As a WP alternative


How Cradle CMS & eCommerce software compares against one of the most widely used content mangement systems, WP, for running a blog or a website. One of the largest differences is that Cradle has eCommerce functionality as a part of the system, whereas WP needs to be extended.

All-in-one solution, Cradle simplifies setup

The default installation requires almost no configuration and is, at the same time, the most efficient option for single-server setups. With the built-in file storage and web server, SQLite (most Linux distributions come with SQLite pre-installed), auto-certificates, and all the features, the system works out of the box for common use cases.

Simple, efficient, and secure server deployment - A single server setup is done is three simple steps.

1. Start a server
Begin by initiating your server instance, on-prem or in the cloud.

2. Configure domain
Set up your DNS configuration at your domain name provider.

3. Start Cradle
Launch Cradle and you're ready to go.

More about the flexibility in Database options, Storage options or in our configuration documentation.

Software crossed out
No need for Apache or Nginx, MySQL, php, Redis cache, or other plugins for performance and security.
Green checkmark
Cradle comes with web server, SQlite, automatically propagated SSL-certs and built in cache.

 

Great performance out of the box

No need for external cache or off-loading to CDN. 

Cradle CMS & eCommerce software is written in Go, known for its fast execution speed which makes it ideal for building web platforms, where every millisecond counts. This speed is partly due to Go's unique concurrency features, allowing efficient use of system resources.

Our benchmark tests shows that our application handles 10 times more requests than php stacks. Server requirements for sites with 1 million monthly visitors are as low as 1 CPU, 512MB RAM, 1 GB Storage. Which translates to low monthly costs if using a cloud hosting service.

Website speed insights performance of 100

Get away from plugin dependency

While WP is an open source project and free, neccecary plugins, themes, and hosting can add up quickly. The following functionality comes with the installation for Cradle CMS but needs additional services or plugins for WP.

Feature

WP

Yearly costs for commonly used plugins

Cradle CMS & eCommerce

Built-in features

Page builder

$84-$240

SEO

$120

SEO features

Performance

$60-$140

Built-in performance

Forms

$29 (perpetual), $50-$60

Forms builder

Cookie policy

$60-$300

Translations

$39-$130

Multi-language built-in

Security

$120-$180

Security features

Hosting

$200-$400 (wix/woocommerce)

$60

Total (low)

$573 + $29 forms (perpetual)

$60

Total (high)

$1450

$60

Total (avg)

$725

$60

Scalability

Cradle software can be deployed in multiple ways thanks to it's architecture. The default installation is configured to deploy the system as a single-server but the configuration options for site, frontend and admin allows for much more complexity, such as a distributed multi-region setup.

More on scalable setup

Comparison with other CMS platforms

See how Cradle CMS compares to traditional platforms like WP and Drupal.

Feature

Cradle CMS

WP

Drupal

Performance

Excellent
With the code stack and architecture, performance is built in.

Fair

Good

Security

Very high
Security is a priority 

Medium

High

Scalability

Excellent
A service oriented architecture enables scaling up and out.

Limited

Good

API support

Built-in
Complete APIs with documentation added in admin

Plugin required

Module required

Resource usage

Minimal
The system is built for performance, it can even run on a single-board computer

High

Medium