Beehiiv
CMS
Joomla
CMSBeehiiv vs Joomla
Beehiiv and Joomla are both popular choices, but they serve different needs. Beehiiv is a CMS with a traditional, manual approach to building, while Joomla is a CMS that prioritises developer or designer control.
Below you'll find a side-by-side breakdown of detection signals, AI scores, and technical fingerprints — plus our honest take on which builder wins for different use cases.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | CMS | CMS |
| AI Score | 20/100 — Traditional | 20/100 — Traditional |
| Detection Signals | 4 patterns | 7 patterns |
| Script Detection | 1 patterns | 2 patterns |
| CDN Detection | 1 domains | — |
| Header Detection | — | 1 headers |
| Sites Detected | No data yet | 140 scans |
| Best For | Blogs & content-heavy sitesTry Beehiiv → | Blogs & content-heavy sitesTry Joomla → |
| Official Website | Visit | Visit |
Example Websites
Beehiiv websites
Beehiiv
CMS
Beehiiv is a cms with an AI Score of 20/100 (Traditional). Our detection engine uses 4 signal patterns to identify Beehiiv-built sites.
Joomla
CMS
Joomla is a cms with an AI Score of 20/100 (Traditional). Our detection engine uses 7 signal patterns to identify Joomla-built sites.
Platform Overviews
Beehiiv
Beehiiv is a newsletter and media platform built specifically for growth — offering A/B testing, segmentation, referral programs, and a subscriber recommendation network that major newsletter platforms lack. Founded by former Morning Brew engineers, Beehiiv has become the platform of choice for serious newsletter operators including Scott's Cheap Flights, The Hustle contributors, and many top-tier creator economy publications. Unlike Substack, Beehiiv charges a flat fee rather than taking a percentage of subscription revenue, making it more economical as newsletters scale. Beehiiv publications serve all media through media.beehiiv.com and include beehiiv-specific JavaScript and class names in their markup. The web-hosted publication pages load the Beehiiv runtime and expose beehiiv-specific data attributes. Plans start at a free tier, with Growth plans from $42/month.
Joomla
Joomla is a veteran open-source CMS that holds the second-largest market share among self-hosted CMS platforms after WordPress — powering millions of sites for small businesses, government agencies, and non-profits worldwide. Its flexible user access management (ACL) and multilingual support built into the core (no plugin required) make it popular for organizations with complex permission structures and international audiences. Joomla's extension directory has 8,000+ extensions for adding functionality. Joomla sites are identifiable through /media/jui/ paths for jQuery UI assets, com_content references in URL query strings (index.php?option=com_content), the Joomla generator meta tag containing the version number, and /administrator/ path for the backend. The Joomla JavaScript namespace and component-specific CSS classes (mod-articles-category, com_content) appear throughout the markup. Joomla is free and open-source.
Key Differences
- Both Beehiiv and Joomla are classified as CMS tools, making them the most direct competitors in this comparison.
- Beehiiv scores higher on AI involvement (20/100 vs 20/100 for Joomla), meaning it relies more heavily on AI for site generation and content creation.
- Our detection engine identifies Beehiiv using 4 fingerprint patterns and Joomla using 7 patterns — more signals generally means more reliable detection.
Which Should You Choose?
Choose Beehiiv if…
- You prefer a cms solution
- You want more manual control over the final output
- Beehiiv's detection fingerprint of 4 signals means your site is reliably identifiable
Choose Joomla if…
- You need a cms approach
- You prefer traditional building tools with predictable output
- Joomla's ecosystem and community better match your team's existing workflow
Our Pick — Based on 140+ detections
Joomla
The most frequently detected cms in our scan database.
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