Skip to main content
TrustRadius
Drupal

Drupal

Overview

What is Drupal?

Drupal is a free, open-source content management system written in PHP that competes primarily with Joomla and Plone. The standard release of Drupal, known as Drupal core, contains basic features such as account and menu management, RSS feeds, page layout…

Read more
Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Drupal has been widely used in a variety of industries and situations, proving itself as a robust and extensible platform that can fulfill …
Continue reading

Drupal! You beauty!

10 out of 10
February 09, 2023
  • To develop content oriented and transaction oriented sites
  • Non technical users can easily build sites using Drupal
  • Drupal 8 and above have …
Continue reading
Read all reviews

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 16 features
  • Page templates (67)
    9.5
    95%
  • Admin section (68)
    9.5
    95%
  • Code quality / cleanliness (66)
    9.1
    91%
  • Publishing workflow (67)
    9.1
    91%
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing
N/A
Unavailable

What is Drupal?

Drupal is a free, open-source content management system written in PHP that competes primarily with Joomla and Plone. The standard release of Drupal, known as Drupal core, contains basic features such as account and menu management, RSS feeds, page layout customization, and system administration.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?

28 people also want pricing

Alternatives Pricing

What is Adobe Business Catalyst (Discontinued)?

Adobe Business Catalyst was a cloud-hosted system for building and managing web content and online stores with a built-in CRM framework in addition to sales, service, and marketing features including eCommerce and Email Marketing tools. It has been end of life (EOL) since 2020.

What is UENI?

Small business owners don’t have much time to build their online presence, don’t have much money to spend on digital advertising, and don’t want to navigate the complexity of what it means to be online today. So UENI presents a solution built specifically for them. Unlike DIY website builders or…

Return to navigation

Product Demos

Drupal Glazed Theme Tutorial 1: Basic Drag and Drop Controls

YouTube

Drupal Demo

YouTube

Drupal Paragraph Blocks Demo

YouTube

JSON:API demo

YouTube

Drupal Link Intelligence Getting Started Demo

YouTube

Drupal Content Optimizer SEO Module Demo Video

YouTube
Return to navigation

Features

Security

This component helps a company minimize the security risks by controlling access to the software and its data, and encouraging best practices among users.

10
Avg 8.0

Platform & Infrastructure

Features related to platform-wide settings and structure, such as permissions, languages, integrations, customizations, etc.

9.5
Avg 7.7

Web Content Creation

Features that support the creation of website content.

9.4
Avg 7.6

Web Content Management

Features for managing website content

9.5
Avg 7.3
Return to navigation

Product Details

What is Drupal?

Drupal is a free and open source content management system written in PHP that competes primarily with Joomla and Plone. The standard release of Drupal, known as Drupal core, contains basic features common to content management systems. These include a dashboard with a menu management system, RSS feeds, page layout customization and themes to aid this, and system administration tools. Drupal offers access statistics, more advanced search features, caching and feature throttling (to improve performance if needed), descriptive URLs, multiple users with controllable privileges, access control and restrictions, and workflow tools (triggers). There are over 30,000 addons or modules to expand Drupal's functionality.

Drupal Video

Why Drupal?

Drupal Competitors

Drupal Technical Details

Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Drupal is a free, open-source content management system written in PHP that competes primarily with Joomla and Plone. The standard release of Drupal, known as Drupal core, contains basic features such as account and menu management, RSS feeds, page layout customization, and system administration.

Joomla!, Kentico Xperience, and Plone are common alternatives for Drupal.

Reviewers rate Role-based user permissions and Mobile optimization / responsive design and Form generator highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Drupal are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(378)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Drupal has been widely used in a variety of industries and situations, proving itself as a robust and extensible platform that can fulfill specific needs. For example, Ericsson is leveraging Drupal to develop an internal application for accessing company policies and documents, including a news and events section. This showcases Drupal's capability to serve as an efficient tool for knowledge management within organizations. Similarly, Commercial Progression takes advantage of Drupal's integration capabilities with CRM and ERP systems to develop websites for various industries, demonstrating its flexibility in meeting diverse business requirements.

Another key use case for Drupal is creating uniform intranet sites across different operating units, enabling organizations to convey their identity and provide basic information consistently. This allows companies to maintain a cohesive brand image while providing essential resources to their employees. Additionally, non-technical staff can easily create and manage content using Drupal, addressing marketing web presence needs efficiently without extensive coding knowledge. This user-friendly aspect of Drupal makes it accessible to a wide range of users within an organization.

Furthermore, Drupal proves invaluable in the realm of website development, offering a quick and flexible solution for building test sites or serving as a content management system for clients who require rapid website development with built-in control. Its ability to handle large volumes of content makes it suitable for managing customer service articles, translation services, and industry-standard features like views and revisioning. The platform is also chosen by developers specializing in Drupal due to its ease of use in quickly getting sites up and running for clients.

