When to Choose Drupal over WordPress
For most of you, I will suggest you use WordPress. End of story. It is easy to use, easy to optimize for search engines, easy to install and to upgrade. Drupal is complex and typically needs a web developer to set it up (will this change with Drupal 7? Wait and see).
So why should some companies or organizations go with Drupal? I’m sure Drupal experts will have more answers than these, but at present I have three:
- Dates: Dates and its various formats are built into the Drupal core. I did a calendar for WordPress, and the only place dates are set up as dates is in the scheduling and publishing function, so at first I used that for the calendar. Later we switched to using custom fields, which I would suggest with WordPress. Will WordPress 3.0 and its new content type functionality help make dates easier to use in WordPress?
- Fine tuned Roles and Permissions: Also built into Drupal is the capability to put users in certain roles and fine tune the permissions allowed for each user. I am currently using a Drupal module called Taxonomy Access Control to do the fine tuning of permissions.
- Views: once you learn how to use Views in Drupal, you can display your data in multiple ways and locations on your site.
If you have worked with both WordPress and Drupal, what do you see as the strengths of these two systems? Weaknesses? Looking forward as both grow and continue to compete with each other.
Some links that discuss WordPress and Drupal:
- Comparisons between WordPress and Drupal
- Drupal vs WordPress: Which one is right for you?
- Drupal 7 vs. WordPress 3: Battle of the New Features
(Oh, and that’s not the *real* Drupal icon on the upper right of this post – that’s my dressed up version).
Great points Leora. This definitely helps deciding between WordPress and Drupal based on type of project!
Thanks, Dhaval. A friend pointed out that he chose WordPress for a client who needed simple – but later found out the client wanted to add a shopping cart, which Drupal has Ubercart (the WordPress shopping carts aren’t as good).
I wonder if we will start seeing website hybrids – with a website running both of these, each for their strengths.
No, not worth it, and not possible in the same space, maybe on a different subdomain, but the trouble here is not worth it all. Drupal is so much more powerful than WP. The link at the bottom comparing the new WP 3 and D7 is quite accurate.
I have clients who have used Drupal who switch to WordPress and are so much happier, because it is easier to use. Sometimes too many options can be overwhelming – a lot of people get stuck on forgetting to allow permissions in Drupal, for example, so data doesn’t show up.
WP is still so much a blog platform than a general CMS. I’m not complaining. In fact I love WP for being the blog platform that it is now. If only they would lean a little more towards being a CMS that would be great. Plugins can’t solve it all and some plugins are written terribly.
Hurtig lån´s last [type] ..Ferratum
I agree with you about the plugins for WordPress – many are not well-written, whereas many of the modules for Drupal are very strong. I hope that with Drupal 7 it will become easier for those with few development skills to make use of Drupal and build on it when fitting. For many of my clients, just getting a new page of content up every now and then is enough of a struggle … and WordPress can clearly deal with that – it’s not just for blogging.
Wow, the dates thing really does become a hindrance quickly.
A recent comment line in some php code for a WordPress plugin mod I did:
#Workaround for time part since the date doesn’t include time zone
Hmm, going to start playing with Drupal a bit I guess…
Joseph Hoetzl´s last [type] ..Integrating slideshowpro with galleria using php
The intricacies of dates in Drupal is great. Between that and the ease of setting up a form in Drupal convinced me to write this post.
Glad the post is getting feedback and discussion!
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I agree on the first two points, but on the third I would say WordPress is equal or better in the long run. It’s much easier to use and customize to begin with. And it has more plugins available.
Sparkonton´s last [type] ..Akelius Spar
Leora,
As you said, the only problem is, it is not as easy to learn as wordpress is. WordPress is way more powerful now than it was 2 year ago. One click upgrade of plugin, software and themes makes it all hassal free honestly. I always prefer WP unless i have some solid and unavoidable reason to use Drupal (or Joomla or anyone else)
Hi, I am an intern at SEO for Clients, a web development, marketting company in India.
The problem that I am facing is this:
I am developing a portal where there is a good amount of data flow but that can be handled by wordpress.
But the number of users will be much, and at various levels.
there I guess drupal may work.
why cant we have some features of drupal and some from wordpress?? :)
Which one should I choose?
Anirban´s last [type] ..Epic – Firefox Mozilla skins
The best way to learn the advantages of a CMS is to use it yourself. Build a website with Drupal. You will learn plenty.
Ubercart is ok for more advanced shopping cart add ons, but try something like elegant themes for wordpress for a basic shopping cart.
I came across this posting and even though it was back in June, hope i can get some help! All you say makes a lot of sense, i’m pushing to find a way to make wordpress for me, as I don’t want to over complicate things unnecessarily. HOWEVER, i’m looking to build a multi-seller shop page as part of my website, which I’ve seen that you can do with ubercart.
Is there any plugin/software that you know works for this well with wordpress?
Thank you so much!
PS. I’m not a developer, i like to understand and get into things, so I’m not afraid of drupal per se, but i know it will be a lot of hard work understanding it.
Karen, when I was investigating shopping carts, I had a lot of problems with the few WordPress ecommerce plugins that I tried. It seemed that when you wanted anything other than the basics, for example, on shipping charges, the plugin would fail.
However, that was a year ago – you might want to Google “wordpress ecommerce plugins” – there are tons of posts on this topic.
Thank you so much Leora, I appreciate it! Seems i will need to go with drupal, WP seems to be better suited for simple shopping carts.