10 Key Differences between Drupal and WordPress

The battle between WordPress and Drupal is an old one. Some go with the advanced WordPress features such as blogging, media library, static page cache or widget management. However, some prefer the wide ranging Content management System by Drupal. Both the Drupal and WordPress lovers stand strong on their respective reasons.

These web platforms have both been written in PHP and based on the Model View Controller System. Therefore, sometimes it is hard to draw the parallel between the two. In order to know what suits best for your business, read the following basic ten differences between the Drupal and the WordPress and judge for yourself.

1. The point that pops at the outset while differentiating between the two platforms lies in the nature of the two. Drupal is a full-fledged Content management System (CMS) which offers more complex functions and features.  This multi-functional platform can be used to craft e-commerce websites or corporate sites. However, WordPress on the other hand has been designed as a blog engine. Though it can also be employed as a CMS, it is more of an advanced publishing system.
2. Owing to its several functions and multifaceted features, Drupal Development Company assumes that various types of users with distinct controls will be administering the website. Whereas WordPress presumes only a single user who would simply be operating the blog. This presumption can serve as a deciding factor when selecting between Drupal and WordPress.
3. In terms of functionality, Drupal has been integrated with a variety of modules while the WordPress is an assortment of a number of plugins. Generally, modules are more advanced and direct in the form. Plugins on the other hand are lighter versions of these modules and hence easy to understand and operate.
4. WordPress comes with a default spam filtering software- Akismet which is extremely free for the user. Drupal’s spam filter Mollom is based on CAPTCHAs and context analysis.
5. While WordPress works only with the MySQL database, Drupal, on the contrary can connect with any database because of its database abstraction layer feature.
6. Another amazing feature provided by Drupal is that it allows the user to configure Blocks setting from the admin panel. Yes, in Drupal you can place the content in various different parts of the page in the form of blocks. However, WordPress is short of this functionality.
7. Both the Drupal and WordPress permit to alter the feel and the look of the website using the available template files. Drupal templates can be broken down and reconstructed accordingly through different template languages such as PHPTAL, PHP Template and Smarty. WordPress has been integrated with its own variable template tags.
8. Though Drupal development company provides its users with highly customized features, the WordPress services offer much more plugins and themes. Since WordPress has been releasing new versions every now and then, sometimes third party plugins might depend on a particular version.
9. WordPress is structured around categories, posts, tags, comments, links and pages. However, Drupal has been built on ‘Nodes’. These are forms of objects which uses different data types such as an article, a news item, a story, a blog post or a recipe and others as their primary elements. Drupal users can further augment features like comments, location details, ratings and other add-ons of the similar kind.
10. The designing of both the Drupal and the WordPress has been based on two entirely different roots. WordPress serves as an online community with single handed features and a purpose to allow publishing without any prior need of a personal web host. However, Drupal has been specifically designed for the creation of web sites other hosting accounts.