CMSB vs WordPress: Post your feedback!

Security.  If for no other logical and sensible reason ~ this should be why. 

A question I get all the time from clients is, if something goes wrong and we part and go a different direction how will I find a developer that can help me? Clients often feel worried if they are going down a path they haven't heard of before. My response is typically that any competent PHP developer will have no problem working with CMS builder. Wheras most "wordpress developers" are hardly competent PHP developers.

Alt forum topic title: Custom Professional Solution versus Canned Product Commodity

There are already some great posts highlighting the benefits of CMSB, common points are in my post as well.

Security. WordPress is a security/maintenance nightmare... from the WP core to themes to plugins… WP installs are literally targeted on mass scale by individuals and bots, true hackers and also those with script kiddies. Simply Google WordPress CVE, then browse results. Sure, there’s a massive amount of plugins and themes available - some are created and maintained by “real” dev houses, and many, many user created plugins by so called WordPress “Developers”.

Maintenance. See above…
The CMSB driven sites we build are extremely low maintenance. To take maintenance to a deeper level, hosting account migrations are a breeze with CMSB based sites. WP migrations can be a huge pain in the @$$, taking much longer to complete (we’ve migrated a series of new clients existing sites to our hosting platform while developing their new sites with CMSB).

Support. The crew at Interactive Tools has always provided exceptional support for their CMSB product and licensed plugins. Support is available via forum, tickets/email (both free and paid based on issue), and phone. You'll also see them regularly helping their client base with general coding/programming assistance (just look through the forum). Cross your fingers with WordPress.

Consulting / Programming Services. Hire Interactive Tools to create custom plugins and/or custom front end coding as a technical extension to your web development company, or even to help with overflow of development work. The programmers at IT are knowledgeable and experienced.

Flexible / Scalable. With CMSB, you can truly create anything from “standard” websites to highly functional custom web solutions. From single page detail editors, to list section editors, to category menu editors – there are different methods (and combinations of methods) available to deliver customized professional solutions for your clients website needs. CMSB is extremely powerful tool with very useful core functions, and it was engineered in a manner that caters to developers of all experience levels.

Performance. CMSB is by far more efficient and faster than WordPress. CMSB is “lean and mean”, WordPress is “bloatware”. For an example, we had rebuilt a new clients website on CMSB using their existing design/structure from their WP site – and it literally loaded 6 seconds faster (huge difference).

Started writing this post a while ago in a text doc and just got back to finishing it... we’ve been busy building awesome custom web solutions with CMSB! Cheers to the Interactive Tools crew!

Best Regards,
Steve

Great feedback!  Thanks for posting!  

One of my fears about adding/plugins is one of the reasons why wordpress fails and that is security. People using wordpress tend to buy or add-on a bunch of plugins which can be badly written or unmaintained and there's no checks, anyone can write a plugin and distribute it. IF cmsb wants to encourage more add ons from outside sources then I think its a good idea for proper vetting and maintenance on the part of cmsb to ensure systems aren't compromised and the add ons are of good standard, they should be managed and bumped off if they are no longer compatible with the latest release. A bit like apples app store, where cmsb takes a cut to ensure quality of add ons.

The great thing about CMSB is that whatever project requirements I come up against, I have always been able to achieve them, and I don't consider myself a fully fledged developer. My focus is mainly front end, but cmsb allows me to do some really cool and seemingly advanced projects that I can design build and maintain myself. not relying on other peoples templates and plugins or hiring back end coders. It's worth every penny. My clients love it because what they see in the cms back end is just what they need for their particular site. Wordpress is still a blog thats been crowbarred into a cms system. In my opinion its just not fit for purpose.

Hello, All -

I must confess that I am at a bit of a crossroads. I've been a massive CMSB supporter for years and have over 20 licenses. I never really rated WordPress. Five, six years ago it was just a convenient tool for bloggers. Now, however, it seems to be coming of age.

At the same time, my clients are starting to ask (specifically) if their new site will be WordPress. I have to politely explain that I can provide something far more bespoke and special (with CMSB). Unfortunately, the question keeps coming back, "Why not Wordpress?" As time goes by, it's getting harder and harder to provide those clients with a suitable answer.

When I first discovered CMSB, on the day it was launched, I knew very little about PHP. Working with the programme has been a joy because it has taught me so much. The downside is that as my knowledge and understanding has improved, so my expectations have increased. When I look back at my CMSB journey there's no doubt I have come a very long way. The trouble is, I'm not sure CMSB is keeping up.

I've had to spend a lot of money - not just on programming but buying in 3rd party tools such as CKFinder. The license for this is very expensive but it gives my users far better flexibility when it comes to uploading and adding media. This is one area - in particular - where CMSB is lagging behind the field.

CMSB is tight and it's robust. It's developed and supported by the nicest bunch of people you could hope to have on your team. The trouble is, I have got to the point where I am spending more time making CMSB do what I want than developing web sites - and that's not good!

With WordPress, however, I'm finding things are different. Instead of working to make things work my focus has started to shift back towards the creative side of my job. It's a lot less stressful! What's more, so long as I am prepared to spend a bit of money, I can achieve pretty much everything I want simply by buying one of the thousands of plugins. Investing in a framework is also money well-spent.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not abandoning CMSB in any way. I have too much time and money invested in it. However, after such a long journey, it is good to do something fresh - which is why my next couple of sites will be WordPress. It isn't perfect for everything - but neither is CMSB. Knowing and understanding the relative strengths and weaknesses of both aps is what allows me to take my business forward.

:0)

Perchpole

Hi Perch, 

Thanks for your feedback!  

We want you to choose CMSB based on the value it provides, not just loyalty to the product, so if there are some sites that make more sense (or margin) for you to build with Wordpress, then that would make sense to do that.  And please feel free to post again (or email me) once you've built a couple of those sites and let me know what works well, and what didn't, and what features you miss in WP from CMSB and vice versa. Thanks!

moh3, thanks for the feedback!  Noted and much appreciated.