JAMstack vs WordPress: Everything You Need to Know.

There are two reasons to drool over the Louis Vuitton website. The first reason is their brand.

The second is their site architecture, powered by JAMstack.

If you’re ready to shed the chains of your slow website, read on! We’ll show you everything you need to know about JAMstack vs WordPress.

1. Key Differences Between JAMstack and WordPress

Think of your website as a box full of compartments for content, code, settings, and features.

With a monolithic CMS like WordPress, whenever someone lands on your website, the server pulls out the whole box and thrusts it at the visitor. The site loads slowly, things break, and users leave.

With headless architecture like JAMstack, functionality is served from the right compartment. Your website pulls the right resources, wraps them in your front-end design, and only serves what the visitor needs to see.

JAMstack (abbreviation of Javascript, APIs, and markup - the building blocks of the stack) decouples the front end from the server. Then, it uses APIs to connect databases and features to the front end, treating content (and pages) as static files served via a CDN (Content Delivery Network).

Ultimately, your websites convert more. However, WordPress still has some advantages over new tech:

2. WordPress Is Easy to Use, but It Doesn’t Scale

Use WordPress if: you’re a small business owner not planning to scale with integrations, more content, or an eCommerce storefront.

Use JAMstack if: you’re ready to scale or generate more revenue through your website.

WordPress is still the gateway website builder. Anyone can get started easily with a pre-made template.

The problem is, how do you scale?

Say you want to track multi-channel marketing attribution or integrate eCommerce functionality.

With JAMstack, you just need a developer to add additional features. From there, your marketing team can take over. The interface can be as user-friendly as you make it out to be. However, you do need a developer to set up your initial infrastructure.

WordPress is so easy to use for beginners that many become reluctant to migrate, sacrificing functionality and shouldering higher costs as they scale.

WordPress Can’t Scale (but JAMstack Can)

With WordPress, if you want to extend your website, you need to completely overhaul it, incurring steep costs.

JAMstack, on the other hand, provides the essential infrastructure. You can quickly add new features without steep costs.

If you have a big marketing stack with different third-party API integrations (think: your CRM, SEO, security), JAMstack integrates your entire toolkit without sacrificing the performance.

3. JAMstack Offers Unparalleled Speed

Use WordPress if: you don’t need many 3rd party APIs, plugins, or don’t plan to host more than 50 pages of content.

Use JAMstack if: you want to maintain website speed as you get more organic traffic, sell products, and/or publish more content.

You can optimize a WordPress website with a few plugins, but they’ll slow it down. And if your site doesn’t load in 3 minutes, 53% of potential customers will leave, causing a domino effect.

When people start bouncing off your website, Google takes notice and reduces your search engine rankings because of the poor user experience.

On the other hand, JAMstack websites (and their headless CMS) only serve the elements visitors want to see. They load faster, even if you have an online store, countless 3rd party integrations, or millions of content pages.

4. Is JAMstack More Secure than WordPress?

Use WordPress if: you can set alarms for the regular server updates to mitigate risks.

Use JAMstack if: you want your website to be secure in the long term.

WordPress plugins add more functionality, but they account for 90% of all WordPress security vulnerabilities.

In a way, the code is constantly exposed. Hackers can easily target the many bridges between your core website code and third-party plugins.

JAMstack decouples your servers from the front-end, so there are fewer vulnerabilities.

5. JAMstack vs WordPress: Costs

Use WordPress if: you run a small website that doesn’t directly generate revenue.

Use JAMstack if: you plan to expand your website.

With WordPress, the hidden costs add up. Yes, you can get started with a template and hosting. The problem is that you’ll need to pay separately for many of the plugins that help with your SEO, eCommerce, content, and other functionality.

As your website grows, so will its maintenance needs.

JAMstack is a long-term investment, but it allows you to grow without the growing pains (or costs).

The initial setup requires a bigger budget than the WordPress setup. Still, JAMstack is more affordable to maintain since it uses static files, which are cheaper to host.

6. What Can I Do with a JAMstack Website?

In the school of web development, WordPress is the stuffy old English teacher who thinks digital marketing is a scam and likely should have retired ten years ago. JAMstack is the cool, young geography teacher who brings international dishes to their lectures and encourages you to follow your dreams.

WordPress constantly limits you in what you can do:

• Modern website design? Not going to happen. Here, use Divi or Elementor instead!
• Speed? With all that content? Stick to 10s loading times and lose the conversions.
• New feature? If there’s not a plugin for that, it’s going to be a rough and expensive ride.

The list goes on. In fact, most of the marketers we speak to find themselves pigeonholed into WordPress boxes. They constantly eliminate ideas they can’t execute because of WordPress.

In contrast, JAMstack can use as many APIs as you need. Your developers can always add more features, change the website design, and optimize your website.

You won’t be up and running in months - you’ll be up and running in days.

WordPress vs JAMstack: Which One Should You Choose?

If your website is just a vanity page that doesn’t require extra features, you’ll do fine with WordPress. But if you need a marketing machine that generates, measures, and reinforces revenue, choose JAMstack.

Welcome to the future. It’s bright and decoupled.

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Are you ready to launch a website that lasts? Mawla builds next-generation JAMstack websites with optimised performance, workflow automation, and beautiful delivery to increase your revenue. Get in touch with us.