WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal CMS Comparison – 2022

 
When it comes to CMSs, there are three main players: WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. In this CMS comparison guide, we’ll take a look at each of the three platforms, discuss the pros and cons of each, along with some tips on how to choose the right CMS for your small business website.

Brief overview of the top 3 CMSs

WordPress, Drupal and Joomla have a lot in common in terms of technology, community and philosophy. All three are open source software, which means they are free to use. They all have some great features, are built on PHP, and use MySQL as their database management system. Finally, they all use themes / templates for visual presentation of sites and have many plugins / modules that can add extra functionality to your website.

While these popular CMSs are similar in many ways, they also have some major differences as to what is included in the core software. They differ on how each system handles plugins and themes, how they handle security and other differences that have a major impact on users, and how you will build your website. 

This CMS comparison chart highlights the main differences:

Now let’s take a deeper look at each of the three platforms.

1. WordPress

 
WordPress is the most popular CMS. More than 30% of all sites using a CMS run on WordPress. It started as a simple blogging platform, but has quickly grown into a CMS capable of handling complex websites such as TechCrunch and Time Inc ..

WordPress has many benefits for small business owners who want to build their own website. Some of those benefits are:

• Ease of Use  – Most hosting companies offer a click install of WordPress and even a novice user can install it, choose a theme and have a website up and running in five minutes. The dashboard is simple and intuitive and requires no technical knowledge.
• Free  – WordPress software is open source and completely free to use.
• The Customizable  – With thousands of themes and plugins available, you can create any type of website you need, and because WordPress is so popular, you’ll find plenty of designers and developers who can create a custom website for you.
• Community Help  – Again, due to the large number of websites, the number of WordPress-specific tips is large and their own support forum is filled with WordPress experts who can answer your questions in minutes.

WordPress isn’t perfect. There are some drawbacks that come with it, such as:

• Larger, more complex sites can quickly become resource hogs and require an upgrade to the hosting plan.
• It’s an API that isn’t very user-friendly which means the core of WordPress is difficult to change, so those looking for back-end changes to their websites are likely to run into some issues.

When it comes to learning WordPress, there are hundreds of websites that provide tutorials on everything WordPress offers. From simple how-tos to explaining WordPress themes to WordPress security tips – you can find a tutorial on just about anything.

Apart from that, you can also ask questions about WordPress StackExchange and get an answer to your problem pretty quickly.

Design-wise, free themes and plugins are available in the official theme and plugin repository. While free themes may seem good at first, you will quickly find that they are all rather limited in design and functionality.

Marketplaces like ThemeForest offer many premium quality WordPress themes that are filled with multifunctional features and creative designs that will make your website stand out.

2. Joomla

 
Some consider Joomla to be the middle way between WordPress and Drupal. It is a powerful CMS that can handle complex websites reasonably well yet does not require as much technical knowledge as Drupal. Joomla supports websites such as Harvard University and Linux. It still offers plenty of features such as:

• Social Networking  – Joomla makes it really easy to create social networks that can be a strong asset for many sites.
• Commerce Sites  – Setting up an eCommerce website is a lot faster and easier with Joomla than with Drupal and WordPress because Joomla has more native support for it.
• Not Too Technical –  Although Joomla requires a bit more technical knowledge than WordPress, it is still approachable for those with experience in web development.
• Help Portal  – Joomla provides a great help portal for asking questions and getting technical support. It’s a little less comprehensive than WordPress’s community-based support pages, but it’s faster (and cheaper) than tech support most people get for Drupal.
• Free  – Like WordPress, Joomla is free to use.

When it comes to the cons, Joomla has its own set of cons, namely:

• Learning Curve – While not overly technical, Joomla requires some time investment to become familiar with the platform.
• Limited SEO – While it has some basic SEO capabilities, Joomla requires extensive work to achieve the same level of search engine friendliness as WordPress.

When it comes to learning Joomla, besides their own help portal, you will find many tutorials in their documentation. The Envato Community also has helpful Joomla tutorials, such as an overview of Joomla CMS, building a social networking site, and customizing Joomla templates.

3. Drupal

 
Drupal is the second most popular CMS, powering 8% of the websites running a CMS. It is extremely powerful and less resource intensive which means it is best suited for large and complex websites. Sites running on Drupal include University of Oxford and The Weather Channel. Some of the advantages of Drupal are:

• Flexibility  – With nearly 2000 themes and over 7000 extensions, Drupal is easy to customize. And since you can edit the core files with relative ease, it is the most flexible of the top three CMSs.
• Improved Performance – Websites built with Drupal load faster than those built with Joomla and WordPress.
• Free – Like WordPress and Joomla, Drupal is free to use.
• Community Help – Support is available at drupal.org, as well as Stack Exchange and many other sites.

Unfortunately, as powerful as Drupal is, it comes with its own set of drawbacks, the biggest of which are:

• Steep Learning Curve – If you need more than a basic blog or a small business website, you most likely need technical support, which means you need someone to create the website, the modules, and provide support along the way.

If you’re looking for a few tutorials to get you started with Drupal, our Drupal tutorial is a step in the right direction. Once you know what Drupal is, you may want to take a look at how to implement a business theme with Drupal.

How to choose the right CMS?

There is no doubt that all three content management systems offer great benefits. And if you go online hoping to find a definitive answer, you’ll run into fans of all three content management systems, claiming their favorite CMS is the best.

Of course, this doesn’t make your decision any easier, so how do you tell which CMS to choose? Do you choose WordPress, Joomla or Drupal for your small business website?

Unfortunately, there is no universal answer. The fact is that every company and website is unique and every situation requires a different solution.

Joomla is better suited for medium sized websites or those who want social networking and community oriented websites.

Drupal, on the other hand, is the most logical solution for large, complex websites that require extensive features and scalability.

For those looking to set up a simple website for their small business, WordPress is probably the way to go.

Another thing to consider is your technical skills. If you are not tech savvy, WordPress is definitely the way to go as it is the easiest way to set up and use. On the other hand, if you have some technical skills or are willing to pay for someone to handle the technical side of things for you, then Joomla or Drupal might be a bit more up your alley.

What if you make the wrong choice?

You may choose a CMS and later realize you made a mistake. In most cases nowadays it is quite easy to migrate from one CMS to another. However, keep in mind that in order to migrate your website from one content management system to another, you need to set aside some time and be familiar with the process to ensure the migration goes smoothly.

WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal: decision time

When it comes to content management systems, WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are the most popular solutions. All three offer some great benefits such as community support, different themes to give you a nice looking website, plugins and extensions that allow you to add extra functionality to your website and use all three for free on your own hosting plan. However, they each have their own set of drawbacks.

If you are just starting out, WordPress is probably the best option. It is easy to use and there are many WordPress themes to get you started. But that considered Joomla! and Drupal are also good options, offering a bit more flexibility if you want to get your hands dirty in code. And of course we have many Drupal templates and Joomla! templates available here too, which you can use to start your site.

Making a choice is certainly not easy, so you should keep in mind what the main purpose of your website is, what your overall budget is, as well as your own level of technical expertise, or your own if you plan on dealing with a professional web. to work. developer.

WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal CMS Guide gives you some critical points to consider, links to key CMS resources, and where to dig deeper to make your decision.