I installed B2evolution on a subdomain using C-panel one click install. Flawless.
(The point of these tests and reviews is I’m looking for potential replacements for Wordpress as my standard. go to, blog/CMS of choice.)
Confession: when I first logged into the admin panel after installation, I almost panicked. There are so many controls, layers of controls, that it almost seems overwhelming. This is a true CMS so there are menus and settings for 1. the entire installation, 2. each blog or forum or photo collection. You can have more than one blog and more than one user so each blog can have it’s own templates, plugins, settings etc. Each blog can have it’s own access rules of who can post, read, comment etc. It can be a bit daunting.
Moreover, the control menus in the admin are not laid out like those in Wordpress - no sidebar menus here, the menus are in the header of the admin with options in rows. It actually works real well, its just after so many years of working with Wordpress and a different menu logic it takes some getting used to.
The big thing is: Don’t Panic!
Take some time to poke around and explore. I did this, then set it aside, and then I came back the next day and poked some more and it all started to make sense. This is a very mature well built CMS script. The roots of B2evo are blogging, which is good, blogging is not an afterthought as it is on some scripts. This is a serious bit of blogging kit and a serious CMS. Make no mistake, there are a lot of controls but just take your time and address each one in a logical order and you will be fine.
The standard install comes with 1. a custom index page, 2. a public blog, 3. a blog only logged in members can see, 4. a photo gallery, 5. a forum. These are working demos that showcase what B2evo can do. These are all populated with posts and comments that tell you about features of the script. It also lets you practice doing things like approving comments in the moderation que.
The Admin panel is no worse than Wordpress, it’s just different. But it does have layers: 1 site wide global settings, 2 setting specific to each blog, so there is some added complexity. That said, I would argue that the admin panel on B2evo is much better laid out than Wordpress.
The eco-system of plugins and themes is smaller, because the supporting community is smaller. Despite this they have done a good job of providing choices. Also, much of what Wordpress provides through plugins, B2evo has built into the core, so you don’t need as many plugins.
You are not going to install this and be blogging in 15 minutes. It will take you just as long as it takes to set up and customize a Wordpress installation, plus some extra time to learn a new UI.
This is perfect for individuals who: want to have separate long form blog, micro blog, photo blog, link blog etc all on the same installation.
This is perfect for several individual bloggers or a community of bloggers.
This is an impressive blog/CMS platform. I think it is a worthy replacement for Wordpress if you are worried about all the current and forthcoming Gutenberg changes. I’d say install it and see if it will work for you.
Continued: A Closer look at B2evolution Features
This was also posted to /en/blogging.