Overview

Joomla!

Stacks1.5K

Followers337

Votes37

GitHub Stars5.0K

Forks3.7K

Grav

Stacks114

Followers158

Votes16

GitHub Stars15.2K

Forks1.4K

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.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

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Dragos

Jan 6, 2020

Decided

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

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Detailed Comparison

Joomla!	Grav
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.	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.
User Management;Media Manager;Language Manager;Banner Management;Contact Management; Polls;Search;Web Link Management;Content Management;Syndication and Newsfeed Management;Menu Manager;Template Management;Integrated Help System;System Features;Web Services;Powerful Extensibility	Twig; YAML; Markdown; Flat-file; CLI
Statistics
GitHub Stars 5.0K	GitHub Stars 15.2K
GitHub Forks 3.7K	GitHub Forks 1.4K
Stacks 1.5K	Stacks 114
Followers 337	Followers 158
Votes 37	Votes 16
Pros & Cons
Pros 17 Powerful extension architecture 6 Powerfull CMS 5 Mid-Hight End level CMS 4 Highly customizable 2 Vast repository of free and paid extensions Cons 1 Depleting dev community	Pros 4 Easy to Update 3 No Databases 2 Strong Security 2 Full Control over customisation + functionality 2 Extensive Plugins Cons 2 Not easily to intergrate as an eCommerce (yet)
Integrations
No integrations available	NGINX Symfony PHP

What are some alternatives to Joomla!, Grav?

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.

Drupal

Drupal is an open source content management platform powering millions of websites and applications. It’s built, used, and supported by an active and diverse community of people around the world.

Strapi

Strapi is100% JavaScript, extensible, and fully customizable. It enables developers to build projects faster by providing a customizable API out of the box and giving them the freedom to use the their favorite tools.

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.

Wagtail

Wagtail is a Django content management system built originally for the Royal College of Art and focused on flexibility and user experience.

OctoberCMS

It is a Laravel-based CMS engineered for simplicity. It has a simple and intuitive interface. It provides a consistent structure with an emphasis on reusability so you can focus on building something unique while we handle the boring bits.

Twill

Twill is an open source CMS toolkit for Laravel that helps developers rapidly create a custom admin console that is intuitive, powerful and flexible.

ProcessWire

ProcessWire is an open source content management system (CMS) and web application framework aimed at the needs of designers, developers and their clients. ProcessWire gives you more control over your fields, templates and markup than other platforms, and provides a powerful template system that works the way you do

Typo3

It is a free and open-source Web content management system written in PHP. It can run on several web servers, such as Apache or IIS, on top of many operating systems, among them Linux, Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, macOS and OS/2.

Directus

Let's say you're planning on managing content for a website, native app, and widget. Instead of using a CMS that's baked into the website client, it makes more sense to decouple your content entirely and access it through an API or SDK. That's a headless CMS. That's Directus.