Head-to-head
Drupal vs WordPress
All 111 attributes for both platforms, every claim cited to an official source. Scores come from the public rubric on the methodology page, weighted by use case. There is no single winner on purpose.
Verdicts by use case
| Use case | Drupal | WordPress | Read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small business | 3.7 | 3.9 | WordPress by a nose (+0.2) |
| Blog / content | 4.0 | 4.1 | Effectively even |
| Portfolio | 3.7 | 3.9 | WordPress by a nose (+0.2) |
| Online store | 3.8 | 3.7 | Effectively even |
| Startup marketing | 3.8 | 3.9 | Effectively even |
| Developer / headless | 4.1 | 4.0 | Effectively even |
Weighted category scores, 0 to 5. Weight profiles and point mappings are public on the methodology page. Data verified 2026-07-08.
Where Drupal leads
- Renewal price higher than intro: No vs Yes
- Automatic image optimization: Yes vs No
- Multi-currency selling: Yes vs App
- hreflang support: Native vs Plugin
- Editorial approval workflow: Native vs Plugin
- Staging / preview environments: Staging environment vs Preview only
Where WordPress leads
- Mobile app editing: Yes vs No
- Static export: Yes vs No
- AI SEO assistance: Yes vs No
- Concurrent editing: Yes vs No
- Official templates (count): 8,353 vs 2
- Learning curve: Moderate vs Steep
Overview
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor / maintainer | Drupal Association / open-source community | WordPress Foundation (nonprofit, owns trademark); core software developed by the open-source community and Automattic-sponsored contributors |
| Year launched | 2001 | 2003 |
| Platform type | Self-hosted CMS | Self-hosted CMS |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| License | GPL-2.0-or-later | GPLv2 or later |
| Best for (use cases) | complex/structured content sites, government and higher-ed sites, large multi-site or multilingual deployments, sites needing granular access control, developer-led custom builds | Blogs and content publishing, Small business and brochure sites, Ecommerce (via WooCommerce), Membership and community sites, Enterprise/editorial sites needing full code-level control, Developers wanting maximum plugin/theme extensibility |
| Official pricing page | https://new.drupal.org/pricing | https://wordpress.org/download/ |
Pricing & Value4.0 vs 3.7
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free plan limits | No feature limits in the software; cost is hosting/maintenance, not a capped free tier. | No limits on the software itself (unlimited sites, pages, plugins). Real-world limits come from wherever you self-host it (server resources, hosting plan quotas). |
| Free trial | Not applicable; download and run at no cost indefinitely (self-hosted); some managed-hosting partners (e.g., Pantheon, Acquia) offer time-limited trials of their hosting. | Not applicable to the software; WordPress.org has no trial because it is free and open source. Individual managed-hosting vendors sometimes offer trials (varies by host). |
| Cheapest plan with custom domain ($/mo) | $10/mo | $3.99/mo |
| Most-popular tier ($/mo) | $41/mo | $30/mo |
| Cheapest ecommerce plan ($/mo) | Unverified | $14.99/mo |
| Cheapest tier without platform branding | Not applicable; Drupal never adds vendor branding to sites. | None; WordPress core has no platform branding to remove at any tier |
| Renewal price higher than intro | No | Yes |
| Money-back window (days) | Unverified | 30 days |
| Hidden/total cost notes (plugins, hosting, apps) | Real cost drivers: managed hosting ($10-40/mo budget, $40-160+/mo for managed platforms like Pantheon/Acquia, more at enterprise scale), a developer/agency for build and upkeep (Drupal is code-first and generally needs technical skill), and optional paid contrib-module support or Acquia/Pantheon platform fees. Core software, modules, and themes on Drupal.org are free. | Real total cost of ownership is driven entirely by choices outside the free core software: managed hosting ($3-$400+/mo depending on traffic/support tier), premium theme ($0-$200 one-time or /yr), premium plugins/SEO tools ($0-$300+/yr each), a page builder if not using core blocks ($0-$250/yr), backup/security plugins, and developer time for setup and maintenance. A modest small-business site commonly runs $20-$50/mo all-in; ecommerce or high-traffic sites can run into hundreds per month. |
