Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress are three popular content management systems (CMS). These are open source and they are based on MySQL and PHP. But you cannot use these CMS interchangeably. Also, depending on the needs and goals of your business you can choose the best fit. There are certain pros and cons and business scenarios that define the use of any of the CMS such as WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
WordPress works with over 41 percent of all websites on the internet. It is not only an open-source content management system. There are other popular open-source options that you can use for your website. These open-source options are having significant differences.
What Is Common Between WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal?
There is a lot of common between WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal in terms of community, philosophy, and technology.
- Three of them are free and open-source software licensed under GPL.
- All three are written primarily in PHP.
- They all support MySQL as a database management system. Exclusively, WordPress supports MySQL while the other two support other database management systems.
- The themes and templates for the visual appearance of the sites, plugins, extensions, or modules are the same or common in these three popular CMS.
- As they are open-source software, so they are driven by all community projects.
There are many other similarities between these three CMS software. On the other hand, there are some differences such as policies on what to include in the base software. Also, how to manage security and models or modules. The differences among each software are having a huge impact on the users and the way the websites are built.
Comparison of WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal
Ease of Use and Beginner Friendliness
Most of the people creating their websites are not web developers, programmers, or designers. Some average users want to build their websites. For this purpose, ease of use is an important factor for most average users.
WordPress
WordPress is famous for its five-minute installation. Most WordPress hosts also offer a one-click WordPress installation. It makes it quite easy for a new user to create a WordPress website or blog in just minutes instead of hours.
WordPress post-install user experience is much better than Drupal or Joomla. The users see a simple and clean user interface with menus to create posts, pages, or start customizing the themes and looks of the website.
Joomla
The installation process of Joomla might not be as easy as installing WordPress but it comes with similar steps. The shared hosting providers offer one-click installation packages for the users of Joomla.
After installation, the user comes to a control panel that is not as straightforward as WordPress. To customize your site, you have to go through too many clicks on the menu. Joomla users would say that it is a lot more popular than WordPress but not for everyone.
Drupal
Installing Drupal is similar to WordPress and Joomla. You just have to download and upload the package and run the install script. It offers distributions. These are the pre-packaged Drupal packages that come with modules, and settings to create specific types of websites.
The post-install experience for beginners is a bit tricky. They will find it hard to figure out that how to change things on the website. On the other hand, Drupal explains clear steps on how to add the content but not changing the appearance, and adding elements that are unrelated to the content is not clear.
Themes and Addons
These three popular CMS come with plugins/modules and themes to extend the appearance and functionality of the software. To control how the website will look and how the viewers will see it, the use of themes is an important factor. Plugins or modules are like applications for your CMS.
WordPress
WordPress allows the users to change the look of their website using themes. WordPress comes with pre-installed default themes. You can click on the add new button from the appearance page to install the free WordPress themes from the directory.
Besides the free themes, you can find premium themes of WordPress that are developed by a third party. These are paid themes that come with premium support options. The real power of WordPress is in plugins. Over 58,000 plugins available in WordPress come from the WordPress plugin directory. For premium plugins, you can purchase them from the supported plugin developers.
Joomla
Like WordPress, Joomla comes with plugins and templates. There is a vast extension to do just about anything from eCommerce store to managing emails. However, the number of these templates and plugins is not as high as that of WordPress. It might make it a difficult thing to do by finding the perfect plugin and model.
Joomla does not have a feature to allow the users to find and install extensions or templates from the admin area. There is an extension that allows the users to add the functionality of extensions using the install from the web. On the other hand, for templates, the users will have to manually search them and install them using the URL
Drupal
Drupal is having the same problem with the availability of modules and themes like Joomla. The users will have to leave their site and find the theme or module that want to add to their site. Then locate the URL of the project zip file. To install the modules or themes page, the users will enter the URL.
Some modules can be added regularly to do anything. Still, Drupal is missing the number of modules as compared to WordPress.
Support Options
For a beginner, the support and help options are important features. There are some hurdles in using the software that can be sorted out using the support options.
WordPress
WordPress is having a strong user community as compared to the other two software. You can find WordPress help on official forums, handbooks, docs, codex, stack exchange, slack channels, etc. On almost any web design and development and forum on the internet, you will find solutions to your problems. Various sites have hundreds of tutorials, articles, and video tutorials for the beginners of WordPress users.
In addition to the free support options, you can get paid support options in WordPress. Also, you can hire a professional WordPress developer to help you in creating your website. Due to immense popularity, there is a lot of WordPress developer for your tasks or small business.
Joomla
Just like WordPress, Joomla is having a useful and large support community. The extensive documentation for Joomla’s on-hand experience is a great source for beginners. Also, the users can join the mailing lists, forums, or users’ groups for more help. The third-part resources, development agencies, and paid training programs can be helpful for the usage of Joomla.
In Joomla, it is hard to find an affordable expert for help. Hiring an expert developer of Joomla support, troubleshooting, and development can cost you more than an expert in WordPress.
Drupal
Drupal is having a proactive community of users and fans. You can find the support community options just like WordPress and Joomla. The documentation, users’ groups, mailing lists, and support forms can be of great bits of help. Also, you can join the IRC chatrooms for the usage of Drupal. All these options provide you with free help and advice.
Drupal tries to connect the users with companies and developers that offer professional services. As compared to WordPress, Drupal experts are also costly.
Security
When choosing any of the CMS for your website, security is one of the important factors. It is because the internet is vulnerable to security threats such as hacking.
WordPress
WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world and the WordPress-based websites are often attacked by hackers. However, WordPress relies on a secure code and responds quickly to the security breach. Also, it has an automatic update mechanism that allows the WordPress websites to update automatically on the new security patch.
The WordPress sites can further be protected using two-factor authentication, automated backups, and other security practices that are best to protect the website from hacking. The built-in mechanism displays the updates for WordPress plugins and themes. It allows the users to respond quickly to any of the security vulnerabilities
Joomla
When it comes to security, Joomla is just like WordPress. It actively responds to any security breach and fixes it quickly. However, maintenance and installation of updates are still the user’s responsibility in Joomla websites.
Some extensions back up the Joomla website. Also, you can strengthen the security of the Joomla website by using and following the best practices of WordPress.
Drupal
Drupal takes a serious approach to security. The post-security holes in the websites are discovered and fixed quickly. You haven’t heard that Drupal is safer because Drupal sites are not often hacked. On the other hand, the main reason is that the Drupal sites are not as popular as WordPress or Joomla.
WordPress Vs Joomla Vs Drupal – Functionality and Features
WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are the common CMS that you can use for your website. They have a lot of common features and functionalities that you can use for creating, maintaining, securing, and modifying the appearance of your website. The usability of these CMS depends on the expertise of an individual. Apart from the professionals, there are some average users or beginners who use these CMS for creating their websites.
It can be of their small business, eCommerce, or blogging website. Considering all the common features of these CMS WordPress is easy. It provides you an easy on-hand experience using the support community. Also, the plugins and themes of WordPress are easy to operate and access. You might have heard that WordPress sites get hacked. It is because of its immense popularity than Joomla or Drupal. Talking about the security of WordPress, then it notifies you about the security breach and takes measures to avoid it.