Angry Creative vs Competitors
WordPress vs Umbraco
Choosing the right CMS is a strategic decision. It impacts everything from content workflows and security to long-term growth and future development costs. WordPress and Umbraco are two well-established platforms capable, but built with different priorities in mind.
In this article, we’ll explore how the two compare across key areas like usability, cost, e-commerce, SEO, and international scalability so you can decide which platform best fits your organisation. We’ll also introduce Qala, our packaged WordPress solution for fast, flexible, and professional web projects.
What is Umbraco?
Umbraco is an open-source CMS built on Microsoft .NET. Since its release in the early 2000s, it has become a well-known option within the .NET ecosystem. The platform is built to give full control over site structure, architecture, and integrations, making it a common choice in environments where development teams take the lead.
Most functionality is developed from scratch rather than added through prebuilt components. This allows for tailored solutions but increases complexity, time-to-market, and long-term maintenance needs. As such, organisations with in-house developers or those migrating from Microsoft-based systems often use Umbraco.
Although recent versions have improved usability, older versions remain common and can be costly to upgrade. Upgrades require significant redevelopment because of limited backwards compatibility between major versions. Therefore, lifecycle planning and total cost of ownership are key considerations when choosing Umbraco.
What is WordPress?
WordPress is an open-source CMS built on PHP, first released in the early 2000s. Today, it powers more than 43% of all websites globally, making it the most widely used CMS in the world. Known for its flexibility and ease of use, WordPress allows businesses to build everything from simple landing pages and high-traffic sites to complex e-commerce stores.
With thousands of plugins, prebuilt themes and integrations, nearly any functionality can be added without custom development. This makes it fast, cost-effective and easy to launch new features. At the same time, the platform is fully extensible, offering full control over everything from design and workflows to deep integrations.
The user-friendly interface, scalability and flexibility make WordPress a natural fit for teams that want to grow confidently, without becoming dependent on developers for every step. With built-in support for multilingual content, e-commerce and third-party systems, it remains a go-to choice for organisations with growth in focus.
What is Qala?
Qala is Angry Creative’s packaged WordPress solution, designed to speed up, cost-effectively, and easily scale professional web development. It combines the flexibility of open-source WordPress with a pre-configured foundation that covers everything from content workflows to performance, security, and internationalisation.
By building on well-tested code and smart defaults, Qala accelerates implementation while leaving full room for customisation. It’s available for content-focused websites (Qala CMS) and advanced e-commerce solutions (Qala E-commerce), making it ideal for businesses that want predictable results without reinventing the wheel.
Umbraco vs WordPress: At a glance
Umbraco
WordPress
Qala
Ease of use
Umbraco:
The editor requires a developer setup before it can be used. The interface is form-based, outdated by modern standards, and unintuitive for non-technical users. Most workflows and updates depend on developer involvement.
WordPress:
Built with users in mind, WordPress provides a visual, block-based interface that’s easy to use from day one. Content teams can manage, update and structure content without technical support, making it a strong fit for organisations aiming for autonomy and clear workflows.
Qala:
Built on WordPress’ intuitive interface and enhanced with prebuilt templates and scalable components, it reduces the time to launch advanced layouts.
Cost
Umbraco:
Umbraco is free to use, but comes with high initial costs and ongoing expenses for maintenance and upgrades. The editorial interface and key functionality must be developed manually, which extends timelines and increases reliance on developers.
As each version reaches end-of-life, and because backwards compatibility is limited, major version upgrades require rebuilding large parts of the site. This cycle continues for as long as Umbraco is in use, leading to recurring redevelopment costs that must be planned for in the long term.
WordPress:
WordPress is also free to use and significantly more cost-efficient to implement. It can be used straight out of the box without needing initial development. Most functionality, even advanced features, can be added through ready-made themes and plugins, keeping development time and budgets low. Ongoing updates are simple to manage, and major version upgrades rarely require structural rebuilds, helping reduce risk and long-term ownership costs.
Qala:
A packaged WordPress solution that lowers total ownership cost through upgrade-safe setups, tested plugins, and significantly reduced implementation time.
