If you’re thinking about building a website, you probably have a lot of questions, including how to pick a more secure content management system.
There are numerous CMSs in the digital world that boast cutting-edge functionality and capabilities. Among the greatest and most secure CMS for building top-notch websites are WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla. Given that each of these three possibilities has advantages and disadvantages of their own, it is difficult to choose just one platform.
The three most secure CMSs as of right now are WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal in 2023.
They collectively hold the majority share (up to 75%) of the market for platforms used to create and build websites.
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?
The term “content management system” (CMS) function is to manage your website and the material on it, as implied by the name. When used as an e-commerce solution, CMSs can manage website pages, blog posts, users and their permissions, relevant paperwork, and even work as a multisite for large corporate franchises.
Without any experience in web design or programming, you may create and maintain the content of your website with the aid of a proper CMS.
Because of the current CMS’s simplicity, you don’t need to be a CSS or HTML expert to create a fantastic website. To choose the ideal more secure CMS for your website, you will need to delve into some technical details.
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 a free, open-source content management system (CMS) with a large, supportive community. It’s used by millions of people and organizations around the globe to build and maintain their websites. You probably use Drupal every day without knowing it, as many top businesses and government organizations use Drupal, like the Government of Australia, Red Cross, Harvard, The Economist, BBC, NBC News, Whole Foods, Cisco, Twitter, and many, many more.
Drupal is open source software released under the GNU Public License. This means it has inherent benefits–cost, flexibility, freedom, security, and accountability–that are unmatched by proprietary software. For example, Drupal is free to download and anyone can modify and extend the platform. This ensures freedom from vendor “lock in” and it empowers users worldwide to monitor Drupal’s underlying code for compliance and security issues and fix them quickly.
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 a free and open-source Content Management System (CMS). It is an online site based on PHP and MySQL. It was mainly designed as a blogging tool but now it has evolved into a versatile CMS. Where, you can use it to create a simple blog as well as a fully operationable website and mobile applications. It is even used to create an online store using some WordPress plugins.
But some people still misunderstand it just as a blogging platform.
It is considered as the easiest and most popular CMS tool due to its features. The main feature of WordPress is its versatility and feasibility to use. There is no use of coding and designing skills for creating a website on this. Even a non-technical person can also create a website with the help of WordPress easily.
WordPress is an open-source community that implies thousands of people from all over the world work on it. It is free software. You are free to download, install, modify and use it. Although, there might be some cost involved during web hosting.
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
What is Joomla?
Joomla is an open source Content Management System (CMS), which is used to build websites and online applications. It is free and extendable which is separated into front-end and back-end templates (administrator). Joomla is developed using PHP, Object Oriented Programming, software design patterns and MySQL (used for storing the data).
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.