Joomla vs MODX
Joomla
joomla.orgMODX
modx.comSide by side
| Figure | Joomla | MODX |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $36/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 8 |
| Spec score · Content Management Systems | 8.7 (#23) | 9.1 (#8) |
| Spec score · CMS Tools | 8.4 (#9) | 8.8 (#4) |
| Spec score · Web Content Management Software | 8.5 (#7) | 8.8 (#5) |
| Spec score · Website Development tools | 8.4 (#12) | 8.8 (#6) |
| Access control | Joomla! includes an Access Control List for managing site users, groups, and their permissions. | MODX provides attribute-based access controls for content protection and access scenarios. |
| Custom content types | Yes | Yes |
| Custom user roles | Yes | Yes |
| Editorial workflows | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Media library | Yes | Yes |
| Multilingual content | Yes | Yes |
| Platform type | hybrid | hybrid |
| SEO tools | Yes | Yes |
| Support | Joomla! provides an official community forum, online documentation, an issue tracker, and an in-app contextual help system. | MODX offers free community support and commercial support from the team that created and maintains MODX CMS. |
Plans
MODX
- Pro Site Core$90 a month
- Pro Site Plus$145 a month
- Pro Site Max$225 a month
- FreeFree
- Base$36 a month
- Pro$91 a month
- Business$320 a month
- Enterprise$4,000 a month
In their own words
Joomla
Joomla! is a free, open-source content management system for publishing website content. It supports multiple users with different permission levels to create, edit, archive, publish, and distribute material; an Access Control List manages users, groups, and permissions. Editorial workflows, custom content types, multilingual content, a media library, and SEO tools are included. Core publishing features include article management, scheduled publishing, versioning, metadata, keywords, and search-engine-friendly URLs. Joomla! is used for corporate and small business sites, intranets, publications, e-commerce, government and community websites, and personal homepages. Its MVC web application framework can also be used independently. The Extensions Directory offers thousands of extensions, most available free under the GPL, and the download site offers more than 70 accredited language packages. Joomla! lists built-in two-factor authentication. It provides community forums, online documentation, an issue tracker, and in-app contextual help. A fully functional free website is available through launch.joomla.org without requiring users to install the CMS themselves.
MODX
MODX is a content management system and application framework for building custom digital experiences. It can model blogs, landing pages, catalogs, forms, PDFs, CSV downloads, and custom input fields. Reusable Templates, Chunks, Snippets, and Plugins render pages or add functionality and logic. Editorial workflows, custom roles, multilingual content, SEO tools, media libraries, and attribute-based access controls support publishing and content management. Community-made Extras extend it with integrations for areas such as e-commerce, maps, menus, OAuth, social, and SEO. Connections to API-enabled services can use JavaScript snippets, Extras, or Zapier, whose MODX Extra connects to over 500 applications. MODX is available as self-hosted software, through an API, and on the web. The self-hosted Free plan costs nothing. Managed MODX Cloud plans begin at $36 a month billed annually; other listed plans include self-hosted and managed options, with different storage, support, and hosting features. MODX was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas.