CMS Evolution vs WordPress, Joomla and Drupal

I've spent a lot of time testing various content management systems (CMS), and I have to admit that no other system has been able to match EVO CMS in terms of flexibility. I have experience in developing several dozen websites on this wonderful system, and I would like to share my experience with you.

The official website of the system is evo-cms.com

Translation of the article: EN, UA, RU.

5 reasons to choose CMS EVO

1. You can customize META content for each page of your website. You can also easily create/customize correct URLs for all your pages. You can be sure that thanks to all this, search engines will treat your site well and allow you to get good positions in the search results. For this reason, many developers have nicknamed CMS EVO as an "SEO-oriented content management system".
2. Flexibility for design. With CMS EVO you can "pull" absolutely any design, without any restrictions (forced columns, blocks, hacks, etc.). All you need to do is insert XHTML and CSS code and that's it.
3. The designer is given complete freedom of creativity. He does not need to worry about how the design will be integrated into the management system later.
4. Compliance with web standards. Yes, this means you can create your own website using JS, CSS, and HTML that will comply with web standards and have high Google Page Speed scores.
5. Flexible, powerful API and event model. This is the feature that makes EVO not just a management system, but also a development system - CMF (Content Management Framework). This gives you full control and freedom in development, you can override events, and change the functionality of the EVO core without interfering with the source code using the API (documentation)

Comparison of CMS EVO with other, most common management systems

If you know anything about content management systems, you probably know that there are hundreds of them. And, of course, you may wonder why you should choose CMS EVO. Why is this system better or worse than others? In order not to be unfounded in my statements, below I will compare EVO with other common management systems

CMS EVO vs WordPress 

Many people prefer WordPress CMS for website development. However, you shouldn't forget that WordPress is primarily a blogging engine, and although the functionality it provides allows you to cope with its purpose more than perfectly, using WordPress outside the blogging sphere makes life much more difficult for a developer.

There are a huge number of ready-made solutions for WordPress, but the very structure of the system imposes several restrictions on creating a functional website (not a blog), and to overcome these restrictions, you will have to additionally carry out several manipulations and hacks, which increases the development time, and not always the expected result is obtained.

In contrast, EVO can truly be called a content management system because it gives you full control over all elements of your site, down to the last tag, without any restrictions. EVO will help you solve any task you set when creating a website of any complexity - whether it's a blog, an online store, a business card site, or an Internet portal.

I would especially like to note that if you are planning to implement multilingualism on your site, I believe that EVO is very conveniently implemented both for programmers and for further content filling. And it is much better and more convenient than any multilingual plugin in WordPress.

Conclusion: If you want to improve your web development skills and create something more than just a blog, and you also like full control over website development, choose EVO. If you don't have time and desire to learn something new, if you want to make a website using standard ready-made solutions at the expense of flexibility, you can opt for WordPress.

CMS EVO vs Joomla

Of course, many people will say that it is not entirely correct to compare such different systems, and they will be right, but I will try to do so very briefly.

The biggest disadvantage of Joomla is its bloated code. It is a clumsy combination that carries a lot of built-in functionality that will not always be used by an ordinary site developer. In CMS EVO you will not find anything superfluous. The undoubted advantage of Joomla is that this system has a huge collection of components, modules, plugins that are freely distributed on the Internet, and a huge amount of documentation.

However, now we can already observe the tendency of many Joomla developers to join the ranks of EVO developers. Many people are attracted to EVO by the cleanliness of the code, the speed and convenience of the admin panel (based on Ajax), and the simplicity of SEO settings, while at the same time, a person who has been using Joomla for a long time for development is scared off by the seemingly small number of ready-made solutions.

CMS EVO vs Drupal

There are a lot of discussions and comparisons on the web, and their results mostly depend on whether the reviewer is a Drupal developer or an EVO supporter. In my humble opinion, these two systems deserve the attention of web developers. Each of them is good in its way and in the right hands will prove to be a worthy tool for creating websites. The good news is that both Drupal and CMS EVO are constantly evolving projects, and new versions are coming soon, which is good news for developers.

Let's briefly touch on the features of the two development systems:

Drupal is a powerful system with great features, not very easy to set up, but it has many ready-made solutions; questions are periodically raised about Drupal's vulnerability and its server load.

CMS EVO, unlike Drupal, has a well-thought-out template system in which the program code is completely separated from the page layout, without having so many plugins, modules, etc. With the ingenuity of CMS EVO, almost everything can be done without going beyond the distribution. In addition, the speed of the system and its security are also very good.

Bottom line.

Speaking from the side of a client who is choosing a system for their website, a lot depends on the personal experience of the developer. How well the hired specialist knows this or that system? How many of the sites he has already developed are similar to what the client wants to get? The more years of practice, the easier and faster an experienced programmer will fulfill almost any customer's wishes on any CMS. And vice versa, even with the best CMS, an inexperienced programmer will sooner or later face several problems that only the web development community can help solve.

For simple websites, I don't recommend my clients to use any self-written CMS or a very little-known one, because then the client will be completely dependent on the development team and it will be harder to find specialists to support and improve the site in the future. And there will most likely be no community to turn to for help or advice.

As for SEO, I often switched from such systems as WordPress and Joomla to EVO, which significantly improved the position of the sites and allowed for more efficient further promotion to the TOP of Google.