Drupal vs Joomla
Drupal and Joomla are both CMS options. Drupal lists 8 features across 2 platforms; Joomla lists 7 features across 2 platforms — see the full breakdown below, sourced from each vendor's own site rather than ratings or reviews.
Side-by-side summary
Best for Drupal
Higher education, government, healthcare, nonprofit, and enterprise organizations that need an open-source, highly customizable CMS with no vendor lock-in.
Best for Joomla
Organizations that need multilingual websites, granular user permissions, and full design customization without licensing costs.
Feature comparison
Every feature listed here comes directly from each vendor's own official site.
Drupal
- Structured, component-based content modeling
- 10,000+ community modules for extending functionality
- Layout Builder for visual page composition
- Multisite support for managing multiple sites from one installation
- Taxonomy system for content organization and classification
- Built-in AI orchestration capabilities
- Enterprise-grade security with no vendor lock-in
- Drupal CMS distribution with guided setup for marketers and site builders
Joomla
- Built-in multi-language support for content and interface
- Multi-user permission levels and access control groups
- 10,000+ free extensions and templates
- Fully extensible developer framework for custom builds
- Search-engine-optimized, mobile-responsive output
- Unlimited design customization through templates
- Completely free and open source with no vendor lock-in
Pros and cons
Drupal
- Structured, component-based content modeling
- 10,000+ community modules for extending functionality
- Layout Builder for visual page composition
- Multisite support for managing multiple sites from one installation
- Taxonomy system for content organization and classification
- Built-in AI orchestration capabilities
- Enterprise-grade security with no vendor lock-in
- Drupal CMS distribution with guided setup for marketers and site builders
- Drupal has no software license fee, but production use still requires hosting, a supported PHP/web-server/database stack, updates, backups, security operations, and often implementation expertise.
- The Drupal project itself does not sell a managed SaaS plan; organizations that want managed hosting, development, or commercial support must source those services separately.
Joomla
- Built-in multi-language support for content and interface
- Multi-user permission levels and access control groups
- 10,000+ free extensions and templates
- Fully extensible developer framework for custom builds
- Search-engine-optimized, mobile-responsive output
- Unlimited design customization through templates
- Completely free and open source with no vendor lock-in
We don't infer weaknesses from missing or differently worded vendor marketing copy. Use documented plan limits, migration requirements, and other sourced constraints as decision inputs; anything not supported by a source remains unverified.
Key differences
- Drupal lists Structured, component-based content modeling, 10,000+ community modules for extending functionality, Layout Builder for visual page composition, Multisite support for managing multiple sites from one installation, Taxonomy system for content organization and classification, Built-in AI orchestration capabilities, Enterprise-grade security with no vendor lock-in, Drupal CMS distribution with guided setup for marketers and site builders that Joomla doesn't list.
- Joomla lists Built-in multi-language support for content and interface, Multi-user permission levels and access control groups, 10,000+ free extensions and templates, Fully extensible developer framework for custom builds, Search-engine-optimized, mobile-responsive output, Unlimited design customization through templates, Completely free and open source with no vendor lock-in that Drupal doesn't list.
Choose Drupal if…
Choose Drupal if this fits: Higher education, government, healthcare, nonprofit, and enterprise organizations that need an open-source, highly customizable CMS with no vendor lock-in. Compared with Joomla specifically, Drupal also offers Structured, component-based content modeling, 10,000+ community modules for extending functionality, Layout Builder for visual page composition, and 5 more features that Joomla doesn't list.
Choose Joomla if…
Choose Joomla if this fits: Organizations that need multilingual websites, granular user permissions, and full design customization without licensing costs. Compared with Drupal specifically, Joomla also offers Built-in multi-language support for content and interface, Multi-user permission levels and access control groups, 10,000+ free extensions and templates, and 4 more features that Drupal doesn't list.
Facts on this page are sourced from each vendor's official site (linked below), not from ratings or reviews. Products change — verify anything that matters to your decision directly on the vendor's own site before switching. See our Disclaimer and Sources Policy.
Drupal sources
Last verified October 6, 2026
- https://www.drupal.org/about
- https://www.drupal.org/about/licensing
- https://www.drupal.org/docs/getting-started/system-requirements
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