WordPress and Drupal both are very versatile CMS (content management system) and are capable of handling any type of website be it a Blog, Business Website, Portal, Online Store etc. Both have a huge and vibrant community of users and developers who keep working continuously to create better solutions. WordPress is more popular among novice users and developers while Drupal is popular among high-end developers. Though Drupal is more feature rich and advanced as it needs a higher level of skills to use them, most of them renders them waste for beginners.
Though I am personally a WordPress fan, I did work on Drupal too and I will use my experience to compare them on various aspects. Let’s begin and at the end of this article, you will be in a position to decide on why you should use WordPress or Drupal for your website.
1. WordPress vs Drupal – Ease of Use :
WordPress: When it comes to ease of use nothing comes closer to WordPress as the options on its admin panel are so neatly crafted that it just takes few minutes to understand how to use its basic features. It shouldn’t be an overstatement that if you are a regular user of Facebook, you can easily start with WordPress (note that I am only talking about the basic use like creating Pages / Posts, managing settings etc. ). It is very easy to install and uninstall a new Theme / Plugin. Most of the themes and plugins are self-explanatory and can be used with ease. Also, there are a number of tutorials available as text/videos where you can learn about them easily. You can run a small informative website with ease without much technical knowledge, though if you need it to be excellently designed you will need a professional.
Drupal: On the other hand Drupal is not easy to understand without a formal primer on it, even some general options are so deeply embedded that it may take a good time to find them. As it has a lot of advanced features to built-in, people start using them unintentionally and make their job super tough. Templates and Extensions are not as easy to install and remove as it is in WordPress. Also, their use needs a level of skills. If you want to create a small informative website, it will not worth the effort you have to put up in learning Drupal Basics.
Winner – WordPress
2. WordPress vs Drupal – Scalability :
WordPress: Though there are a lot of big-name websites running on WordPress like BBC, Techcrunch etc it is still a well-known fact that Scalability is a major problem on WordPress. You can make any type of website on WordPress with any functionality or design but as this website grows in size with Data and Traffic, its performance doesn’t sustain. It needs a very high level of expertise to handle these performance issues. If your website is a simple blog or a basic informative website then it will not be a big issue. But when you are running an enterprise level solution be it a website or portal, it is a really big headache. I faced loading speed related issue on WordPress websites especially on Online Stores and other web applications.
Drupal: Drupal is inherently capable of handling a large amount of data, complex functionalities, and high traffic scenarios. It is highly scalable and you can run your website/application on Drupal for years to come without any performance issues. You can continue adding new complex functionalities and Drupal will sustain it.
Winner – Drupal
3. WordPress vs Drupal – What’s good for Blog? :
WordPress: If you are planning to create a Blogging website, then there is no better solution than WordPress as it was originally developed as a blogging platform and later evolved as a versatile platform. As soon as you install WordPress, you are good to go with a blog site as it comes with inherent blogging system.
Drupal: Drupal was developed as a CMS for complex type websites. So it has a lot of additional functionalities, which are not needed for a basic blogging website and only overburdens the developer. Use of Drupal for a Blog will be as if you are using Sword in place of a needle.
Winner – WordPress
4. WordPress vs Drupal – Learning Curve :
WordPress: Learning curve for WordPress is quite low. Even a beginner with not much programming knowledge can work on WordPress and create a good website. It is really intuitive and you won’t feel stuck up anywhere with just a basic level of IQ. If a person has a basic idea of the internet then it hardly will take him few hours to start working on WordPress. Installation of themes and plugins is also a very simple task in here.
Drupal: On the other hand the learning curve of Drupal is very difficult. Beginners will find themselves lost for a few days/months. It is really not intuitive and one has to make a lot of effort to understand its working. It may need a basic level of training also to start working on it.
Winner – WordPress
5. WordPress vs Drupal – Extensibility:
WordPress: WordPress offers thousands of themes and plugins which is way more than any other competitor in this category. You can extend the WordPress website to any level using these resources. You name a new type of function and you will surely find a plugin to get it done.
