Duda vs WordPress - Which Is Better?

WordPress has been the most popular choice for creating almost any type of website since recently, but the competition is closely keeping up.

Duda is one of the top WordPress competitors to help you build a professional website without coding a single line.

But how different or similar are these two picks and which one is a better choice? Keep on reading as in this review, you’ll find out both good and bad about Duda and WordPress, but you’ll also find out which pick might be a better fit for your needs.

What is Duda?

Duda is a website builder that doesn’t only specialize in creating professional-looking websites, but it’s also one of the quickest website builders on the market.

This website builder is based on the content management system, which allows you to easily build scalable websites that you can use for any purpose, from blogging to eCommerce.

Duda also helps build a responsive website suitable for any device and optimized websites that you can rank well and gain better organic exposure.

On top of that, Duda also helps website owners put their brand at the front, so any website you make matches your brand’s identity and mission.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a website builder that’s based on PHP and is paired with MySQL. It’s also a free and open-source content management system that can create any website.

This system is well structured as it includes prebuilt themes that are easy to edit, is backed up with a large plugin library, and has 18 years of history with a lot of help and support from the public WordPress community.

It is still one of the most relevant and reliable website builders today, but it’s also much more than a builder as it is a whole system.

How to Get Started?

Duda

Getting started with Duda is very simple since all you have to do is visit the official Duda website, where you’ll find a large orange “Start a Free Trial” button.

This button will take you to a signup page where you only have to create an account. Account creation is also simple as you speed up the process by signing up with your Google account.

From there, you’ll be able to test Duda free for 14 days before you have to choose one of the available pricing plans on sticking with Duda.

WordPress

WordPress is available in two versions, a self-hosted version or a cloud version.

In the self-hosted version, you will be able to install a copy of WordPress on any hosting account and build the site on your terms, without any limitations.

The cloud version allows you to quickly create a WordPress website and have it hosted at WordPress directly.

All you have to do is visit the official WordPress website and click the “Get Started” button. The three-step process will help you create an account and determine if you’d benefit more from a self-hosted version or a cloud version.

Functionality and Editor

Duda

Duda has great functionality in terms of an editor, which is very easy to learn and use. It’s not as robust, yet it’s pretty flexible no matter which theme you decide to go with.

There are some aspects of the platform where you even get the drag and drop editor functionality to visually make real-time changes without having to code a single line.

This also shifts the focus from the complex work that might be consuming your time to focus on other important aspects of a website, such as optimization.

All options are laid out in pop-up menus that won’t distract you from the changes you’re making and from the way you’re shaping your website.

WordPress

WordPress has a slightly more robust editor, but it is still a functional content management system where you might need a bit more time to make changes and figure out how to fully customize each theme.

Every third-party theme is different, so you’ll notice that the functionality of WordPress’s editor changes too, and some themes might not be highly customizable.

However, if you know how to code, you can make a lot more changes through code. Therefore, a slight learning curve can be expected, and you might need to watch some tutorials on WordPress web designing if you don’t have any previous experience and knowledge.

Responsiveness

Duda

Duda comes with fewer templates than WordPress, but all of the templates are built for responsiveness.

Any website you make will be compatible with all devices from desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.

You won’t have to do additional work to make your website usable on mobile devices, which is convenient since not everyone is browsing the web on a desktop.

Duda’s great because it allows you to check your website’s mobile version in the editor and make changes only to the mobile version, which doesn’t affect the desktop version.

Since Duda’s website templates are built for responsiveness, they are well optimized to run at an optimal speed without slowing down the loading speed on any device.

WordPress

WordPress also has the functionality to allow you to edit a mobile version of your website since most WordPress themes are automatically optimized for responsiveness.

However, without a drag-and-drop editor, it still might be a bit harder to get significant changes done to the website’s layout on smaller devices without getting down into the theme’s code.

That being said, you will be able to run a highly responsive website using WordPress. Still, if you need to make any additional changes to the mobile version of the website, you might have a bit harder time without proper help.

On the bright side, every good WordPress theme is made to adjust well to different screen resolutions and devices to provide ideal readability and useability.

Plugins and Themes

Duda

Since Duda’s website themes are very flexible and integrate many features through elements, Duda doesn’t include plugins you can install.

However, you can connect various third-party APIs to your website to customize website creation flows further than the theme allows.

This is still a better way of doing extra customization than having to get inside the code.

