Drupal Development Services: Pros and Cons

When you’re ready to build a website, choosing the right content management system (CMS) can be the difference between your project being hugely successful and a total flop. Choosing an open-source CMS like Drupal is a great way to make building websites efficient and cost effective, especially if you plan on working with a Drupal development services team. However, just like any other CMS, Drupal does have its downsides.

Drupal can be challenging to use — it’s not as user friendly as other open-source platforms, such as WordPress. But if you’re planning to outsource your project to a Drupal web development company anyway, does it really make that much of a difference?

To help you decide and make the right choice for you and your project, here’s an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of building a website with the help of a Drupal development services team.

What is a Drupal Web Development Company?

A Drupal web development company is an organization that uses the Drupal content management system to build websites for clients. By using the company’s services, you can have a professional, sleek, and speedy website; without having to do any coding or designing yourself.

A standard Drupal web development team will be made up of web designers, Drupal programmers, and graphic designers who work together to turn your website plan into a real application. You don’t need to consult with different teams or individuals to get the job done. The web development company will take care of everything for you and you’ll receive a great website at the end of the process.

Major Drupal Websites

Drupal may not be the most famous CMS, but it’s still used by international corporations, institutions, and enterprises. The most important firms appreciate it for its increased security, while developers often favor it for its flexibility. Here are some of the biggest and most important websites currently built with Drupal:

• Nokia — uses Drupal as a project basis to display the latest products and updates.
• Tesla — an elegant, interactive, and transparent website based on Drupal.
• Oxford Universiy — has used Drupal for many years because of its scalability and top-class security.
• Wish — the e-commerce company has an investor relations platform that uses Drupal to exchange information.
• NASA — a comprehensive knowledge and news hub that’s built with Drupal.

Drupal Development Services: Pros

There are currently more than 500,000 websites using Drupal. Over half a million website developers can’t be wrong. Some of the pros that make the platform so popular are listed here.

Great for Complex Websites

If your goal is to create a large, complex website with a lot of customizations, a Drupal development services team can help you achieve it. The Drupal CMS also offers highly flexible content integration and taxonomies. By using it, you can integrate many other kinds of content into your website and group the content in whichever way you find most beneficial for you.

It’s easy to scale Drupal websites to meet various traffic fluctuations and needs. This means as your site grows and you gain more users, it will be able to cope with minimal downtime.

Expansive and Supportive Community

Drupal has a huge online community made up of developers and users. If you’ve got a basic knowledge of coding, you may be able to solve small problems on your own, instead of turning to the Drupal development services team that built your website each time. Through support groups, documentation, user forums, and many other useful resources, you can get free help for almost any problem you encounter.

Future-Proof

Drupal’s developers are always gazing future-forward, and do a great job of paying it forward as well. They’re continuously releasing new bug fixes, plugins, and modules to stay ahead of the many problems and changes that can appear online as quick as lightning.

Increased Security

Security should be at the forefront of your mind when you’re thinking about outsourcing your website. Drupal has got a great reputation as the most secure CMS, making a Drupal development services organization an excellent choice.

Drupal puts a strong emphasis on advanced security features which make it less prone to hacking than other CMSs. It also features a secure built-in access control system that lets you create different roles with special permissions.

Accessibility

Accessibility is an incredibly important feature in today’s websites. Drupal has a fantastic commitment to accessibility, making it possible for every user, regardless of their capabilities and device, to have a great experience. By working with a Drupal development services company, you’ll be sure your website conforms to the World Wide Web Consortium guidelines. Thus, your site will be available to everyone.

Drupal Development Services: Cons

It’s not all good news. Just like everything in the world, Drupal also has its downsides. Below are some of the cons you should consider before investing in Drupal development services.

Complicated

Even if you plan on outsourcing your project to a Drupal development services organization, you may still have to get your hands dirty and get involved with the backend at some point. Drupal’s interface was created with professional web developers in mind, resulting in an interface that is neither intuitive nor user-friendly.

If you’re an expert developer, you may get on just fine. But if you’re an amateur or total beginner, you may find Drupal simply too complicated to use.

Requires Time & Money

After you’ve shared your website plan with your chosen Drupal development services company, you may be raring to go. But it could be some time before your website is finished.

Your Drupal web development company will need to go through many modules and themes to determine the ones that best match your site's needs. Because many of Drupal’s themes are custom-coded, you may also need to wait for a developer to create a unique theme for your site.

The longer it takes a development company to make a website, the more they will charge. Many Drupal modules also need to be purchased, so there could be additional payments that you hadn’t planned for.

Ongoing Maintenance

Drupal requires a lot of ongoing maintenance for optimum functionality and security. All CMSs demand you to keep on top of the latest security patches and updates. But Drupal also forces you to implement scalability techniques and resources when your traffic starts to grow.

There’s a major learning curve involved while getting a grip on Drupal. You may find that you don’t have enough time and have to outsource maintenance to an external company for an additional cost.

Performance

To have your website fully optimized and running at its best, you need to hire a great Drupal development services company. There are many third-party plugins and modules which can be added to improve configuration and speed up Drupal websites, but it takes time and money to incorporate these.

You need to be sure you’re working with a reliable and dedicated team that will include the necessary extras to have your website running at optimum performance. Failure to do so can lead to Drupal core crashes and other performance issues.

Conclusion

Are Drupal development services the best option for your next website? If you don’t have the time or resources to develop your own site, then it’s certainly a smart move to outsource it to a web development company. But is Drupal the best CMS out there?

If you’re a decently experienced and knowledgeable developer with aspirations to have a complex and highly-customized website, Drupal is a great choice. The fact that it’s open sourced may save you a little money, while its focus on security will ensure your users’ data and your website stays safe.

But Drupal isn’t always the best option. If you’ve got limited or no coding knowledge, you can’t afford one of the best Drupal web development teams, and you need your website to be complete sooner rather than later, you may want to choose a different CMS. There are plenty of more intuitive platforms, such as WordPress and Joomla, to consider that you may find more manageable to use.

Drupal Development Services FAQs:

Drupal and the Drupal web development companies that work with the CMS can be tricky to get your head around if you’re unfamiliar with them. Here are some of the most commonly asked questions about Drupal and their answers to help you better understand and make the right choice for your project.

Q1. What are the benefits of Drupal development services?

The benefits of using a Drupal development services team to build your website include:

• Get a complex, highly-customized website
• Great social media API support
• High security levels
• Large community for support
• SEO-friendly website for better rankings
• Mobile-ready platform
• Open-source software which reduces your cost
• Hugely scalable for all requirements and traffic fluctuations

These are just some of the benefits you can enjoy when working with Drupal to build your website. As you’ll be outsourcing the project to an external team, you’ll also get to take advantage of a hassle-free experience and receive a professional, streamlined website without having to do any coding or programming yourself.

Q2. Is Drupal frontend or backend?

Drupal can be a complete web framework that works for both the frontend and backend of your application. While it can handle the backend beautifully, its frontend capabilities are sometimes overly restrictive for most developers.

There are also times when Drupal serves exclusively as the backend system. When the Headless Drupal approach is used, Drupal works as the backend content repository. The frontend is built with different technologies and uses an API to communicate with Drupal.

Q3. Is Drupal PHP based?

Yes, Drupal is written in PHP and is also based on a PHP network called Symfony. It mostly works on all supported PHP versions, although some individual modules may have different prerequisites for certain PHP extensions.