Top 10 Drupal Alternatives for 2025

Drupal is an open-source, traditional monolithic content management system (CMS) currently powering over 1.7 active websites (opens in a new window) worldwide. But even with its relative popularity, Drupal is not without its challenges. Some users struggle with performance bottlenecks, security issues, and a steep learning curve, among other challenges, leading them to rethink their CMS of choice. 

If that sounds familiar and you’re searching for a Drupal alternative, look no further. Here are 10 options to help you kickstart your search for the perfect CMS.

1. Storyblok

Storyblok (opens in a new window) is a modern headless CMS designed for creating cutting-edge content experiences. It's frontend agnostic, so it's compatible with any frontends, frameworks, and third-party tools you may want to use. That's all thanks to the composable architecture, which enables seamless integration and reuse of content across unlimited platforms. The type of frontend doesn't matter–websites, mobile apps, smartwatches, AR/VR, you name it—if it can connect via API, you can deliver content to it.

In addition to the architecture, Storyblok makes a powerful Drupal alternative because it doesn't require a long list of plugins to achieve peak functionality. Third-party modules require individual updating and present unique security concerns. Storyblok avoids this by offering a suite of native features, including (but not limited to):

• Powerful Visual Editor with a live preview
• Granular SEO optimization tools
• Localization features and scale-ready structure
• Multiple and custom workflows
• Advanced Digital Asset Manager (DAM)

You can also use the App Directory to find more fine-grained functionality to add to your tech stack. Still don't see the specific features you need? No worries: you can create your own custom app and integrate it into your system seamlessly, or connect any tech that you want to work with through APIs—the world is your CMS oyster.

Storyblok is a CMS for everyone. Its ease of use makes it a standout Drupal alternative, as developers can take advantage of the intuitive and simple setup that makes setting up a new global site possible in just 8 weeks. While less technical users, such as marketers, are empowered to work independently. With the Visual Editor, making changes is as easy as clicking and editing. Collaboration is also a breeze thanks to the Google Docs-like commenting and discussion features directly within the app. 

What’s more, you can wave goodbye to troublesome upgrading altogether. Storyblok is a Software as a Service (SaaS) product, meaning clients or partners never have to perform any upgrades or updates themselves. They happen automatically and are held to the same high security standards as the rest of Storyblok tech.

This applies to your tech stack as well. Since Storyblok is composable, you can easily replace any part of your tech stack at any time with minimal friction. No worrying about whether a slight change will crash the whole system. Thanks to the power of APIs, Storyblok is totally future-proof. No matter what the future brings, you can customize your tech to your exact standards.

But enough words, what about the numbers? 

• A 4.5/5 rating on G2 (opens in a new window)
• An industry-leading 582% return on investment over three years, according to a commissioned Forrester study
• Loved by dozens of companies like Netflix, Oatly, T-Mobile, Chronext, and more.

2. WordPress

WordPress (opens in a new window) is the world’s most widely used CMS, often chosen for its user-friendly interface and extensive plugin support, which makes it a strong Drupal alternative. It’s a particularly good starting point for smaller websites or teams without dedicated developers. However, like Drupal, WordPress is a traditional monolithic CMS with some shared downsides. It relies heavily on plugins to achieve advanced functionality, introducing security risks, maintenance burdens, and performance tradeoffs. In addition to that, scaling across regions or channels is tricky, and “headless WordPress” setups are rarely marketer-friendly, meaning more demand on dev time.

3. Joomla

Joomla (opens in a new window) is another traditional CMS that offers flexibility, a range of extensions, and strong multilingual support, appealing to teams who want more built-in features than Drupal. However, for some users, Joomla’s core benefits are also its drawbacks. The admin interface has a steep learning curve, and the extension ecosystem requires ongoing oversight to maintain performance and security. Marketers may find the platform too technical, while developers face limitations when modernizing their stack.

4. Acquia

Acquia (opens in a new window) owns and maintains Drupal and offers its own digital experience platform (DXP) built on top. It provides enterprise hosting, personalization, and support tools that enhance Drupal’s capabilities, which are especially useful for larger organizations. However, Acquia doesn’t solve Drupal’s core problems—it amplifies them. Developer dependency remains high, publishing workflows are often slow, and upgrades can be complex. Costs are also significant, especially when considering long onboarding cycles and consulting needs.

5. Adobe Experience Manager

Next up is Adobe Experience Manager (opens in a new window) (AEM), Adobe’s enterprise-grade CMS offering multi-channel content delivery with deep integrations into Adobe’s ecosystem. It’s a popular Drupal alternative among large enterprises with complex personalization needs. However, AEM is known for being costly and complex to implement. Custom development is often required, meaning marketers rely heavily on developers for updates, and teams can be locked into Adobe’s suite, whether they need all the tools or not.

6. Salesforce Experience Cloud

Salesforce Experience Cloud (opens in a new window) differentiates itself with customization, robust community features, and native Salesforce integration. It enables teams to build digital experiences tied directly to Salesforce CRM data, which can be complicated. However, customization can lead to performance issues, and the subscription model can scale poorly with user growth. Teams report limitations in design flexibility and over-reliance on Salesforce developers for even small changes.

7. Sitecore

Sitecore (opens in a new window) combines content management and digital marketing capabilities in a tightly integrated platform, offering a notable Drupal alternative with strong personalization, commerce features, and automation tools. However, Sitecore's complexity often slows teams down and strains the budget. Deployments are long, developer involvement is constant, and licensing costs are high. Not to mention, Sitecore’s all-in-one approach can lead to overpaying for unused features and difficulty switching up your stack.

8. Optimizely

Optimizely (opens in a new window) is a hybrid CMS offering coupled, decoupled, and headless content management that provides powerful experimentation and optimization capabilities. But there’s a price tag associated, and many teams struggle to really unlock its value. Optimizely is known to have a steep learning curve, complex setup, and integration challenges, and some users report performance issues at scale, as costs can rise quickly as needs grow.

9. Contentful

Contentful (opens in a new window) is a headless CMS built with an API-first approach, offering modular content delivery and solid support for omnichannel experiences. It also provides competitive AI features and efficient digital asset management, making it a solid alternative to Drupal. Contentful’s content model, however, can be restrictive. Users often struggle with customizing content types, managing localization, and maintaining consistent brand design. Visual editing is not built in, so marketers typically depend on developers or external tools for everyday updates—a tried-and-tested method for project delays.

10. Contentstack

Last but not least, Contentstack (opens in a new window) is a headless CMS that markets itself as enterprise-ready with strong APIs and personalization capabilities. It often appeals to IT and developer teams that want infrastructure flexibility. However, Contentstack’s customization is complex, and deployment workflows can be rigid. Marketers frequently face usability hurdles, while integrations with other tools are time-consuming. These limitations lead to slower content cycles and greater strain on engineering teams.

Which Drupal alternative comes out on top?

As with selecting any tool for your tech stack, choosing the best CMS depends on your specific use case. Our biggest recommendation for finding the right Drupal alternative? Try them all. Take advantage of free trials and personalized demos, and explore different CMS providers until you find the CMS that will meet your team's long-term needs and goals. The better you understand your CMS options, the better the odds are of finding the perfect fit.