordPress installation is secure and runs on the latest software version
• Still more focussed on blogging

If you thinking about setting up a new website I will be happy to consult you on what is best for your business. Contact us to setup a web consultation.