Drupal

There's a good chance you've already used Drupal without even realizing it. That's because many top companies, Fortune 500 firms, non-profits, and government organizations use Drupal. Before you jump on the bandwagon and give it a try, it's beneficial to understand what Drupal is and why you should.

Drupal – what is it?

Drupal is a highly flexible and powerful content management system (CMS) that allows you to integrate a wide range of features and functionalities into your website. It is particularly well-suited for projects where structured content and editorial processes are crucial. Some of Drupal's advantages include the ability to manage multiple websites simultaneously, multilingual support, and the ability to integrate with other components of your digital presence, such as payment gateways, CRMs, analytics tools, and marketing automation platforms.

Drupal is one of the best choices for those who need a state-of-the-art and sophisticated website. However, it's not always the best choice for every project, especially when it comes to simpler websites. Some agencies and developers prefer WordPress because it's easier to use and better suited for smaller projects. So, it really depends on your goal and your specific requirements for the system.

Advantages of Drupal

As an open-source project, anyone can view how Drupal works, make changes, and submit change requests for the main project under the GPL/GNU license. The Drupal community is active and helpful.

As a dynamic platform, Drupal offers a wealth of features such as a CMS, blogs, discussion-based software, and collaborative tools in a free package that is easy to install and use. By activating and configuring discrete modules, an administrator can develop a unique Drupal-based website that can be used for a combination of knowledge management, web publishing, and community interaction.

It offers the most common functionalities that every website needs, but is also flexible enough to allow you to create a unique, customized experience. Here are some of the key advantages of Drupal summarized:

• It is a flexible system suitable for developing large and complex websites.
• Installing Drupal is simple and user-friendly.
• It offers extensive possibilities for any agency that wants to create professional and high-performance websites for its clients.
• Drupal offers extensive e-commerce functionalities that make it possible to create and manage online stores.
• Numerous modules available free of charge (extension functionality)
• Continuous innovation driven by a huge, dedicated community

Why Drupal?

When you think about it, most websites share a common set of functions. They typically have navigation menus and content lists, content pages with corresponding URLs, a logo in the header, a footer with contact information, the ability to search content, and so on. At the same time, each website has certain components that make it unique. Websites often have their own custom information architecture, a unique set of content, a distinctive visual design, and sometimes customized features.

Because Drupal is very flexible, you could theoretically build any kind of website or web application with it. However, this doesn't mean you should. Drupal is perfect for website projects where structured content and editorial processes are essential. For a one-page website that's the result of a hobby project, however, Drupal isn't very cost-effective.

When is Drupal the right choice?

• Your website will have dozens or more pages.
• You have more than 5 content editors on your team.
• They have multiple websites that need to share media files and user accounts.
• Your organization has strict branding requirements for its online presence.
• They want a publishing workflow that includes several stages such as drafting, reviewing, scheduling, publishing, etc.
• You want to integrate your CMS with other components of your digital experience, such as social channels, marketing automation tools, customer data platforms, etc.
• Your company wants/needs to use open-source software.

Some important facts about Drupal:

• As of 2022: More than 1,7 million websites used Drupal (Source: BuiltWith)
• Drupal 7 still appears to be the most popular version, installed on 47,6% of Drupal websites – however, Drupal 9 is gaining in popularity. (Source: BuiltWith)
• Drupal can be more difficult to use, but it allows for the performance of more complex tasks. (Source: Business Insider)
• A project using Drupal can cost between $30.000 and $40.000. (Source: Zesty)
• Despite its complexity, it offers security and appears to be a better alternative for web applications – which is why 7% of the top 10K sites use it. (Source: O8)
• For those interested in learning Drupal, an average salary of over $87.000 seems worth the effort. (Source: Glassdoor)
• As a Drupal developer, you can earn $35 per hour in the USA. (Source: Payscale)
• 97% of all users who use Drupal are satisfied with this content management system. (Source: FinancesOnline)
• Drupal 8 can be used in over 100 languages, and a Drupal user can even use up to three languages ​​simultaneously. (Source: Drupal)
• 2.0% of the market share among the CMS belongs to Drupal (Source: W3Techs)