Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

Grav

108
149
+ 1
16
Joomla!

1.5K
333
+ 1
37
Add tool

Grav vs Joomla!: What are the differences?

Introduction

Grav and Joomla! are both content management systems (CMS) that are widely used for building websites. However, there are key differences between the two platforms that set them apart.

  1. File-based vs database-driven: Grav is a file-based CMS, meaning that it stores content in individual files rather than a centralized database. This allows for easier version control and provides flexibility in terms of content organization. On the other hand, Joomla! is database-driven, which means that it stores content in a structured database. This allows for more robust functionality and better scalability for larger websites.

  2. Performance and speed: Grav is known for its exceptional performance and speed, thanks to its file-based nature. It eliminates the need for database queries, resulting in faster load times. Joomla!, being database-driven, may encounter slower response times due to the overhead of querying the database.

  3. Learning curve and ease of use: Grav is often praised for its simplicity and ease of use, making it a popular choice for beginners. Its flat-file structure and intuitive configuration make it easy to understand and navigate. Joomla!, on the other hand, has a steeper learning curve and requires some technical knowledge to fully utilize its capabilities. Its extensive feature set can be overwhelming for inexperienced users.

  4. Flexibility and extensibility: Grav offers immense flexibility in terms of content organization and customization. With its modular architecture, it allows users to tailor the CMS to their specific needs. Joomla!, while also highly customizable, can be a bit restrictive in terms of layout and design. It offers a wide range of extensions and plugins, but the customization options may not be as extensive as in Grav.

  5. Security: Grav boasts a strong security track record, partly due to its file-based structure and its smaller attack surface compared to Joomla!. Additionally, frequent updates and active development help keep the CMS secure. Joomla! also takes security seriously and regularly releases security patches, but its larger codebase and complex structure can potentially introduce more vulnerabilities.

  6. Community and Support: Joomla! has a large and active community of developers, designers, and users, offering a wealth of resources and support. It has been around for a long time and has an established ecosystem of extensions, templates, and documentation. While Grav also has an active community, it is relatively smaller compared to Joomla!. However, the community is growing rapidly, and there is a good amount of support available for users.

In Summary, Grav and Joomla! differ in terms of their underlying structure (file-based vs database-driven), performance, ease of use, flexibility, security, and community support. Ultimately, the choice between the two depends on the specific needs and preferences of the user.

Decisions about Grav and Joomla!

10 Years ago I have started to check more about the online sphere and I have decided to make a website. There were a few CMS available at that time like WordPress or Joomla that you can use to have your website. At that point, I have decided to use WordPress as it was the easiest and I am glad I have made a good decision. Now WordPress is the most used CMS. Later I have created also a site about WordPress: https://www.wpdoze.com

See more
Get Advice from developers at your company using StackShare Enterprise. Sign up for StackShare Enterprise.
Learn More
Pros of Grav
Pros of Joomla!
  • 4
    Easy to Update
  • 3
    No Databases
  • 2
    Fast Performance
  • 2
    Extensive Plugins
  • 2
    Strong Security
  • 2
    Full Control over customisation + functionality
  • 1
    Ligth storage use
  • 17
    Powerful extension architecture
  • 6
    Powerfull CMS
  • 5
    Mid-Hight End level CMS
  • 4
    Highly customizable
  • 2
    Vast repository of free and paid extensions
  • 2
    Extensions & Templates
  • 1
    Multilingual in the core

Sign up to add or upvote prosMake informed product decisions

Cons of Grav
Cons of Joomla!
  • 2
    Not easily to intergrate as an eCommerce (yet)
  • 1
    Depleting dev community

Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

What is Grav?

It is a free, open-source and self-hosted content management system (CMS) based on the PHP programming language and Symfony web application framework. It uses a flat file database for both backend and frontend. It is more widely used, and growing at a faster rate, than other leading flat-file CMS competitors.

What is Joomla!?

Joomla is a simple and powerful web server application and it requires a server with PHP and either MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQL Server to run it.

Need advice about which tool to choose?Ask the StackShare community!

What companies use Grav?
What companies use Joomla!?
See which teams inside your own company are using Grav or Joomla!.
Sign up for StackShare EnterpriseLearn More

Sign up to get full access to all the companiesMake informed product decisions

What tools integrate with Grav?
What tools integrate with Joomla!?

Sign up to get full access to all the tool integrationsMake informed product decisions

What are some alternatives to Grav and Joomla!?
Statamic
The open source, developer & designer-first, Laravel + Git powered CMS built to make managing websites easy with Git.
WordPress
The core software is built by hundreds of community volunteers, and when you’re ready for more there are thousands of plugins and themes available to transform your site into almost anything you can imagine. Over 60 million people have chosen WordPress to power the place on the web they call “home” — we’d love you to join the family.
Hugo
Hugo is a static site generator written in Go. It is optimized for speed, easy use and configurability. Hugo takes a directory with content and templates and renders them into a full html website. Hugo makes use of markdown files with front matter for meta data.
Ghost
Ghost is a platform dedicated to one thing: Publishing. It's beautifully designed, completely customisable and completely Open Source. Ghost allows you to write and publish your own blog, giving you the tools to make it easy and even fun to do.
Jekyll
Think of Jekyll as a file-based CMS, without all the complexity. Jekyll takes your content, renders Markdown and Liquid templates, and spits out a complete, static website ready to be served by Apache, Nginx or another web server. Jekyll is the engine behind GitHub Pages, which you can use to host sites right from your GitHub repositories.
See all alternatives