Umbraco vs WordPress
Umbraco is an open-source traditional CMS that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. WordPress is an open-source traditional CMS that you host yourself. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 13.
- Umbraco Traditional · Open source · 18 of 28 built in
- WordPress Traditional · Open source · 13 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Umbraco on 29 Sept 2026, WordPress on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.
WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.
Feature comparison
Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available
| Platform |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| What it is | Open-source .NET CMS that renders sites with Razor or serves content headless. Self-hosted or run on Umbraco Cloud. | Open-source PHP CMS that renders sites through themes and extends through plugins. Teams self-host it or buy managed WordPress hosting. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release. Version 17.7.0, released 17 Sept 2026 | WordPress 7.1 core, self-hosted from WordPress.org Version 7.1.2, released 22 Sept 2026 |
| Vendor | Umbraco A/S umbraco.com | WordPress.org community project (Automattic is the largest contributor) wordpress.org |
| Licence | Open source MIT | Open source GPL-2.0-or-later |
| Hosting | Self-hosting Vendor cloud Forms and Deploy are paid add-ons when self-hosted. Umbraco Cloud includes both. | Self-hosting No vendor cloud Automattic's WordPress.com and many third-party hosts sell managed WordPress. |
| Built with | C#, ASP.NET Core on .NET 10, TypeScript backoffice | PHP, JavaScript, React block editor |
| Database | SQL Server, SQLite | MySQL, MariaDB |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Free to self-host. Umbraco Cloud Starter €45, Standard €280, Professional €730 per month. Enterprise on request. | Free to start Free to download and self-host. Hosting and premium plugins cost extra. |
| Content modelling | ||
| Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited. | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Deploy saves document types as .uda files in Git. Paid on-premises, included on Umbraco Cloud. 45 | Built in Post types, taxonomies and meta registered in PHP. |
| Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code. | Built in Document types are built in the backoffice. | Plugin or add-on ACF or Custom Post Type UI plugins. Core has no content type builder. 12 |
| Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them. | Built in Block List and Block Grid editors. 6 | Built in Block editor with patterns and synced patterns. |
| Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language. | Built in Culture variants per property. | Plugin or add-on WPML or Polylang plugins. Core translates the interface only. 13 |
| Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service. | Built in ImageSharp crops and resizes images from query string parameters. 9 | Built in WordPress generates registered image sizes on upload. |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Built in Content Delivery API. 7 | Built in 5 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Not available No official GraphQL. Community package Nikcio.UHeadless adds one. 20 | Plugin or add-on WPGraphQL, a canonical plugin on WordPress.org. 6 |
| Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published. | Built in 8 | Plugin or add-on WP Webhooks plugin. Core sends no outgoing webhooks. 16 |
| Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no. | Built in Razor templates. | Built in Block themes and classic PHP themes. |
| Editorial workflow | ||
| Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then. | Built in | Limited Edits to a published post go live on update. PublishPress Revisions adds pending drafts. 11 |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Built in 10 | Built in Scheduled publishing only. Scheduled unpublishing needs a plugin. |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Built in Rollback compares and restores earlier versions. 11 | Built in Revisions with a visual scrubber since 7.0. 2 |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in | Built in |
| Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it. | Not available | Built in Block Editor and Site Editor edit content inside the theme's styles. |
| Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage. | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Workflow add-on. Its free version is capped at five approval groups. Full use is paid. 1221 | Plugin or add-on PublishPress plugins. Core has only the Pending Review status. 711 |
| Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release. | Plugin or add-on Release Sets in a licensed Umbraco Workflow. 13 | Not available |
| Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live. | Not available | Not available Pulled from 7.0. Still experimental in the Gutenberg plugin. 3418 |
| Access and governance | ||
| Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set. | Built in User groups with granular permissions. | Plugin or add-on Plugins such as Members or User Role Editor. Core roles are fixed. 7 |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Limited Per-property read and write limits per user group, enforced in the UI only. 14 | Not available |
| Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider. | Built in OpenID Connect providers such as Entra ID, configured in code. 15 | Plugin or add-on SAML or OIDC plugins, e.g. miniOrange SAML Single Sign On. 15 |
| Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log. | Limited Audit trail per item plus a log viewer. No installation-wide audit screen in core. 16 | Plugin or add-on Simple History or WP Activity Log plugins. 14 |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Built in Several root nodes, each with its own domains. | Built in Multisite network in core, with shared users. 8 |
| Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface. | Built in Backoffice extensions. | Built in Custom blocks, admin pages and meta boxes. |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Built in Umbraco Marketplace. | Built in WordPress.org plugin directory. |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Forms, paid licence. Included on Umbraco Cloud. 217 | Plugin or add-on Form plugins such as WPForms or Contact Form 7. 17 |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Built in Members, separate from backoffice users. | Built in Open registration with the Subscriber role. 7 |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Plugin or add-on Free Umbraco.AI packages add prompts and an editor copilot. 18 | Plugin or add-on Official AI plugin plus a connected provider. Core ships the AI Client only. 29 |
| Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content. | Built in Umbraco CMS Developer MCP server. 19 | Plugin or add-on MCP Adapter plugin from the WordPress AI team. 10 |
Umbraco sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release..