In the educational sector, the University of Edinburgh's Web Interfaces team has utilized Drupal to develop bespoke web solutions with a focus on security and scalability. This use case highlights Drupal's suitability for academic institutions seeking reliable and customizable solutions for their web development needs. Moreover, Drupal has proven its worth in the online education space, with approximately 95% of websites designed to market and recruit online degree programs being built with this platform.

Overall, Drupal offers a versatile range of use cases, from powering corporate intranets to supporting website development across various industries. Its capacity for customization and its ability to handle diverse content needs make it a compelling choice for organizations of all sizes.

Extensibility and Customization: Users highly appreciate the extensibility and customization options provided by Drupal's wide range of contributed modules. Many reviewers have stated that this flexibility allows them to tailor the software to their specific needs, enhancing the overall value of the platform.

Cost-effectiveness: The open-source nature of Drupal is seen as a major advantage by users, with many stating that it eliminates ongoing licensing costs. Reviewers mention that this cost-effectiveness makes Drupal an attractive option for those on a tight budget.

Strong Community Support: Users highly value the fantastic open-source community surrounding Drupal. Several reviewers have mentioned that they appreciate the community's readiness to help and provide solutions to any problems encountered. This support system is seen as invaluable, ensuring users have necessary assistance and resources to overcome challenges while using the software.

Intuitive User Interface: Some users have mentioned that the user interface of Drupal is not intuitive and requires technical expertise to use effectively. They feel that the platform lacks a WYSIWYG text editor, making it necessary to have a basic understanding of HTML and CSS style sheets to customize the site.

Complicated Development Process: Several users have found the development process in Drupal to be complicated and difficult to learn, even for experienced developers. They express that development is hard to learn and complicated, which can be challenging for those with prior experience in web development.

Time-Consuming Maintenance: Users have expressed that maintaining Drupal websites can be time-consuming due to frequent updates and patches that need to be installed. The continuous need for maintenance can become burdensome as it requires allocating additional time towards keeping the website up-to-date.

Security Concerns with Plugins: Some users have raised concerns about the security of Drupal websites, attributing it to the large number of plugins available from numerous developers. They find it harder to ensure site security due to this vast variety of plugins, often requiring careful vetting and monitoring.

Resource-Intensive Infrastructure Requirement: Users mention that compared to other content management systems (CMSs), Drupal requires a more powerful infrastructure. This makes it more resource-intensive in terms of hardware requirements, potentially increasing costs for hosting and server resources.

Steep Learning Curve with Drupal 8: The learning curve associated with Drupal has been highlighted by users as a challenge, particularly concerning its eighth version. They perceive Drupal 8 as significantly different from previous versions, complicating the learning process further.

Confusing Back-end User Interface: Some users find the back-end user interface of Drupal confusing and clunky. They express difficulties navigating through menus or locating specific settings within the interface, leading them to consider it less user-friendly than desired.

Configuration Changes Hidden in Menus: Users mention encountering certain configuration changes hidden within menus where they may not expect them. This can make it challenging for users to locate and modify specific settings, potentially causing frustration or inefficiencies.

Time-Consuming Setup and Configuration: The process of setting up and configuring Drupal has been mentioned as time-consuming by users. They express that it requires technical skills and knowledge, making the initial setup a potential pain point. Additionally, some changes may require IT assistance and might not be applied immediately.

Limited Ease of Use: While Drupal is generally considered relatively easy to use, some users note that it still requires development skills. They advise that installation and upgrading processes should be handled by someone with technical expertise to avoid potential troubles during these procedures.

Users have made several recommendations based on their experiences with Drupal. Here are the three most common recommendations:

  1. Start with a theme if you don't have much time to learn the system.
  2. Avoid using too many plugins and have someone on-site for day-to-day maintenance.
  3. Consider other options for CRM or shopping cart functionality.

Overall, users believe Drupal is a robust CMS platform but recommend starting with a theme for quicker setup, limiting plugin usage, and considering alternative options for CRM and shopping cart functionality. These recommendations aim to optimize the user experience and ensure efficient management of websites built on Drupal.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(26-50 of 77)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Drupal is great for a company of any size. It can support incredibly large companies or small ones. It was incredibly easy to install and supports many different resource assets that have been instrumental in growing our existing brands as well as the new ones we continue to acquire. Drupal also has the ability to create many different user roles so that we never have to worry about someone having access to something they should not have. Though this is not something new to Drupal, we have recently integrated it with Google Analytics and are finally leveraging this integration to its full potential.
Stefanie Cash | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I find Drupal is only suited for individuals who are savvy with content management systems. It is not a difficult learning curve to overcome, but without experience, it does make the navigation hard. Loading up content and physical management of said content is a breeze. Scalability also makes Drupal a solid go-to for website development.
September 11, 2018

Drupal is the 777 of CMS'

Sean Pomory | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Drupal truly is a CMS that can do everything you would want a CMS to do. The only downside is that you typically have to have a good agency build the site so that it's easily usable by content editors. Drupal's security is widely known at this point so it serves as a useful tool in government, finance and healthcare.
Brian Nizinsky | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Drupal works well when you have to build a website but don't always have all the info on specs, or the specs change quickly. It allows the developers to write less code and use native Drupal features to get that type of work done.