Editor & Ease of Use2.7 vs 4.0
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Editing model | Block-based | Block-based |
| Drag-and-drop editing | Yes | Yes |
| Inline (click-to-edit) content | Yes | Yes |
| Undo / version history in editor | Yes | Yes |
| Autosave | Unverified | Yes |
| Mobile app editing | No | Yes |
| Switch templates without content rebuild | No | No |
| Learning curve | Steep | Moderate |
Design & Templates4.2 vs 4.3
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Official templates (count) | 2 | 8,353 |
| Custom font upload | Yes | Yes |
| Responsive behavior control | Breakpoint editing | Full control |
| Custom CSS | Yes | Yes |
| Custom JavaScript | Yes | Yes |
| Native animation/interaction tools | Unverified | No |
| Global styles / design tokens | Yes | Yes |
| Design flexibility | Unconstrained | Unconstrained |
Hosting & Infrastructure1.0 vs 2.0
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Managed hosting included | No | No |
| Self-hosting option | Yes | Yes |
| CDN included | No | No |
| Free SSL | No | No |
| Uptime SLA | Not applicable to the software; SLA is set by whichever host you choose (e.g., Pantheon's Performance plans include a 99.9% uptime SLA). | Not applicable; no vendor SLA for self-hosted software; uptime is entirely dependent on chosen hosting provider's SLA |
| Bandwidth/storage limits | Not applicable to the software; entirely dependent on chosen hosting plan/server resources. | Not applicable to the software; entirely a function of the hosting plan chosen (e.g., Bluehost Starter: 10GB NVMe SSD storage, ~40,000 visits/mo; WP Engine Startup: 10GB storage, 75GB bandwidth, 25,000 visits/mo) |
| Static export | No | Yes |
Performance4.6 vs 3.1
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| % of real sites passing Core Web Vitals (CrUX) | 65% | 50.7% |
| Automatic image optimization | Yes | No |
| Lazy loading | Yes | Yes |
| Cache control for site owner | Yes | Yes |
SEO Controls4.4 vs 4.3
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Editable title/meta description | Yes | Yes |
| Editable URL slugs | Yes | Yes |
| Forced URL structure constraints | None imposed by core; URL alias patterns are fully configurable (via core path aliasing or the Pathauto module); default unaliased URLs follow a /node/{id} pattern until aliased. | Minimal; fully configurable permalink structures (plain, date-based, custom structure tags) under Settings > Permalinks, and custom post types/taxonomies can define their own URL bases. One core constraint: category and tag archive URLs require a base prefix (default /category/ and /tag/) that can be renamed but not removed without a plugin. |
| 301 redirects | Plugin | Plugin |
| Canonical tag control | Yes | Yes |
| Editable robots.txt | Yes | Yes |
| XML sitemap | Plugin | Automatic |
| Structured data (schema.org) | Manual JSON-LD | Plugin |
| hreflang support | Native | Plugin |
| Open Graph / social meta control | Yes | Yes |
| Per-page noindex | Yes | Yes |
| Image alt text control | Yes | Yes |
Content & Blogging5.0 vs 5.0
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Native blog engine | Yes | Yes |
| Custom content types / collections | Native | Native |
| Categories/tags/taxonomies | Yes | Yes |
| Content scheduling | Yes | Yes |
| Content revisions/rollback | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-author support | Yes | Yes |
| RSS feeds | Yes | Yes |
| Content API | Read-write | Read-write |
Ecommerce3.7 vs 3.2
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Ecommerce capability | Plugin | Plugin |
| Product limits by plan | None imposed by the software; Drupal Commerce has no product-count caps; limits would come only from hosting/database capacity. | No product limits imposed by WordPress or WooCommerce itself; practical ceiling is determined by hosting server resources/database performance at very large catalog sizes. |
