Which CMS Joomla, Drupal or WordPress

In order to build a high end website, open source CMS platforms are becoming greatly popular these days. Since there are a number CMS software programs available on the web, many web publishers find it quite difficult to decide which CMS will best serve their purpose – Joomla, Drupal or WordPress? All three of them have their very own pros and cons, similarities and dissimilarities with one another.

The similarities of Joomla, Drupal and WordPress:
    PHP based web development platforms.
    Licensed under the free GNU General Public License.
    Content management system uses MySQL database.
Drupal:
    Drupal is ideal for building complex, advanced and versatile sites and requires high level of expertise and experience for maintenance.
    It is for coding freaks. If you like to use more plugins and less personally generated codes, then Drupal is not ideal for you.
    Modules – plug-in catcher in Drupal has many popular and amazing enhancements and you can craft some really cool stuff that will increase your website’s functionality, performance and scalability.
Joomla:
    Joomla is a mostly a developer-oriented, extensive but user-friendly CMS. It contains much complex options regarding site development.
    Joomla requires moderately uncomplicated installation and set up processes. The terminology and structure of this tool is meant for moderately complex sites.
    It has a huge community of programmers, developers, and designers. So getting help and assistance from expert Joomla developers is easy.
    The designers, developers and administrators often find it amusing to work with.
    Joomla is becoming more user friendly with each new upgrade.
    Extensions – Joomla 1.5 search framework is used to cache pages making it real fast in downloading each page with customizable options. It also supports the System Cache Plug-in. There are many other cool extensions while using Joomla as a CMS.
WordPress:
    This is an easy-to-use platform for both developers and end users. With time, WordPress has introduced thousands of new themes, plugins and widgets that smooth the progress of WordPress as the most popular CMS ever.
    Ideal for web developers who build websites for non-technical users, because once the site is built, the client can take over the site and maintain it of his/her own that requires minimum effort and technical knowledge.
    Plug-ins – WordPress has the richest collection of plug-ins that can increase the functionality of a WordPress to a great extent. They are really easy to install. No coding knowledge is required. But if you have sufficient knowledge, you can customize a WordPress plug-in or create a plug-in from the scratch.
Other major factors for choosing the best CMS among the three:
    Backend:
    – Drupal has a master control bar which adapts the page you visit.
    – Joomla has different segregated pages for each administrative tool.
    – WordPress backend is the easiest of the three to manage and navigate through different options.
    Security – WordPress has a number of loopholes and security vulnerability for its plain construction, the plugins might also be hacked or exploited. Drupal is the best in terms of security, and Joomla is reasonably good.
    Extensions – WordPress beats the others. WP is connected with many third party commercial market places for themes and plug-ins.
    Forums and supports – WordPress and Joomla have many unofficial forums, blogs and websites for support, apart from the official ones. Drupal has a thin line of unofficial support. However, all three have great user community.