Top disadvantages of WordPress: What you need to know

Highlights

You’ll learn about:

• Security vulnerabilities: Open-source nature increases risk and popularity, making it a common target for hackers
• High maintenance costs: Ongoing expenses for plugins, themes and developers
• Performance issues: Slow load times because of plugin overload and monolithic architecture
• Less scalable: It's difficult to manage high traffic and large content volumes. You need to customize and optimize WordPress
• Lack of dedicated support: Relies on community support instead of official customer service

Consider alternatives like Contentstack for enhanced security, scalability and support.

Keep reading to learn more!

Building a unique online presence is one of the greatest perks of growing your business. But when choosing a content management system (CMS), the first name that comes to mind is WordPress. With WordPress enjoying a share of close to 43% of all websites, businesses and individuals stop their CMS shopping at WordPress. 

Even today, WordPress is an excellent choice for individual blogs, but you need to think twice when building an enterprise website. Despite its ease of use and numerous plugins available, WordPress presents some serious potholes for small, medium and enterprise businesses. So, instead of adopting what 43% of website owners did, think differently and try other CMS options to make the most of your content. 

Disadvantages of WordPress 

Many use headless CMS like Contentstack over WordPress because they face the following issues with the latter:

WordPress is less secure

Unfortunately, as WordPress is an open-source CMS, anyone can build free themes and plugins and no one will monitor the code—increasing security vulnerabilities. Many hackers and notorious actors target your WordPress site because of its popularity and reliance on free plugins. Hackers try to access your WordPress websites through multiple login attempts and SQL injections, risking your business and customer data.

With 70% of WordPress sites prone to online attacks, you need alternatives like Contentstack. 

Contentstack's security framework overcomes these issues as it offers enterprise-grade infrastructure with built-in security features. Unlike WordPress, Contentstack is a headless CMS, decoupling the front end from the back end, reducing the attack surface. It provides automatic updates, minimizing vulnerabilities caused by outdated software. The CMS employs strong encryption, regular security audits and advanced access controls to safeguard data. 

How did The Milligan Foundation migrate from WordPress to Contentstack, witness higher traffic and eliminate numerous plugins?

Milligan Foundation faced challenges with a WordPress plugin. They migrated to Contentstack for real-time resource maps for domestic violence victims. This new CMS streamlined updates and incorporated Twilio for integrated communication. As a result, the foundation saw a 400% increase in web traffic and 50% faster publishing, eliminating complexity and data loss concerns.

After using Contentstack, Tracey Milligan, the Executive Director at The Milligan Foundation, said:

“If I had to make a comparison between the WordPress site and the Contentstack site, it would be that before I was driving a jalopy and now, I'm driving a Rolls Royce.”

Read the full case study here.

WordPress reduces your page speed

WordPress slows down your site speed because of many databases, codebases and added plugins. As your website speed is a factor in Google’s algorithm, the slower your website, the lower it will rank on the top search engine result pages (SERPs). 

Even if you read different WordPress forums, improving website speed is a pressing question businesses and individuals ask. Each WordPress plugin adds to the user’s woes as it increases the load time—the server processes everything during each visit. In contrast, a headless CMS offers an efficient alternative. 

A headless platform improves web page speed because it uses the MACH architecture. The MACH approach integrates your content with your preferred stack, eliminates the need for heavy plugins and reduces server load, ensuring faster, more efficient website performance.

WordPress needs frequent updates

WordPress requires frequent updates to provide a certain level of security. While updates mean more security, they also bring issues like disruption in website operations. Many customers complain of issues leading to downtime, broken features and additional resource allocation to manage updates. 

You must test and troubleshoot the issues to ensure higher uptime and better website security. Conversely, a headless platform offers a stable environment where updates do not interfere with your site's performance, providing a seamless experience. 

WordPress has serious performance issues

Website performance improves user experience and search engine rankings. But that’s where WordPress struggles. The platform can be slow because it uses a monolithic architecture. Complex WordPress themes with too many features can hurt website performance, increasing bounce rates and lowering user engagement. 

These issues are even worse in shared hosting services and environments with limited server resources. As a result, you spend more on performance optimization services or premium hosting to get adequate speeds—negating the initial cost benefits of choosing WordPress. For a more reliable and fast web experience, headless content management systems (CMSes) might be worth considering for speed and efficiency.

WordPress maintenance is costly

WordPress might look like an affordable option when you initially shop for a CMS, but you will constantly be spending money on plugins and themes. Why? When your website grows, you may need to upgrade to more secure and premium themes to enhance security and improve scalability. You may even invest in skilled developers to manage frequent WordPress updates and troubleshoot any issues that arise—adding to your cost. 

