When we talk about Content Management System (CMS) platforms, WordPress and Drupal are two of the most widely used.
But the question is “Which CMS is best for your website development?“.
Well, choosing an appropriate CMS platform that’s right for your business depends on your short and long-term goals.
In this blog post, I will be sharing the major differences between WordPress & Drupal along with the reasons for both CMS platforms.
Below are the primary differentiators between WordPress and Drupal that you may consider before choosing any one of them:
#1 Price
WordPress: Choosing WordPress for your website development could be a cost-effective decision for you. WordPress is an open source that’s available free of cost to download and use for the development of any website.
At the same time, there is a wealth of WordPress developers that are available to help you in the deployment & customization of your WordPress website.
In simpler words, you can hire WordPress developers at pocket-friendly costs and without making a hole in your pocket.
Drupal: While it’s true for Drupal too, that it’s available free of cost to download & use for developing a website, it also holds true that hiring a Drupal developer is not as easy as engaging a WordPress developer.
Drupal, being a complex framework, requires skilled & experienced web developers to make customizations in its theme and modules. In the case of WordPress, any web developer who’s got an experience of more than 1 year can easily build & maintain your website.
Conclusion:
If you have a low budget for your website development, you must choose WordPress.
#2 Flexibility/Customizations
Technically speaking, both WordPress & Drupal offers a great level of customization.
Statistics reveal that WordPress has more themes and plugins as compared to Drupal which means extending the functionalities of a WordPress website is much easier than that of Drupal.
In the case of Drupal, on the other hand, much of the functionality needed to customize the platform is already built into the main themes, eliminating the need to rely heavily on third-party plugins.
While there are not plenty of modules (known as plugins in the case of WordPress) available for Drupal, all of their available modules can be customized and tailor-made according to any specific requirement.
Having said this, extending a WordPress website functionality requires 3rd party plugins that can easily be integrated with the existing website and make them work. However, in the case of Drupal, you need to hire experienced web developers who’ve got rich experience in custom web development.
#2 Security
Fundamentally, both WordPress and Drupal are made to be equally secure as CMS solutions. But since WordPress requires 3rd party plugins in order to extend the functionality of a website, it tends to be less secure and therefore, Drupal wins the battle here.
Each time a 3rd party plugin (especially less secured plugins) is integrated with the WordPress website, it makes the website vulnerable to malicious codes and virus injections.
Let me be clear here that, it’s not the core of WordPress that is at the core of the problem. Therefore, be it any platform or CMS, if proper security measures aren’t taken, any site on any platform can be vulnerable.
Generally, it’s because of the web developers’ habits and mistakes that make WordPress is less secure as compared to Drupal. Therefore, you must always ensure that you hire an experienced WordPress developer to build your website.
#4 Learning Curve
The learning curve for WordPress vs. Drupal is significantly different.
WordPress is generally something any beginner can pick up quickly, while Drupal is a bit more complicated and requires a higher level of custom coding skills.
The process of setting up a basic WordPress website is extremely intuitive & user-friendly that even a non-programmer can also build a website without having any programming skills.
On the other hand, Drupal requires advanced technical skills to get a website up and running, thus making it extremely difficult for novice developers to do the same job.
Which Platform You Must Choose?
Do you need affordable website development? → Go for WordPress
Do you want to build a website quickly? → Go for WordPress
Are you not a programmer but want to build & maintain your website yourself? → Go for WordPress
Are you looking for a Robust and Complex Solution? → Go for Drupal