Drupal and WordPress are very similar and are often lumped together. They are both free to use, open-source technologies that offer a variety of plugins and modules for added functionality and have a loyal following of developers and users. However, Drupal and WordPress also differ in a number of significant ways.
Hosting requirements
Drupal is a versatile and advanced content management system (CMS). However, web hosts with Drupal expertise are not as prevalent as those with WordPress expertise. For this reason, the best hosting for Drupal is hosting that comes with Drupal utilities pre-installed. Additionally, it’s best if the web host offers scalability, fast page loads, and daily backups.
WordPress hosting options are relatively commonplace. However, the best WordPress hosting will offer PHP 7.4 or greater, MySQL 5.6 or greater or MariaDB 10.1 or greater and HTTPS support.
Ease of use
Drupal requires more technical experience than WordPress. However, it’s not necessarily difficult to use. The user interface isn’t as intuitive as WordPress, but with the right setup can be easier to use. Furthermore, it is easier to create more advanced sites with Drupal than with WordPress. For instance, universities may be better served with Drupal as this CMS can handle a complex course catalogue, content that comes from microservices or REST, complex search experiences, and multiple levels of permission on content for various user roles.
Range of capabilities
WordPress is, without a doubt, less complex than Drupal. However, it is due to Drupal’s complexity that it has such a wide range of capabilities. Drupal has more features than WordPress, including responsive themes and being multilingual from the get-go. If you need to use multiple content types or page templates, Drupal is better equipped to handle this than WordPress. Furthermore, Drupal’s user permissions are more advanced than WordPress. With Drupal, you can have site admins, individualized access to private content, and content editors. As a result, Drupal can support multiple site stakeholders.
Security
WordPress’ popularity means that is a bigger focus for hackers and other bad actors. The plugins that make this platform so powerful also open the system up to potential problems. Drupal, by contrast, offers enterprise-level security and provides in-depth security reports. The variety of plugins and themes on offer to WordPress users give hackers many more possible security weak points to attack than a more standardised Drupal setup.
Flexibility
Drupal is designed for custom development. While there are starter themes available, it does not have the variety of free and paid themes and plugins that WordPress has. However, Drupal has more flexibility when it comes to customization.
Both Drupal and WordPress have extensions to increase the functionality of your site. Drupal uses modules that can do everything from SEO to social media to eCommerce. WordPress uses plugins that can also accomplish these functionalities. Therefore the major difference between Drupal’s modules and WordPress’s plugins is how the community uses them. Drupal’s community usually works with a single module for each functionality. It then makes it into Drupal Core or becomes ‘canonized’, so it’s pretty much ubiquitous for its use case. On the other hand, WordPress encourages competition between plugins that all do the same thing. As a result, users often have a difficult time knowing which is the best plugin to use.
Cost
Both Drupal and WordPress are free to download and install. However, there are costs associated with creating a website on both platforms. Both websites require a web host. They also offer paid features for additional functionality. Therefore, when it comes to cost, both sites are fairly equal.
Summary
Drupal allows you to create unique and effective solutions for your needs. It offers a number of out-of-the-box features and advanced user permissions. It’s also extremely secure, which is why it is the platform of choice for many departments of the US government. Furthermore, Drupal offers modules that have been vetted by the community as being the best for their singular purpose.
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