Skip to content
Luremo go to the homepage
Choosing a CMS

Craft CMS vs WordPress. Which fits you?

Luremo

Craft CMS studio

Two people arranging paper website sketches on a dark worktable.
Start with the content your team manages. Let that guide your CMS choice. Image: AI-generated.

Craft CMS or WordPress? Explore the differences in three visuals. Choose based on your content, your team and the total cost.

Which approach fits you?

WordPress is often practical when an existing theme and plugins meet your needs. Craft is a strong candidate for connected content and multiple languages. Both support fully custom websites.

We compare Craft CMS 5 with self-hosted WordPress.org, not WordPress.com subscriptions. At Luremo, we build with Craft; here is when WordPress can also be a sensible choice.

Decision guide: a suitable theme and existing plugins point towards WordPress. Reusable content and multiple languages point towards Craft. Both support custom builds; this is a starting point.
A starting point for your choice. The implementation and your team’s experience still matter.
Content model: one service is linked to a case study, a Dutch page and an English page. Shared information is managed once; language-specific content is translated separately.
An example of content reuse, not a CMS screenshot. You decide what stays shared and what differs by language.

The key differences. On mobile, swipe the table sideways.

The key differences
Topic Craft CMS WordPress
Starting point Custom content structure A theme or a custom build
Pages Matrix with custom components Built-in block editor
Languages Built into the core An additional solution
Extensions Plugins and custom development A broad theme and plugin ecosystem

Look beyond the licence

WordPress and Craft Solo are free; Solo includes one account. Craft Team costs US$279 for up to five accounts, and Pro costs US$399 for unlimited accounts. Team and Pro include the first year of updates; renewal then costs US$99 per year.

Ask for development, hosting, extensions and maintenance to be quoted separately. Include content entry and future improvements too. The cheapest licence does not automatically mean the cheapest website.

Licence costs: WordPress and Craft Solo US$0, Craft Team US$279 and Craft Pro US$399 per project. Team and Pro include one year of updates, then US$99 per year to renew. Development, hosting, extensions, maintenance, content and future improvements cost extra.
Software prices in USD, checked on 16 September 2026. Excludes any applicable taxes. Development, hosting and maintenance cost extra.

Good results take good work

  • SEO: both have tools, such as SEOmatic and Yoast. A CMS does not guarantee higher rankings.
  • Speed: test real pages on mobile. Images, scripts, caching and hosting all matter.
  • Security: agree who handles updates, backups and access permissions. Both Craft and WordPress need maintenance.

Does your current WordPress site work well? Targeted improvements may be a better investment than rebuilding.

Practical questions

Sources and review date

Checked on 16 September 2026. Official sources are linked alongside each topic. Further reading: performance in Craft and WordPress, WooCommerce, Craft Commerce, and exports from WordPress and Craft. The decision guide is our advice, not a performance test. Check prices again when budgeting.

All articles