E-commerce
Umbraco:
Umbraco does not include native e-commerce functionality, but can be integrated with external tools like uCommerce or Vendr. These platforms are tailored for .NET environments and offer broad flexibility for custom product flows and backend integrations. Implementation typically involves more hands-on development, which suits teams with specific architectural requirements.
WordPress:
WordPress supports e-commerce through plugins like WooCommerce, which can be up and running quickly. Core features like product management, payments, shipping, and campaign handling are already included and can be extended further with prebuilt add-ons. This makes launching and scaling an online store easier and faster without needing custom development at every step.
Qala:
Built and designed for advanced commerce needs, offering multilingual support, region-specific pricing, product logic and seamless integration options.
Plugins
Umbraco:
Plugin support is limited. While some extensions exist, most features are developed to spec, often by the development team. This provides flexibility and control, especially for organisations with specific technical requirements, but it usually also means longer lead times, more internal resources, and higher long-term maintenance demands.
WordPress:
WordPress makes adding and expanding functionality easy by using thousands of available plugins, from SEO and analytics to e-commerce, forms, automation, and integrations. Many free or freemium plugins can be configured without development support, keeping costs and turnaround times low.
Qala:
Uses WordPress’ plugin capabilities, but narrows them to a curated stack of well-maintained, enterprise-ready plugins, ensuring stability and long-term support.
SEO
Umbraco:
Umbraco includes technical support for SEO essentials like meta tags, clean URLs, sitemaps, and canonical links. However, like most things in Umbraco, nothing comes preconfigured. Each element needs to be implemented manually, which puts more responsibility on the development team and makes SEO results highly dependent on the site’s structure.
WordPress:
WordPress does not offer a strong foundation for SEO directly from the start. Clean URL structures, fast loading times, and mobile responsiveness are however built in. Adding widely used tools like Yoast and Rank Math, content teams however get clear support for optimising pages, while additional tools can handle more advanced needs like structured data and multilingual SEO.
Qala:
Retains WordPress’s SEO strengths and adds preconfigured technical setups, structured data handling and multilingual optimisation.
Security
Umbraco:
Umbraco is built on Microsoft .NET and provides a strong technical foundation for security. Features like role-based access, granular permissions, and support for external authentication make it suitable for organisations with strict compliance needs. However, as with most areas in Umbraco, secure implementation and ongoing maintenance, including patch management and infrastructure updates, fall heavily on the development team.
WordPress:
When properly maintained, WordPress can meet high security standards. The platform supports two-factor authentication, firewalls, real-time monitoring, and a wide range of security tools. While its large market share makes it a frequent target, regular updates, access control, and plugin management help keep installations secure without requiring advanced technical oversight. However, many suppliers has low technical skills and does not know how to properly work with security, meaning you might get an unwelcome surprise.
Qala:
Built on WordPress and enhanced with hardened security defaults, tested configurations and enforced routines for safer deployments.
B2B
Umbraco:
Umbraco works well in B2B environments where internal systems, workflows and Microsoft integrations play a central role. It’s often chosen when IT teams are actively involved in managing the site, and when full control over data structure, business logic and integrations is required. This setup typically demands continuous technical input and long-term planning.
WordPress:
WordPress is particularly effective for content- and marketing-driven B2B strategies. It integrates seamlessly with CRM systems, marketing automation platforms and lead generation tools, making it a natural choice for sales-focused teams that value flexibility, speed and hands-on control.
Qala:
Combines WordPress’ flexibility with built-in features for gated content, lead capture, CRM support and multi-region sales logic.
International stores
Umbraco:
Umbraco supports multilingual content, but region-specific features like currencies and market setups require custom development. Every new market must be configured and maintained manually, which gives flexibility but adds complexity and cost as your site expands.
WordPress:
WordPress handles multinational stores using its Multisite functionality. However, the user experience can be lacking as a number of features are not included in the WordPress core and does not exist in the community.
Qala:
Built for international growth, Qala supports localised content, currency, tax rules and storefront logic across multiple markets via a single backend.
