WordPress VS Joomla! VS Drupal – The Battle of the Fittest

When creating a website, aside from choosing a hosting package and a domain name, one of the first things you have to do is choose an ideal CMS (content management system). Although there are more than 2000 different CMSs available to us, some classified as open source others as commercial, there are three names that pop out each time you google the term CMS: WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal. Together they make up for more than 80 percent of the CMS market share. All three might be considered veterans. Drupal was the first to hit the market in 2001, followed by WordPress and Joomla! that we released in 2003 and 2005, respectively.

Placing the right bet

First things first, when choosing a CMS for your website, you need to scale your needs and desires. Each of the three have their target groups and excel at one thing or another.

WordPress: In its infancy, WordPress was a mere blogging platform, but has since evolved into a versatile monster it is today. Though it is still a No. 1 choice for all those undemanding users and their simplistic websites, it has become powerful enough to compete in the major league. TechCrunch, Mashable, Sony, CNN, are just some of the highly popular sites powered by WordPress.

Drupal: Among the three, Drupal has no equal when it comes to dealing with complex websites and the needs of advanced users. The CMS itself is complex and has a steep learning curve, thus it is not recommended for beginners. Sites like BBC, Al Jazeera, Gatwick Airport, Fox, Red Hat have recognized the power of Drupal, and are using it to drive their web presentations.

Joomla!: If you were an ancient Greek, Joomla! would probably be your favourite. The reason behind this is that Joomla! is in the middle of everything. The learning curve is not as steep as Drupal’s, but also not as simple as WordPress’. Joomla! excels at providing content management solutions for sites that deal in ecommerce and social networking. The most notable websites powered by Joomla! are: Harward, Ikea, Linux, and McDonalds.

Extra Features

While Joomla! and Drupal are heavily armed to start with, WordPress is highly dependant on plugins to achieve the basic functionalities of the previous two. Comparing the repositories of available plugins of all three systems, we can see that WordPress is in the lead with more than 40k plugins. In close second is Drupal, with more than 30k modules (as they are called) and at the frontend is Joomla! with just below 8K extensions. However, the sheer amount of the plugins doesn’t always mean high quality, so don’t be turned down by the numbers.

Top WordPress plugins include:

• Google XML Sitemaps
• W3 Total Cache
• iThemes Security (formerly Better WP Security)
• Yoast SEO
• Shortcodes Ultimate
• Contact Form 7
• Tickera WP Event Ticketing Plugin
• Fast Secure Contact Form
• UpdraftPlus Backup and Restoration
• Google Analytics by Yoast
• WooCommerce
• Social Media and Share Icons (Ultimate Social Media)

On the other hand, Drupal uses modules system which is fairly similar to WordPress plugins. The most prominent ones are:

• Chaos tools suite
• Webform
• IMCE
• Google Analytics
• Pathauto
• Token
• Backup and Migrate
• Module Filter

Lastly, Joomla! with its fairly lesser amount of plugins (extensions) is not to be mistaken for a lesser CMS. Joomla! already comes with certain functions that bare WordPress lacks, and for that reason WordPress has a larger plugin base. Top Joomla! extensions are:

• Joomla Content Editor
• Akeeba Backup
• Widgetkit
• Advanced Modules Manager
• Modules Anywhere
• Zoo
• Gantry
• JEvents
• JSN PowerAdmin

These are mere grains of sand in the deserts of all available plugins, and for full lists of plugins, extension and modules, it is best you browse the official libraries of WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal.

The Standoff

Finally, how does the trio fare against each other in direct comparison?

Finally, how does the trio fare against each other in direct comparison?

Weighing in all the pros and cons, it is easy to see that each of the CMSs has its target audience. Some are after less demanding users, others aim at the enterprise market, and there are those who are caught in the space between the first two. The times of WordPress being considered a mere blogging platform are long gone. Though it has cemented as the leading CMS, WordPress is constantly working on drawing in more demanding users and companies.

Overall, it is difficult to pronounce a single CMS as victorious, as they are quite different at the core. Nevertheless, we ought to show some respect to the numbers held by WordPress, and wait and see can any of the later two challenge the throne.

Bio: Marcus Jensen is an IT professional. He is an Editor-in-Chief of technivorz.com, and writes about technology, business and marketing.

Marcus Jensen / Editor-in-Chief
marcus@technivorz.com

Technivorz
http://technivorz.com