TYPO3 vs WordPress: A Detailed Comparison

A Content Management System, abbreviated as CMS, is a software application that one can use to create, edit, manage, collaborate on and publish digital content in the form of blogs, images, videos and more. A CMS eliminates the need for any specialised technical knowledge when it comes to building a website and maintaining it, hence its widespread popularity.

With the increasing demand for effective and easy-to-use CMS for both business and personal use, it becomes important to compare the top contenders and see which works best according to your specific needs. WordPress has been one of the most popular content management systems for a long, claiming a market share of approx. 65 % when it comes to CMS. WordPress is also behind 14.7 % of the world’s top websites, with its simplicity and flexibility winning brownie points.

However, TYPO3 is emerging as a strong contender for WordPress in terms of hassle-free support and marketing, quick publishing of digital content across an array of platforms and its suitability for Large Scale Enterprise Applications. In this article, we have put together a detailed comparison between TYPO3 and WordPress for you to be able to choose the right platform for content management.

But first, let us dwell on the basics.

The number of CMS vendors and products in the market is on a steady rise, making it even more difficult to decide which is best for your website. Although it is nearly impossible to conclude that a particular CMS is ideal, some factors play an integral role and help you make an informed decision.

Whether you are just starting out or already have an established business, you are always going to aim higher and try to expand your services, expertise or participation in the digital medium. Therefore, a CMS solution that can quickly grow and scale according to your needs is a must.

Even if your current focus is only on desktop and mobile sites, it is important to understand that the future is going to open up numerous more avenues that you cannot ignore. From AR/VR to kiosks, jumbotrons, digital assistants, smart TVs and more – your website could find space on any and more of such platforms. Therefore, opting for a CMS that could support new channels in the future is incredibly important.

While relying entirely on developers is not a great idea, there should always be room for them on your CMS. This is because even the traditional CMS infrastructure could face bottlenecks and needs addressing. Besides, with developers, it is possible to create a fresh and unique website even from the same infrastructure as a base. Therefore, always opt for a Content Management System that allows developers to code in their preferred programming language and handle any discrepancies on your website from time to time.

The entire purpose of using a Content Management System is to be able to eliminate the need for technical know-how for everyday handling of digital content creation, modification and publishing. Therefore, it is important to choose a CMS that offers a user-friendly interface, which can be quickly adapted to.

The controversial debate over which is more relevant – TYPO3 or WordPress – could touch on several aspects related to the strengths and shortcomings of the two. Typically, TYPO3 is the much-preferred choice for large, complex and multilingual sites, while WordPress does well for small to middle ones.

We have condensed the comparison between TYPO3 and WordPress in the following table for you.

Both WordPress and TYPO3 are free to use. They are open-source content management systems with large global communities.

WordPress is often considered synonymous with simplicity. The CMS is considered extremely user-friendly, even for those who have no technical background. One can create, publish and modify digital content on WordPress with great ease.

Compared to WordPress, it usually takes longer for users to adapt to TYPO3 and its multiple functions. However, once you have grown accustomed to its interface and tools, TYPO3 offers an equally hassle-free and smooth working experience.

WordPress is a popular choice among content creators, such as bloggers, because of its ready-to-use framework for blogs. The platform features the Gutenberg Editor, which allows easy copy-pasting from third-party applications, converts list items, hyperlinks and blocks better than any other editor. At the same time, drag-and-drop is seamless with WordPress.

TYPO3 is better suited for business sites, which bring in an element of complexity and multiple service functions to question. The platform allows you to create networking communities along with online corporations as per your requirements. TYPO3 has a myriad of advanced features to tackle digital business services if you are ready to explore them and put them to use.

Both WordPress and TYPO3 are known for their excellent features and functions when it comes to Content Management. The platforms provide optimum scalability to websites for expanding in the future, while also providing omnichannel support.

However, WordPress tends to get a little confusing in terms of structure, showing all pages and posts together in a single list. Comparatively, TYPO3 scores greater points in administration and structure. All pages and posts appear in a tree structure, which makes organisation and visibility much better on the platform.

In the growing digital age, as geographical boundaries continue to diminish, websites need to support multiple languages. Besides, as enterprises grow, they are more likely to need multiple websites for different brands or activities branching off from one main site or related site.

While WordPress offers built-in multi-site features, they are not the most comfortable to use. Even multilingualism is not supported out of the box, making it much more difficult to implement. In contrast, TYPO3 is a content management system that has been built with enterprises in mind. Therefore, it offers much better support when it comes to multiple website management and multiple languages for businesses.

Both WordPress and TYPO3 have been designed to offer a seamless content management experience to non-technical users. WordPress scores higher points in this regard, thanks to its clutter-free, easily navigable environment. However, with its simplicity also comes the lack of advanced features. This makes WordPress perfect for small start-ups and bloggers, but not very suited for larger and more complex functions.

On the other hand, TYPO3 is tailored to business enterprises and comes packed with more advanced features that could turn out to be too complicated for simple blogs or small start-up websites. Businesses that require complicated hierarchies and a myriad of functions would find TYPO3 as a better match.

WordPress being one of the most common global content management systems is also prone to more security threats. Security is a common issue on the platform, especially with third-party themes and plugins that are quite vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

On the contrary, TYPO3 conforms to the highest security standards and comes packed with features such as audit logs and a dedicated access manager. This makes TYPO3 the more suitable content management system for business and enterprise websites seeking higher levels of security.

One of the biggest advantages of WordPress comes in terms of its pocket-friendly maintenance and update features. Users can update WordPress with a single click, and updates are free. Updates are notified from time to time, both for the CMS and individual plugins.

TYPO3 lags in this department because the overall maintenance of the CMS is time-consuming and costly. Besides, in the absence of regular updates, it becomes difficult to expect a smooth and hassle-free working experience with TYPO3.

Both WordPress and TYPO3 offer SEO support, however, TYPO3 wins this race by miles. This is because the SEO features of WordPress rely entirely on plugins installation and additional setup. On the other hand, TYPO3 offers built-in SEO features by default. There is no need for external plugins or any extra requirements.

Both TYPO3 and WordPress offer extensive community support to developers and users of the respective platforms. Although WordPress has a much larger community and a greater number of forums providing extensive knowledge support, TYPO3 with its compact community is equally helpful in guiding through problems and insights.

Which CMS you choose for your website always depends on your individual needs and where you want to go with your project. As the most popular content management system, WordPress convinces many users with its ease of use.

But TYPO3 is also easy to use for pure editorial work after a short orientation period. For the technical background, it is therefore advisable to work with a TYPO3 service provider. TYPO3 agencies and developers ensure smooth editorial work through maintenance, updates and adaptation of functions, features or even design and layout. This naturally incurs costs, even though TYPO3, like WordPress, is open source software. This is why TYPO3 is in fact suitable for website projects of any size: however, development costs are required for comfortable work, which companies that want to implement more complex projects are more likely to be able and willing to bear.

TYPO3: Flexible and powerful

We are convinced that TYPO3 is the right choice and offer our customers a wide range of services related to the CMS. You can also count on our TYPO3 support and trainings so that you too can become a TYPO3 professional. We have even developed a solution on the basis of TYPO3 with which websites can be implemented particularly quickly, efficiently, cost-effectively and with a top design: Our sgalinski Website-Base is available as a website for a fixed price or as a subscription in the service model, with which you don't have to worry about anything other than the content of your website. For the TYPO3 Website-Base, we have also created extensive documentation for the response of a website, which can be used at any time and completely free of charge.