Duda vs. WordPress: Give your clients a CMS without the drama

October 31, 2024
0 minute read

The best products are made with the best materials. Boutique restaurants pride themselves on serving locally-sourced ingredients. Luxury car manufacturers boast about their premium interior materials. Premium clothing brands obsess over the quality of their fabrics. Are you noticing a pattern?


Great outcomes are a combination of a thoughtful process and the best materials. Your agency is in charge of honing the process, but what about the materials? What “materials” are websites made from? Call us biased, but we’d have to say that’s the CMS.


A CMS, or Content Management System, is a software application that helps individuals create, organize, edit, or publish digital content. If you’re reading this on a desktop, hover your mouse over the tabs on the menu bar. Each of those pages are a piece of content, all of which are managed by the Duda platform.


While we (unsurprisingly) choose Duda to publish our website, it isn’t the only platform on the market. Far from it, in fact. There are countless website builders on the market today, but none more well known than Wordpress.


Wordpress powers 43.6% of the entire web. It’s a remarkable open source platform with a lot to like. For over two decades, contributors have transformed the platform from a blogging tool into a robust, adaptable CMS with more extensions than you could possibly imagine.


Unlike Wordpress, which is designed, with the help of their extensive theme and plugin capabilities, to be everything for everyone, Duda is built specifically for professionals. Our commitment to businesses serving SMBs, agencies, and SaaS companies alike, allows us to create a more focused product with a best-in-class suite of features tailored to our audience.


Another big difference between Duda and Wordpress; Duda is a closed-source platform. That means one vendor provides your hosting, security, editing capabilities, etc. Recent in-fighting between Wordpress and one of their hosting providers underscores the advantages of this approach.


Wordpress casts a wide net, but with complexity comes vulnerability. Many of the benefits that draw people to Wordpress are detriments in a different light. A classic example of a double-edged sword.


Comparing infrastructure


Duda is a closed-source, cloud-based platform with a centralized infrastructure. In short, we fully manage hosting, backend security, and server maintenance. This is fundamentally different from Wordpress, which is designed to be deployed by users on their own server.


Now, bear in mind that there are plenty of hosting companies on the market who would happily help you publish your website. However, this hosting fee is one of many costs you’ll accrue when building your Wordpress site. Additionally, the process of selecting a host itself is a chore. 


Not all hosts are created equal. Some limit the number of visitors your site can receive per month, while others place a cap on the amount of media you can upload. Duda doesn’t limit any of that, on any tier. Every Duda plan includes unlimited bandwidth and storage, unlimited form submissions, and a staggering 1000 pages (not including dynamic pages or blog posts). 


Pressable, one of Wordpress.org’s recommended hosting providers, charges $155/month for 400k monthly visits—astronomically more than Duda’s site price on any plan. Bluehost charges $110/month for 300k monthly visits.


For agencies serving large clients, this is huge. Take Strafford Media, for example. Their client, the Eddie Aikau Foundation, saw 500k simultaneous visitors during their main event, “The Super Bowl of Surfing.” Of course, Duda handled that traffic with ease.


“We had no downtime. No glitches at all,” said Linda Ipsen, president of the Eddie Aikau Foundation. “Everything worked perfectly!”


Comparing security


Building with a closed-source platform offers tangible security benefits, as well. We work tirelessly to maintain the integrity of our platform, an effort which extends to your client’s sites as well.


In contrast, Wordpress websites are in no-way connected to one another. They’re individual servers, managed by their owners. That means the person who built the Wordpress site is responsible for tedious technical maintenance like keeping the core Wordpress software up-to-date, as well as any extensions.


These extensions are where things get messy. Third-party Wordpress themes and plugins introduce weak points in the software. Each piece of software has a unique developer you have to trust with the integrity of your client’s site. Like we mentioned above, more complexity equals more vulnerability.


In 2022, 1,779 Wordpress vulnerabilities were disclosed, according to iThemes Security. Of those vulnerabilities, only about 1% were due to the Wordpress core itself, while 93% could be attributed to third-party plugins.


That’s the double-edged sword.


What about Duda’s app store? Fortunately, our approach to third-party extensions is fundamentally different from Wordpress. Apps do not directly install source code onto Duda's servers. Instead, they have access to structured, scoped, and secured APIs that limit the potential for malicious activity.


Comparing SEO


We like to say that Duda sites are “born SEO ready.” What we mean by that is, from the moment you create that first blank template, your site is ready to rank. We’ve meticulously optimized every facet of our platform to ensure great Core Web Vital scores. Frankly, “great” is underselling it.


Duda’s platform boasts the largest number of high-performing websites across all of the major website building platforms. Don’t take our word for it, see for yourself.



Core Web Vital scores showing Duda ahead of many other popular website building platforms


That’s in addition to automatically generated schema markup, an intuitive “SEO overview” dashboard, AI generated metadata, AI generated image alt-text, a built-in broken link checker, and so much more.


You’d need a variety of plugins to achieve the same effect on Wordpress. You may even have to pay for some of them! With Duda, that’s all available out-of-the-box.


Start on the right foot


As you can see, one of the main advantages Duda provides agencies is the ability to build faster and without worry. Sites begin with SEO best practices, unbreakable hosting, and strong security. That’s not to mention an intuitive, responsive editor—as opposed to having to install a theme builder—and super smart automation capabilities.


All of this comes from focus. A considered effort to create something useful for professionals, inspired by their workflows and informed by their stories. We’ve been working with agencies for over a decade and are proud to build a tool specifically for that audience.