- Umbraco releases
- Umbraco pricing
- Umbraco 18 release
- Umbraco Deploy licensing
- Umbraco Cloud: UDA files
- Umbraco docs: Block Grid
- Umbraco docs: Content Delivery API
- Umbraco docs: Webhooks
- Umbraco docs: Image Cropper
- Umbraco docs: Scheduled Publishing
- Umbraco docs: Rollback to a previous version
- Umbraco Workflow
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Release Sets
- Umbraco docs: Property Level UI Permissions
- Umbraco docs: External Login Providers
- Umbraco docs: Log Viewer
- Umbraco Forms licensing
- Umbraco.AI on GitHub
- Umbraco MCP on GitHub
- Nikcio.UHeadless on Umbraco Marketplace
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Licensing
WordPress sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. WordPress 7.1 core, self-hosted from WordPress.org.
- WordPress 7.1.2 Release
- WordPress 7.0 "Armstrong" release announcement
- Real-time collaboration will not ship in WordPress 7.0
- Moving to a server-aware approach for collaboration
- REST API Handbook
- WPGraphQL plugin on WordPress.org
- Roles and Capabilities documentation
- WordPress Multisite / Network
- AI plugin on WordPress.org
- WordPress/mcp-adapter on GitHub
- PublishPress Revisions plugin
- ACF: Post Types and Taxonomies
- WPML multilingual plugin
- Simple History plugin
- SAML Single Sign On plugin (miniOrange)
- WP Webhooks plugin
- WPForms plugin
- Roadmap to 7.1
Considering more platforms? Compare Umbraco and WordPress with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Umbraco and WordPress get a different status on 13 of the 28 features and the same status on 15. Umbraco has 18 built in on its baseline edition, WordPress has 13. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
- Vendor cloud
- Umbraco has a vendor-run cloud. WordPress has no vendor-run cloud.
Built in on Umbraco, a different answer on WordPress 7
- Content model in the UI Umbraco: Built in. WordPress: Plugin or add-on.
- Localization Umbraco: Built in. WordPress: Plugin or add-on.
- Webhooks Umbraco: Built in. WordPress: Plugin or add-on.
- Drafts Umbraco: Built in. WordPress: Limited.
- Custom roles Umbraco: Built in. WordPress: Plugin or add-on.
- Single sign-on Umbraco: Built in. WordPress: Plugin or add-on.
- Official MCP server Umbraco: Built in. WordPress: Plugin or add-on.
Built in on WordPress, a different answer on Umbraco 2
- Content model in code Umbraco: Plugin or add-on. WordPress: Built in.
- Visual editing Umbraco: Not available. WordPress: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 4
- GraphQL API Umbraco: Not available. WordPress: Plugin or add-on.
- Content releases Umbraco: Plugin or add-on. WordPress: Not available.
- Field-level permissions Umbraco: Limited. WordPress: Not available.
- Audit log Umbraco: Limited. WordPress: Plugin or add-on.
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