Drupal or Joomla – Which is the Ideal Content Management System?

With growing businesses, creating a robust website that can cater to your customers is one of the top priorities today. But identifying the right content management system (CMS) is a challenge. In this article, we’ll look at two of the most popular and widely adopted CMS. Both of them are open-source and free to use. Apart from that, they both have big communities supporting them and are continually being updated for compatibility with newer web technologies. As there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, a number of factors will help you determine the best choice of CMS for your business.

Joomla and Drupal are both community driven, PHP based and support MySQL, but they differ in nature. Drupal should be the obvious selection when a business needs a highly customizable site that requires scalability. In contrast, for a basic blog, WordPress is excellent. It is great for newbies and is flexible enough to support complex sites. In scenarios where a more middle-of-the-road approach is preferred, Joomla is the answer.

So, the battle does ultimately boil down to Drupal vs Joomla. See the comparison below to get more insights into the differences between these top content management systems.

Drupal site development demands the most advanced expertise – more than Joomla and WordPress based web development. But it is also the one CMS most likely to aid in the creation of the most advanced websites. Some may argue that it has a steep learning curve, however, efforts are being made to make it easier to use. Those businesses who want to rapidly adopt Drupal will need to hire a Drupal development partner like Rishabh Software.

In contrast, Joomla is less complicated than Drupal (but slightly more sophisticated than WordPress). The installation and setup process is simple. The structure and terminology requires minimal investment of resources and you’ll still able to build fairly complex sites.

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It can be a challenge to decide whether Drupal or Joomla do better in terms of add-ons. Joomla has a set of extensions and templates that can manage emails and help create an eCommerce store. Unfortunately, Joomla lacks a feature that can assist users to search for and install extensions from the admin area. In addition, users will have to manually look for templates and install them by adding individual URLs.

Drupal sails in a similar boat. Users will need to navigate away from their sites, look up the theme or module they need and then search for the project’s zip file URL. Thereafter, they’ll be able to enter the URL in the themes or modules page for installation. However, the wide range of modules can help you accomplish just about anything.

Joomla is quite proactive when it comes to security. They are quick to respond to security issues and help in patching up any vulnerability in their product. But, website maintenance and installation of the necessary updates is still the user’s job.

Likewise, Drupal also takes a strong approach to security. They follow the practice of publishing any security vulnerability when they are discovered and resolved. Also, Drupal-based websites do come across as more secure, as they are not hacked as often as others!

In conclusion, whether you choose Joomla or Drupal, both are robust content management systems. They offer distinct functionalities that you need to map across your business needs. Drupal is great for rich, content-heavy sites that require a very fast loading time. Whereas, Joomla does an excellent job at offering the best of both worlds, is more powerful than WordPress and is easier to manage.

Looking to develop a website in either Joomla or Drupal but can’t make up your mind? Our team of web developers would be glad to help you choose the best platform for your needs.