Joomla VS Drupal – Knowing the Differences from a Developer’s Perspective

Amidst the huge variety of open source platforms available in the web market, Joomla and Drupal are the ones which have been successful in gaining a unique niche. Their versatility has undoubtedly impressed every web developer who's going to delve into the creation of fantastic websites and applications.

While there have been regular debates over the better performing open source platform among Joomla and Drupal, analyzing the two from a developer's perspective is something that will help you in understanding which one to choose and which one to skip. Today, in this post, you'll be able to grab useful insights on all the parameters that mark a visible difference between Joomla and Drupal- two equally popular open source platforms.

Joomla VS Drupal – About

Released in the year 2005, Joomla is a free, open source platform that comes with 900+ free themes, 7000+ free plugins and has witnessed over 30 million downloads till date. Some of the top websites running on Joomla include Harward University, The Hill and many more. An award-winning CMS(Content Management System), Joomla enables you to build powerful websites(especially e-commerce and social networking sites) and applications.

On the contrary, we have Drupal which was released in the year 2001 and since then has become a top favorite of web developers. Having witnessed more than 15 millions downloads till date, Drupal has been embraced by leading companies including Linux, WB etc. Loaded with 1800+ free themes and 24000+ free plugins, Drupal is being built, used and supported by a diverse community of designers and developers from all over the world. Drupal is a perfect fit for building any type of web product or solution.

Joomla VS Drupal- Ease of Use

When it comes to ease of use, Joomla emerges as the winner. Less complex than Drupal, Joomla comes with a simple and quick installation and setup. Plus, it doesn't expect you to invest a lot of time and effort into understanding the core Joomla structure and terminology. Drupal, on the other hand, expects you to have an optimum technical expertise for building advanced websites and applications.

Joomla VS Drupal- Core Architecture

While comparing the core architecture of Joomla and Drupal, it can well be said that Joomla comes with a clean core API and Drupal comes with a complex spaghetti code. Additionally, the below mentioned pointers will allow you to learn a lot about the core architecture of these two open source platforms:

• Joomla– It forms a specific tree hierarchy wherein the core is the main trunk offering APIs as the branches. Moreover, you are free to attach the modules or widgets in the form of leaves to these branches. A component can be plugged in for integrating a specific security element into the CMS.
• Drupal– The code associated with this open source platform can be compared to a bucky ball where the multiple surfaces touching the ball can be referred to as the modules. Additionally, you can hook in a specific extension(s) to the different modules. This would mean that all modules and extensions are actually interlinked with each other and form a code that is complex, of a low quality and difficult-to-read.

To sum it up, while debugging Drupal code can give nightmares to a developer, juggling with Joomla code can turn to be a fun activity for a developer.

Joomla VS Drupal- Plugin and Theme Availability

As a developer, you are expected to work with numerous themes and plugins that can allow you to leverage the features of the chosen CMS(Content Management System). Higher the count of themes and plugins available with a CMS, greater is the probability of building a web product that suits your requirements. Talking about themes, Joomla overpowers Drupal. On the other hand, when it comes to having the maximum number of modules or plugins, Drupal has snatched the spotlight from Joomla by having a whopping 14369 plugins in-store.

Joomla VS Drupal- Security

Well, security is an area where both, Drupal and Joomla are competing with each other. Still, as a developer, I believe Drupal ranks higher when it's about offering security to the end users. While Drupal community is absolutely serious about offering security, Joomla is primarily focused on the security that's based on access control. In contrast to Joomla, Drupal has everything in the form of objects which are available in different types viz: media, content, application programming interfaces(APIs) etc. Therefore, Drupal's security principles have been specially designed to integrate well with different third-party applications in a secure and flexible manner.

Wrapping it all up

So, these were some of the key points of difference between Drupal and Joomla. Hope you'd have understood them well and would be all geared up for working on innovative web projects, taking complete advantage of any of these open source platforms. Before making a choice, don't forget to check your technical skills along with the size and requirement of the website/app that you intend to develop.