The internet is widely littered with “WordPress vs Drupal” discussions with some favoring WordPress while others Drupal. However there cannot be a simple comparison that can be drawn between the two as the underlying assumption that both are serving exactly identical requirements is flawed. WordPress is a content management system (CMS) while Drupal is an application framework that has a CMS built into it.
The crux of comparison really boils down to the complexity of business requirements. For an organization whose business objectives can be met by simply regularly publishing the information and doing easy customizations, WordPress is the better alternative. Such an assignment is easy to build for a developer and cost effective for the customer. There are numerous plugins available to include whatever basic functionality needs to be fulfilled. For a larger organization which has complex business needs like multi-tier security and access, content linkages etc, Drupal is the solid foundation which fortifies online business. It is good at access and user management and content consolidation at various levels. It also works really well with tools such as CRM`s and managing multi web properties.
Here are a few differentiators between the two CMS’s which can help a business understand the difference and choose the right alternative.
Security – Drupal has far more advanced security features like enterprise security and is the biggest differentiating factor between Drupal and WordPress. A lot of hack free and government sites are built using Drupal.
Responsive Web Design – Drupal and WordPress tread a different path while providing solutions for responsive design and images. WordPress, image size per break point can be declared in the functions file. While in Drupal, images can be set in the admin panel by using the image styling module. As far as the actual designing goes, both are design neutral give freedom of designing the template of your choice and also provision for ‘in the browser’ designing.
Mobile Applications – For mobile devices, both WordPress and Drupal have great themes which allow your website to be up and running quickly. However there is a major difference in the way Drupal and wordpress handle the content on mobile devices. Drupal allows the flexibility of having additional content fields for mobile device; while this feature is not present in WordPress.
SEO – A lot of content on the internet suggesting that WordPress sites rank higher than Drupal sites. But that is a farce, as SEO is platform neutral and there is no specific advantage that one platform has over the other. However, Drupal requires a more skilled developer to execute SEO strategy while WordPress sites can be optimized with lesser risk and margin for errors. There are several plugins available for WordPress such as ‘All in One SEO’, ‘W3 Total cache’, etc. which makes a website SEO compatible up to much higher percentage.
A San Diego Web Design company, Green Bird Media, is a pioneer in CMS systems both Drupal web development & WordPress, having built numerous high quality websites for businesses and non-profit organizations alike. If you are looking for a website that need to work for you, we have a team of Drupal & WordPress experts to help you meet your online business goals.
