We have implemented many blogs to date that use WordPress and have been very happy so far with the performance, feature set and flexibility of WordPress as a blog platform. Also, we have used WordPress successfully as a content management system for corporate web sites that do not have blogs. At the core of WordPress is a content management system. While it is used most commonly today for blogs, the fundamental attributes of a content management system can be found in WordPress. On first glance, WordPress contains:
- User Authentication / User Management
- Presentation Templates that support HTML/CSS integration for customization of user interfaces
- Content categories
- Content publishing capabilities with moderation
- Support for file upload and file management for use in pages
- Use of themes – both from the library or custom
- Use of plugins for additional functionality
- Suppport of Web Standards
On initial review, the core technologies appear to be very similar. Both WordPress and Drupal are open source and both have similar requirements to run in a production environment. As we continued with our review of these two products, it became more and more clear that we were reviewing two great products that were, in the final analysis, going to end up in different categories.
The Setup:
WordPress is very easy to setup and to run and with some experience, it can be setup and configured for a basic installation in minutes. Before installing and running Drupal, we had heard that Drupal was a more intricate configuration process, we did experience a slightly longer setup time but did not run into any technical difficulty in the installation process. We should note that our installation team has setup both Drupal and WordPress in the past (WordPress more than Drupal), and they are proficient with the production environments. Both environments would require experience with server administration and configuration. To your non-technical audience, neither of these platforms are for the faint of heart from an installation and configuration perspective.
Functionality:
While the WordPress community provides an extensive supply of plugins to extend its functionality, Drupal seems to come very well equipped on the initial installation. Much of the functionality available with WordPress is available on the installation of Drupal. Drupal takes it a step further in how it allows for a more dynamic structure and categorization of content based on a seemingly infinite level of configuration. This is perhaps where administrators tend to complain about the setup process of Drupal as being more cumbersome. The level of sophistication that Drupal offers regarding its taxonomy and categorization system is configurable without the need for custom coding. This is not necessarily a function that WordPress is made to handle on base installation and we have not seen a third party plugin that allows for this level of customization. Drupal also seems to go further in the area of workflow as it more naturally handles workflow through its extension modules.
The Bottom Line:
Both Drupal and WordPress are excellent products. They are widely supported and both have highly regarded sites that are utilizing their technologies. It is difficult to say if one is better than another since they both fall into different categories.
For the hard core blog where simple installation and administration is needed, WordPress is a clear favorite for most. WordPress also offers a core system that allows for simple content management and workflow management. Used as a blog/CMS, WordPress is a great choice for environments where few users will be the everyday administrators.
For those who wish to implement a more complex and further reaching social networking tool, Drupal is a clear candidate. Drupal has a more robust framework and allows social networking applictions to be elegantly integrated. For a more integrated and complex content managed and social networking application with extended user control, Drupal appears to be a clear candidate.
Stay tuned to RD2 for Drupal and WordPress web sites coming soon!
[...] WordPress VS Drupal — Archive — RD2 Blog Confirms my suspicions. WordPress, excellent blogging tool. Drupal, good for building social networking sites. (tags: wordpress drupal) [...]
Thanks, Chris. Yes, this blog has been running Drupal since about 2001. I initally went with Drupal at that time at a friend’s suggestion because I was running a multi-user blog called iaslash and Drupal was the only OSCMS at the time that did multi-user blogging well. I installed and tested it and was convinced that it was a more scalable package than anything else out there.
At that point, of course, I saw the limitations of its current categorization method and urged the developer community to rethink categories to consider a poly-hierarchical taxonomies. That lead the way, I think, to the categorization system we have now, including the refactored free tagging method. I don’t think any other OSCMS does this as well as Drupal. Drupal still needs a bit of work at making management of taxonomies more usable, but the core functionality is well-conceived and a solid performer.
The category functionality in Drupal alone is what would make me choose Drupal over WordPress. I’ve installed WordPress systems for several clients because they were already blogging with it. It can be made to perform well, but I found that there were considerable hoops to jump through to get it to function outside of a blog context. Luckily plugins make the job easy enough.
I simply find that the way Drupal is architected is elegant and intuitive for someone with PHP experience, although entry-level scripters may feel daunted. It is simple enough to find and extend functions using PHP Template. And the user-contributed modules allow me to do 90% of what I would want on any personal or client site. Because the developer community has doubled in the last few years, there are also greater resources for building customized Drupal sites these days.