When it comes down to themes, Duda provides around 90+ native and extensive themes you can fully customize to match your vision, brand, and idea into one website.

On top of the themes, there are also site sections and widgets you can add to any theme to add elements you might be missing.

WordPress

WordPress is an open-source content management system, so the public used its website builder to create thousands of themes and plugins.

Technically, there are very few native WordPress themes, but many quality WordPress theme providers make responsive, extensive, and flexible themes for all website types and purposes.

The same goes for the plugins since WordPress has a library full of thousands of plugins that can add missing functionality, provide better customization, or add elements that aren’t integrated into WordPress or the theme of your choice.

So even though WordPress doesn’t provide a great editor, themes are built in a way to support customization and flexibility, so you won’t ever find yourself stuck trying to add something new to your website’s layout.

Customization and Security

Duda

Duda has an integrated editor that offers a high level of customization to all themes provided by them. Even though there aren’t as many templates and themes as in WordPress, you can take one theme and turn it into a unique website with such customizability.

All customization happens through a visual editor, which has a simple left-side menu that is wisely placed, so it doesn’t distract you from getting visual changes done.

Duda allows users to create smart custom widgets that you can incorporate in almost any place in the theme for even better customization purposes.

Duda is highly secure when it comes to security since all templates and widgets come from closed-source, so it’s a lot harder for hackers to exploit your website.

WordPress

Even though WordPress doesn’t come with the strongest editor on the market, it compensates for this with hundreds of thousands of themes and plugins, combined with widgets you can use to fully customize your themes up to your standards.

This means that you can take any template and turn it into a brand unique website you won’t be able to find elsewhere. Even if two websites are based on the same theme, you won’t notice the similarities if you take advantage of all WordPress’s customizable features.

Security-wise, WordPress is highly secure, however, you will have to be careful about third-party themes and plugins you use. If you don’t keep them up to date, or they’re not compatible with the latest WordPress version, hackers could easily use this to their advantage to exploit your website.

However, if you stick with the quality theme and set of plugins, you won’t have anything to worry about. WordPress even has additional plugins to improve security, such as Loginizer that blocks too many incorrect login attempts hackers would use to break into your website.

Search Engine Optimization

Duda

Duda is well aware of the importance of search engine optimization, and that’s why it includes features that help you optimize your content, website, and everything you post for search engines.

This helps your website gain better exposure in search engines which is organic and free.

With the help of Duda, you get an integrated way to adjust SEO settings such as tags, alt tags, image optimization, page descriptions, and even a way for overall page optimization.

WordPress

WordPress doesn’t integrate any search engine optimization feature, but you can easily integrate plugins that are specifically built to help you specifically optimize your WordPress website.

The two most known SEO plugins for WordPress are AllinOneSEO and Yoast, and they integrate well into any WordPress website.

As a result, you can adjust and change even the smallest SEO detail on your website to result in a well-optimized website that will take advantage of free exposure to gain better traffic stats.

This has been more than enough for even some of the most famous bloggers to stick to WordPress to run their websites.

Additional Features

Duda

Other than creating a website, customizing it up to your standards, Duda also comes with additional features such as client management tools.

This set of tools helps website owners track their performance, improve growth, and improve collaboration between two parties through a website.

On top of that, Duda even has the technology to automate site creation where you can create a site from scratch for a client in only seconds, all with some information only.

Also, there are various ways of connecting Duda with the eCommerce industry so you can monetize your website in various ways and even generate new income streams.

But one of the most important additional accessories is the white label marketing tools that help you improve and grow your online business.

WordPress

WordPress excels at additional features when it comes down to the content editor. Suppose you plan on spending a lot of time creating content inside WordPress. In that case, you’ll love the ability to fully customize everything related to your content, including visuals and gadgets.

Even features help you split one post into multiple posts, edit images quickly, and improve accessibility through various widgets.

Gutenberg is the most recent WordPress built on the TinyMCE, yet it significantly changes the way you will be making content. Instead of only writing the text, you’ll be able to manage your post in terms of blocks so you can have full control of how your posts look in the end.

Also Read: Is Wordpress Good For eCommerce?

Support

Duda

Duda is good at providing support that’s accessible 24/7 to its users. On top of that, Duda also helps educate its users through Duda U. certification that will help you improve your game and learn how to take full advantage of Duda to your advantage.

You can reach out to Duda via a ticket request, or you can also check out their quick troubleshooting section that might have answers to all your questions.

