WordPress vs Drupal – Which One Rules and Why?

A content management system or CMS is a crucial platform for any website. It allows you to make changes and additions to the website content, as well as delete or modify sections that need improvement. Each website adopts a suitable CMS for their needs, depending on its features and functionalities.

Of all the content management systems, WordPress and Drupal are the two most well-known names. Both of these platforms have their loyal takers and a niche market, as their strengths are somewhat different.

It is essential to figure out which CMS is right for your business before you decide to invest in one. If your basic requirement is an open-source and user-friendly platform, both of these options fit the bill. Hence, you might get confused about which to pick.

Both these platforms have some common features, but they appeal to a different demographic. Depending on who you ask, you will get varied opinions regarding their experience. That is why we have made a detailed analysis of WordPress versus Drupal.

Market Share and Usage

Needless to say, WordPress is the most popular content management system in terms of brand recognition and market share. Launched in 2003, this platform powers 38.8% of all websites globally, with a 59.8% market share.

In contrast, Drupal runs 2.3% of all websites. It was established in 2000 and presently occupies a 4.6% share in the market. Yet, Drupal has a lot of advantages that are being discovered by businesses over the years.

Popular clients of WordPress include the White House, Sony Mobile, Mercedes Benz, etc. On the other hand, websites of Nasa, Dallas Cowboys, The Economist, and many more are run by Drupal.

Advantages of WordPress and Drupal

The features of WordPress and Drupal can be broadly compared in terms of the following benefit areas.

FeatureWordPressDrupal
PopularityMore well-knownLess well-known
Ease of useBeginner-friendlySlightly advanced
ExtensibilitySupports more pluginsSupports lesser plugins but has more advanced features
CommunityGlobally spreadMore of a niche
Cost-effectivenessMore affordableSlightly pricier

For more in-depth information, check out the advantages of WordPress and Drupal separately.

WordPress excels in the following areas:

  • It is one of the most user-friendly content management systems and works best for non-technical users.
  • It has a wide range of themes and plugins for better customization.
  • You will get prompt customer support, no matter which part of the world you are in.
  • It is very affordable for developers.
  • You can employ the services of any WordPress development company to suit your requirements.

Likewise, Drupal has advantages in the following areas:

  • It has a more extensive offering of custom content types and views.
  • You can control access to sensitive data and set individual permissions via its built-in access control system.
  • There is a built-in multilingual function in Drupal 8.
  • It is easier to classify and manage bulks of data.

After learning the advantages, let’s compare the performance of WordPress and Drupal in a few significant fields that influence the functions of a content management system.

WordPress versus Drupal: Performance

Our chief goal in content management is to handle data easily, get a stable platform to sustain and modify the content, and enable the platform to support all functionalities required by the website. Hence, we will give you an idea of how WordPress and Drupal compare in essential fields.

1. Ease of Use

WordPress ranks higher when it comes to being user-friendly. It is great for beginners who are looking to create a fully functioning website. You can select a theme and create a standard website in less than a day. It is also suitable for casual users, with customized themes and options.

Drupal, on the other hand, doesn’t invest in themes as much. You will need to customize it intensively to create a ready product. More often than not, it would require the services of a developer. This makes Drupal tough for beginners and quite technical at first glance. Overall, it has a steeper learning curve than WordPress.

2. Themes and Plugins

You can opt for themes and plugins to make these platforms aesthetically and functionally better. In theme options, WordPress boasts of over 5,000 free varieties and thousands of premium ones. Drupal has over 2,500 themes, out of which only about 250 are compatible with Drupal 8.x.

WordPress has more than 53,000 free plugins, not to mention thousands of more premium ones. Drupal has over 39,000 plugins, which they call modules. However, only about 4,000 modules are compatible with Drupal 8.x. That being said, you should judge the platform not based on the number of options but on whether the features cater to your requirements.

3. SEO

Search Engine Optimization is crucial for any business website and a fundamental feature of a CMS. Both WordPress and Drupal have great provision for SEO. For instance, Yoast SEO is available for both platforms, but WordPress offers more choices for SEO plugins.

However, please note that Drupal comes with certain in-built SEO-friendly features that aren’t available for WordPress without external plugins. Drupal also supports native caching, which helps in faster page loading times and boosts search ranks.

4. Security

Drupal has the reputation of being a secure and robust platform that is trusted by major companies. You can be assured of your data’s security when you are using this platform.

Since WordPress supports a large number of plugins and themes, there is a slight possibility of security issues. Drupal, with its limited external add-ons, ensures a closed environment. You can also set individual permissions for data on this platform. However, both systems have a prompt support team to address any security issues.

5. Content Management

This feature depends on the user’s perspective. WordPress undoubtedly offers a lot in content management and performance. It has more publications and outlets for related content compared to Drupal. It also takes less time to complete basic tasks like CMS update.

However, both the platforms are supported universally and majorly coded in PHP. They both run smoothly in low-power servers and shared platforms, but their performance depends on the plugins you install.

6. Customization

In a broader sense, WordPress offers more customizations to extend functionality. You will get a ready website with minimal time and effort. Drupal takes longer to be mastered. Yet, if a developer customizes Drupal adequately, the end-result can be much more unique than that of WordPress. Basically, WordPress will be the platform of choice for non-developers, whereas developers may find their creative urges satisfied only through the work they put in for Drupal.

7. Design and Development

Both systems let you design templates and choose themes for faster development. WordPress declares the image sizes per break points in the functions.php file, whereas Drupal lets you set image sizes inside the admin.

WordPress has a native mobile app for content editing. Drupal doesn’t have an app yet, but Drupal 8 gives you a smooth and responsive mobile environment.

Conclusion

Both WordPress and Drupal are excellent content management systems, with their own set of unique features and development platforms. Depending on your business needs, choose the right fit i.e. a good WordPress development company or a company that has experience in Drupal Development, and get going!