In a rapidly evolving digital world, investing in the best content management system (CMS) that will truly be able to support your website is crucial to ensuring online success.
Although WordPress and Drupal are both powerful CMS’s, the former offers superior functionality and extensibility, among other things.
If you are looking to make the jump, here are 5 reasons why you should migrate from Drupal to WordPress.
1. Expanding Your Website
When building a website that adequately represents who you are on every front, you need to be able to easily expand on it. In terms of aesthetics and functionality, Drupal and WordPress are both competitive. However, WordPress has the upper hand when you compare the actual number of themes and plugins that both these content management systems have on offer.
WordPress has more than 54,000 plugins and 5,000 themes to choose from. In contrast, Drupal offers around 39,000 modules and 2,500 themes. And if you are only interested in modules and themes that are compatible with Drupal 8.x, there are even fewer options available to you, limiting an already limited library when compared to WordPress.
2. Ease of Use
When it comes to ease of use, Drupal is not widely recognized as being the optimal choice for new website owners. Although you can make use of pre-existing themes, the majority of Drupal websites showcase custom-coded themes. If you can code yourself then this won’t be too problematic, but if you can’t, you will have to hire a developer. Of course, this equates to more out of pocket expenses for you.
Drupal’s learning curve is also steeper when compared to WordPress. Its interface can take a while to get used to, which has a significant impact on its overall functionality and can lead to frustration when working in it.
In contrast, WordPress’ drag and drop Gutenberg editor allows you to create effortless posts and pages. It provides easy navigation for both experienced web builders and new content creators alike and requires no extra coding skills.
3. End Of Life For Drupal 7 and 8
While Drupal offers regular updates, which means that this CMS’s security is top-notch, an end-of-life date has been announced for Drupal 7 and 8. Consequently, Drupal users will have to migrate anyway, either to Drupal 9 or another CMS. Users migrating from 7 will go through a major upheaval which requires professional migration services.
Also, although it offers support via a large online community, various libraries of online documentation, and a multitude of support groups, this CMS platform was still designed with web professionals in mind. This means that some of the available support may be tough to comprehend for users that have no programming or developmental skills. WordPress offers a much simpler alternative.
Along with no major updates looming in the near future that requires WordPress users to navigate major platform changes, this CMS is also widely recognized for its massive global community. Any problems that you might encounter can be easily solved through a myriad of online platforms by asking WordPress developers around the world for their input.
4. Affordable Development Costs
If you are just starting out and have limited coding knowledge, developing your Drupal-based website can become a costly affair. Developers that specialize in creating quality themes and modules for Drupal are few and far between, which means that they are often more expensive to hire.
This means that you would either have to invest your money into your site or invest your time and energy in acquiring some developmental skills yourself.
On the other hand, WordPress requires no prior coding knowledge, which means you can simply install various themes and plugins yourself. If you are on a budget, WordPress’ non-existent developmental costs can be truly beneficial.
5. Fast Results
Drupal is geared towards developers and programming professionals which means that sourcing out a lot of the developmental work will be non-negotiable for new website owners. This puts the majority of the creation process in the developer’s hands, and because custom designs can take a while to code, you may need to wait a bit longer for your website to go live.
However, WordPress enables you to do everything yourself no matter your skill level. This means you are in control of the amount of time it will take to get everything up and running. If you are in a hurry to establish your brand in the digital sphere and want to be in control throughout the building process, then WordPress is definitely the best choice for you.
Although Drupal and WordPress are both great content management systems that can support both simple and intricate websites, WordPress provides a wider variety of functionality and ease of use for every website owner.