Also, keep in mind that you can contact Duda via email or even check out some of the frequently asked questions that might give you answers to some of your questions.

WordPress

Since WordPress is based on open-source code, it doesn’t provide one-on-one support. Even though you can reach out to WordPress, they still did a very good job providing in-depth guides that might answer all of your questions.

These guides include anything from getting started with WordPress and the initial installation to the basic usage & administration, customizing, maintenance, security, and even advanced topics.

If you’re experiencing issues, you can head to the “troubleshooting” section for help. But if you still have a problem, the best WordPress support tends to be a community forum.

You shouldn’t forget that WordPress has a 15-year history so that you can find lots in the forums, and yet if you still didn’t solve an issue you’re dealing with, you can easily open a thread and get help from advanced and experienced members.

Ease of Use & Cost to Value

Duda

Duda is very beginner-friendly, and it’s very easy to use because of the intuitive editor/website builder that also comes with a drag and drop builder.

There are also plenty of personalization features that speed up the process of creating a website from scratch.

Also, all templates come from Duda, so they’re kept up to date and are very easy to work with since they’re made for the Duda platform.

When it comes down to cost-to-value, Duda is all about convenience, and if you’re purposely looking for ease of use, Duda might be worth its price since it offers everything you might need, with very few limitations.

In comparison to the WordPress cloud version, it definitely might be a worthwhile investment.

WordPress

WordPress is a bit more robust than Duda, but it’s well built, so you can always take things further and express your ideas and creativity on your website.

With thousands of theme and plugin providers, you can shape your website in any way you wish. Even though WordPress doesn’t have a built-in editor, it has a powerful content editor that can do wonders and help you create and manage your content.

Even though you’ll have to use integrations via plugins, you’ll be able to add visual editors such as Elementor to edit your website visually and ensure that even the tiniest detail is taken care of.

The cost-to-value ratio is very good since WordPress is free, and since it’s based on open-source, you can further customize the code if you’re skilled enough. The cloud-hosted version is also worth the price, but it’s a bit limiting compared to the self-hosted version, where you only need to pay for hosting of your choice.

Duda vs WordPress – Pricing

Duda Pricing

Duda offers a 30-day free trial that gives you the chance to experience all features for free without even having to sign up with your credit card.

After that, if you decide to stick with Duda, you’ll be able to choose one of three pricing plans:

Basic – $14/month
Team – $14.50/month
Agency – $29.50/month

These plans are billed annually, and some plans were discounted at the time of writing. For the latest pricing, visit the official Duda pricing page.

WordPress Pricing

WordPress has two versions where the self-hosted version is free, and you only need to pay for a hosting plan of your choice.

You also can host your website directly in the WordPress cloud, which is a paid option.

There are four paid plans, and you’ll be able to choose one of the following:

Personal – $4/month
Premium – $8/month
Business – $25/month
eCommerce – $45/month

All plans are billed annually, and at the time of this writing, all plans include a free domain name for a year.

However, for the latest pricing plans, visit the official WordPress pricing page.

Similarities

Both picks are based on the content management system
Both picks provide great functionality and versatility
Both picks provide responsive website templates
Both picks provide full customizability
Both picks provide decent search engine optimization ability
Both picks provide great cost-to-value

Differences

WordPress relies on third-party templates and plugins for extended functionality
WordPress doesn’t come with an integrated editor
WordPress has a better content block editor
WordPress has a lot more themes and plugins
WordPress has a very decent forum support system backed by 15 years of history
WordPress is free to use

WordPress vs Duda – Pros and Cons

Duda Pros

Provides hosting
Easy to get started
Customization and website installation is a simple process
Drag and drop website builder integrated into the platform
Great for collaboration
Ideal for all types of websites
Integrated client management features
Suitable for creating brand and company websites
No previous knowledge required

Duda Cons

It is a paid platform
Based on the closed source
Not as many templates/themes available as other platforms

WordPress Pros

Very flexible and versatile through add-ons
Thousands of theme providers
Great search engine optimization
Suitable for blogging thanks to the great content editor
15-year old community
Based on the open-source which gives owners full control over the website
Easy installation process
Ideal for all types of websites and marketing

WordPress Cons

WordPress gets frequent updates which means that plugins and themes might take longer to keep up to date
It is a bit more robust than Duda
Can be vulnerable to viruses through un-updated plugins and themes