WordPress, a static site or Motley CMS?

WordPress

The name most people know. Pick it when lots of people edit the site every week, when you need something unusual that a well-kept plugin already does, or when you want the widest choice of developers. It also has the widest choice of ready-made shop extensions, through WooCommerce.

What it asks of you: a stack of plugins, each with its own licence, renewal date and updates.

A static site

Very fast, very little to attack, and hosting that costs next to nothing. It suits a site that a developer looks after, where the content changes a few times a year and nothing sits behind a login.

What it asks of you: every change goes through that developer, unless a separate editing service is bolted on.

Motley CMS

Our own platform, built on Laravel. You edit and publish the site yourself, and the forms, search, SEO and security come built in, with no plugins to buy or update. It fits business, charity and council websites that change every week or every month.

What it asks of you: pages are built from blocks within your site's design, and anything new, from a members area to a second language, is built for you by us.

WordPress. Yes. Edit a page, schedule a post, add a page to the menu and manage your images without calling anyone. A redirect manager needs a plugin.

A static site. Changes are made in code and published by whoever looks after the site. An editing service can be added on top, which is one more thing to set up and keep going.

Motley CMS. Yes. Edit a page, preview it, then publish it straight away or schedule it for a set time. Menus, images and documents live in the admin, and when you rename a page the old address redirects by itself.

WordPress. Members areas, online courses and client portals are all well served, through established plugins. Staff roles and permissions come as standard.

A static site. Nothing sits behind a login. Anything personal to the visitor needs an outside service.

Motley CMS. Staff accounts with their own roles, so one person can write and another sign off, and you can see the admin the way each role sees it. A members area, an online course or a client portal is built to fit when a site needs one.

WordPress. All there, mostly through plugins: forms, search that goes beyond the basic built-in version, comments, and WooCommerce for shops of any size, subscriptions and several currencies included.

A static site. Each one needs an add-on or an outside service: a form handler, a search tool, a hosted shop.

Motley CMS. Forms that keep every submission, alert you, stop spam and can add people to your mailing list. Search across every page, article and product. A shop with stock, card payments, VAT invoices and discount codes.

WordPress. Can be quick, with a caching plugin and some care over what else goes on. Plugins are the most common way WordPress sites get broken into, so each one added is another thing to keep an eye on.

A static site. The fastest of the three, and the hardest to break into, because there's no database or admin area to attack.

Motley CMS. Fast as built, with a lean front end and caching included. There's no plugin marketplace and no file editor in the admin (two things attackers look for on a WordPress site), and the whole system goes through a security review on a regular, recorded basis.

WordPress. WordPress itself, the theme and every plugin update on their own timetables, and one update can break another. It's why so many WordPress sites come with a monthly care plan.

A static site. Very little day to day. The tools that build it need updating when the site next changes, which is the developer's job.

Motley CMS. Nothing for you to do. Every update, from security fixes to new features, comes with our hosting, and your content and styling sit apart from the engine underneath, so an update doesn't move your layout.

WordPress. WordPress is free. The plugins a business site needs to match what Motley CMS does as standard come to about £950 a year in licences, per site, before hosting and care, and the full list is at the foot of this page. More on that in The Seven Plugins You Need Before You've Even Started.

A static site. Hosting can be free or close to it. Every change costs developer time.

Motley CMS. Hosting is £165 a year plus VAT, with every update included. SSL, backups and monitoring are extra, and you'll have the full yearly figure in writing before we start. No plugin licences.