Wordpress, on the other hand, is a little bit of everything. That can be useful, but also frustrating. Can you really scale your agency if you have to manage updates and maintenance for all of your clients? Does it take too long for your clients to rank in search?


Consider leaving all of that behind.


Headshot of Shawn Davis

Content Writer, Duda

Denver-based writer with a passion for creating engaging, informative content. Loves running, cycling, coffee, and the New York Times' minigames.


Did you find this article interesting?


Thanks for the feedback!
A computer screen with a graph on it and a purple background.
By Santi Clarke April 24, 2025
Learn how platform ecosystems drive revenue and why they are essential for the growth of SaaS businesses.
By Santi Clarke April 24, 2025
One of the greatest challenges for SaaS platforms is keeping users engaged long-term. The term “stickiness” refers to a product's ability to retain users and make them want to return. In the context of SaaS platforms, creating a sticky product means that users consistently find value, experience seamless interactions, and continue using the product over time. The following are 7 practical strategies you can take to improve the stickiness of your SaaS solution. 1. Offer websites that help customers build their digital presence One of the most effective ways to make your SaaS platform sticky is by offering websites to your users. Many businesses today need an online presence, and by providing a platform where your customers can easily build and manage their websites, you increase their reliance on your product. When you offer users a website-building solution, you’re helping them create something foundational to their business. Websites, in this case, aren’t just a tool—they become a part of their identity and brand. This deepens their engagement with your platform, as they need your product to maintain and update their site, ultimately making them less likely to churn. Plus, websites naturally encourage frequent updates, content creation, and customer interactions, which means your users will return to your platform regularly. When you can give your users the tools to create something so essential to their business, you make them more dependent on your platform. This creates a higher barrier to exit, as migrating a fully built website to another service is no small task. In fact, websites are some of the stickiest products you can sell, so adding them to your product portfolio can be one of the best decisions you can to keep your customers using your technology for the long haul. 2. Deliver continuous value through product innovation The key to keeping users coming back to your SaaS platform is ensuring that they consistently see value in it. This means not only meeting their immediate needs but also evolving to address their growing demands. Constant product innovation is essential for keeping your users satisfied and invested in your platform. One way to achieve this is through regular updates that add new features or improvements based on user feedback. A SaaS platform that evolves with its users will keep them engaged longer, making it harder for competitors to steal their attention. Encourage user feedback and prioritize updates that create tangible improvements. This creates an ongoing relationship with your users, which boosts stickiness. 3. Offer a multi-product solution Another powerful way to increase your platform’s stickiness is by offering a suite of products or features that integrate well together. When your users adopt multiple products, they are more likely to stay because they become embedded in your ecosystem. The benefits of this strategy are clear. Research shows that once users adopt more than one product, especially when they integrate >4 tools into their workflow, their likelihood of churn decreases significantly. This happens because the more a user integrates into your suite of products, the harder it is for them to switch to a competitor. These users have invested time in learning your ecosystem and rely on it for their day-to-day operations, making it much harder for them to make the switch. 4. Create a personal connection with your users Human connection is one of the most powerful drivers of user retention. People don’t want to feel like they’re using a cold, faceless platform. By offering exceptional customer support, personalized communication, and community engagement, you build a relationship with your users that goes beyond the product itself. Make sure your support team is responsive, knowledgeable, and empathetic. You can also consider offering tailored onboarding experiences to ensure users understand how to make the most of your platform. When users feel like their success matters to you, they are more likely to remain loyal. 5. Leverage data to personalize the user experience Using data to drive personalization is another strategy that can significantly increase the stickiness of your platform. By tracking user behavior and usage patterns, you can tailor the experience to each individual user’s needs. This could mean recommending features they haven’t yet explored or sending them reminders about tools they may not be fully utilizing. Personalization gives users the feeling that the platform was designed specifically for them, making it harder to walk away from. By demonstrating that you understand their unique needs, you can build a stronger connection and ultimately increase retention rates. 6. Focus on seamless integrations and API capabilities To further increase stickiness, consider expanding your product’s ability to integrate with other tools your users already rely on. Whether it’s email marketing software, CRM systems, or social media management tools, seamless integrations add tremendous value by making it easier for users to incorporate your platform into their existing workflows. The more your product can work in tandem with other popular tools, the more indispensable it becomes. In fact, users who depend on integrations are less likely to churn since their entire ecosystem is tied to your platform’s functionality. 7. Encourage user advocacy and community building User advocacy is another powerful tool in building a sticky product. When users feel a sense of community or even ownership over the platform, they become your most passionate promoters. Encourage your users to share their success stories, join community forums, or contribute to product development through beta testing or feedback loops. A thriving user community not only increases user engagement but also creates a sense of loyalty. When users are part of something larger than themselves, they are more likely to remain committed to your platform, reducing churn and increasing lifetime value. Create deep, lasting customer relationships Making your SaaS platform sticky is all about creating a deep, lasting connection with your users. This requires building a platform that continuously delivers value, creating a seamless and personalized experience, and integrating features that keep users coming back. By focusing on product innovation, offering a multi-product ecosystem, and fostering strong user relationships, you’ll be well on your way to reducing churn and boosting user retention. Stickiness isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s essential for long-term success. Focus on creating a platform that users can’t imagine living without, and you’ll see them stick around for the long haul.
By Shawn Davis April 24, 2025
Your team is likely pretty familiar with the products they built, but what about the ones they didn’t? Integrated tools can throw a wrench into your support operations, but they don’t have to.
Show More

Latest posts