Open Source Content Management System - Technology Development Platform Comparison Matrix (PHP - Joomla, Drupal, WordPress)

1. Jaladhi Bhatt

2. Drupal
Drupal is a powerful, developer-friendly tool for building complex sites. Like
most powerful tools, it requires some expertise and experience to operate.
Drupal requires the most technical expertise of the three CMSs. However,
it also is capable of producing the most advanced sites. With each release,
it is becoming easier to use. If you’re unable to commit to learning the
software or can’t hire someone who knows it, it may not be the best
choice.
Its powerful taxonomy and ability to tag, categorize and organize complex
content.
For complex, advanced and versatile sites; for sites that require complex
data organization; for community platform sites with multiple users; for
online stores

3. Joomla
Joomla offers middle ground between the developer-oriented, extensive
capabilities of Drupal and user-friendly but more complex site development
options than Wordpress offers.
Less complex than Drupal, more complex than Wordpress. Relatively
uncomplicated installation and setup. With a relatively small investment of
effort into understanding Joomla’s structure and terminology, you have the
ability to create fairly complex sites.
Designed to perform as a community platform, with strong social
networking features.
Joomla allows you to build a site with more content and structure flexibility
than Wordpress offers, but still with fairly easy, intuitive usage. Supports Ecommerce, social networking and more.

4. WordPress
Drupal is a powerful, developer-friendly tool for building complex sites. Like
most powerful tools, it requires some expertise and experience to operate.
Drupal requires the most technical expertise of the three CMSs. However,
it also is capable of producing the most advanced sites. With each release,
it is becoming easier to use. If you’re unable to commit to learning the
software or can’t hire someone who knows it, it may not be the best
choice.
Its powerful taxonomy and ability to tag, categorize and organize complex
content.
Ideal for fairly simple web sites, such as everyday blogging and news sites;
and anyone looking for an easy-to-manage site. Add-ons make it easy to
expand the functionality of the site.

5. CMS Comparison
Drupal
Joomla
WordPress
WYSWIG rich text
editor(allow users
to enter content
without getting into
the hassle of HTML
and related CSS)
No. Extensible. The basic
installation does not offer a
rich text editor, but users can
install several options,
including TinyMCE and
FCKeditor
Yes, Extensible JCE is
Joomla's most popular editor
extension. With JCE users
can upload and manage
files, resize and crop
graphics etc..
Yes. Extensible, packaged
with a basic rich text
editor. User can install
popular extensions
including TinyMCE and
FCKeditor
Content Catalogues
Any content items is a node.
Story(introductory articles with
main body text fields); Book
(a collection of related pages
geared toward collaborative
authoring) and Page (static
content)
Static content(Pages) and
Articles (can include
introductory text and
paginated divisions that
provides an automatically
generated table of contents)
Pages and Posts(or
articles), WP offers
Excerpts and custom fields
for posts and pages.
Pages can also be nested
in parent-child relations
Basic , Extensible
No. Extensible but limited
Yes
Revision Tracking

6. CMS Comparison
Drupal
Joomla
WordPress
Availability of
Ready-made and
Quality Template
Compare to Joomla and
WordPress very less
templates and in terms of
quality and quantity are
available
Great number of free and
paid, commercially viable
templates are available. the
best Joomla templates are
highly customizable and
inexpensive but, not free
Large quantity of free and
paid templates. Many of
high quality, customization
and standard compliance
Assigning
Widgets/Blocks/Mo
dules to sites from
the Admin
interface
Yes, but managing block
assignments on large websites
can become difficult
Yes, but with some limitations.
Modules don't appear on
every page unless specified.
Modules can be assigned to
all pages and menu options
Yes, lots of useful and
appealing widgets are
available. But placement
and usability relies on
theme/template structure.
Theme can be ‘widgetised'
RSS Syndication
Yes, Extensible, RSS feeds can
be generated for any index
page (page, term etc..)
Yes, Extensible, Syndication
for section and category
index pages. Custom feeds
are possible by using various
extensions
Yes, Must be coded into
template. Can be used for
post, comments and ping
backs

7. CMS Comparison
Drupal
Tagging
Joomla
WordPress
No. Extensible
No. Extensible
Yes. Extensible
URLs with aliases,
slugs or user
readable URL's
Yes. Advanced URL
management that provides
user precise control over the
URL of each item(node)
Yes, but in comparison to
Drupal and WordPress, the
results are not pretty, without
the use of extensions
Yes, WP URLs can be very
user-friendly but are
generally limited to one
type for all posts
Permission
Community-based, granular
level of permissions for
precise control over features
for user types
Lacking. Extensions allow
more flexibility but add
great complexity to the site.
Yes. But limited in
comparison with Drupal
Scalability
Based on existing code base,
it is very scalable
Quite scalable
Limited scalability. Not
easy to add new section,
elements etc..
Learning Curve
Easy but required to know
how to code
Pretty easy, lots of useful
and easy-to-learn features
are available
Easiest among all (Drupal
and Joomla)

8. CMS Comparison
Drupal
Advantage
Disadvantage
Average Setup &
Customization
Cost
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Extremely Flexible
Developer Friendly
Strong SEO Capabilities
Enterprise Friendly
Stability
Steep Learning Curve
Lack of Free Plugins
Lack of Themes
$250 – $15000
Joomla
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
WordPress
User-Friendly
Strong Developer
Community
Extension Variability
Strong Content
Management Capabilities
•
•
•
•
Some Learning Involved
Lacks SEO Capabilities
Limited Access Control List
Support
•
•
$5000 – $50000
•
•
•
•
Multiple Authors
Huge Plugin Library
User Friendly
Strong SEO
Capabilities
Easy Customization
Flexibility
Security
Incompatibility with
Older Plugins
Limited Design Options
Limited Content
Management
Capabilities
$2000 – $20000

9. CMS Comparison
Drupal
Usage
Recommendation
Joomla
It is a full-fledged,
enterprise grade CMS. It’s
recommended for large
projects where stability,
scalability and power are
prioritized over ease of use
and aesthetics.
It enables to build a site with
more structural stability and
content than WordPress, and
has a fairly intuitive interface.
If user wants a standard
website with standard
capabilities – a blog, a
static/dynamic front-end, a
forum, etc. then use Joomla.
Joomla is also a good option
for small to mid-tier ecommerce stores. If user wants
something more powerful for
enterprise use, consider
Drupal.
WordPress
It is often called a ‘mini
CMS’. It isn’t nearly as
powerful or capable as
Drupal or Joomla, but is
easy enough for any lay
user. It provides user
simple, easy to use for
blogging solution that
looks good and can
accommodate multiple
authors.

10. Popularity Chart
Jaladhi Bhatt

11. Jaladhi Bhatt