This guest post is by Matt Setter of MaltBlue.com.
As bloggers, we’re all familiar with WordPress, whether as a self-hosted setup, or via WordPress.com. I think that, if you’re a blogger and you’ve not used it, then you’re likely in an odd minority.
If you do a Google search for “blogging software,” WordPress will likely be among the first results you’ll see. But is it necessarily the best choice?
Yes, “everybody’s doing it,” but does that make it the right choice? Just like in the 90’s when Microsoft seemed like the only choice, but then we found alternatives like Mac or Linux, there are alternatives to WordPress too.
Now maybe you’re quite happy with your WordPress installation, it meets your needs, and your site’s humming along nicely. Well, that’s perfectly fine. But what if you’re not? What if you want to change, or have the opportunity to change?
What if you’re:
- just starting out
- about to rebuild or redesign your blog
- moving hosts
- concerned WordPress is not meeting your needs
- contrarian in your thinking?
Well if you’re any one of these, you’ll love this post. Today I present to you four alternatives you may never have heard of, showing you the pros and cons of each, how much they cost, and where you can get them from. Ready? Great! Let’s begin.
Habari
Some examples of blogs run on this platform include:
The Habari project screencast linked below gives a great introduction to the CMS.
Features
- Support for a wide variety of plugins and extensions, including:
- contact forms
- Last.FM
- spam management
- Amazon
- Google Maps, AdSense, and Analytics
- star ratings
- members-only access
- modern theme support
- support for multiple users and multiple sites in one installation
- support for tagging
- support for a wide variety of media, including Viddler and Flickr
- custom RSS feeds and statistics
- Feedburner integration
- modern spam filtering techniques
- automatic Twitter updates
- Disqus integration for commenting.
Cost and availability
Habari is available as a free download from the project home page. You can even try out a demo version without needing to install it.
Support options
Habari support is available via:
- FAQ
- users group
- IRC (internet chat, similar to ICQ, MSN, Google Chat etc).
Is it for you?
If you’re keen to roll up your sleeves and manage things yourself, or you have great tech support, try out Habari. However, if your host doesn’t support it or you’re not able to do it yourself, then this may not be the best option for you.
CushyCMS
Where Habari is more like WordPress in that you can download, install, and configure it yourself, CushyCMS is a fully hosted solution.
Minimal manual effort is required on your part, other than the work required to implement modest customisations. Have a look at the introductory video below to see just how easy it is.
Blogs that use CushyCMS include:
Features
Depending on the package that you choose, different features will be available to you. In the free package, you get:
- five sites
- unlimited site editors
- availability in 20 languages.
If you take the pro package, you can:
- brand your installation
- customise the interface via a wysiwig editor
- remove all ads from the site
- use your own domain name and logo
- configure access rights for each user
- customise the CSS classes.
Cost and availability
CushyCMS is available from Stateless Systems and comes in two forms:
- free
- pro, for US$28 per month.
Support options
This depends on the package that you’ve chosen. If you’ve chosen the free package, you get:
- videos
- documentation
- package FAQ
- access to the Google user group.
If you upgrade to the pro package, you get all that, plus direct email support from Stateless Systems.
Is it for you?
Depending on your needs and requirements, CushyCMS could be just what you’re looking for. You can sign up and get started in minutes. There’s no need to worry about what your current provider does or doesn’t support, as this system is fully hosted. You can get started with the free version, but you’ll have limited branding and domain control privileges.
You can upgrade to the pro version, but unless you’re making regular money with your blog, you might not want to pay the monthly fee for it. However, you do get a company backing the product with 24/7 support, should you have any questions or queries.
concrete5
The underlying philosophy of concrete5 is to make running a website easy. As you can see from the demo video below, in just about all aspects of site administration, you can simply click on a region of the page and edit it to your heart’s content.
A couple of blogs that run on concrete5 are:
Features
Concrete5:
- is easy to theme yourself, or you can choose from a wide variety of pre-made themes
- supports a wide variety of plugins and extensions including:
- digital download support
- discussion forums
- ecommerce
- ad servers
- configurable menu navigation
- star reviews
- scrolling ticker
- image gallery
- traffic and statistics management
- Google Maps
- user chat
- country-based redirect
- Vimeo and YouTube support.
- easy to configure, whether by hand or via the wysiwig editor
- easy to update, right from your browser
- open source and completely free to use
- easy to install and configure.
Cost and availability
Concrete5 is available from the concrete5 website and is open source, so it’s free.
Support options
Similar to Habari, concrete5 doesn’t have a paid support option, however it does have:
- an active community
- clear documentation
- a thorough FAQ.
If you are a developer, or have access to development support, training and integration packages are also available.
Is it for you?
Concrete5 is a good mixture of the best parts of the two previous packages. You can install it yourself, but training and custom build support are also available. So, depending on your needs and your available budget, concrete5 may be the right option for you. Why not give a trial version a go today to see?
TomatoCMS
Examples of blogs that run on this platform include:
Two key aspects set TomatoCMS apart: Widgets and the Layout Editor. Let’s look at its feature list.
Features
Among a vast array of compelling features are:
- a variety of built-in modules (extension) including:
- banner advertising support
- category management
- comment management
- simple menu management
- multimedia management
- in-built news system
- tag support
- poll support
- built on the Zend Framework, jQuery, and 960grid, making it fast, light and flexible.
In addition to this it’s also:
- SEO friendly
- secure
- highly themable
- packaged with a simple visual editor allowing you to drag, drop, and resize almost any interface element.
Cost and availability
As with Habari and Concrete5, TomatoCMS is also a free download available to be installed and configured on your host as your needs demand.
Support options
Also like Habari and Concrete5, TomatoCMS doesn’t offer a commercial support package. However it does have a solid project wiki and a thriving forum. If you have troubles with it, then you’re likely to find the solution there without too much hassle.
Is it for you?
If you’re keen to control most, if not all, of the aspects of the system on your own host, then this is the option for you. However, if you need support then this option may not be the best choice.
Choices, choices
So there you have it. If you want to change from WordPress, have an opportunity to change, or are just starting out, now you have four additional options to WordPress to choose from.
Take a closer look and evaluate them. When you find the one that ticks all your boxes, give it a try and let me know how it goes for you.
Do you run your blog on an alternative to WordPress? Why is it your platform of choice? What makes it the best one for your blog and your business? Let us know in the comments.
Matthew Setter is a freelance writer, technical editor and proofreader. His mission is to help businesses present their online message in an engaging and compelling way so they’re noticed and remembered.
