Today building a website is no more a thing of experts, anyone with a little knowledge of computers and the internet can build interactive websites. This is possible with the help of content management systems (CMSs) which have revolutionized web publishing. Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla are among the topmost CMSs at present which power millions of websites around the world today. There has been a long-standing debate about which one of these CMSs is the best for creating websites. While WordPress web design services have emerged as a leading choice, Joomla and Drupal have several excellent benefits to offer to webmasters. In this post, we will look at these three prominent content management systems – Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla – and figure out which one is a better choice than the other.
Similarities between Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress
Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla have many similarities that have been described below:
- Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla all of these CMSs are free and open-source software and are licensed under GPL. So, they can be downloaded for free and users can also use or modify them as per their preferences.
- There are communities developed by all of these platforms consisting of users, developers, designers, trainers, and volunteers. These communities intend to make every platform better by supporting the users, organizing events, sharing knowledge, solving issues, and more.
- All of these platforms are powered by PHP and MySQL.
- They all offer pre-built templates/themes and plugins/extensions/modules for extending a website’s functionality.
Comparing Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla
When it comes to choosing a single platform between Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla, it’s always a tough task, especially when there are a lot of similarities between them. However, there are some points that make one platform more beneficial for users than the others. Below is a quick comparison of Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla.
Ease of use
Drupal demands higher technical expertise among all the three CMSs. However, this is also the CMS that you can use to build the most advanced websites. With every release, the platform is becoming easier. If you don’t wish to learn the software or are reluctant to hire a Drupal developer, then this CMS may not be the best choice for you. Joomla is harder than WordPress but is less complex than Drupal. After understanding Joomla’s structure and terminology, one can develop fairly complex sites. Creating a site with WordPress is intuitive and doesn’t require any technical skills. It’s easy to set up and configure a WordPress site.
Website customization
For any CMS available today, it should be possible to set up your website as per your preferences. However, what level of tweaks and adjustments you can perform with your site depends on the customizability of the platform you choose. Drupal and Joomla shine when it comes to customizing your site as they offer great resources. With Joomla, you get access to around 8000 extensions to extend your site’s functionality. Drupal offers 40,000 modules and thousands of themes, while WordPress provides 54,000+ plugins and 5000+ themes for customizing your site. One of the simple ways to create a custom website is using a method like PSD to WordPress/Drupal/Joomla conversion. You can create website designs in the form of Photoshop documents, and then get them converted into the CMS of your choice.
Security
There is nothing 100% safe on the internet and this also applies to content management systems. While all CMSs Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla have stringent security features, many of the vulnerabilities come from the users’ sides. Any of these CMS can prove to be very secure when users adopt best security practices like using updated plugins, themes, and features, upgrading their platforms, not using suspicious resources, etc. Moreover, WordPress has a greater chance of security issues because it’s a leading CMS and hence a prime target for most hackers and malware.
Performance
For any website, performance is key to keeping visitors engaged and happy. A little discomfort can result in a high bounce rate. Hence performance is an essential ingredient for making a successful website. The loading speed is the metric to determine the performance of your site. The loading speed of your site depends on several factors including the CMS you choose. Your website may perform well on one platform as compared to other platforms. Joomla offers solid performance and provides features like GZIP compression and caching which further improves the loading speed. Drupal is known as scalable and light on resources, so your site will be able to handle a lot of traffic before it starts slowing down because of a bottleneck. There is a huge supporting community behind it that provides varied solutions for webmasters. You can use caching plugins and choose the right host to boost the performance of your WordPress site.
Final words
Today it is possible to create a full-fledged website without writing even a single line of code, all thanks to content management systems. These CMSs enabled all kinds of people to create and manage their own websites. Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla have emerged as the most favored content management systems.
WordPress is beginner-friendly and easy to get started with. Also, it’s highly customizable using themes and plugins. However, it may not be the right choice for creating advanced websites. It’s mostly used by small- and medium-scale businesses.
Drupal is the most complicated and hard-to-use CMS among all the three platforms. However, it is considered the best choice for creating cutting-edge enterprise-level websites as it is conducive to developing advanced websites. Therefore many large businesses opt for Drupal development services.
Joomla provides a facility to build a fairly advanced website with top-notch features. It is easier to work with than Drupal but harder to use than WordPress. You can create high-end websites with this CMS but it offers fewer customization options as compared to Drupal and WordPress.
Every CMS has its own pros and cons. You can choose a CMS which is the best fit for your requirements.
Author Bio
Emily White is a senior web developer at CSSChopper which is one of the most prominent companies providing top-notch web design and development services around the world. She not only enjoys developing but she also loves to compose quality articles and blogs for her audience in her free time. She wants to spread knowledge with the content writes for her audience.
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