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Wordpress vs Joomla vs Drupal: Discuss the Pros and Cons
I love Drupal for a variety of reasons but hate its theming part; I love WordPress for being simple but it disappoints me when it comes to creating eCommerce websites, shopping carts etc.
Which one is your favorite and why?
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11 Answers
This site has a great list of content management systems and the capability to compare them: http://www.cmsmatrix.org. Select the ones you want, then compare them side by side for all of the features contained in any CMS. A huge tool, especially since choosing an appropriate CMS is so important to a company.
When we reviewed content management systems a few years ago we looked at Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal as well as Ektron, DotNetNuke and many others. DotNetNuke, of course, is a Microsoft-centric CMS and Ektron is very popular, but starts at about $30,000. We evaluated a lot of criteria including up-front cost and estimated cost to create a website with the functionality we needed.
Our main business requirement was to have a CMS we could use to create client websites that cost-effectively brings in leads and sales. Customization was paramount because each of our customers had different business requirements.
In order to meet these business requirements we boiled down our technical requirements to:
- They had to be able to distribute content to many Internet distribution points like:
* The top search engines
* RSS aggregator sites
* Ping sites that relay your content to many other content sites
* Social Media sites
* Social Bookmarking sites
- They had to be capable of error-free, W3C compliant HTML and CSS code
- They had to be capable of fast page load times - now a ranking factor in Google rankings and a cost factor in Google Pay-Per-Click advertising
- They had to be capable of fast and intelligent design changes - like themes or templates
- They had to be capable of a high degree of usability
- In some cases accessibility is a requirement, so the tool had to be able to create sites that are W3C and Section 508 accessible
We ultimately chose Wordpress. We tested Joomla and Drupal but the customization required to build sites to our specs was either too excessive or just wasn't there.
Wordpress has since proven to be a great choice. We have built many sites for customers with it and it never disappoints us. The content distribution we achieve is massive - content goes out to 10's of thousands of sites and you can find your content in Google within 5 minutes after publishing it.
I blog about all of these topics regularly at http://www.21stsoft.com/denver-seo-company-blog/. I have also created a detailed tutorial on how to create a custom Wordpress theme at http://www.21stsoft.com/wordpress-tutorial-seo-optimized-cms-installation-cas...
I am sure that if you choose Wordpress you will not be disappointed.
I have very little experience with Drupal, but I H ave used both Wordpress and Joomla quite a bit. I think the choice comes down to what you plan to do with the site.
If it is going to be a full blown content site with multiple types of media, I prefer Joomla. It is more powerful in the area of controlling lots of content. However, I love Wordpress for sites that are smaller in scale and are more blog driven.
WP has a much easier interface for most users, but when you try to add functionality, it can become a bit clunky. Joomla (and I imagine Drupal) are much better when it comes to controlling large amounts of data and growing with you as the site grows.
I think the key is to evaluate what you plan for the site you are building and make sure to lay the groundwork on the front end to allow for expansion later.
I'm sure Focus isn't short of web developers.
Looking forward to a constructive discussion.
WordPress is gaining momentum. Their main value proposition is the ease of use with the user interface and back end system. Drupal is widely known to offer a wide variety of features with their CMS system. Drupal is popular for its scalable potential and ability to grow with a business. Wordpress, Joomla! and Drupal are similar because they offer the ability to add plugins for virtually anything from SEO to security, widgets and themes. A draw to this system is that there is no need for FTP access. Drupal’s myriad of plugins are very functional however they aren’t as easy to use as WordPress or Joomla, but they are more customizable.
Joomla! and WordPress are both known for their user-friendly interface. Drupal, however may be able to last you a bit longer, but also take some time to master. For those looking for slick web design and creative plugins, Joomla! and Wordpress take the cake. For those looking to optimize things such as load times and performance, while planning for the future, think Drupal. Take a look at the 2010 numbers comparing all three platforms:
Downloads Per Week in 2010
Wordpress 983,625
Joomla! 113,836
Drupal 33,671
What Are Most Sites Running On?
WordPress 12.9%
Joomla! 2.5%
Drupal 1.4%
Any Preferred CMS and if so, which one?
