/ Published in Website Tips

WordPress VS Drupal: Which is Better?

Author- Phoebe Doherty

Both released a couple of years apart, WordPress and Drupal are giant players in the CMS market, however WordPress has gained more popularity over the years- in fact 10 times more popularity. But is it 10 times better?

Our SEO specialist Vikas Rana believes they both have they their excellent features, but it comes down to knowing exactly how to use it. “Drupal and WordPress are both brilliant and have specific features, it is just a matter of knowing what is right for you”, he says.

 

 1. Ease of use

The first factor on deciding which one to choose should be how easy the website is to use. If you have limited knowledge on how making websites work, and the development process works and you need to get to grips with your CMS straight away, just bypass Drupal. Drupal is a great deal more complicated than WordPress’ ultra-user-friendly one. With WordPress, you can start blogging within minutes of opening up the webpage.

WordPress also has a brilliant community who are there to help you with any questions and queries in regards to your website. Passionate people want to give others advice based on their own experience, which Is a great way to learn from others and a great way to make your website better. Drupal has a community as well, but it is a great deal smaller than WordPress’.

 

2. Customisation Options

The easiest way to customise your website is through themes and plugins that are relevant to your website. Adding these themes and plugins takes your website from a blank canvas to something that fits your every need. WordPress takes the cake here, as it has nearly 37,000 plugins and a variety of free and premium themes.

Drupal also offers flexibility on their page types without the need for plugins. However, if you want the convenience of using a plugin, Drupal uses modules instead of plugins and the good come at a cost. There are also limited themes available, so you will need to seek out a designer to help you turn your site into something amazing.

 

3. Cost

Drupal developers are less easy to get a hold of than WordPress developers and can therefore charge a great deal more. Both websites are free to download, but the premium plugins and themes for Drupal cost a lost more than WordPress, whereas there are lot of free options on the WordPress market.

 

4. Security

Many WordPress plugins can have vulnerabilities and can be hacked, particularly if the website owner doesn’t update to the latest version or the plugin gets old. Hackers might simply target WordPress because it is so popular. Drupal has enterprise-level security and provides in-depth security reports, hence why you will find governments using it.

 

5. Which one does Google prefer?

Drupal’s pages tend to load faster due to its default caching features, and search engines put a preference on faster websites. The simplicity of WordPress sites makes them search engine friendly. It is so easy for any user to edit tags and internal links. Also pretty easy to modify site structure if required. These are some of the things which are good for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).  For Drupal however, you may need your developer’s help every time you need to edit any tags for SEO purpose. This can slow down the process.

In the end, both have positives and negatives and which one is better depends on individual’s situation based on all of the above mentioned factors.

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Vikas Rana

Vikas is founder and SEO consultant at WebsiteFix. In last 9+ yrs, Vikas has worked with over 100 SMEs, helped some of Australia's top brands and publicly listed companies.

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