Drupal
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Most Helpful Reviews for Drupal
1 - 5 of 442 Reviews
Luke
Marketing and Advertising, 11 - 50 employees
Used more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
Reviewed October 2021
Powerful open source alternative to WCMS monoliths
Madhu
Verified reviewer
Graphic Design, 1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2017
Phenomenal software
Drupal has seven main Pros: 1) It's uses a very flexible system of modules. You can use Drupal modules to add new features to your site. For example, the Membership module lets you add member based services, the Video modules lets you host video clips, while the Commerce module lets you add shopping features. Each modules is made up of smaller modules, which ensures you only activate the bits you need for your project. Best of all, you can mix and match the modules to create things the original module designers might have never considered. For example, combine the Commerce, Membership and Video modules to create a paid for membership site of training videos. 2) It's very layered. In Drupal, system code lives in one layer, code to do with appearance (e.g. CSS, HTML) lives in another separate layer and custom modifications live in another separate layer. This makes it very easy to change things. For example, you can change the entire layout of your site without having to modify the original content to adapt to it. 3) It's free Remarkably, the core technology and all these modules are available for free. There are some themes that you have to pay for if you want to change the look of your site, but you can make your own themes and there are number of free themes as well. 4) Great user support Drupal has a good support network of dedicated and helpful users who are willing to provide plenty of free help. There's also free training videos on YouTube. 5) Plenty of updates Drupal releases minor updates on a monthly basis which address any of bugs or security concerns that crop up. There are also major updates every 2-3 years, which radically change the functionality of the core system. 6) Portable code Most code can easily be transferred between sites. Hence, if you create a function on one site, you can move it to another without having to re-do it all from scratch. 7) Don’t need strong coding skills Drupal's module system means you can easily achieve a lot without needing to know how to code. It might not look and function exactly as you want, but it will be a decent effort.
CONSDrupal has 2 main set backs: 1) It can get very complicated The down side of all the flexibility, is that there are often 10 ways to do one thing in Drupal and it's not always clear which method is best. Often the only way you can find out is through experience. Which means your early Drupal projects might not be as good as they could be, as you cut your teeth on learning which methods are best for you. 2) Your code won’t last forever. Every 2-3 years, Drupal releases a new major update which radically changes the functionality of the site. The plus side of this is that it makes Drupal better. The downside is that you will often have to completely re-write your custom code. Because these major updates change everything, you will often need to install new modules to replace old ones. Essentially you have to rebuild your site (thankfully all the content can be transferred over). Upgrading isn't a requirement. But after a couple of years, the older versions of Drupal are no longer supported. So if building a Drupal site, expect to redo it from scratch it in 3-5 years. Hence, it's not really good for projects which only have a budget for minor changes each year.
Bradley
Information Technology and Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed June 2022
Drupal - CMS for Enterprise
Drupal is the most flexible, secure, and enterprise-ready CMS. Its meant for mid-tier+ businesses where SEO, content management, integration, and digital capability are critical. We use Drupal extensively for Government, Post-Secondary Education, Pharmaceutical and Multi-brand enterprises extensively, it minimizes GTM time, satisfies compliance requirements and its modular nature makes it possible for businesses to quickly re-use functionality across their ecosystem (with the appropriate build strategies). If you need a brochureware website, it might not be the best solution (equivalent of taking out a mosquito with a bazooka). The SEO and security capabilities OOTB are second to none, and integration capabilities are extensive. This is why its the gold standard for university platforms (71 of top 100 universities), and used in many government projects where security is a priority.
PROSThe security, open-source community, flexibility and capabilities are hands down the most important elements of this CMS for my/our use. The ability to extend and leverage modules to provide high business value capabilities are core to the software.
CONSThe learning curve for development is hefty but worthwhile. The administrative learning curve can also be heavy depending on how your agency/team has set up the software. For any mid-tier business and above, this is the open-source CMS of choice.
Reason for choosing Drupal
Drupal was chosen for a variety of reasons. Leveraging an open-source platform, our clients are removed from vendor lock-in, there is a massive community to support the product (so its not going anywhere soon), and its more versatile then the competitors. Drupal is engineered and can be bent to do just about anything, whereas CMS like WordPress (WP) are great for "agencies" that just plug in content to a ready-made system that is not intended to provide further value than a brochure site. Once digital capabilities are a requirement, WP is extremely limiting.
David
Verified reviewer
Medical Devices, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
2
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
2
Reviewed December 2020
Drupal Was a Decent Option Years Ago but I Would Not Consider it Today
Drupal has been an affordable content management system for us over the years but I wouldn't consider them now based on there being more user friendly options out there.
PROSThe Drupal content management system is free and the WYSIWYG ( What You See Is What You Get) editor is helpful for those of us who run a website without much HTML knowledge.
CONSThe product is difficult to use with limited coding knowledge. Additionally, there are few plug-ins and the add-ons that do exist are not super reliable as they are essentially created by volunteers.
Reason for choosing Drupal
At the time, it sounded like Drupal would be the easiest to integrate with an online store
Reasons for switching to Drupal
As a recent adopter of the HubSport CRM, we think HubSpot CMS is worth taking a chance of due to the promise of integration. The CMS package also seems affordable.
Bryan
Management Consulting, 1 employee
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed October 2019
Drupal 8 is my go to for Website Development
One of the most significant of business problems that I am solving by using this software for my consulting business is being able to provide a secure and stable website. The software itself informs me of when updates to the software or modules are available and those updates have always been painless and easy to implement. Similarly, creating websites for clients has also been easier with use of the Drupal 8 software as it reduces the need for repetitive tasks that tend to be associated with either creating websites file by file or the use of some of the other CMS software solutions that are available. I have also found that installing and setting up client websites using the Drupal 8 software is much easier than some of the other CMS software solutions that I have used in the past.
PROSOne of the things that I like the most about this software is its reliability and flexibility in being able to adapt to the various needs of businesses wishing to have an online presence.
CONSThroughout my use of this software, I can not truthfully think of anything that I don't like about this software as it has significantly improved over the past seven years.
Reason for choosing Drupal
While Drupal and Joomla have similarities in the flexibility that they offer in the design and development of websites and the availability of plugins, modules, and extensions, I found that Joomla! seems to have changed the way plugins for the software are made available through its website. Unfortunately, in that change, the modules, extensions, and plugins listed on the Joomla! website aren't always what they are listed to be as some of the developers of these Joomla! additions/modifications use the listings as a means of driving traffic to their website rather than on the delivery of what was indicated in the listing.
Reasons for switching to Drupal
I made the switch from WordPress because Drupal 8 gave me greater control over the appearance of my website with a fresh install and little need for the installation of additional modules and plugins. While WordPress also offered and made notice of regular updates that were painless to install, I found that not all of the verified plugins provide a desirable effect on the website (sometimes these changes aren't readily visible outside of search engines such as Google sending notice of problems).