Concise summary
Key Features of Umbraco
- Developer-friendly environment
- Strong alignment with Microsoft-based infrastructure
- Full control over structure and content
- Flexible integration with external systems
Pros: Umbraco is designed for organisations that manage their digital presence through custom development. It supports multilingual content, role-based permissions and external authentication, while allowing teams to tailor workflows and integrations to internal systems. One of its key strengths is the ability to model and manage complex data structures precisely.
Cons: To reach its full potential, however, Umbraco requires careful implementation and ongoing involvement from a technical team. With fewer built-in tools and a steeper learning curve, it places more responsibility on developers.
Key Features of WordPress
- Intuitive, editor-friendly interface
- Easy to implement and highly customisable
- Wide range of ready-made themes, plugins and integrations
- Built to support growth across markets and use cases
Pros: WordPress is the world’s most widely used CMS for a reason. It’s fast to implement, flexible, and works well for everything from simple content sites to more advanced solutions. Combined with WooCommerce, it supports scalable e-commerce with low overhead and quick time-to-market.
Cons: Performance may need to be fine-tuned in more complex setups, such as large product catalogues, advanced filtering, or high concurrent usage. Reaching enterprise-grade scalability often requires additional tools and structure.
Qala
Qala is our solution for projects where WordPress and WooCommerce alone aren’t enough. It adds a solid, upgrade-safe foundation optimised for speed, scalability, and complex requirements like international e-commerce, search performance, and integrations without sacrificing usability.
Ease of use
Umbraco
Umbraco is built to be flexible, but that flexibility depends almost entirely on custom development. The platform starts as a blank canvas where everything, from content structures to the editorial interface, must be developed from scratch. Before editors can begin working, developers must build editing views, define workflows and configure the system. In that sense, Umbraco functions more like a framework than a ready-to-use CMS.
The interface is form-based rather than visual, which can feel outdated, especially compared to modern, block-based editors. While newer versions have improved the editing experience, users without technical expertise still find it limited and hard to navigate.
When implemented well, the editorial experience can be efficient and tailored to the organisation’s needs. However, because every setup is unique, usability varies significantly between projects. Teams with in-house developers and strong collaboration between IT and marketing can shape Umbraco into a powerful and structured publishing tool. Without those conditions, it often lacks the intuitiveness and autonomy many content teams expect.
WordPress
WordPress was built with the user in mind and designed to simplify content management. Its visual, block-based editor offers an intuitive interface where content can be easily created, structured, and updated. The learning curve is low, even for users without technical experience, and from day one, teams can manage the site independently if they choose to.
The platform supports smooth publishing workflows and minimises friction in everyday updates. Features like drag-and-drop editing, real-time previews, and reusable content blocks help maintain speed and consistency regardless of the amount of content the site handles.
WordPress also scales well with growing demands. As the need for structure increases, it’s easy to organise and systematise content without compromising usability. This combination of simplicity and scalability makes it a strong fit for organisations that value flexibility and hands-on control, where much of the work can be managed independently, with the option to bring in developer support when needed.
Qala
Qala builds on WordPress’s intuitive interface by adding preconfigured templates, reusable content types, and streamlined editorial workflows. It gives teams a more guided experience, especially useful for organisations with complex structures or decentralised teams.
This reduces onboarding time, improves consistency and allows editors to work confidently from day one, even across multiple departments or regions.
Cost
Umbraco
Even though Umbraco is free to use, a major cost driver is its versioning model. Each release follows a fixed lifecycle: Support, Security, and end-of-life. Once a version reaches its end, updates stop completely, and organisations are left without access to patches, support, or further improvements.
Every version of Umbraco eventually reaches end-of-life, which means the cycle repeats indefinitely. While it is technically possible to remain on an unsupported version, the lack of security updates and vendor support makes continued use increasingly risky. In practice, organisations have little or no choice but to upgrade. As long as Umbraco remains in use, upgrade and redevelopment costs must be planned for permanently. This loop is built into the platform’s lifecycle model, with no version offering long-term stability without significant reinvestment.
