When you are thinking to build a website using a content management system, then which platform should be used is very important decision. WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are ahead in the race of platforms to build a website. All three are open-source and so free to use. Together they acquire about 71% of the CMS Market. WordPress, Joomla and Joomla all three CMS software were introduced in the early first decade of the 21st century. These three allows you to build and manage websites without being a web developer. In comparison debate of these three, each one of them tried to prove them best. But they still have their own pros and cons. In this blog, we will compare WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal to based on features, performance, security and also popularity.
WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal to based on features
1.Popularity-
- WordPress- Principle technology of WordPress in background is PHP with SQL database. It shares a market about 60% and increasing continuously. WordPress crossed 30% threshold for overall usage. Near about 560 million websites run on WordPress and this makes WordPress the rapidly growing CMS of last decade.
- Joomla- Joomla is the second most famous CMS on the web. Market share of Joomla on CMS market is about 6.3%. About 3.1% of all websites on interest works on it, which means about 58 million websites. Joomla is based on PHP and SQL database. It has been downloaded more than 93 million times.
- Drupal- First version of Drupal released in 2001 and now it is the third most popular platform for building websites. The main principle of Drupal is PHP and it is also open- source and community run software. Overall market share of Drupal is 2.2%, which means about 41 million websites are running with Drupal platform. It is the most technically advanced CMS.
2. Installation and ease of use-
- WordPress- WordPress comes with a famous five minute install. Most of the host providers offer one click install of WordPress. Main principle technology of WordPress is PHP with SQL database. Setup is snappy and simple.The user experience of WordPress after installation is superior than Joomla or Drupal. For complex layouts, page builders are used in WordPress. These allows beginners to create and change the appearance of pages with graphic interface instead of coding. The user can see a simple user interface with menus to create posts or start customizing appearance. All these makes WordPress simple to teach WordPress to clients.
- Joomla- Installation of Joomla is not as fast as WordPress. After installation user came to the control panel that is not easy as that of WordPress. In account of complexity Joomla is in between WordPress and Drupal. There will be more menus to click on and customize a site, so this makes it more powerful than WordPress. It offers more functionality than that of WordPress but it is more complex.
- Drupal- Installation of Drupal is similar to Joomla and WordPress. Just download and upload package and run installation script. Drupal is famous for its flexibility and this spoils its simplicity. It is mainly focused on developers, not beginners. Drupal is difficult as compared to others. It is most technically advanced platform. It requires working knowledge of PHP, HTML and other programming languages to make a successful changes. The post installation experience for absolute beginners is a bit complicated.
3. Cost and Expenses-
Important factor in building a website is how much it will cost to build. As all the above systems in our CMS comparison are open source and free to use but sometimes building a website comes with expenses though your CMS is free.
- WordPress- The additional cost will require due to premium plugins,themes and extensions in wordpress. Next cost factor is professional help that might be required to implement complex things in your site. Because of its popularity these services are easily available and affordable. WordPress is a great option to build a website in a cheap rate.
- Joomla- Cost required to run a Joomla site is similar to that of WordPress. It is free but has some premium templates and extensions. Prices are at the same range as that of WordPress
- Drupal- It is made for fast performance. You may need some premium themes whose cost is same as that of the other two platforms. Drupal is not for the beginners. If you are not a developer and want to build a site, you have to pay someone. So the development costs should be considered in your budget.
4. Themes-
- WordPress- There are 55000 plugins and several thousand themes available to customize your site. Instead of free themes, it also has premium wordpress themes. You can change appearance of site using themes. WordPress can be constructed into any type of website you want to.
- Joomla- Joomla also has templates and extensions. There are many extensions available for creation of an e-commerce store to manage email. It does not have more templates as that of WordPress. As a result, it is difficult to find an appropriate template and extension that meets your requirements. Some extensions are paid.
- Drupal- Drupal offers 40,000+ modules and 2600 themes to customize your site. Clients should leave their site, look for the module and theme they want to add, then locate the project’s zip file URL. At last user can enter the URL in modules or themes to install them.
5. Support-
- WordPress- WordPress has strongest community of users. You can get WordPress help on official support forums, docs, handbooks. Slack channels. There are some websites like WPBeginner, having hundreds of tutorials, videos and articles for beginner level user. It has an option for the paid support.
- Joomla- The first address for support is official help portal. Here you can ask questions and get technical support. Community of Joomla is not as big as WordPress. For more support you can join forums, IRC chatrooms, etc.
- Drupal- You can get community support options for Drupal just like WordPress and Joomla. It has dedicated community of fans and users. There is documentation, support forum, mailing lists, user groups, IRC chatrooms. All good places to get advice and free help.
WordPress has the largest community and support options are available.
6. Performance-
- WordPress- Page loading time is an important factor for both visitors and search engines. If your site doesn’t load within a few seconds, it will affect the number of visitors to your site. The WordPress platform has shown that it can successfully handle sites with thousands of pages and millions of monthly visitors.
- Joomla- Joomla proves its good reputation in terms of performance because it has in-built performance enhancing functionality. It is completely depends on you to select plugins, images etc to load your site quickly.
- Drupal- Drupal produces the fastest- loading websites because it is less resource intensive and demanding server. Due to this support for thousands of pages and visitors is easy. It is more scalable than the other two, which makes it more popular among larger sites.
Final Words-
WordPress is beginner friendly also easy to use. Even though you are not a programmer, you can build a site with it very easily. It has largest number of strong community. It is customizable, secure and also SEO and mobile friendly. While Joomla requires some knowledge of programming languages. If you want to build a site with advanced features and more customization then Drupal should be your choice. It is not suitable for beginners. Finally the result of WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal is based on features, your requirements and budget and level of complexity of website.
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