What is Drupal?

Drupal logo

Have you ever wondered what differenciates Drupal from Wordpress? Usually, when we talk about CMS (Content Management System), the first solution that would come to mind is Wordpress because it’s the most popular one. But can we compare them?

Although Drupal and Wordpress share some similarities, it feels wrong to compare them directly as they serve different purposes. So let’s take a look on their differences.

Wordpress: Simplicity and Accessibility

Wordpress powers nearly 50% of all websites worldwide. Its popularity comes from its ease of use, quick setup and a huge collection of plugins, and Web development skills are not needed! As a matter of fact, most of Web hostings such as Infomaniak provide Wordpress without needing to configure the server or anything. So for small businesses or simple eCommerce websites, this a wonderful solution. However, Wordpress has its limitations and when business requirements grow in complexity, it might be struggling to manage for example multilingual sites or complex content, without using a third party plugin that might not even be free.

Drupal: Power and Flexibility for complex needs

Drupal, on the other hand, excels in complexity and scalability. Here’s a few examples of why:

  1. Custom Content Types: Create structures of content that go beyond the typical blog article that only contains text and images.

  2. Permissions: Manage access for different user roles. It’s ideal for organisations with multiple teams contributing to the website.

  3. Multilingual: It natively supports multilanguage websites, which makes it perfect for global organisations.

  4. Scalable and flexible: It supports complex sites and makes it more suitable for large-scale projects. If you need for example to create a subsite for the annual report or even use it as an API endpoint because you created an iOS app and want to get the site’s content, that’s possible!

  5. Security: There is a dedicated security team that ensures Drupal stays protected.

  6. Community: Since it’s an open source project, most of the modules are free and the community is always eager to help by patching the modules or report a bug.



 

For instance, UNICEF use Drupal to handle multilangual website, while NASA or the CERN rely on it for its security and the ability to manage large amounts of data.

Conclusion: Which CMS is right for you?

If you need a straightforward website that can be configured quite quickly, Wordpress is an excellent choice. For example, Sony Music’s WordPress site focuses on showcasing content and publishing news and Wordpress is completely fine.

However, if you need a tailor-made solution where you want to manage multiple languages, you have multiple teams contributing to the website, Drupal is your perfect companion.