An LTS (Long-Term Support) version of Umbraco receives two years of full support, followed by one additional year of security updates, after which all support ends. In reality, this means that a site often needs to be rebuilt every three years to stay within supported versions. Because backwards compatibility is limited, upgrades are rarely straightforward. In most cases, large parts of the site must be rebuilt. The cost of a single upgrade is often equal to or higher than building a new site. When future upgrades are also considered, the total cost of staying on Umbraco is guaranteed to be significantly higher than re-platforming entirely in WordPress or Qala.
WordPress
WordPress is free and generally much more cost-efficient at launch and over time. A wide range of ready-made themes, plugins, and integrations lets teams add functionality without building everything from scratch, helping reduce development time and budgets.
One of WordPress’s biggest strengths is its global community. Thousands, if not millions, of solutions are openly shared, meaning that even custom features can often be developed faster and at lower cost. Instead of starting from zero, teams can build on solid, well-tested code actively maintained and improved by developers worldwide.
Unlike platforms that require full rebuilds for version upgrades, WordPress is continuously updated through incremental improvements. Core updates, security patches, and new features can be implemented without major disruption, keeping maintenance predictable and long-term ownership costs low.
WordPress offers a flexible and cost-effective path forward for organisations that want to scale and evolve without getting locked into costly development cycles.
Qala
Qala offers a cost-efficient alternative to fully custom WordPress development. Its upgrade-safe structure, tested components, and built-in scalability help reduce both initial and long-term costs. It is particularly valuable for teams with professional demands but limited developer capacity. Instead of maintaining fragile setups or investing heavily in basic architecture, organisations can focus their budget where it adds the most value. With faster implementation and predictable maintenance, Qala helps control timelines and budgets.
E-commerce
Umbraco
Umbraco doesn’t include any built-in e-commerce capabilities, but it can be extended through third-party tools like uCommerce, Vendr, or Tea Commerce solutions, which are explicitly developed for .NET environments. These tools offer flexibility and support for advanced features like product logic, custom checkout flows and integrations with internal systems.
However, since there’s no preconfigured structure, each store must be developed from scratch. This includes data models and checkout processes to campaign features and reporting. As a result, development time is longer and more resource-intensive.
Umbraco is best suited for businesses with specific e-commerce requirements, internal technical capacity, and a preference for full architectural control, rather than for teams seeking a fast launch or ready-made workflows for digital sales.
WordPress
WordPress offers e-commerce functionality through WooCommerce, an established and widely adopted plugin that extends WordPress into a flexible sales platform. It’s designed to handle everything from simple product listings to advanced B2C or B2B needs, and integrates seamlessly with payment gateways, shipping providers and inventory systems.
Qala
WooCommerce provides a strong base, but advanced needs often require extensive customisation. Qala is built for advanced e-commerce. It supports multilingual stores, regional pricing, tax logic and discount management. Integrations with third-party systems are seamless and can be configured through a single admin interface.
While WooCommerce offers a strong foundation, Qala addresses its limitations at scale. It removes the need for repeated custom development, enabling businesses to grow across markets without compromising performance or editorial flexibility. For organisations with large product catalogues or regional teams, Qala is a best-in-class commerce solution.
Plugins
Umbraco
Umbraco includes a limited selection of ready-made plugins. While some official and community-supported extensions exist, most functionality must be manually developed. This offers flexibility, avoids reliance on external vendors, and increases time to market and development costs.
Since each feature must be scoped and built from the ground up, the development team is more responsible for maintaining, documenting, and future-proofing the solution. Over time, this can result in a heavier technical burden, especially for organisations without internal development resources.
This approach may be a good match for teams that prefer full control and are comfortable building out every feature to fit specific business needs. But for those looking to move quickly or iterate frequently, it adds complexity and slows development cycles.
WordPress
WordPress supports thousands of plugins across every category, from SEO and performance to e-commerce, automation and integration with third-party platforms. This broad availability makes it easy to extend functionality without custom development and to adapt the site as new needs arise.
Plugin selection should be done with care for teams with clear performance or security requirements. Quality and maintenance routines vary; long-term stability depends on using well-supported tools. Still, the scale of the WordPress plugin landscape means most use cases already have proven, well-documented solutions available.
