Drupal is a heavy-duty open-source CMS that’s known for running big, complicated, security-sensitive sites — think government portals, universities, and large companies.
Background
Drupal is free and open source under the GPL. Dries Buytaert first released it in 2001; he originally built it as a message board while he was a student at the University of Antwerp. Like WordPress, it’s written in PHP, and it runs on a MySQL, MariaDB, or PostgreSQL database. The non-profit Drupal Association and a large community keep it going, with a lot of backing from Acquia, the company Buytaert co-founded.
Why People Choose Drupal
- Serious content modeling and a flexible taxonomy system for organizing complicated information.
- Fine-grained user roles and permissions, which is great for sites with lots of editors and contributors.
- A strong security track record — that’s why governments and big institutions trust it.
- Multilingual support built right into the core software.
- An API-first, “decoupled” setup that plays well with modern front-end frameworks.
- Proven that it can scale for high-traffic, content-heavy sites.
Drupal really shines when a project needs structure, security, and scale beyond what a normal blog calls for. It’s got a steeper learning curve than WordPress, but it pays developers back with detailed control and enterprise-grade flexibility.
Quick Facts
- Type: Open source (free, GPL license)
- First released: 2001
- Created by: Dries Buytaert
- Built with: PHP and MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL
- Best for: Large, complex, security-focused sites
- Cost: Software is free; hosting and development cost extra