In modern Content Management System (CMS) world there are two major figures - Joomla (descendant of Mambo CMS ) and Drupal. They both are open source and have large comunities with enormous amounts of extensions and themes. It's hard to choose which one to use without trying them out. As usually, there are more options - home grown custom programming or even building your own CMS (which I was once stupid enough to do). Programming from scratch is always fun and beneficial for your skills, however, if you need things up and running in no time or you don't do (or don't want to do) any programming, using a CMS is the way to go.
If you are digging for CMS comparisons and trying to decide which one is best for you, here is a quick and dirty answer - go for Drupal, you won't regret it.
Why?
After test-driving them both I've came to these conclusions:
- Joomla is bloated, Drupal is minimal
- Drupal is easy to use and intuitive, Joomla is confusing
That was more than enough for a minimalist like me.
Here are some statistics from CMS Matrix for a more detailed comparison. It shows that Drupal is extremely modular and Joomla has a heavy core, thus a terrible architecture. That means Joomla is hard to extend and messy under the hood. Drupal, on the other hand, looks beautiful.
| Product | Drupal 6.2 | Joomla! 1.5.3 |
| Last Updated | 4/10/2008 | 5/31/2008 |
| System Requirements | Drupal | Joomla! |
| Application Server | PHP 4.3.5+ | Any that supports PHP (Apache recommended) |
| Approximate Cost | Free | Free |
| Database | MySQL, Postgres | MySQL |
| License | GNU GPL | GNU/GPL v2 |
| Operating System | Any | Any |
| Programming Language | PHP | PHP |
| Root Access | No | No |
| Shell Access | No | No |
| Web Server | Apache, IIS | Apache |
| Security | Drupal | Joomla! |
| Audit Trail | Yes | No |
| Captcha | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Content Approval | Yes | Yes |
| Email Verification | Yes | Yes |
| Granular Privileges | Yes | No |
| Kerberos Authentication | No | No |
| LDAP Authentication | Free Add On | Yes |
| Login History | Yes | Yes |
| NIS Authentication | No | No |
| NTLM Authentication | Free Add On | No |
| Pluggable Authentication | Yes | Yes |
| Problem Notification | No | No |
| Sandbox | No | No |
| Session Management | Yes | Yes |
| SMB Authentication | No | No |
| SSL Compatible | Yes | Yes |
| SSL Logins | No | Yes |
| SSL Pages | No | Yes |
| Versioning | Yes | No |
| Support | Drupal | Joomla! |
| Certification Program | No | No |
| Code Skeletons | Yes | No |
| Commercial Manuals | Yes | Yes |
| Commercial Support | Yes | Yes |
| Commercial Training | Yes | Yes |
| Developer Community | Yes | Yes |
| Online Help | Yes | Yes |
| Pluggable API | Yes | Yes |
| Professional Hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Professional Services | Yes | Yes |
| Public Forum | Yes | Yes |
| Public Mailing List | Yes | No |
| Test Framework | Free Add On | Yes |
| Third-Party Developers | Yes | Yes |
| Users Conference | Yes | Yes |
| Ease of Use | Drupal | Joomla! |
| Drag-N-Drop Content | Free Add On | No |
| Email To Discussion | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Friendly URLs | Yes | Yes |
| Image Resizing | Free Add On | Yes |
| Macro Language | Free Add On | Yes |
| Mass Upload | Free Add On | No |
| Prototyping | Limited | Yes |
| Server Page Language | Yes | Yes |
| Site Setup Wizard | Limited | No |
| Spell Checker | Free Add On | No |
| Style Wizard | Limited | No |
| Subscriptions | Free Add On | No |
| Template Language | Limited | Yes |
| UI Levels | No | Yes |
| Undo | Limited | No |
| WYSIWYG Editor | Free Add On | Yes |
| Zip Archives | No | No |
| Performance | Drupal | Joomla! |
| Advanced Caching | Yes | Yes |
| Database Replication | Limited | No |
| Load Balancing | Yes | Yes |
| Page Caching | Yes | Yes |
| Static Content Export | No | No |
| Management | Drupal | Joomla! |
| Advertising Management | Free Add On | Yes |
| Asset Management | Yes | Yes |
| Clipboard | No | No |
| Content Scheduling | Free Add On | Yes |
| Content Staging | Free Add On | No |
| Inline Administration | Yes | Yes |
| Online Administration | Yes | Yes |
| Package Deployment | No | No |
| Sub-sites / Roots | Yes | Yes |
| Themes / Skins | Yes | Yes |
| Trash | No | Yes |
| Web Statistics | Yes | Yes |
| Web-based Style/Template Management | Yes | Yes |
| Web-based Translation Management | Yes | Free Add On |
| Workflow Engine | Limited | No |
| Interoperability | Drupal | Joomla! |
| Content Syndication (RSS) | Yes | Yes |
| FTP Support | Limited | Yes |
| iCal | Free Add On | No |
| UTF-8 Support | Yes | Yes |
| WAI Compliant | Limited | No |
| WebDAV Support | No | No |
| XHTML Compliant | Yes | No |
| Flexibility | Drupal | Joomla! |
| CGI-mode Support | Yes | Yes |
| Content Reuse | Limited | Yes |
| Extensible User Profiles | Yes | Yes |
| Interface Localization | Yes | Yes |
| Metadata | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-lingual Content | Yes | Free Add On |
| Multi-lingual Content Integration | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Multi-Site Deployment | Yes | Free Add On |
| URL Rewriting | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in Applications | Drupal | Joomla! |
| Blog | Yes | Yes |
| Chat | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Classifieds | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Contact Management | Free Add On | Yes |
| Data Entry | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Database Reports | No | Free Add On |
| Discussion / Forum | Yes | Free Add On |
| Document Management | Limited | Free Add On |
| Events Calendar | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Events Management | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Expense Reports | No | Free Add On |
| FAQ Management | Yes | Yes |
| File Distribution | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Graphs and Charts | No | Free Add On |
| Groupware | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Guest Book | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Help Desk / Bug Reporting | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| HTTP Proxy | No | No |
| In/Out Board | No | No |
| Job Postings | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Link Management | Free Add On | Yes |
| Mail Form | Free Add On | Yes |
| Matrix | No | No |
| My Page / Dashboard | Free Add On | No |
| Newsletter | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Photo Gallery | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Polls | Yes | Yes |
| Product Management | Free Add On | Yes |
| Project Tracking | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Search Engine | Yes | Yes |
| Site Map | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Stock Quotes | Free Add On | No |
| Surveys | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Syndicated Content (RSS) | Yes | Yes |
| Tests / Quizzes | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Time Tracking | Free Add On | No |
| User Contributions | Yes | Yes |
| Weather | Free Add On | No |
| Web Services Front End | Limited | Yes |
| Wiki | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Commerce | Drupal | Joomla! |
| Affiliate Tracking | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Inventory Management | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Pluggable Payments | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Pluggable Shipping | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Pluggable Tax | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Point of Sale | No | Free Add On |
| Shopping Cart | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Subscriptions | Free Add On | Free Add On |
| Wish Lists | Free Add On | Free Add On |
Hope this helps to make a choice.
