Pros and Cons of Wordpress

Pros and Cons of using Wordpress (an honest approach)

Table of Contents

  1. What is Wordpress?
  2. Why would I use Wordpress? 
  3. Advantages (Pros) of using Wordpress
  4. Disadvantages (Cons) of using Wordpress

What is Wordpress?

Wordpress is a blogging platform that uses a database to dynamically generate pages and blog posts; it can also be used to build complete ecommerce sites. It's an open source platform (which means anyone can legally use the code to create additional features) and it's free to download and use. 

Why would I use Wordpress?

While there are many web development tools (including several free options), and while it seems like the number of options is only increasing, Wordpress is the most popular blogging and web development tool in the world so it's practically hard to avoid. Since there are so many options available and thus many tutorials, the average person will find it most beneficial to use Wordpress.

The topic of Wordpress pros and cons has been addressed numerous times; however, this is an unbiased summary. I honestly stayed away from Wordpress for many years and found it frustrating. Lately, however, I've come to use Wordpress more often because I have realized that it has matured completely. Where it used to be clunky and tricky to use, it's now quite a pleasure (most of the time). I have cultivated an unbiased appreciation of what Wordpress has to offer. Simultaneously, I am aware of its shortcomings and frustrations. 

While there are many advantages of using Wordpress, as with anything and everything in life, there are also a few disadvantages or areas of caution and concern.

This brief article will address a few pros and cons of using Wordpress as your single and primary website and blog creation tool. The table of contents are as follows: 

Let's start off with the positive aspects, shall we?

Advantages (Pros) of using Wordpress

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Plenty of plugins and themes to choose from.

It just works.

  • Whenever you make any changes on the backend, Wordpress sites update immediately. Cache issues that occur with other tools are minimal (if at all). The entire process of creating and editing pages or posts is streamlined and has matured over the years. Downloading, updating, and removing plugins and themes is a painless process. 

 Media files are optimized. 

  • When you upload a media file for the web it should be optimized. Wordpress does a great job of taking care of this important (however tedious) task. 

It's optimized for speed and high rankings

  • Wordpress itself, without any plugins or third-party themes, is highly optimized for speed and search engine recognition. Of course there are plenty of plugins to increase speed and SEO as well. 

Now for a few disadvantages of using Wordpress.

Disadvantages (Cons) of using Wordpress 

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Lack of centralized support.

  • Since there are so many plugins and themes, Wordpress lacks a centralized point of contact and support. The official Wordpress support channel is vast and too often you will receive a response similar to, "It seems like a third-party plugin is causing interference with our plugin." Since there are so many plugins and themes there are naturally never-ending conflicts and bugs. As a result, there is not a single place where all your questions can be addressed. You end up having to seek support through multiple channels and then piece the resolution together on your own. 

 Expensive. 

  • Although Wordpress itself is free, plugins and themes can add up quickly. It can end up costing nearly $1000 per year to run your website. Since the current pricing structure of nearly every plugin and theme is based on a yearly or monthly subscription, you are then stuck with paying for and keeping track of multiple tools. 

Vulnerable to hacking.

  • Since Wordpress is so popular it is, naturally, a target for malicious endeavors. As a result, it is vulnerable to hacking.

Must keep Wordpress up to date as well as all plugins and themes

  • In order to avoid hacks, you need to keep all themes and plugins up-to-date.

Database failures

  • Databases can become corrupt and if we knew why or how then you could prevent corruption. If your database becomes corrupt the entire site may need to be re-created from scratch. And that's not very recreational, is it?

Wordpress is so popular that it seems to be a default option for creating and maintaining websites. Since is has so many options available and is so flexible and reliable…the list goes on…then it ends up being the first choice for newbies and veterans. 

Having said this, if you need a website or ecommerce store then you can use Wordpress and build it yourself. Or, you can contact us for a free 30-minute consultation. You may ask the following questions and we can confirm with a positive YES. 

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