These costs slowly pile up and what seems affordable becomes a financial burden. However, Contentstack reduce these overheads because it minimizes the need for constant updates and additional expenses.

In a headless CMS, as the front-end and back-end are separate, updates or changes made on one side don’t crash your website. Also, Contentstack is known for its transparent pricing structure and you only pay for the services you use. There are no hidden fees or maintenance charges. 

WordPress is not ideal for a modern, composable era

Customers across every industry crave seamless and integrated user experience across multiple channels. WordPress cannot provide personalized, localized and dynamic user experiences. Your customers no longer need static marketing brochures or materials like in the early 2000s. Apart from a robust business website, providing exceptional digital experiences is a must to stay competitive. 

That’s why businesses look for a composable architecture to mix and match the best-of-breed technologies, which differs from WordPress's all-in-one approach. WordPress ties its front-end and back-end, making integrating with advanced tools and platforms tough. With WordPress, you face scalability issues. If your business needs the flexibility to launch new features quickly, adapt to market changes and deliver personalized experiences across various channels. You need composable architectures. 

A composable approach helps you connect different technologies via APIs, developing, updating and scaling your tech stack. As a result, your digital infrastructure is ready for future tech trends. 

WordPress keeps your content locked in

In the headless era, customers expect multi-channel and multi-experience. For instance, having different product descriptions on your marketing collaterals, landing pages, support documents, order pages and e-commerce stores—confusing your customers. You need a platform that publishes the same content across multiple channels.

That’s where WordPress lacks. WordPress locks your content, making it challenging to reuse—you copy and paste content into different channels.

Conversely, a headless CMS separates the content and presentation layers, making it easier to repurpose and migrate your content across various platforms and digital channels. 

WordPress is less scalable

WordPress sites are less scalable compared to sites using a headless CMS. When your business grows, scaling becomes a major challenge. Plus, as you may need to use WordPress plugins for almost everything, you may not find one that meets your website’s growing needs. If your website receives high traffic, migrate to a more composable and advanced solution.

CMSes built on a headless architecture are scalable and do not require investment in optimization, custom web development and premium hosting to manage increased demand. If you operate an e-commerce store or aim for rapid growth and seamless user experiences, scalability issues make WordPress a less viable long-term solution than more scalable alternatives.

WordPress impacts SEO rankings

Despite WordPress's claim to be a search engine optimization (SEO) friendly website, implementing the latest and most effective SEO best practices is a major challenge. The platform's excessive reliance on multiple plugins slows down your website—an important factor that search engines like Google consider when ranking websites. Slow load times lead to higher bounce rates as more customers abandon sites that take too long to display.

Even though WordPress uses SEO plugins to optimize your site, conflicts between these plugins and other installed components result in poor SEO performance. As a result, your SEO efforts require constant vigilance and expertise. For businesses looking to achieve and maintain high search engine rankings, an integrated solution offers excellent site performance and reliability, minimizing your SEO pitfalls.

WordPress has no dedicated support

As WordPress is open-source, there’s no dedicated customer support. Instead, the platform offers a robust community where you can seek answers to your questions. But you won’t receive customized or personalized support like other commercial platforms. Whether B2B or B2C, customers expect a brand to offer dedicated customer support. 40% of customers don’t mind interacting with a chatbot if they receive the customer support they need. Having some customer support is critical and that’s where WordPress lacks. 

A lack of official customer support can cause prolonged downtime and inefficiencies because you depend upon the WordPress community. You may hire experts to solve technical issues— adding to your overhead costs. Modern headless CMSes offer dedicated support and professional services, providing prompt and reliable assistance to address any issues that may arise.

Contentstack vs. WordPress

FAQs

What is the disadvantage of a WordPress website?

The primary disadvantages include security vulnerabilities, performance issues, frequent updates, scalability issues and dependency on third-party plugins.

Why would someone not use the WordPress site?

Business leaders might avoid WordPress due to its security risks, performance bottlenecks and constant maintenance requirements.

Is WordPress good or bad?

A WordPress site is neither inherently good nor bad. It depends on your needs and how well you can manage its limitations.

Are WordPress sites becoming obsolete?

While many companies use WordPress, emerging CMS platforms like Contentstack offer more advanced features, better scalability and enhanced security, making them attractive alternatives.

Learn more

WordPress undoubtedly has an influential audience worldwide. While it may be an ideal platform for fulfilling your blogging needs, small, medium and large businesses must explore different options. When you know one CMS has so many issues, look for something that offers more value and sets you up for the future instead of fueling your complexity. 

To build a seamless digital experience beyond publishing a single website, you should move on from WordPress. If you want to transform your digital experiences, talk to us to learn more about how our CMS solution helps your business thrive.