Drupal Vs. WordPress – The Middleweight Fight of the Decade
Released only a couple of years apart, WordPress and Drupal are big players in the content management system (CMS) market but do you know which system is right for your business or organization?
As with any technology debates, each side has its loyal followers. Whether you’re looking for a CMS that is easy to use, comes with tons of features, less confusing for your skill set, etc. Whatever the case may be, let us break down the pros and cons to each CMS to see what works for you.
Ease of Use
If you or your organization have limited knowledge of website development, then it’ll be important for you to get a handle on which CMS you’ll choose. We would suggest choosing WordPress if you’re new to the game. Drupal can often be way more complicated on the back end and WordPress is known to be user-friendly.
In addition, WordPress has a great community that will help you with any questions or concerns that you have. Drupal does have a community of knowledgeable folks too, but it’s just a smaller one than WordPress has.
Upgrades
WordPress performs an upgrade to your site every 3-4 months. WordPress often does this seamlessly without you having to lift a finger. Drupals upgrades don’t include the code. So often times a developer is required to handle this. And even then, some upgrades can require a whole redesign, so a novice user may want to steer clear of Drupal.
If your business is on the go, WordPress has easy to work with mobile apps which let you write, edit and post articles as if you were on your desktop or laptop. On the same token, Drupal’s interface is responsive, so it’s really easy to use, it just doesn’t have a designated app to help you when you’re on the road.
Customizing Options
The easiest way to get your website customized is through themes and plugins. Adding themes and plugins takes your site from a blank canvas to something that can fit your individual needs. WordPress has over 37,000 plugins and even offers free & premium themes.
Drupal offers this flexibility on pages without the need for plugins. However, if you want the convenience of using a plugin, Drupal uses modules instead of plugins and the ones that are best, often come at a price. Plus, you’ll find that there are limited themes available, so you’ll need to seek out a programmer or designer to help you turn your site into something spectacular.
Cost
Drupal developers can be often harder to find than WordPress developers. So if you’re outsourcing, you may experience a higher cost when looking for a Drupal developer. However, both CMS are free to download but the modules and themes for Drupal cost a lot more than WordPress, which offers a lot of free options!
Security
Drupal is known for being very secure! The many plugins WordPress offers can have vulnerabilities and be easily hacked, particularly if the website owner doesn’t update to the latest version! You may also find that hackers tend to target WordPress because it is such a popular platform. However, you can always install third-party plugins on your WordPress site to increase your security.
SEO
Both CMS have SEO-friendly features built into them, however Drupal is said to have been built specifically for search engines. WordPress on the other hand as a multitude of plugins that can enhance it. Drupals pages tend to load faster and search engines love faster websites. It’s also known that Drupal can handle larger amounts of content which is also crucial to SEO success.
There you have it folks! Just some of the pros and cons of each CMS platform. If you’re looking to develop a website and need our help, just give us a call!