Compare
Gansey and WordPress
WordPress runs a large share of the web. Here is where Gansey has the edge for client sites.
Running it
WordPress
A PHP application on a web server, with MySQL or MariaDB. Most sites add plugins for caching, security and backups, and choose a host tuned for WordPress.
Gansey
One compiled program per site, with Postgres underneath. It serves the site, the admin and the API itself, backs up its database and media every night, and updates itself from signed releases.
Editing pages
WordPress
The block editor builds pages from blocks in an editing view, and many sites add a page builder plugin for richer layouts.
Gansey
The page builder is part of core and works on the live, rendered page: sections, columns and widgets, checked at phone and tablet sizes. Every save is kept as a revision you can go back to.
Extending it
WordPress
Tens of thousands of plugins and themes. A plugin runs with full access to the site and its database, so quality and security vary from one to the next.
Gansey
Official modules for a blog, forms, member accounts, cookie consent and performance. Each one says up front what it may touch, core holds it to that, and any module can be switched off without losing its data.
Speed
WordPress
Pages are built by PHP on each request, so most sites rely on a caching plugin or their host's cache, and a careful choice of plugins, to stay quick.
Gansey
Pages are rendered by compiled code and kept in memory until something is published, so most visits are answered straight from the cache, with nothing to add. Images get their sizes on upload, with WebP and AVIF copies when you want them.
Signing in
WordPress
WordPress itself signs people in with a password. Two-factor sign-in, passkeys and custom roles come from plugins.
Gansey
Passwords with two-factor, emailed sign-in links, passkeys and any OpenID Connect provider, all in core. Roles are fully custom, with presets for the usual teams.
Updates
WordPress
Core, each plugin and each theme update separately, from different authors. Automatic updates can be turned on for core, plugins and themes.
Gansey
One signed core release, checked against its signature before it installs, with a backup taken first and a one-command rollback. Modules come signed from the registry.
Built in
WordPress
A lean core, with plugins for page building, caching, backups and security, each from its own author and many of them paid.
Gansey
The page builder, the theme builder, a page cache, nightly backups, scheduled publishing and shareable previews all come in core, from one maker, so there is far less to add and keep up to date.
Gansey summary
- One small program to run, with page caching and backups built in
- Clients edit the page as it looks, and every save is kept as a revision
- Modules say up front what they may touch, and core holds them to it
- Two-factor, passkeys and custom roles without a plugin
- One signed core update, with a backup taken before it installs
Written in November 2026. Every project here changes over time; if something is out of date, tell us and we will put it right.
See it for yourself
Read what Gansey does, look through the docs, or check what a licence covers.