Getty Images/iStockphoto
Drupal vs. WordPress vs. Joomla: What's the difference?
Drupal supports extensive customization but has a steep learning curve. On the other hand, WordPress and Joomla are more user-friendly but lack flexibility.
Organizations must weigh flexibility versus ease of use before they choose a web content management system because simpler systems tend to offer less customization.
Most organizations require a secure website that supports dynamic and static content and search engine optimization. However, key decision-makers, like IT professionals and content managers, must choose between three website-building approaches.
These approaches are the following:
- Custom website. The technology underneath the site uses industry standards and freeware or vendor products, but developers can customize the overall structure.
- Website builder. Tools like Weebly, Wix and Squarespace let nontechnical users build sites but lack customization and can lead to vendor lock-in.
- Open source web content management system. Open source WCMSes, like Drupal, WordPress and Joomla, include a lot of built-in capabilities and offer more flexibility than website builders. They also let users modify their core infrastructure.
Open source WCMSes offer more functionality than website builders, but they require less investment than fully custom websites. For many organizations, this approach offers the right balance of price and capabilities.
To help IT professionals and content managers choose the right software to power their websites, they should know the difference between three common WCMSes: Drupal, WordPress and Joomla.
What is Drupal?
Drupal is a free, flexible, open source WCMS that uses the PHP scripting language. It supports modules -- software components that extend functionality -- to add custom content types and complex functionalities. Additionally, its detailed content taxonomy and user permissions make it suitable for complex or large-scale websites. The tool suits complex government, educational and enterprise use cases but may be too complex for simple websites.
Drupal is the second most-used open source WCMS of the top 10,000 websites and has a community of over 1 million members, including over 100,000 active members. The presence of this community has led to the development of over 50,000 modules that extend the core system's capability and over 3,000 themes that customize a website's look and feel.
What is WordPress?
WordPress, the most popular open source CMS, also uses PHP and relies heavily on plugins, which are small software add-ons that extend its functionality. These plugins are similar to Drupal's modules but generally require less coding knowledge to use. The system's ease of use and plugins let both beginners and seasoned developers quickly build websites. The tool also offers an intuitive dashboard that makes it effective for bloggers, small business owners and nontechnical users.
WordPress is the most used open source WCMS of the top 10,000 websites. It offers over 59,000 plugins and over 13,000 free themes.
What is Joomla?
Joomla -- also PHP-based -- sits between WordPress's simplicity and Drupal's complexity, as it balances user-friendliness with developer features. The tool has extensive content management capabilities and advanced access control. It works well for small to midsize organizations and sites that require detailed community features or portals.
Joomla is the seventh most-used open source WCMS of the top 10,000 websites. The tool offers over 5,000 extensions and has been translated into over 60 languages.
4 differences among Drupal, WordPress and Joomla
Although Drupal, WordPress and Joomla are all WCMSes, they differ in terms of content types they support, ease of use and customizations.
1. Content types
Drupal is the most detailed and flexible system to manage diverse content types -- specifically, different templates that define the structure of web content. For instance, it lets users define custom content types and fields within them, such as text, image and date fields, with a high level of granularity. This flexibility suits complex site projects, like those for governments or large enterprises.
WordPress, on the other hand, starts with two simple predefined content types: posts and pages. While users can implement plugins to add custom content to WordPress, the tool works best for simpler content structures.
Joomla lies somewhere between Drupal and WordPress as it offers more built-in content options than WordPress but lacks Drupal's flexibility. The tool lets users customize and categorize content, but the process of defining unique content types isn't intuitive. Therefore, Joomla offers a middle ground for projects that require moderate flexibility for content structures.
2. Ease of use
Drupal's steep learning curve and focus on developers require more advanced technical expertise, which makes it unsuitable for beginners.
WordPress is the easiest of these WCMSes to use, especially for nontechnical users. It offers an intuitive dashboard and a vast library of plugins that simplify customization. It is ideal for beginners, bloggers and small businesses.
Joomla offers a moderately steep learning curve -- simpler than Drupal but more advanced than WordPress. Advanced configuration requires some technical coding knowledge, but overall, Joomla offers a balanced platform for intermediate users who want flexibility without a steep learning curve.
3. Customization
Drupal offers an extreme level of customization, which lets users build intricate and unique websites. To achieve this flexibility, Drupal relies on modules for added functionality and often requires custom coding. Therefore, Drupal works well for projects that demand a high degree of control and complexity.
WordPress is also highly customizable, as it offers a massive plugin ecosystem and predesigned themes. Many WordPress features require no coding, but advanced customization may require web development skills. WordPress strikes a balance between simplicity and extensibility.
Joomla, on the other hand, offers decent customization with extensions and templates. It has fewer prebuilt plugins and themes than WordPress yet caters more to casual users than Drupal. The tool works well for users who need a compromise between prebuilt solutions and coding flexibility.
4. Flexible hosting
Drupal works with many web hosting environments, which provide storage space and access for websites. For instance, it can run on virtually any server that supports PHP and databases like MySQL or MariaDB. However, optimal Drupal performance requires substantial server resources and configuration. Drupal typically works well for projects with high traffic and scalability requirements.
WordPress supports flexible hosting options due to its widespread use and lightweight setup. It runs on shared infrastructure and can scale up to dedicated or cloud hosting for larger sites. Many providers offer dedicated WordPress plans with preconfigured deployments. While WordPress.org only offers the free software option for download, its sibling organization, WordPress.com, offers secure and fully managed hosting services.
Joomla has similar flexibility to Drupal in terms of hosting requirements. It runs on most PHP-compatible servers and scales reasonably well for midsize projects. Hosting support is available but less extensive than WordPress-specific hosting options. Joomla's resource requirements are not as heavy as Drupal. As with other considerations, such as ease of use and customizations, Joomla's hosting flexibility sits between that of Drupal and WordPress.
| Feature | Drupal | WordPress | Joomla |
| Content types | Highly customizable; suitable for complex websites | Two predefined content types (posts and pages); plugins for customization; suitable for simple websites | More built-in options than WordPress but less flexible than Drupal; suitable for moderately complex websites |
| Ease of use | Requires coding knowledge; steep learning curve | Doesn't require coding knowledge; simple and intuitive | Moderate learning curve |
| Customization | Extreme customization through modules and coding | Highly customizable through plugins and themes | Decent customization but less extensive than WordPress and simpler than Drupal |
| Flexibility | Runs on most PHP-compatible servers; requires substantial resources for optimal performance | Lightweight setup; efficient on shared hosting; supports scalable options, like cloud and dedicated hosting | Similar to Drupal in hosting flexibility; requires fewer resources and scales well for midsize projects |
Jordan Jones is a writer versed in enterprise content management, component content management, web content management and video-on-demand technologies.
