Drupal vs. Wordpress: What CMS Is Right for You?
Drupal and Wordpress have established themselves as leaders within online content management systems. Want a well-designed, functional website without getting bogged down with too much code and technicalities? Either of these CMS’ are ideal.
However, while they released at similar times (Wordpress in 2003 and Drupal in 2001), both of these perform very different functions. Choosing between them will depend on the nature of your project. With years working with both, we give you the lowdown on what CMS is the best pick for you.
Security
Drupal
4.5/5
Rarely hacked or compromised, Drupal has a well-deserved reputation for being a highly secure CMS. Vulnerabilities are posted on the Drupal.org website and patched as quickly as possible. There’s a reason why high-profile sites – The Economist, Warner Brothers, even the White House! - use Drupal. You rarely hear of Drupal sites being hacked – and that’s because, well, they rarely are.
Wordpress
3/5
Unfortunately for Wordpress with its plethora of plugins, the platform is relatively vulnerable to hackers and third parties. It’s also the most popular CMS, so it’s a much higher target. However, if you’re willing to install security plugins to (ironically) fill in the security gaps left by other plugins, Wordpress is fairly secure.
Ease of Use
Drupal
3/5
Drupal is a lot more focussed on the tech-savvy, and it shows. It has a fairly complicated back-end. Despite beginner-friendly packaged ‘bundles’ – editing anything beyond content comes with a steep learning curve. Its interface is, however, rather responsive and easy to use. 'Out-of-the-box' themes can also be quite sparse so we put together a list of the top 10 Drupal themes for a kickass website to help you out. Check out the official Drupal walkthrough for a detail guide on setting up.
Wordpress
4.5/5
Taking 5 minutes to install, and integrated with multiple website hosting services, one of Wordpress’s main strengths is its ease-of-use. Don’t want to get bogged down in CSS, HTML, and PHP? A simple, streamlined user interface is all you need to focus on. However, if you wish to get more in-depth with customising your site, you can do so, too. Here’s an in-depth guide on installing Wordpress.
Affordability
Drupal
4/5
Hiring a developer can often cost a little more than a Wordpress developer, simply due to supply and demand. Drupal is a serious CMS for serious businesses, so the extra cost will be insignificant for most. Despite having a slightly more limited range of themes and plugins, Drupal is less likely to charge for both in comparison to Wordpress. When you take into consideration the flexibility and capabilities of the platform, it’s quite affordable for what you get.
Wordpress
4.5/5
Wordpress is built on being budget-friendly. With millions of free plugins and dozens of free themes, it’s a great CMS for the budget-conscious. You can – if you like – hire a developer if you want even more customisability. Due to the popularity of the CMS, these can be fairly affordable, too.
SEO
Drupal
4/5
SEO is generally pretty CMS-agnostic. That means both Wordpress and Drupal are effective for SEO – depending on the content, of course. However, Drupal has a higher capacity for large, high-content sites, meaning it may have the slight edge for larger sites – and is more customisable (if you know what you’re doing, of course!).
Wordpress
4/5
With nifty plugins such as Yoast’s SEO, you can have a search-engine-optimised site up and running really quickly. Wordpress definitely helps make SEO a little simpler and, dare I say it, dummy proof. But on a whole – both Drupal and Wordpress have a comparable potential to host a well-optimised website. They just do it a little differently. Drupal has the edge for larger sites, and Wordpress for the less tech-savvy.
Customisability
Drupal
4.5/5
From a simple, one-page site to something that supports thousands of web pages and millions of users, Drupal can provide it all. The CMS offers a wide range of modules, themes, and customising options. If that’s not enough, you can (if you’re tech savvy!) edit everything on Drupal – down to the very core. With the right abilities, you can make Drupal do (just about) anything you need it to.
Wordpress
4/5
With Wordpress’s millions of themes and plugins, you can pretty easily create what you want. With a tiny bit of HTML/CSS, you can get it down to a T. Themes often allow you to quickly change the site’s colour, fonts, layout with ease. However, it doesn’t quite offer the same flexibility as Drupal.
Performance
Drupal
4/5
Drupal is designed to be able to handle a huge amount of data and customisation. In that regard, its performance is impressive. However, it takes a little work and optimisation for Drupal to live up to its full potential. Left in an expert’s hands, a Drupal-run site can be both resource-heavy and high-performing. For someone with little technical experience, however, the reality could be quite different.
Wordpress
3.5/5
Originally designed as a blogging platform, Wordpress quickly becomes bogged down by too many plugins and too much content. However, when it’s used for lighter websites, the performance of the CMS is just as comparable as Drupal – even for someone with zero technical experience.
The Verdict
In the end, both are superb content management systems that host hugely popular, high-traffic brands and businesses. It’d be reductionism to say ‘Drupal/Wordpress is the better CMS’. They are, however, useful in different ways.
Wordpress is a little cheaper and simpler for beginners or the code-illiterate. Drupal is likely the top choice for absolute control, customisation and flexibility for larger sites and the code-savvy. In the end, the CMS you pick will depend on your needs for your website. They’re also both free to download! Try them both out and see what you prefer.
Not made up your mind which better suits your business? Check out this other post on Drupal 8 - Why it's the top choice for your website.
If you need any help creating or setting up your site on either Drupal or Wordpress, get in touch with Full Bundle!