I think it's less appropriate if you do not have developer support for it. Drupal isn't for the faint of heart or people who are used to something like Wordpress.
Andrew Shannon | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Drupal is great for companies looking for a really customizable and affordable Content Mangement System (CMS) with a huge developer base so that they can build their own custom website to meet their needs.

Drupal may not be the best option for a company looking for a really simple and easy to update website with minimal functionality though, those companies may want to look into a WordPress site instead.
Joel Tanzi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Drupal works very well for enterprise sites with complex content types that require multiple content managers to maintain it. It may also work very well for something like a corporate intranet. Developers for small business sites may find it better to build on a simpler system using JavaScript, PHP, HTML, CSS, and frameworks like Angular or React, but Drupal's ability to make content and site management easy for your clients still drives its use for small businesses.
Shane Sevo | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Drupal is excellent in adapting to larger enterprise use case scenarios. Websites that need to be deployed with a multisite or multiuser setup will benefit from Drupal's common codebase delivery options. Building complex websites with involved workflows and custom backend administration tools and dashboards are ideal for Drupal. Drupal is more of a web application development framework than a blogging or brochure website builder. Of course you can build a powerful blog or brochure website, but unless you augment the functionality to include content management workflows and integrations with marketing automation, ERP, and CRM systems; you will not be getting the full benefit of Drupal.
September 23, 2016

Drupal as a framework

Armen Danielyan, PMP | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
So far my positive experience way outweighs the negative. Most of the issues we faced were solvable with a little to medium effort. Many people complain about a steep learning curve of Drupal. However I think it is not always true, especially if you are a professional developer. In any case the effort you make to learn Drupal will pay off in full.
August 09, 2016

Drupal review

Alex Lada | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Drupal is a very good choice for our clients that require a powerful, robust, extensible, and open sourced CMS system that has no licensing fees. It allows for complex data structures and efficient site performance without the cost of something like Sitecore. It provides much greater performance and is easier use when modeling complex data structures and relationships than another free CMS like WordPress.
Eric Batson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
It is good for organizations like mine where standardization and clarity were the main goals. If you want a fancy and dynamic site then this may not be the solution. This is also a good option if non-technical people will be tasked with its regular maintenance. A little training can go a long way with Drupal.
Matt Lundstrom | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Modern versions of Drupal are used to generate a wide variety of web sites. In the earlier days it was used pretty heavily for e-learning and schools, now most modern iterations are used for everything from a local beauty web site to some of the biggest names in the industry.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Drupal is fantastic when you want to build a website that either already requires a lot of custom functionality, or for a site that has the plan to add it in the future. If all you want is a quick and easy website with a blog and a few pages of content, it may not be the best choice.
I like to compare it to art. If you want a blank canvas with a toolbox full of art supplies and an unlimited amount of possibilities, this is it. If all you want is something that doesn't take too long to create and looks nice, a paint by numbers option may be more appropriate.
Surinder Sachdeva | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Certainly, it can be an over-kill for a very simple 5 pages (About us, Contact Us etc.) website, but if there is even a slightest chance that the site would expand to a new level down the road, then it is better to start with Drupal. Even at a bare minimum level it gives you a built-in admin section to take control of your website.
Jason Smith | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Drupal is well suited to mid to enterprise businesses where requirements may evolve over time as the platform is well suited to pivots and arbitrary extension. On the framework to product spectrum, Drupal falls closer to the framework side. And because of this, it can sometimes represent a larger hurdle to implementation than an "off the shelf" solution. That said, when the "off the shelf" solution begins to show limits, they are often harder to overcome.
Andres Gonzalez | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Drupal is well suited If you want to create a simple application to manage content, to add content, and edit content. If you need to add some few functionalities around, that could be complicated in another CMS. If you need something bigger is not appropriate, because it's very complicated to maintain the code.
Kelly Lee | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
This is what makes Drupal great. It has the power to do as little or as much as you need it.

In my opinion, Drupal is best suited for:
- Corporate websites
- Ecommerce
- Multi site setups
- Blogs

Drupal is less appropriate for:
- Simple, one page sites
- Anyone who wants to put up a site in 5 mins and call it a day
- Anyone who does not want to take the time to learn about their CMS
Bart Martinez | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Drupal is a great CMS for those with strong development skills that need to be able to highly customize their site. If you need just a basic blog or news format it might be best to find something a little simpler such as WordPress or Concrete5.
Return to navigation