| Platform transaction fees | None; Drupal Commerce charges no transaction fees; fees are set solely by the connected payment gateway (Stripe, PayPal, etc.). | 0% platform fee from WooCommerce itself; payment-gateway processing fees apply (e.g., WooPayments ~2.5-2.9% + $0.30/transaction), same as any processor-based checkout |
| Payment gateways | Integrates with major gateways via contrib modules, including Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net, through the Commerce Payment module ecosystem. | Extensive: Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.net, Mollie, Worldpay, WooPayments, and dozens more via official and third-party extensions; merchants can use any gateway or BNPL provider without platform penalty. |
| Digital products | Yes | Yes |
| Subscriptions / recurring payments | App | App |
| Multi-currency selling | Yes | App |
| Point of sale | Yes | Yes |
| Abandoned cart recovery | App | App |
| Shipping & tax tools | Commerce Shipping and Commerce Tax are official contrib modules providing rate calculation, shipping method configuration, and tax computation; third-party integrations (e.g., Avalara) are also available via contrib. | WooCommerce core includes basic flat-rate/free/local-pickup shipping zones and manual tax rate tables; automated tax calculation (WooCommerce Tax) and live carrier rates (UPS/USPS/FedEx extensions) require additional free or paid extensions. |
Ownership & Lock-in5.0 vs 5.0
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Content export | Full | Full |
| Export formats | Full SQL database dump, JSON (via core JSON:API), XML/CSV (via contrib Migrate/Backup and Migrate modules), and direct file-system access to all media/assets. | WXR (WordPress eXtended RSS/XML) native export; database-level export via phpMyAdmin/mysqldump/WP-CLI for a full raw copy; media files must be transferred separately (not bundled in WXR). |
| Design/site export (take the built site elsewhere) | Full | Full |
| Domain freely portable | Yes | Yes |
| Site can run off-platform | Yes | Yes |
| Full content access via API | Yes | Yes |
| Lock-in risk | Low | Low |
Extensibility & Integrations5.0 vs 5.0
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| App/plugin marketplace size | 55,937 modules and roughly 3,300 themes listed on Drupal.org (July 2026 project-page counts). | 60,000+ free plugins in the official WordPress.org directory (as of early 2026), plus 90,000+ when including premium/third-party marketplaces (CodeCanyon, individual vendors); 8,353 free themes in the official directory |
| Public API | Yes | Yes |
| Webhooks | Yes | Yes |
| Custom code embeds | Yes | Yes |
| Developer framework/stack | PHP (Symfony components) with Twig templating; Composer-based dependency management; MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL/SQLite database support. | PHP (core language), MySQL/MariaDB (database), JavaScript/React for the block editor (Gutenberg); theme development uses PHP templates or block-based theme.json/HTML templates for block themes |
| CLI / dev tooling | Yes | Yes |
| Zapier/Make support | Yes | Yes |
| Notable native integrations | No bundled first-party SaaS integrations ship in core; integrations (CRM, email marketing, analytics, payment gateways, AI providers) are added via contrib modules or the AI module's provider connectors (OpenAI, Anthropic, amazee.ai). | Jetpack (official Automattic plugin) bundles stats, security, and CDN features; WooCommerce for ecommerce; Akismet (bundled by default) for comment spam filtering; broad first-party and third-party plugin coverage for CRM, email marketing, forms, and analytics rather than built-in native integrations. |
AI Features2.5 vs 3.8
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| AI site generation | No | No |
| AI writing assistant | Yes | Yes |
| AI image tools | Yes | Yes |
| AI SEO assistance | No | Yes |