Even custom functionality is often faster and more affordable to build in WordPress, thanks to openly shared libraries and development frameworks that reduce the need to start from scratch. This makes the platform particularly effective for organisations looking to expand capabilities over time, without increasing complexity.
Qala
Qala uses the same plugin ecosystem as WordPress but provides a curated stack of high-quality, enterprise-ready extensions. These are selected for their reliability, performance and long-term support.
Rather than starting from scratch, teams get a robust foundation that simplifies planning, reduces maintenance and ensures long-term stability even in complex setups.
SEO
Umbraco
Umbraco has technical capabilities for core SEO functions, including meta tags, canonical links, sitemap generation and clean URLs. These features are available, but not activated or configured by default. Each element must be implemented manually, often during the initial development phase.
This makes SEO performance closely tied to how the solution is structured from the beginning. A well-implemented Umbraco site can support effective SEO, but it requires a clear strategy for content hierarchy, metadata handling and URL structure. Without that planning and technical involvement, results may vary.
For organisations with access to development resources and a defined SEO framework, Umbraco can be shaped to meet high standards. Still, unlike platforms with preconfigured options, that outcome is never guaranteed out of the box.
WordPress
WordPress offers a strong technical foundation for SEO right from the start. Clean URLs, mobile responsiveness and fast loading times are built into the core, making it easy to create content that performs well in search. In addition, tools like Yoast and Rank Math provide real-time guidance on SEO best practices, helping content teams structure, tag and optimise their pages without needing developer input. These tools support everything from keyword targeting to schema markup and Core Web Vitals compliance.
WordPress offers flexibility and support for organisations that want to take SEO seriously without building everything from scratch. Whether the goal is visibility, traffic, or structured data control, the platform makes it easy to adapt and improve over time with minimal technical friction.
Qala
Qala retains all WordPress’s SEO strengths and adds preconfigured technical setups, including structured metadata, sitemap handling, and multilingual optimisation. It supports industry-standard tools like Yoast and Rank Math but removes the need for initial configuration or custom logic. This gives organisations a strong starting point for visibility and performance, particularly useful for teams managing content across multiple regions or languages.
Security
Umbraco
Umbraco is built on Microsoft .NET, providing a robust technical foundation for security. The platform includes built-in support for role-based access control, granular user permissions and integration with external authentication systems, making it suitable for organisations with strict internal security requirements.
As with any CMS, long-term security depends on how the platform is managed. Updates, testing, and infrastructure patching must be handled proactively by an internal or external development team. When appropriately maintained, Umbraco provides a secure environment that can meet the needs of both public sector organisations and regulated industries.
WordPress
WordPress is a secure platform when maintained with the right routines. However, its widespread use means it is regularly targeted by attacks, which makes keeping the core system, themes, and plugins up to date extra important.
There are well-established tools and best practices to support secure implementation, including two-factor authentication, firewall plugins and real-time monitoring. WordPress also benefits from a large community that contributes to continuous documentation and vulnerability management improvement.
With a well-defined security strategy and ongoing oversight, WordPress can be safely used in everything from small sites to large, business-critical environments.
Qala
Qala builds on WordPress’ security architecture with enforced update routines, tested deployment patterns, and role-based access controls. It also includes clearly defined practices for managing admin rights, plugin usage, and infrastructure configurations.
This makes meeting internal or regulatory security standards easier, especially in larger teams or organisations with strict governance requirements.
B2B
Umbraco
Umbraco is well-suited for B2B environments where websites need to mirror complex internal structures and integrate closely with business-critical systems. The platform supports tailored logic, permission-based access, and Microsoft-compatible setups, making it a common choice in organisations where IT departments lead the web development process.
Its architecture allows teams to build solutions that align tightly with internal workflows, linking to intranets, ERPs or industry-specific tools. This makes Umbraco a solid option when technical precision and deep integration are central to the digital strategy.
WordPress
B2B companies often choose WordPress because of its visibility, lead generation, and flexibility. The platform supports inbound marketing strategies, content management at scale, and seamless integration with CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Pipedrive.