Joomla! 1105
Wordpress 278
Drupal 318
I think Mark summed it up pretty well. As an Internet Presence consultancy, we opted to go with Wordpress. The market determines where the creative developers will focus. With 9 times as many new instalations per week than their closet competitor, my money is on Wordpress. If the specific solution isn't available today, some combination of off-the-shelf plugins is likely to satisfy 80% of the requirements - more unified & elegant solutions are only a few months away.
The ultimate goal of any CMS driven website is the ability of an organization is easily update their site.
There many pros and cons to each content management system but it should depend on your end user's skill set. Is the administrator a techno savvy geek who is slightly dangerous since he or she knows a little html (advanced user) OR are you dealing with someone who is well versed in using Microsoft Word but is unsure how to upload a picture to Facebook (basic user)?
Joomla and Drupal offer advanced functionality but their administrative tools (back-end interfaces) are not intuitive with large learning curves. WordPress is slightly less intimidating but as more third party tools (widgets) are installed (e.g., photo albums, e-commerce) the process (number of clicks) can skyrocket.
Overall I advise clients against using Drupal and Joomla since their code is clunky thus leading to slow load times. Furthermore their Admin Tools look like the cockpit of a 747, unwieldy. I would agree with Stephen, WordPress is the best open-source solution. The community continues to grow. Furthermore, custom development for WordPress is faster. However, several potential clients have contacted us in regards to their sites being hacked due to gaping secure holes which comes part and parcel with open-source systems.
Using Apple's iPhone/iPad as the hallmark of simple user interaction all of these free CMS's fail. My firm (Lform) has embarked on creating our own CMS based upon a PHP framework (CodeIgniter). Developing a proprietary CMS isn't the most financial sound solution (purchase) but as the web becomes the default marketing tool for most companies the speed in which a organization can communicate their message is a key to their success.
I'm bemused by what people think makes a difference between platforms.
Websites are under pressure like never before. They are becoming just one of the "directories" people find you in - they are just as likely to look you up on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn as via your website.
They are no longer stand-alone but a hub for delivering your content, beginning interaction with prospects, upselling and cross-selling customers. They are as much about dynamic information on the move as static "What we do" statements.
The days of silo software ended in the eighties. So why are we perpetuating this with stand-alone, flat file magazines.
We should be looking at dynamically delivered pages unique to every recipient and tailored to their desires and needs.
We should have web linked with social, with email and chat, with product inventory pricing and accounts.
We should have people listening and ready to help, engage and build relationships.
We need to move on from all three of these platforms.
Peter, I agree with what you are saying about the state of web development today. There are too many ways to connect to rely solely upon you website. However, my clients are typically a small company with about 10-20 employees and they need a centralized space where they can display their wares and communicate with clients.
Getting them to understand, much less utilize, Twitter, Facebook etc is difficult at best. You suggest we move away from the CMS platform. I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on other options and how they can be used.
I have used Drupal for both internet and intranet solutions. I work with Wordpress, Joomla, and Drupal.
Joomla: I personally don’t like Joomla as a CMS, but have a few clients that use it. Plugins tend to cost more than Wordpress plugins (which are sometimes free). It requires more resources and it can be difficult to modify templates to move away from the typical box look.
Wordpress: tends to be faster then the other two CMS. Great for sites that need a repository for their posts, such as an online magazine (e.g. Talent management and Diversity magazine) or blog. As of late, I have noticed that with the more recent builds that some of the more popular plugins have been causing increased reductions in load times. For example, one of my clients had a 3 -20 second load time per page after they installed a plugin. I disabled it and the load times were well under 1 second.
Drupal: The hardest of the 3 to configure, but lots of customization options, community support (huge plus), and plugins tend to be free. The user account capabilities are also better. Drupal’s newest version requires more resources, so good luck with load times if you are on a shared host.
Personally, Wordpress is my preferred choice, as it requires the least amount of work to implement and maintain.
Fun fact: Whitehouse.gov uses Drupal
http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/10/whitehouse-switch-drupal-opensource.html
Hey Jason, nice response.
What plugin was it that bogged down Wordpress?
Michael,
I cannot remember the exact name off the top of my head, but the plugin basically added social media buttons to each page/post (i.e. quickly Tweet or post to Facebook in one click).
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