Choosing a system
TYPO3 or WordPress? Where the Systems Differ
We work with TYPO3, and the honest answer to this question is still not always TYPO3. Both systems are mature; they are built for different situations.
Two different starting points
WordPress grew out of a tool for publishing posts and has extended in every direction from there. Its strength is the fast start and an enormous supply of extensions.
TYPO3 comes from the world of larger corporate sites. Much of what WordPress adds through plugins is provided in the core there: permissions, several languages, several domains inside one installation, working areas with approval.
That difference explains nearly all the others.
Permissions and roles
WordPress ships a simple role model. Finer gradations are possible through extensions, but they come from different suppliers and have to fit together.
TYPO3 allows permissions per area of the site, per table and per field. An editor can be responsible for one area, be allowed to use certain content elements there and not others. In larger organisations with distributed responsibility, that is a clear advantage.
Several languages
In WordPress, multilingual sites are solved with extensions. That works, but it ties the project to an additional product with a lifecycle of its own.
In TYPO3 it is part of the system. Translations are linked to their originals, what happens when a translation is missing is configurable, and the language links for search engines come out of the same configuration. There are details under site configuration.
Several sites in one installation
Anyone running several brands, locations or subsidiaries faces a choice between several separate installations and one shared one.
TYPO3 is built for the second case. Several page trees with their own domains share the installation, the extensions and the file storage. That reduces maintenance considerably, because an update happens once rather than five times.
Maintenance effort
Both systems need care. The difference lies in how it is distributed.
In WordPress the risk is spread across many extensions of varying origin and maintenance quality. In TYPO3 more functionality sits in the core, the set of extensions is smaller, and the lifecycle of every version is known in advance. What that means day to day is set out under LTS.
When WordPress is the better choice
When the site is modest, runs in one language, is maintained by a few people, and needs no special permission structures. TYPO3 is then more machinery than the case calls for, and that surplus costs time for as long as the site exists.
WordPress also plays to its strengths on content-driven sites with a high publishing frequency and little structure.
When TYPO3 is the better choice
When several languages are involved, when different departments maintain different areas, when several sites belong together, when content has structures of its own that go beyond pages and posts, or when connections to existing systems are needed.
The additional effort at the start then pays off across the operating years, because you are not working against the system.