But it’s the openness of the developer community to discuss and realize better ways of doing things is what keeps me using it. When I experience a true pain spot in Drupal, I feel compelled to suggest an improvement. I haven’t been as involved in the design and development discussions much in the past few years because I’ve been very busy, but I always feel like I’m part of the community because I read the blog and put in my project issues dutifully when they arise.
Anyway, that’s my 2 cents, for what it’s worth. I’ll consider and use nearly any PHP-based OSCMS for a client project, based on the particular client the needs and resources, but in the current landscape Drupal seems to fit best most of the time.
Michael, thanks for the great comment. You offer a great perspective to Drupal. Very UrlGreyHot!
Thanks for this great post. Actually I have done two sites out of WordPress. Quite impressive but we all know that WordPress is intended for blogsite but not on http://www.apnyi.org, I tried to hack the codes in order for me to satisfy the needs of our client. The nice thing with WordPress is that there are lots of community support on this – in fact all of the required features of the this site are supported with plugins coming from different peoplle who are using WordPress (thanks to you guys!). But still, I’m looking for alternative CMS for WordPress, ‘coz somehow I’m still craving for more features and the flexibilty of use.
According to my research, most web programmers will choose Drupal as CMS application. I did download Drupal 5.0 Beta. It took me a lot of times to explore the application. It kinda hard at first but the moment you discover new things and it’s great features, as a develooper I rather use this instead of WordPress even as a blog site CMS.
The downside of this newest beta version? Modules for version 4.+ is not compatible for drupal 5.0 though I know the community for this version will grow soon.
[...] The best comparison I’ve seen between the two is this post from RD2: We have implemented many blogs to date that use WordPress and have been very happy so far with the performance, feature set and flexibility of WordPress as a blog platform. Also, we have used WordPress successfully as a content management system for corporate web sites that do not have blogs. At the core of WordPress is a content management system. While it is used most commonly today for blogs, the fundamental attributes of a content management system can be found in WordPress. On first glance, WordPress contains: [...]
[...] Drupal is a full blown content management system that is much more powerful and customizable than WordPress. I’ve used Drupal in the past for a few websites I’ve made and this blog was actually my first attempt at using WordPress. If you would like to take a crack at Drupal without actually installing it, you can go to the OpenSourceCMS.org website and there will be quite possibly every open source web publishing platform listed there for you to try before you install. The specific link for Drupal is here. There’s no one reason why I’m going to migrate this blog to Drupal, but a couple of them include the lack of easy customization beyond a blog (I want more more more) and the fact that when I change something in Drupal, it happens instantly. That is been bugging the crap out of me, when you edit the theme files it takes forever to update the cache, and the only way I’ve found after reading forums and the like is to change to a different theme and then change back. There are many other WordPress vs. Drupal articles you can read here, here, here, here, and here you can read to make your own decision in the WordPress vs. Drupal debate as pertains to your situation, but I’ve made mine. [...]
[...] Drupal is a full blown content management system that is much more powerful and customizable than WordPress. I’ve used Drupal in the past for a few websites I’ve made and this blog was actually my first attempt at using WordPress. If you would like to take a crack at Drupal without actually installing it, you can go to the OpenSourceCMS.org website and there will be quite possibly every open source web publishing platform listed there for you to try before you install. The specific link for Drupal is here. There’s no one reason why I’m going to migrate this blog to Drupal, but a couple of them include the lack of easy customization beyond a blog (I want more more more) and the fact that when I change something in Drupal, it happens instantly. That is been bugging the crap out of me, when you edit the theme files it takes forever to update the cache, and the only way I’ve found after reading forums and the like is to change to a different theme and then change back. There are many other WordPress vs. Drupal articles you can read here, here, here, here, and here. Make your own decision in the WordPress vs. Drupal debate as pertains to your situation, but I’ve made mine. [...]
[...] Google WordPress vs Drupal for some good comparisons or follow these links: WordPress vs Drupal WordPress VS Drupal — Archive — RD2 Blog WordPress vs. Drupal – Battle of the CMS | Brian Chappell Drupal has excellent permission control [...]