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WordPress Vs Drupal – Who Is the Winner?

An old debate continues still today; which is the best content management system? Drupal or WordPress? It’s a common question that small and medium enterprises ask. The answer to that is not simple, it needs a thorough analysis that helps you compare these two excellent systems.

Related: Effective Tips for Evaluating Your Website’s Performance.

WORDPRESS AND DRUPAL

Drupal vs. WordPress

WordPress and Drupal are the two most popular names in Content Management Systems (CMS) that are used worldwide. With Drupal being launched in 2001, and WordPress just two years, in 2003, both of them offer similar, but in different, services.

Whether you want to write a blog or create your own website, initially you need to choose an application that helps you achieve your goals. If you are unsure and want to make a good choice, you should probably consider using WordPress and Drupal.

MAKING THE CHOICE

Both solutions offer comparable result and depends on the user. For example, the White House, The Economist and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. use Drupal while The New York Times, Forbes and CNN are WordPress users.

According to the results of survey carried out by w3Techs;

“Almost 55% of the 1 million most visited websites that are run on a content management system (CMS) are run on WordPress.”

So, why does The Economist choose to use Drupal, but The New York Times and many other websites choose WordPress instead? Good question. Let us take a look at the differences between WordPress and Drupal.

EASY TO USE

Which system is easier to use? For a beginner, who does not have technical expertise would find it easier to work on WordPress. Drupal, on the other hand, is a bit more complex when it comes to web development. The user is required to have enough knowledge of HTML, PHP etc. to deal with problems related to coding.

Let’s see what expert advice our experienced web developers give when asked about the best CMS for beginners.

“For beginners, I would definitely lean towards WordPress being the one which will most likely satisfy the needs of the individual. Of course, it always depends on what your endgame is – what purpose the site is meant to serve. Seeing that WordPress provides great SEO out the box and has a bunch of easy-to-use plug-ins and themes, as well as the fact that WordPress is infinitely easier to update and maintain than its competitors, I feel that WordPress provides the most complete solution for a beginner looking to build a new website.”

– Mark Atkinson from Red Giant Design

The installation and set-up procedure for WordPress is easy compared to Drupal. Also, WordPress offers automated upgrades which Drupal does not. Hence, when using Drupal; you need to be skilled and well acquainted with web design and programming.

BEST CUSTOMIZER

Attractive themes and plug-ins are essential elements that you need when customizing your website. WordPress offers over 35,000 themes and plug-ins that anyone can use according to their needs, and most of them are free. Drupal also offers themes, plug-ins and many other good options  which a developer can use to easily create a unique layout for a website, but the premium themes are not free.

INITIAL FOCUS

WordPress can be used across a diverse range of applications, although it was initially launched as a blogging tool. Drupal, on the other hand, offered a wide variety of services under the umbrella of content management from the beginning. In other words, if bloggers needed flexible services and easy solutions to their problems, most would possibly choose WordPress over Drupal. Because they know that WordPress is for blogging (although this is not actually true, it makes WordPress more popular and enables it to capture a bigger market).

Many popular technology blogging websites such as SitePoint, Six Revisions, etc. run on WordPress. This just increases the credibility of WordPress even more.

SIZE LIMIT

The performance of WordPress becomes limited when it comes to the size of its web content. It functions without any error for light websites but its speed and performance decreases when used for heavy and larger content (but with some knowledge of coding, you could also resolve this issue). Drupal, however, does not compromise its performance according to content size. If the user has technical expertise, he can easily run huge amounts of data on Drupal without losing speed.

SECURITY FROM HACKERS

Hackers can easily get hold of websites that run on WordPress because of their highly vulnerable plug-ins. Drupal offers better security services. However, you can always install third party plug-ins on WordPress and make it as secure as Drupal.

SEO

Both Drupal and WordPress have SEO built into them, but they work a little differently from each other. WordPress has a lot of plug-ins and is simpler, which makes the websites running on it search engine friendly. Drupal does the same but by supporting large content at a fast speed.

AFFORDABILITY

When it comes to the affordability of these systems, WordPress wins the race. It is more affordable because you have unlimited access to millions of free themes and plug-ins. You do not need to hire a developer to do your work, and even if you do, it will cost less.

While with Drupal, the premium themes and plug-ins have to be paid for. Their developers also charge a lot. But, if you want to utilize the extraordinary tools of Drupal and make your business and website stand out; then it’s worth spending your money on.

WHO IS BETTER?

An honest answer to that is; it all depends on you and your needs. Be it WordPress, Drupal or any other decent content management system.. You need to decide which prime features you want in your content? What functions you want the system to perform? Think, explore and then make a choice.

Here is a useful infographic that might help decide which CMS suits your needs.

If you are a beginner and want to avoid facing technical issues and spend less money, then WordPress is the best option for you. If you are creating a personal blog or a web page for a small business, then WordPress is your tool.