Companies Using Drupal

Drupal is used by 91,286 companies worldwide, including Deloitte, IBM, HCLTech, based on our analysis of 50M+ crawled domains at TechnologyChecker.io. It's particularly popular in the Government Administration industry (3.55% of customers).

Drupal has 91,286 active customers detected through our monthly crawl of 50M+ domains. We enriched 47,606 of these with LinkedIn company data on TechnologyChecker.io to generate detailed insights. An additional 251,588 sites that previously used Drupal are also tracked.

Drupal holds 2.57% of the CMS market, ranking #11 in the category — based on our analysis of 50M+ domains and 40K+ technologies at TechnologyChecker.io.

The top alternatives to Drupal include Squarespace (18.42% market share), Wix (17.87% market share), GoDaddy Website Builder (10.33% market share), WordPress.com Hosting (6.2% market share) — based on our market share data across 50M+ crawled domains.

United States leads with 12,190 Drupal customers, followed by France (3,787), Germany (3,129), United Kingdom (2,834), Belgium (2,640), based on our enriched company data at TechnologyChecker.io.

The most common company size is 1-10 employees, representing 63.5% of Drupal customers, based on our analysis of 47,606 enriched companies. This is followed by 11-50 employees (14.5%) and 51-200 employees (9.7%).

The majority of Drupal customers were founded in the 2010s (28.22%), followed by the 2000s (21.32%), based on our analysis of 47,606 enriched companies. This suggests Drupal is most popular among relatively young companies.

The ideal Drupal customer is: Company Size: 1-10 employees, Location: US, France, or Germany, City: New York, Paris, London, Brussels, Founded: 2010-2019, Company Age: ~10-15 years old — based on our analysis of 47,606 enriched companies at TechnologyChecker.io.

Yes, Drupal is a free and open-source content management system (CMS) written in PHP. It was first released in 2001 by Dries Buytaert and has evolved into one of the most powerful enterprise CMS platforms available. Drupal excels at managing complex content architectures with multilingual support, advanced user permissions, and flexible taxonomy systems. It's particularly popular among government agencies, universities, and large organizations that need strong security and scalability for mission-critical websites.

No, Drupal isn't the same as PHP, though it's built using the PHP programming language. PHP is a server-side scripting language used to create dynamic web applications, while Drupal is a complete content management framework written in PHP. Think of PHP as the building material and Drupal as the finished structure. Drupal uses PHP to provide a full-featured CMS with database abstraction, theming systems, module architecture, and administrative interfaces that allow non-technical users to manage website content without writing code.

Drupal is still widely used by government agencies, universities, nonprofits, and large enterprises that require strong security and complex content management. Our data shows 91,286 active Drupal installations, with Government Administration (3.55% of users), Non-profit Organizations (3.49%), and Higher Education (2.99%) leading adoption. Notable users include the United Nations, Government of Canada, IBM, Nokia, and FedEx. While small businesses have migrated to simpler platforms like Wix and Squarespace, Drupal remains the go-to choice for organizations with strict compliance requirements and sophisticated multilingual needs.

Yes, Drupal has a steeper learning curve than WordPress. G2 reviews consistently cite Drupal's "complex coding requirements" and "learning difficulty" as top challenges for new users. WordPress prioritizes ease of use with visual page builders and intuitive interfaces, while Drupal requires more technical knowledge to configure content types, views, and permissions. However, this complexity translates to greater flexibility and control. Organizations with dedicated development teams can build highly customized solutions in Drupal that would be difficult to replicate in WordPress without extensive custom development.

Choose Drupal over WordPress when you need advanced content architecture, enterprise-grade security, or complex multilingual/multi-site management. Drupal excels at structured content with custom content types, relationships, and taxonomies that WordPress handles less elegantly. Government agencies and enterprises select Drupal for its rigorous security track record and granular user permissions. The platform also offers superior multilingual capabilities out of the box and can manage dozens of related sites from a single installation. If you're building a simple blog or brochure site, WordPress is easier; for complex institutional websites, Drupal's architecture provides a stronger foundation.

