Wordpress vs. Drupal: a comparison
Wordpress vs. Drupal: We make a comparison between the two popular content management systems. We'll tell you which CMS can do what and which website is more suitable.
Wordpress vs. Drupal: cost, distribution and use
- Both content management systems are open source projects and therefore free of charge. There are no license fees for private or commercial projects.
- With 140 million downloads, WordPress is currently the most widely used CMS worldwide. WordPress was originally a blog system, but has now blossomed into a CMS. However, WordPress is still mainly used for small blogs and pages because of the easy access.
- Drupal is used far less - around 15 million downloads - because basic knowledge of PHP, HTML and other common web programming languages is a prerequisite for installing and creating a website. Drupal is more complex and powerful than WordPress and is therefore often used for larger and more complex projects. But simple pages can also be implemented well with Drupal.
Wordpress vs. Drupal: entry and usability
- WordPress is simple and requires no in-depth knowledge. Security-relevant core updates are also carried out automatically. WordPress delivers a carefree package, which in principle does not require a lot of manual work. However, individual adjustments are also more difficult. For example, the breakpoint for images in a responsive display is set in a PHP file. In Drupal, on the other hand, the image size can be defined in a modular fashion.
- Simple pages can be done quite well by beginners when it comes to CMS with Drupal. The installation doesn't take much longer than that of WordPress. However, only the most important basic modules are installed, extensions must also be installed. At first glance, this seems to be a disadvantage, but at second glance it is precisely this minimalism that makes the system so flexible: it can be tailored and adapted exactly to the needs.
- For the end user, both CMS can be used about the same comfort. In both systems you can assign specific roles and assign them authorizations.
Wordpress vs. Drupal: extensions, tools and security
- WordPress offers over 4, 000 free themes and more than 45, 000 plugins to customize a website and adapt it to requirements. However, WordPress sites are attacked and hacked more and more frequently.
- Use Drupal, you have access to over 2, 000 free design templates and more than 35, 000 modules. Compared to Wordpress, Drupal is much safer. With the right configuration, Drupal sites are difficult to hack.
- A lot has changed with the latest version of Drupal 8: some frequently used modules such as views or multilingualism have been incorporated into the core. The entire API has been restructured and is now object-oriented. The new version uses modern PHP standards and uses Composer, Symfony2 and Twig, among others. This makes Drupal 8 fully compatible with the PHP7 version.
Wordpress vs. Drupal: conclusion
- Both systems have their target group, their advantages and their disadvantages. WordPress is definitely the better choice for beginners, because results can be achieved quickly and without frustration. WordPress is the CMS of choice, especially for smaller pages and blogs.
- Anyone who wants to have a more flexible structure, structure and function of their website is well served with the all-rounder Drupal. However, you should invest time and energy in the training to be able to use at least some of the diverse options of this CMS. Both systems have a large community that is happy to help with all kinds of problems.
In another article we show the differences between the two CMS Wordpress and Joomla.