How do you expand in the world where everything is online? The simple answer- with a website/blog. Having website is the first step in entering the digital world.

Of course, it is as it represents your service and is active perennially.Though it doesn’t have free plugins and themes either you have to pay for it or code it on your own and it does have a steep learning curve.

Getting your website up and running it is easy, but it is not that easy. The very first hurdle you have to pass is to choose the perfect platform to start the development with.

There are plenty of Content Management System (CMS) out there but choosing the best for you is quite painstaking.

To help you decide, we have dwindled it down to three most widely used platforms: Drupal, Magento and WordPress.

Through this article, we are throwing some light on them and will answer questions like when to use a particular CMS?

All of the three content management frameworks are free and open source has been developed by a community of enthusiast developers.

These platforms are continuously being improved to get adapt to new technologies and support every browser i.e developers keep enhancing them with regalia of add-on, powerful plugins and features from the respective community.

Let us have a look at the percentage of market share of various Content Management System.

Choosing the right one can be difficult because all of them have their own advantages. Depending on your goals and requirements, one of them will fit the unique situation.

Basically, your choice depends on the scope of your business, budget and what you want your site to do.

Each of the platforms has dedicated users and communities and has long-term sustainability, hence, have a huge client base. They also support third-party sources such as consultants etc.

They have a variegated range of features and options catering to your requirements. The more time and effort you invest in getting familiar with the technicalities of these platforms, the more will be the benefits.

• If your website is simple brochure-type or a blogging site, then WordPress would be the ideal choice as it is easy for a layman to grasp the functioning of it and can create complex sites too.

• If your website is more than just a blogging platform and has high complexity and you want to customize your site from time to time, then Drupal might be the best choice.

• For something in between that has an easier learning curve and doesn’t require that much of function, Magento is the answer.

Some reckoned sites on these platforms:

1. WordPress: Forbes, CNN, SONY

2. Drupal: Disney, ConsumerSearch.com, Canada’s National Hockey League(NHL)

3. Magento: Burger King, Nestle, Coca-Cola, BevMo.

As you can see that all these platforms have some well-known users, therefore, you can also use any of the platforms for building your own.

All of them have a lot in common in terms of technology, communities and usability.

To make things simpler, we have laid out all the differences between them as it would help you in choosing the right platform.

WordPress

Indubitable, WordPress is the most popular content management system. As of April 2016, WordPress was used by more than 26.4% of the top 10 million websites. It is one of the easiest blogging systems with over 60 million websites.

You have a myriad of plugins to choose from for almost everything. You want to analyze your site’s performance you have a specific plugin, you want to enhance the SEO of your site you have another plugin and so on.

It also boasts of strong SEO capabilities. What makes it popular is the very fact that you don’t need to have any technical background just install it and within few days you would be able to do it on your own.

You can even customize themes, add plugins and start running the website within some minutes. However, its drawback is its security.

As it is popular, it is prone to cyber attacks and with each update, it limits the functionality of plugins.

Drupal

Drupal is based on PHP-MySQL and due to its rich features, it has become a popular choice for building websites.

The advantages of using it that it highly flexible with backend support.

Every website you build, you consider its SEO purpose too and Drupal is search engine friendly with reliable functionality and the ability to have control over hundreds of web pages without any difficulty.

Therefore, it is recommended for e-commerce websites as they have lots of pages.

As of this writing, there are 19,788 “full project” modules each of which is completely free as well as another 16,451 “Sandbox” or experimental modules, also free. Drupal.org also offers nearly 2,400 free themes and over 1,000 distributions which are combinations of themes and modules pre-configured to address specific use cases. Yes, also free.

If content marketing is what you are focused on, then there’s nothing better than Drupal.

Through content marketing, you can promote your business and if you are looking for a perfect platform, then Drupal will be the right decision.

It has set of tool that enables you to promote your site through result-oriented methodologies. You can easily modify the website content and can manage it more efficiently.

With the help of extensions and plugins, you can easily tweak a website within a short duration of time.

Magento

If you want to incorporate advanced modules into your site, then Magento is the answer.

Whether you are limited only to domestic clients or have international clients, you can opt for this open-source platform.

It has built-in SEO features to make website Google friendly and a set of tools that assist you in the marketing strategies. It has the capability of handling multiple web pages efficiently.

With support from the Magento web community, it is regularly updated by the developers. All the modules are well- tested so that you don’t run the risk of facing bugs. However, you need to possess technical knowledge.

However, if you don’t want to get in detail, then it might be a little frustrating as it is not easy to incorporate any change in the standard functionality also, there is a steep learning curve.

With over 200,000 businesses are currently running their websites on it.

It has an in-built script that lets you control multiple functions via single administration panel and gives you a detailed analysis of your site.

It comes with a unified interface that lets you manage the site effectively whether you want to add a new page or contact form it is easy to do this and much more.

Quick Overview:

WordPress – The best option for beginners as you don’t need technical expertise. Easy to use especially for small scale enterprises. Read this step by step guide to learn how to create a blog with WordPress.

Drupal – You need to grasp the concept of PHP, HTML and CSS before starting the development with this platform. More secure than WordPress.

Magento – The clear advantage of Magento is its mature platform i.e. it lets you build websites with add-on and is equipped with functionality such as simple payment gateways.

Administration system is better. Irrespective of the functionality you include on the website, there’s always an add-on that allows you to perform the same task.

Final Words

Choosing the right platform is crucial for having a fully functional website for long term benefits. It takes a lot of time and effort for developing a website but it is worth.

You should consider all the pros and cons of CMS that you are intending to choose.

All if the three are reliable options under different requirements and your capabilities. Each of it offers different comfort zone and a different set of tools that add unique features to your site.