Drupal is a very powerful open source web content management that offers leading edge online community tools. Ning offers leading edge online community tools and an easy to use administrative interface. While Xululabs is a Drupal development, there are times that Ning is enough to meet a customer's needs.
4. Drupal vs. Ning Open Source Software as a Service Easily Customizable Extensible via Ning Apps Free Source Code Source Code Proprietary Hosting - $5/month to $1000s/month Hosting – Free to $100s/month Themed via CSS Themed via CSS
5. Drupal vs. Ning Powerful but complex admin console Easy to use admin console Learning curve - steep Learning curve – moderate Four hours to stand up a brochureware site Thirty minutes to stand up brochureware site Two days to stand up basic online community Thirty minutes to stand up online community Member data owned by website operator Member data owned by Ning
6. Drupal vs. Ning Upgrades scheduled by website operator Upgrades scheduled managed by Ning Terms of Service up to website operator Terms of Service up to Ning Typical brochureware site cost – 20x Ning Typical brochureware site cost – 5% of Drupal Typical community site cost - 20x Ning Typical community site cost - 5% of Drupal Significant scaling an issue Significant scaling not an issue