Drupal vs Joomla vs WordPress: Which Is the Most Secure CMS in 2023?

If you are planning to build a website, you must have tons of questions in your mind, including how to choose more secure cms for website.1 When you look at the digital world, you find dozens of CMSs that boast high-end functionality and features. WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla are among the best and more secure CMS for creating top-notch websites. It is tough to select a single platform among these three options as all have their own merits and demerits.

Today, WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are the three most secure CMS in 2023.2 Together, they occupy the majority (up to 75%) of the market’s share of platforms used to develop and build a website. 

In other words, these three platforms provide the majority of the building blocks used to create most of the world wide web. But unfortunately, this also means that they attract many hackers and cybercriminals to their front doors.

What Is an Open Source CMS?

Before comparing these CMS platforms, let’s learn about CMS first!

CMS stands for Content Management System. The name is pretty self-explanatory, and its purpose is to manage your website and the content within. CMSs can manage website pages, blog posts, users and their permissions, necessary documentation, function as an e-commerce solution, and even perform as a multisite for big business franchises. 

A proper CMS will help you develop and manage the contents of your website without any knowledge of web design or programming.3 You don’t need to be an HTML or CSS guru to build a great website because of the easy-to-use nature of the modern CMS. However, you’ll need to dive into some technicalities to make a perfect choice of more secure CMS for your website. 

What Are the Main Types of Secure CMS?

WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are the three most popular secure CMS choices by usage. A cursory glance at these three different pieces of software shows that they are somewhat similar- a PHP framework interacting with a database. However, looks are deceiving. Each has its own user experience, add-on management, and working process. WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are very different in their benefits and disadvantages.2 Instead of comparing every attribute, these CMS choices have to offer, we wanted to provide a guide of a sort that allows you to review their security information and conclude. 

What is Drupal?

Drupal is an ideal CMS for everyone who needs the most powerful and secure cms platform.3 It is a complex CMS platform that is best suited for intermediate users. Still, the community around it is vast and supportive, ensuring the user experience with Drupal is friendly even for beginners.

Initially launched in 2000, Drupal powers 2.3% of all websites and has a 4.6% share of the content management system market.

Notable Names that are Using Drupal:-

In the first 1,000,000 sites on the web, you will find over 31,000 sites made on Drupal CMS platform. Let’s see what few popular names got unique designs as desired & expected with Drupal.

Top Companies Using Drupal

• Tesla
• NASA
• Entertainment Weekly
• Mint
• NCAA
• Le Figaro
• Australian Government
• Keep
• The Emmy Awards
• ABS- CBN News
• University of Colorado
• State of Colorado
• The Economist
• Dallas Cowboys

What is WordPress?

WordPress is easy to set up and easily accessible for inexperienced users. However, it has a weak core code, and the system is prone to frequent hacker attacks.

Launched initially as a blogging platform back in 2003, WordPress now powers 43.0% of all websites and controls 43.0% of the known content management system market.

Notable Names that are using WordPress:-

Over 75 million websites are built on WordPress CMS Platform. Here are the few names that got stunning websites from their wildest dreams.

Top Companies Using WordPress

• BBC America

• The White House (shifted from Drupal to WordPress)
• Katty Perry
• Sony Music
• TechCrunch
• The official Star Wars Blog
• 10Web
• MTV News
• New York Times
• The Walt Disney Company
• The Rolling Stones

What is Joomla?

Joomla has a friendly admin interface and suits those who need to manage tons of content. On the other hand, there are few customizable options for features and functionality, and most useful plugins are paid.

Released in 2005 for building websites, blogs, or portfolios, Joomla is the youngest CMS today but powers 3.5% of CMS websites.

Notable Names that are Using Joomla:-

Around 2.5 million worldwide websites are built on Joomla. Here are the famous brands using Joomla to experience drastic shifts in web design patterns:

Top Companies Using Joomla

• IKEA

• Harvard University

• Lipton Ice Tea
• The Fashion Spot
• The Hill
• Holiday Inn
• UNRIC
• Guggenheim
• IT Wire

Which Is the Most Secure CMS Platforms in 2023?

WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal aren’t only the most popular and secure cms platforms in 2023. They are also the most popular targets for malicious attacks, which often involve data theft, SEO spamming, identity fraud, and transaction fraud. 

Security should always be a major concern when deciding which CMS to use for your personal, professional, or business needs.

Let’s talk about WordPress first!

The world’s most secure CMS faces frequent hacking attempts but is built on a very secure code. They respond to security vulnerabilities pretty fast. You can further secure your WordPress sites with automated backups, two-factor authentication, and other WordPress security features. Still, WordPress sites are highly likely to get vulnerable to attacks because of their fame and popularity. 

Joomla is in-par with WordPress when it comes to security. They quickly respond to any security vulnerability and instantly patch it up. However, maintaining a website and installing updates is manual. So, even you have to be diligent while using Joomla. So same as WordPress, Joomla follows security practices at its best, but maintaining a website is still up to the user.

Drupal handles security differently. They publish security vulnerabilities on their site as they are discovered and patched. Drupal is secure even with few security steps being taken; however, in the case of WordPress, one needs to make sure that the security problem is tackled appropriately.

Because of its comprehensive security, many governments and global organizations that need truly secure websites choose Drupal.4

According to an annual report by a website security service Sucuri, in 2019, WordPress users accounted for 94% of infected websites, Joomla users for 2.5%, and Drupal users for just 1.28%.

However, this data doesn’t mean that WordPress isn’t a reliable CMS. It is pretty secure if it’s set up correctly. Being incredibly user-friendly, WordPress attracts more non-technical and inexperienced users, who are more likely not to update the system regularly or would install vulnerable third-party extensions. Plus, the popularity of WordPress attracts hackers accordingly.

As for Joomla, regarding security, it is similar to WordPress, except that it’s not that popular, so it might not be the main focus of hackers’ attention.

Drupal Vs WordPress Vs Joomla - The Finale

As we know, security is one of the most important aspects of a CMS. Above functionality and accessibility, users want to ensure their content, data, and sensitive information is secure. If a CMS is slow or lags with security, it can lose trust with its user base.

That’s why security is the core purpose you should consider before selecting your content management system. And when it comes to security, Drupal has the best reputation. It works on the security of your website and discovers and patches the flaw whenever required.

Drupal has more security benefits than Joomla and WordPress. There is no doubt that you must choose it as your next web design and development CMS.