What is this Drupal?

Drupal is a open-source content management system, like WordPress. It’s very similar in many ways.

Similarities to WordPress

• It uses the same kinds of servers (php web servers, MariaDb / MySQL database servers) as WordPress. That means many hosting services can support it. If you have a cPanel hosting service, it’s likely you can set up a Drupal site as a staging site on that service.
• It has a back end that works similarly to WordPress’s Dashboard pages.
• The workflow for creating posts with words and images is conceptually the same.
• It has a large ecosystem of modules and themes.
• It has drush, a command-line tool for site operations similar to wp-cli.
• Drupal sites have a similar kind of server footprint — files and dataases — so they have similar workflows for backup, restore, and site migration.
• Drupal has an open-source project governance, as does WordPress.

Differences from WordPress

• A core WordPress installation is usable for a blog or a very basic brochure site, whereas a core Drupal installation needs quite a few modules (think plugins) installed.
• Both CMSs have ecosystems of themes and add-on modules (plugins). Drupal also has an ecosystem of distributions. These distributions enable third–party developers to package up core Drupal with appropriate modules and themes to implement a web app. There are packages for all sorts of sites from learning management systems to blog platforms to municipal website publishing. For somebody (like me) just trying to understand Drupal, using one of these distributions gets me to something workable quickly.
• Drupal can, natively, use PostgreSQL and SQLite as a database in addition to MariaDB / MySQL. All three database server types work well. Compared to WordPress this is a big deal because WordPress’s implementation and plugin ecosystem are intimately tied to the quirks of MariaDB / MySQL.
• The project has a contribution credit system that recognizes open-source contribution work by companies, individuals, and web site owners. This is different from the self-reporting of contribution work asked of people with accounts on wordpress.org.