Drupal's main disadvantages include a steep learning curve, higher hosting costs, complex upgrade paths, and limited availability of non-technical resources. G2 reviews highlight "learning difficulty" and "expensive hosting costs" as top concerns. Drupal requires more server resources than lightweight CMS options, driving up infrastructure expenses. Major version upgrades often require significant rebuilding rather than simple updates. The platform also demands developers with specialized Drupal knowledge, which can be scarce and expensive compared to WordPress developers. For small teams without technical staff, these challenges often outweigh Drupal's enterprise capabilities.

Yes, Drupal core software is completely free and open-source, released under the GNU General Public License. You can download, install, modify, and distribute Drupal without paying licensing fees. However, the total cost of ownership includes hosting infrastructure, development time, custom module development, ongoing maintenance, and potential professional support services. While the software itself costs nothing, organizations typically spend significantly on implementation and support. Hosting requirements are more demanding than simpler CMS platforms, and you'll likely need experienced Drupal developers for configuration and customization, which adds to the overall investment.

Yes, Drupal is excellent for enterprise websites, which explains why 1.5% of its users employ 10,001+ people (compared to <0.5% for most CMS platforms). Its architecture supports complex organizational structures with advanced user roles, workflow management, and content governance. Enterprise users like IBM, Deloitte, and FedEx choose Drupal for its security credentials, scalability, and ability to integrate with existing enterprise systems. The platform handles high traffic loads, supports sophisticated caching strategies, and offers extensive APIs for connecting to CRM, ERP, and marketing automation tools. For large organizations with technical resources, Drupal provides the control and flexibility enterprise requirements demand.

Drupal is used for government portals, university websites, nonprofit sites, corporate intranets, publishing platforms, and complex multilingual web applications. Government agencies use it for transparency portals and citizen services that require accessibility compliance and security. Universities deploy Drupal for academic department sites, research databases, and student information systems. Media organizations build publishing workflows with editorial calendars and content scheduling. Corporations use Drupal for knowledge management systems and customer-facing microsites. The platform's flexible content modeling makes it ideal for any project where content relationships, user permissions, and data structure matter more than quick setup and simplicity.

Drupal was first released in 2001 by Dries Buytaert, making it over 24 years old. The platform originated as a message board for Buytaert and friends before evolving into a general-purpose CMS framework. Our dataset shows Drupal detections beginning in July 2005. Major versions have included Drupal 6 (2008), Drupal 7 (2011), Drupal 8 (2015), Drupal 9 (2020), and the current Drupal 10 series. This longevity gives Drupal a mature collection of contributed modules, established best practices, and a proven track record for mission-critical applications that newer platforms can't match.

Yes, Drupal has a strong security reputation and is trusted by government agencies and enterprises with strict compliance requirements. The Drupal Security Team actively monitors vulnerabilities, releases security advisories, and provides patches for both core software and contributed modules. However, security depends heavily on proper configuration, regular updates, and following best practices. Outdated Drupal installations can be vulnerable, as seen in past exploits targeting sites that didn't apply security patches promptly. When properly maintained, Drupal meets stringent security standards including FISMA, HIPAA, and PCI DSS compliance requirements that government and healthcare organizations demand.

Government Administration (3.55%), Non-profit Organizations (3.49%), IT Services and IT Consulting (3.22%), Construction (3.06%), and Higher Education (2.99%) are the top five industries using Drupal. This industry distribution reflects Drupal's strength in public sector and institutional environments where security, accessibility, and complex content management take priority over ease of use. Financial Services (2.93%), Real Estate (2.43%), Software Development (2.35%), Retail (2.31%), and Hospitals and Health Care (2.19%) round out the top ten. These sectors share common needs for structured content, regulatory compliance, and multilingual support that align with Drupal's core capabilities.