Websites for Department and Groups — WordPress or Drupal?

How fast will my site be?

WordPress pages may load slower in visitors’ browsers than Stanford Sites pages because they share more back-end resources with other services.

How secure?

A Stanford WordPress site with no third-party themes or plugins is as safe from hacking as a Stanford Sites Drupal instance, but with WordPress the risk increases with each add-on that you install from outside Stanford.

How much will I have to do to keep it running?

With WordPress, the site owner must take action to apply packaged updates when notified by Administrative Systems. Stanford Sites maintenance, upgrades, and service improvements do not require site owner action.

Will I have access to the latest official Stanford identity and themes?

With WordPress, the Stanford Lagunita theme is pre-installed. Stanford Sites offers access to the latest Stanford themes, by request and subject to University Communications approval.

What if I want to add a feature or function later?

With WordPress, you can install third-party plugins and themes of your choice, but this requires more technical expertise than activating the dozens of Drupal modules pre-installed with Stanford Sites.

Where can I get support when I need it?

University IT supports and responds to HelpSU requests about both of these services. In some cases, we enlist the assistance of Stanford's active WordPress and Drupal communities by referring your request to a user group mailing list. WordPress is well-represented by site administrators and developers on campus, but more developers and resources are focused on Drupal and the Stanford Sites service. At Stanford, the Drupal community is the most active and engaged of the web community support groups.

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