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While WordPress powers more than 41% of all websites on the internet, it’s not the only open-source content management system (CMS) in the market. There are other popular software options available like Joomla and Drupal.
All three of them have a lot in common and many significant differences. Each one of them is a unique website builder with pros and cons.
In this, I will compare WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal to find out which one is the best choice for you.
What’s Common in WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal?
All three of the web’s most popular CMS have a lot in common in terms of technology, philosophy, and community.
· WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are all free and open-source software licensed under GPL. See our article on why is WordPress free to learn more about free software.
· All three of them are written primarily in PHP.
· They all support MySQL as their database management system. WordPress exclusively supports only MySQL, while Joomla and Drupal support other database management systems.
· All three of them use themes and templates for the visual appearance of sites, and plugins, modules, or extensions for extending features.
· As open-source software, they are all community-driven projects.
While there are a lot of similarities, they are different in many aspects.
For instance, they have different policies about what to include in the core software, how to handle modules and templates, how to deal with security, etc.
These differences make a big impact on users, and how they build their websites.
Themes and Addons
All three of these popular CMS come with themes and plugins/modules as a way to extend the features and appearance of the software.
Themes control the appearance of your website and how it looks to your users. Plugins or Modules are like apps for your CMS.
Let’s see how these three major CMS software performs in this category.
WordPress
WordPress allows users to change their site’s appearance using themes. WordPress comes with a few default themes pre-installed.
At any time, you can click on the add new button from your Appearance page and install free WordPress themes from the official Wordpress.org theme directory.
Apart from free themes, you will find many more premium WordPress themes developed by third-party theme shops like StudioPress, Astra Theme, Elegant Themes, and more. These are paid themes and come with premium support options.
Joomla
Just like WordPress, Joomla also comes with templates and extensions. There are great extensions to do just about anything from creating an eCommerce store to managing email.
However, the quantity of these templates and extensions is not as high as WordPress. This could make finding the perfect template and the perfect extensions a bit difficult.
By default, Joomla does not have a feature that would allow users to search and install extensions or templates from the administration area. There is an extension that allows you to add the “install from web” feature for extensions. But for templates, users will still have to manually search templates and then install them by adding their URL.
Drupal
Drupal has the same issue with the availability of themes and modules. Users will have to leave their site, search for the module and theme they want to add, then locate the project’s zip file URL. Finally, they can enter the URL in the Modules or Themes page to install them.
There are modules to do just about anything and new ones are added regularly. Still, the overall quantity of modules is lacking when compared to WordPress.
Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress are all fantastic content management systems. Drupal and Joomla come with many more built-in features than WordPress.
However, WordPress beats them with its ease of use, huge global community, plugins, and themes. I feel that most non-developer users would find it much easier to build with WordPress than Joomla or Drupal.
With over 55,000 WordPress plugins, you can add just about any feature or build any type of website that you like (without writing code).
Overall Winner: WordPress
I hope this helped you compare WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal, to find out the best CMS for your site. for more information:
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