For website builders, the perennial debate between WordPress and Drupal rages on. As a Drupal-focused agency, it would be easy for us to promote Drupal’s benefits while badmouthing WordPress. Ultimately, though, that kind of thinking distracts form a more nuanced take on the debate: which CMS is best for you? While we’ve covered the comparisons between the two platforms before, it’s always worth revisiting the similarities and differences between them.
Part of the reason why the “WordPress vs Drupal” narrative persists is because there is no definitive “winner.” Drupal and WordPress are both great tools that we’d have no problem recommending. In fact, the two platforms have more in common than you might realize. Both WordPress and Drupal are free, open source content management systems with vast ecosystems of contributed plugins and modules. Both are also sustained by communities of users and developers who continue to make each platform successful.
Ultimately, the choice between WordPress and Drupal comes down to you and your site’s requirements. Both platforms come with advantages and disadvantages depending on the task at hand, so it really is a case-by-case basis. Instead of boiling the matter down to “Drupal vs. WordPress,” consider the following comparisons against your needs to determine which platform is the best fit for your project.
Ease vs Order
Imagine that you want to publish a new piece of content on the site. If you’re just trying to, say, publish a blog on your site as quickly as you can, it’s hard to beat WordPress. With its simple-to-use interface, WordPress streamlines the content management process and makes it easier for editors to swiftly publish or edit a basic story.
On the other hand, if you have content originating from multiple sources and you want to be able to publish across channels, consider the Drupal CMS. While slightly more difficult to master, the Drupal back end can handle varying data types and keep them organized. Essentially, if you are managing multiple sites or are publishing more complex content types, Drupal’s has the power to deliver a robust, seamless experience.
Model vs. Building Blocks
Consider a model kit. If you follow the directions and don’t deviate, you’ll end up with a sleek and stylish figure. WordPress is very much the same. Sites built using WordPress are specially optimized for easy posting and content creation. If your needs are contained and fit within the boundaries of what WordPress was designed to do, it’s a perfect out-of-the-box solution.
Adding custom features to a WordPress site, however, can be complicated. This is not the case with Drupal, which is more akin to building blocks than to a model. Much like a field of Lego bricks strewn on the floor, Drupal allows for so much customization that you may not even know where to start. Once you have a plan, though, a Drupal site can be configured to your exact specifications while still leaving room for changes later.
Solo vs Team
Because of its aforementioned ease-of-use, WordPress gives plenty of power to content creators. If you stick to OOTB functionality, you can manage an entire WordPress site on your own. Even the plugins and themes that you can add to a site can be updated with a click of a button, making routine maintenance easier.
Given its enterprise-level capabilities, Drupal is better suited to a site run by a team. Different roles with custom permissions can be assigned to different team members inside a Drupal site. These hierarchies can make it easier to collaborate on a site and ensure that there’s accountability throughout the development process.
Pages vs. Architecture
Even without any technical experience, a content creator could easily design a page on a WordPress site. The OOTB editing suite allows you to build and layout rich pages with text, images and other assets that you can quickly deploy and publish.
Though Drupal has taken strides to make their page layout builder more accessible, creating pages in Drupal takes some practice. What Drupal has going for it is its structure. Drupal offers various levels of tagging and taxonomy that allow you to organize and repurpose content in endless permutations. Further, you can create custom content types in Drupal, expanding the possibilities of what kinds of content you can publish.
What these comparisons illustrate isn’t that one platform is better than the other. Rather, they show that each tool has its own strengths and weaknesses depending on the situation. And in the end, your mileage may vary; our team has seen enterprise sites that run on WordPress and run on Drupal. It’s all about what each user wants and needs.
Duo specializes in Drupal because we like working with the CMS’s flexibility at an enterprise scale. If you think Drupal is right for you or if you still need help deciding, please feel free to reach out to us!
