Optimizely vs. Drupal and WordPress: Best CMS?

Optimizely is a digital experience platform. This software helps businesses scale their online presence and engage with customers. It provides a set of tools for web content management, eCommerce, social media, and digital marketing—all in one place. As a result, you can create and manage a website, a blog, an online store, and social media accounts like LinkedIn—all without using multiple systems.

Optimizely offers powerful analytics tools to track performance and better understand customers. It also helps you personalize each customer’s digital experience. As a result, you can create relevant and targeted content, get more conversions, and achieve higher customer satisfaction.

One of the most significant benefits of Optimizely is flexibility. You can customize the platform for your business needs. It also integrates with other software solutions to build a comprehensive digital ecosystem. But this flexibility can also be a downside. You may need to invest significant time and resources into customization.

With Optimizely, you can create and edit web pages plus manage digital assets such as images and videos. The CMS includes several features to help personalize user experience and track customer engagement. But this software is expensive to install and maintain. Also, it may not be the best choice if your business has highly complex content requirements.

Optimizely is not an open-source content management system. Instead, it’s proprietary or closed-source software (CSS). The platform offers several licensing options. There’s also a free trial period your business can use to decide on the software. The free version includes limited functionality, but it’s enough for minor projects. You need a paid subscription for larger projects that need more advanced features.

Drupal is an open-source CMS. So is WordPress. This is a crucial distinction from Optimizely.

Pricing

If you’re a small business, you’ll appreciate that Drupal and WordPress are free to use. Closed-source software like Optimizely requires licensing fees. You can incur some costs later with Drupal and WordPress sites if you hire developers or add modules/plugins. But you pay nothing upfront to use the platform.

Access

Drupal and WordPress have open-source communities that allow anyone to access the code and change it with approval. With Optimizely, the code comes as-is unless the company’s developers make modifications. Closed-source software doesn’t have an extensive network of developers improving code and creating add-ons like open source.

Support

Your business may have trouble getting Optimizely support if something goes wrong. Since there are many developers in the Drupal and WordPress communities, asking for help or troubleshooting an issue can be quick and easy. Optimizely can also be less secure than open-source software. Hackers may exploit hidden security flaws since closed-source software code is not publicly available for scrutiny.

Let’s look at these platforms one on one. Here are some ways Optimizely differs from Drupal.

Drupal works well for larger and more complex sites. Businesses that want optimal security and scalability will benefit from this software. In contrast, Optimizely is more user-friendly and easier to learn. It also offers more out-of-the-box features than Drupal. For example, Optimizely includes an eCommerce platform.

If you're looking for a CMS with ease of use that offers a wide range of features, then Optimizely may be the better option. If you’d rather take your web development experience to the next level, then Drupal could be the better choice.

Optimizely is an enterprise-level CMS platform. Organizations like Ford, Coca-Cola, and Starbucks use this software. It's a highly scalable system with features like multilingual support. WordPress is a more user-friendly platform suitable for small to medium-sized businesses. But it’s not as scalable as Optimizely.

If you need a robust, scalable platform with enterprise-level features, Optimizely is a good choice. But if you're looking for something more user-friendly and cost-effective, WordPress may be the better option.

The debate over open source and proprietary software is an ongoing conversation. There are pros and cons to both approaches. Your decision comes down to the CMS that best meets your business needs.

Some people prefer open-source software because they have more control over the experience. Others prefer proprietary software because it offers the features they need.

Some other open-source CMS options are:

• Joomla

• Magento

• TYPO3

• Grav

• Silverstripe CMS

• concrete CMS

• Textpattern
  

Closed-source CMS alternatives include:

• Microsoft SharePoint

• Adobe Experience Manager

• Squarespace

• Wix

• Shopify

• Blogger

• Sitecore
  

If Sitecore is on your shortlist, check out our Sitecore vs. Drupal and WordPress blog.

At O8, we’re open-source fanatics, but we also work with proprietary platforms depending on our clients’ needs. Have a chat with our Drupal and WordPress experts today!