Drupal and WordPress were introduced to the marketplace at around the same time. They have both grown into major brands in the CMS industry, however WordPress has become more popular overall. Roughly ten times as many people use WordPress than Drupal, but this does not necessarily mean it is superior. Similar to all debates about technology, both platforms have their supporters. Here’s how the two brands match up to each other:

Options for Customization

Plugins and themes are the quickest way of customizing your site. WordPress wins hands down in this respect because it has a range of premium and free themes, and almost 37,000 plugins. The premium themes allow you to alter virtually every part of your site, ensuring that this is an effective customization tool.

With Drupal, modules are used rather than plugins, and the best ones cost money. Also, not a huge number of themes are available, so you will have to hire a designer if you want to improve your website’s aesthetic appeal.

User-Friendly Characteristics

If you do not know much about developing websites and want to master your CMS immediately, there is little point in opting for Drupal. Compared to WordPress, the back office on Drupal sites is far more complex than the intuitive interface WordPress offers. WordPress has a WYSIWYG editor that allows you to begin blogging straight away.

Security Features

The numerous WordPress plugins are often vulnerable to hackers, especially if the webmaster fails to keep them updated. Nonetheless, it is possible to use third-party plugins to boost your security. The security offered by Drupal is enterprise standard and offers detailed reports. This is why many governments use it.

Several Authors

If you are using your site to post content and you want to allow several authors to sign in, set up a profile and publish articles, WordPress works best for this.

Price

WordPress developers are easier to contact than Drupal developers, so expect to pay more to hire a Drupal developer. Bear in mind that you will probably have to pay for this, unless you are technically savvy yourself and can construct your own site.

The Issue of Capacity

Drupal is suitable for static, single page websites and websites with huge visitor numbers and thousands of pages alike. Originally, WordPress was intended to be a platform for bloggers, so it does not have the same capacity to cope with huge amounts of content. Consequently, it can appear slow in comparison sometimes.

Search Engine Optimization Benefits

Usually, the pages on Drupal websites load quicker, because of the default caching functions. This is something that scores highly with search engines. Also, because Drupal can handle large quantities of useful content, this makes it easier for websites to improve their rankings.

Final Thoughts

Drupal offers many features which are excellent if you understand how they work, but which are bewildering if you don’t. Generally speaking, developers prefer Drupal due to its’ flexibility and greater capacity. This allows them to let their creative juices flow and devise personalised solutions. In contrast, small businesses and bloggers who lack the time or technical expertise, and who want a user friendly platform, will gravitate towards WordPress.