Re: Drupal vs Joomla in in 2012

[chrisjg]

Visit this link for a nice info-graphic (it is a year old, but the key comparisons are still valid)
http://news.deviousmedia.com/which-open-source-backend-platform-suits-your

1. Security

How long is a piece of string?

They are both as (in)secure as each other. It depends on how you set them up, the server you use, how often the server is security updated/patched, etc.

2. Expandability

Both are expandable with plenty of add-ons for both, although there are more free add-ons for Joomla than Drupal (last time I looked).

3. Popularity ( more work available )

Joomla is more popular, with around 2.7% of the top 1million websites running Joomla compared to 1.6% running Drupal.

Does this equate to more/less work being available though?

Personally I don’t think that you can judge the amount of work available by the popularity of the CMS.

If you are going to freelance/run your own company then choose the one you like the most, and use it, learn it, live with it. Specialise in one of them and get involved with the community, the dev. team, etc. Become and known face/name within the community as you build your business and reputation.

If you want to work for someone else, then Drupal would be the one to choose (based on a very quick ‘how many jobs’ search). 72 Drupal jobs vs 43 Joomla jobs.

It has more Enterprise level installations than Joomla, and they require people to maintain and develop.

4. HTML5 and CSS3 support

The current core versions of both are not HTML5/CSS3 out of the box. There are themes available for both that will override the core and provide HTML5/CSS3.

Joomla 3.0 (due in September 2012) is looking at including twitter bootstrap in the core CMS, giving all developers a common toolkit to pull from.

Drupal 8.0 (due in August 2013) is also looking at HTML5 in the core product.

5. Ease of upgrading from one version to another

Recent (major) upgrades have been pretty easy for both. They both have update scripts, and give plenty of information about the differences.

When there is a major change in the core functionality you can run into problems with 3rd party add-ons – so check before you upgrade.

6. Community support

Both have active communities, but do expect you to read the documentation and searching for the answer before asking the question.

As with all open source eco-systems no-one gets paid to answer your questions, so there is no SLA or escalation procedures if you can’t do/find/understand something.

Conclusion

It is a personal preference, both have good and bad points.

I use Joomla more than Drupal, mostly because of cost to the client.

If you quote for a full design and maintenance based on Joomla, and an identical one for Drupal. The cost comparison works out around 1.5x higher for Drupal. Most clients are not enterprise level /national/global players and cannot see the added value for Drupal over Joomla – certainly with small local businesses you will struggle to justify the extra cost.

Chris.