Its ability to handle multiple campaigns, landing pages and regional sites within the same setup makes it especially valuable for growth-oriented organisations. With strong SEO capabilities and fast implementation cycles, WordPress provides a robust foundation for B2B marketing teams looking to move quickly without compromising structure or scalability.
Qala
Qala includes prebuilt templates, CRM integrations and lead generation components tailored to the B2B journey. Whether publishing gated content, managing contact flows or connecting to platforms like HubSpot or Salesforce, Qala offers a solid starting point. It bridges the gap between marketing and IT by offering a unified structure that supports growth, reduces bottlenecks and simplifies future development.
International Stores
Umbraco
Umbraco supports multilingual content and gives teams the flexibility to create market-specific sites. Features like currency switching, regional domains and localisation frameworks are not available out of the box and must be implemented manually. This means each market requires a custom setup, with separate planning, development and maintenance.
The platform allows for detailed control across regions and works well in environments where international needs are tightly aligned with technical workflows. Scaling globally is possible but typically involves more development effort and close collaboration with a technical partner.
WordPress
WordPress supports international expansion through features like multisite, language plugins, and WooCommerce’s e-commerce capabilities. Multiple languages, currencies, and regional domains can be managed within one unified solution, making it easier to scale across markets without sacrificing performance or manageability.
WooCommerce provides a solid foundation, but handling multiple currencies and regional variations often requires additional configuration. Qala extends this functionality with support for localised content, per-market currency settings and structured setups for complex international needs (Qala E-commerce). It allows businesses to scale globally with less friction, while maintaining performance and editorial ease.
Qala
Qala is designed for global commerce from the ground up. It includes native support for localised languages, per-market pricing, tax rules and country-specific storefronts managed from a single backend. While WooCommerce requires additional configuration to support international setups, Qala delivers structured solutions that are ready to deploy. This lowers the time, cost and complexity of scaling across regions, without compromising performance or editorial control.
Our Pimcore integration works seamlessly with WooCommerce and Qala for businesses managing large catalogues across several countries. It ensures consistent product data and streamlined delivery across all markets.
Umbraco vs WordPress vs Qala: Summary
Both Umbraco, WordPress and Qala are strong CMS platforms developed on different frameworks and suited to different digital environments. Depending on the organisation’s needs and internal setup, they offer varying flexibility, usability, and cost-efficiency levels. The most notable differences lie in how they’re maintained, extended, and scaled over time.
Umbraco runs on Microsoft’s technology stack, using ASP.NET and SQL Server, which are typically hosted in Windows environments. It offers full control over structure, content and integrations, which can be valuable for organisations with in-house developers and specific technical requirements. That level of freedom, however, comes with added complexity. Most features must be developed from scratch, and major version upgrades are rarely backwards compatible, often requiring a complete rebuild. For many, the cost of staying current has made switching CMS entirely the more economical path.
WordPress is based on open technologies like PHP and MySQL and typically hosted on Linux servers. It powers over 43% of all websites globally, with a CMS market share of 61.6%, compared to Umbraco’s less than 0.1% CMS market share.
Its widespread use means lower development costs, easier access to skilled partners, and a vast range of prebuilt, well-supported solutions that shorten time to market. WordPress allows for fast implementation, predictable maintenance and long-term scalability—without sacrificing control. Combined with Qala, our packaged WordPress solution, it’s also ready to support more advanced needs like multilingual content, e-commerce and custom integrations.
Choosing the right CMS depends on your organisation’s current needs and growth plans. But if you’re looking for a system that combines usability and scalability, avoids costly rebuilds, and is backed by a massive open-source community, WordPress or our Qala solution is hard to beat!
Considering a move from Umbraco?
If you’re planning a major rebuild, you have no reason to carry old limitations. Angry Creative develops solutions in WordPress or Qala that are easy to use, simple to keep up to date, and built to grow with your organisation, focusing on structure, editorial freedom and long-term management.
Book a meeting with Amy, our COO, and we’ll go through your needs and explore the right solutions for you.