With roughly 1.2 million websites using Drupal across the world, including marquee sites such as NBCUniversal and pharmaceutical giant Novartis, it’s clear that it’s a powerful content management system capable of supporting large organizations.

Drupal is a go-to choice for these institutions in part because of its reliance on open source software (OSS). Its source code is openly available for anyone to use and contribute to, which is actually one of its greatest strengths.

When making your organization’s software choices in the past, you may have glazed over any mentions of whether the code was open or closed source. But specifically choosing open source can have a number of benefits for your business, and beyond that, choosing Drupal can provide your business with the powerful platform it needs to succeed.

Why Open Source?

Lower Cost

The majority of open source software is freely distributed, meaning there’s a huge cost benefit when you choose open over closed software. Open source tools also don’t restrict the number of users due to licensing. If your business chooses to use open source, you’ll never have to pay for additional licenses as your company grows. Just add user accounts and go.

Security

Security is one of open source software’s greatest strengths. OSS is constantly under peer review by a community of experts, all of whom count on the same source code to keep their businesses running securely and efficiently. With a multitude of eyes on every project, open source tools are always checked and rechecked for security vulnerabilities. Problems often surface immediately thanks to the large number of users and contributors who maintain the code. You can sleep well at night knowing that your site is safe and secure.

Flexibility

There’s no barrier to entry with open source software. Anyone who wants to use it can get started for free. As a result, there’s an incredibly diverse population of individuals and businesses who use it. Open source is the foundation for all kinds of digital projects, making it more likely that someone has already created a tool for exactly what you want to accomplish.

This means more flexibility in the tools you use, and in the ability to add more tools. OSS grows and changes rapidly as people use it to accomplish all sorts of different goals.

No Vendor Lock-in

The accessible nature of OSS generally means that there are a large number of vendors that work with it. As a business, you have more options when looking for a partner for a digital project. If you need a new vendor for any reason, you’ll be able to find one who already knows the ins and outs of the software that you’re building with.

Why Drupal?

Community

The Drupal community has more than one million members and more than 100,000 of these members actively contribute to its code. A passionate and active community aims to ensure that Drupal and its code base are up to the highest standards. A dedicated security team has steps in place to ensure that insecure code isn’t distributed to the public. You want passionate people as the brains behind your website, and Drupal has thousands of them.

Modules

Drupal is comprised of its core code, which includes basic features and functionality, and thousands of additional modules. Modules are blocks of code that extend the functionality of Drupal’s core. Developers can add functionality to a site by installing an existing module, or by creating a customized one to accomplish what they need.

Modules add a lot of power to the development process. You can customize your website to your specific needs, something that isn’t possible with other content management systems. Among others, there are modules that allow you to quickly navigate to specific administrative pages, create slideshows, and add web forms. Check out our list of some of our favorites.

Third Party Integration

Drupal gets along really well with third party applications. These integration capabilities allow for less complicated workflows and more flexibility. A single solution that integrates the tools you already use, like MailChimp and Salesforce, greatly improves productivity and reduces headaches.

Open Source Optimized

Drupal boasts all of the benefits of open source software and amplifies them. The contributing community is one of the strongest open source communities. Contributors follow incredibly stringent coding standards to ensure that the code works, and that it works well. Security vulnerabilities are stopped before they happen. Plus, with such a wide variety of organizations already running their sites on Drupal, it’s hard to argue that it’s not a great choice for your business too.