| Notable AI capabilities/limits | Drupal CMS ships an opt-in AI module suite (AI Core, AI Agents, AI Dashboard) requiring a customer-supplied API key from OpenAI or Anthropic (or amazee.ai's private AI provider). Features: page generation from prompts using existing Canvas components, a site-building chatbot, and AI-assisted image alt text. The separate AI Agents contrib framework lets developers build custom text-to-action agents (e.g., a Field Type Agent, Content Type Agent) that can create/edit Drupal configuration from natural-language instructions. None of this is enabled by default without the site owner supplying and paying for their own AI provider API key. | WordPress 7.0 (May 2026) introduced core AI infrastructure: the Abilities API (lets plugins register standardized capabilities) and the AI Client (a provider-agnostic PHP interface for plugins to call AI models), plus an MCP Adapter exposing site abilities to external AI assistants. Actual end-user AI features (content drafting, image generation, alt text) ship via a separate official "AI" plugin built on this foundation, not bundled into core by default; WordPress's AI strategy is infrastructure-first, letting any plugin/host plug in its own AI provider rather than shipping one baked-in assistant. |
Collaboration & Workflow2.5 vs 2.5
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Roles & permissions | Granular | Granular |
| Concurrent editing | No | Yes |
| Editorial approval workflow | Native | Plugin |
| Staging / preview environments | Staging environment | Preview only |
| In-editor commenting | No | No |
| Audit log | No | No |
Support & Trust1.6 vs 2.0
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Support channels | Community forums on Drupal.org, Drupal Slack (800+ channels), Drupal Answers on Stack Exchange, DrupalChat, extensive official documentation, and paid support from hosting/agency partners (Acquia, Pantheon, etc.); no official vendor support line since there is no single vendor. | Community-run support forums at wordpress.org/support (volunteer-staffed, no guaranteed response time); no official vendor support line since there is no single vendor. Hosting providers and premium plugin/theme vendors offer their own separate support channels (chat, ticket, phone) at their own SLA. |
| 24/7 support | No | No |
| Documentation quality | Good | Excellent |
| Community size | Roughly 1.3M+ registered Drupal.org accounts (includes inactive/spam), with an actively engaged core of well over 100,000 contributors; 50,000+ contributed modules and 3,000+ themes have been published by the community. | Largest CMS community in the world: WordPress powers roughly 43% of all websites (per W3Techs, commonly cited industry figure); WordCamp events run globally; wordpress.org/support forums have millions of threads; Stack Overflow, Reddit, and independent WordPress-focused sites add further community support depth. |
| Security certifications (SOC 2, ISO) | Not applicable to Drupal core itself (no company to certify); leading hosting partners hold their own certifications, e.g., Acquia Cloud Platform is SOC 1 Type 2, SOC 2 Type 2, and ISO 27001:2022 certified. | Not applicable to WordPress core itself; the free software carries no security certification since it is not a hosted service. Certifications apply to individual hosting vendors (e.g., WordPress VIP holds SOC 2 Type I and FedRAMP Moderate; WP Engine holds SOC 2 Type II and ISO/IEC 27001:2013). |
| Backups & restore | Plugin | Plugin |
| Accessibility tooling | Core commits to WCAG 2.2 AA conformance and ATAG 2.0 (Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines, Parts A & B) for the admin/editing interface; ships the accessibility-audited Olivero front-end theme and CKEditor 5; the Accessibility Team tests against Deque's axe-core aiming for "axe clean" status. | Core editor includes accessibility prompts (e.g., alt-text nudges, color-contrast warnings) and core itself is built to accessibility coding standards; "Accessibility Ready" is an official tag for themes meeting WordPress's baseline accessibility review (not full WCAG AA certification). Full WCAG compliance auditing/remediation requires third-party plugins (e.g., accessibility overlay/statement-generator tools) or manual development work. |
Multilingual & Localization5.0 vs 4.4
| Drupal | WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Multilingual sites | Native | App or plugin |
| Translation workflow | Yes | Yes |
| Localized SEO (per-locale URLs, hreflang) | Yes | Yes |
| RTL language support | Yes | Yes |