Drupal vs Joomla: Choose the Best CMS for Your Website

Before starting your website, you need to plan with a clear picture. What you need first is a reliable platform like a CMS (Content management system). The two most popular ones include Drupal and Joomla. Today we will talk about Drupal vs Joomla and which is better.

To choose between which of these two, Drupal or Joomla is the right CMS for your website, look for their features like, Website management, Ease of use, Performance, Customization, Security. When these 5 elements combine, they tell you which is the best of these two for your web needs. Now let’s start with Drupal vs Joomla in detail.

What differentiates Drupal and Joomla from each other?

Drupal Joomla discussion can be a long one but there is one key difference between the two. Both are open-source CMSs with identical features. However, they differ regarding Target Audience and their ease of use. Joomla is fairly easier to use with its interactive interface and is a great choice for budding website developers. As for Drupal, it is a bit complex in usage. Mostly veteran developers use it for making complex websites.

Drupal vs Joomla – A Short Introduction

You need to be clear on one thing that Drupal and Joomla both are self-hosted CMSs. They both have open-source software allowing anyone to download and set up on a dedicated hosting server they like. For robust performance, we recommend a CMS hosting plan for increased performance. There are lots of website hosting providers but choose one as per your budget and needs.

Joomla has a PHP base, giving you the power to create any kind of website. You also get creative control for site management. Joomla is only second in terms of popularity when compared to WordPress.

Drupal falls under the niche choice category of CMS platforms. In fact, Professional web developers use Drupal to make complex websites due to its distinct built-in features.

The thing you need to understand is whether Drupal or Joomla, they have almost identical functionalities. The key difference is the target audience that uses them.

Drupal vs Joomla: User Friendly

When building a new website, you require a CMS with flexibility in features. If a CMS requires weeks of tutorial training, then it cannot be a user-friendly one.

Drupal:

Drupal’s dashboard is not as sleek as Joomla. It offers even fewer options as compared to Joomla. Still, it offers:

• Lots of settings that a mid-level developer can use with ease.
• Drupal has a limited number of Text Format options. If you have basic HTML knowledge then you are golden. Perform as much formatting as you like.
• Drupal has a recurring theme and requires prior web development knowledge to make a website.

Joomla:

Joomla strikes even beginner web developers as an ideal choice with its enriched features. The ease of use for the features makes it even better. This simplicity in usage is apparent right after you log into the dashboard of this CMS.

There are lots of features like:

• Clicking on the Article tab presents a list of all the published content.
• Create new articles by clicking on the tab Text Editor.
• Joomla’s Text Editor offers lots of built-in SEO options for developers to leverage.

Winner:

Joomla certainly holds an edge in this feature over Drupal.

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Drupal vs Joomla: Website Control

You also need a CMS with plenty of website controls for management. An efficient CMS is one that helps you perform your website’s day-to-day tasks efficiently.

Drupal:

In the site control area, Drupal goes a step beyond than Joomla with plenty of options. There are advanced management options like:

• A Built-in Error logging
• Cron Tasks
• Storing queries of visitors on the website

Joomla:

Joomla gives developers lots of customization options like:

• You can tweak the SEO of your website.
• Enable CAPTCHAs
• Configure Cache Setting
• Setting up Multiple languages

Winner:

While both these CMSs fulfil basic web development needs, there is a clear distinction between the two. On the basis of Increased Site Control and Management, Drupal is a clear winner – offering detailed configuration settings.

Drupal vs Joomla: Customization Flexibility

It is possible to set up a website on any type of CMS. However, how much customization flexibility a CMS offers is to be kept in mind. Joomla and Drupal have equally stellar customization options due to their versatile module systems and themes. Both of them are open-source platforms.

Drupal:

• Drupal is even better than Joomla with modules. There are almost 40,000+ module systems in Drupal’s repository – only the second largest compared to WordPress.
• Drupal homepage has a broad Theme collection with 2600+ options.

Joomla:

• Joomla offers users with 8000+ extensions to add new functions to their websites – all of them free.
• Joomla has a theme system making it easier for developer to change the style of their website.

Winner:

Drupal Joomla, both of these CMSs have full customization features. Basic web development knowledge can allow tweaking for desired functionality. Still, to pick a winner out of two; we favour Drupal. The reason is that it offers far more official customization options as compared to Joomla.

Drupal vs Joomla: Performance

The performance of a website is key to keeping visitors engaged. There are two primary factors that impact a website’s performance:

• Which CMS it is on
• What hosting server and plan you are using

Drupal:

With Drupal, you get a CMS that is known for scalability and needs fewer resources for optimum performance. It takes Drupal a lot of time before it sees a performance decrease due to increased traffic. This is the primary reason why Drupal is more popular among developers to create large trafficked websites.

Joomla:

Joomla offers a great performance for the website to keep users engaged with features like:

• Gzip Compression
• Caching
• Enabling these features improves your website’s loading period.

Of course, in cases of both these CMSs, hosting service and a proper plan are of critical importance. You need a hosting plan for a website that receives traffic of thousands each day. In case, you are a small business on a budget and looking to build a website, a cPanel VPS Hosting can benefit you.

Winner:

There is no clear winner because there are multiple VPS hosting services for both Drupal and Joomla – making it possible to create a fast website.

Drupal vs Joomla: Security

This is a hard truth that most websites store some of the user information regardless of their permission. This is why choosing the right CMS is essential when it comes to visitors’ information security.

Drupal Joomla:

The good news is that whether it is Drupal or Joomla, both have excellent security features. They both suffered some security breaches but that is expected considering their popularity. The plus side is that such security breaches lead to early detection and patching of these CMSs. Both platforms offer security tweaking to improve the website’s security.

A strong admin password and up-to-date software is all you need.

Drupal vs Joomla: Quick Comparison

Conclusion

Joomla offers ease of use with its sleek dashboard and variety of features – an ideal choice for beginner developers. Drupal, on the other hand, gives advanced website control with its extensive customizability features – a CMS for experienced developers. Both of these CMSs have robust security features with optimum performance. However, a dedicated hosting plan or a VM service is needed for improved performance. For a blend of versatility and simplicity, Joomla is suitable for beginners. For more intricate website development needs, Drupal is your go-to CMS platform. Shared hosting vs Dedicated hosting is also a comparison you need to make before opting for a plan. Considering your website’s needs and your own expertise will help make the decision of choosing Drupal or Joomla easier.

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