2009-Award-logo

Drupal has won best open source PHP Content Management System for the second year in a row in the Packt Publishing 2009 Open Source CMS Awards. Drupal won by popular vote and a critical selection by a panel of judges. This award reflects the strong support of the Drupal community and our focus on quality which leads to critical acclaim and rapid adoption for large, high quality projects. Drupal won best overall open source CMS in 2007 and 2008.

From the award announcement,

We are pleased to announce that Drupal has won the Best Open Source PHP CMS Category in the 2009 Open Source CMS Award. This category featured a very close contest between the top three, Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla! in which Drupal ended up as the overall choice for the judges and the public.

While Drupal and Joomla! have always consistently featured among the top three in this category, WordPress made its way into the top five for the first time. The fact that it was outranked by Drupal by a very slight margin indicates how popular it has become with users as well as developers over the past year.

This is the highest award that Drupal was eligible for in 2009. Our previous wins for Best Overall CMS in 2007 and 2008 has led to our graduation to the Hall of Fame. The winners of the Hall of Fame Drupal awards for best Drupal theme and best Drupal contributed module will be awarded Thursday, November 12th, 2009. The themes and modules nominated were selected both for the most used and for a diverse set of nominees. The new winner of the best overall open source CMS (other than Drupal) will be announced on November 13, 2009. Look for a post about Drupal's MVP tomorrow.

The Drupal community would like to thank the judges and Packt publishing for having these awards and allowing open source projects to demonstrate their support and the quality of the work that their community's produce. The Drupal association receives a financial contribution from every Drupal book that Packt Publishing produces.

Comments

yasheshb’s picture

congratulations on this award. looking forward to hear some more on Thu.

yashesh

Yashesh Bhatia

maabajaber’s picture

Congrats Drupal for an award well won and highly deserved.

Unfortunately Packet Publishing should pay more attention to the awards..... Seriously WordPress lost to Drupal by a small Margin..... are these people serious.... or the fact the that WordPress beat Joomla to 2nd place is simply not a funny joke... i don’t understand how WordPress which is NOT NOT NOT NOT a CMS can be considered as one. Wordpress is even making it very clear they are NOT a CMS……. Here is what they say over and over again in their own website and who are we to claim otherwise ??? Here is what they say.

"WordPress started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on millions of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day."

"More simply, WordPress is what you use when you want to work with your blogging software, not fight it."

"New to blogging? Learn more about WordPress, then follow the three easy steps below to start blogging in minutes. Or, for the ultimate in ease of use, get a free blog on WordPress.com."

It is a blogging tool which sometimes tries desperately to be a CMS NO MORE NO LESS..... I really would not like to see WordPress win over Drupal next year because it was classified wrongly... If you ask me whether WordPress is a better blogging tool over Drupal ??? Ohh yes any time ... but is it a better complete CMS with the same deep functionality??? Then HELL NO....

Unless this is just a popular vote without any proper categorization then by all means feel free, but just let us know so that we don’t continue voting from next year.

Strangely enough and the worst about all this is I am almost a 100% sure that WordPress is going to win the "Overall Open Source CMS Award" This year... What a joke!!!!! Wake up packet and make an open source blogging category and give the award to WordPress every year.....

Sorry for such a long rant.

el7cosmos’s picture

Because it is Open Source CMS Award not Open Source Blogging Tool Award, so all categories have to be CMS.

pcmeissner’s picture

Does it matter how WordPress defines itself? According to a commonly accepted definition of a CMS, WordPress deserves its place on the podium with other CMSs.

msimanga’s picture

I think its fair to say the original creators of WordPress may have intended it to be used for blogging but if you consider all the pluggins available for WordPress, by the time you install a few of them you cannot exactly call the result a blogging platform. I remember having a similar debate on where to draw the line between a CMS and a portal. The features overlap so much that it's a matter of choice. That said, I think Drupal is indeed the best CMS!

maabajaber’s picture

So let’s say that WordPress is actually a CMS... does it really deserve to be in second place ahead of Joomla or to beaten by Drupal by just a whisker..

I think the vote should be more renamed to the most popular "CMS" rather than the best...... To me the definition of best open source is definitely Drupal followed by Joomla which in its own right is a few light years ahead of WordPress.

Well as for the Drupal winning by a close margin, is simply an insult to me unless we are talking about the most popular and not the best.

I believe that such misleading statistics make powerful software like Drupal less popular.

But I guess we will have this argument next year when WordPress takes 1st place on the Podium in all categories it barely qualifies in and our beloved Drupal is relegated to 2nd place because of a popularity contest.

By the way I am in no way trying to belittle what WordPress as a software is. I think the fact that it is open source is in its own right good enough, the fact that it creates healthy completion is another good thing, the fact the it is widely used is also a big plus for it… but having said that we still have to be realistic and call a spade a spade

CharlieHipHop’s picture

... does it really matter that Drupal is less popular than Wordpress? There is room in this world for both. Serious developers and people with real websites to build can use Drupal. Wordpress is fine for hobbyists and bloggers who don't want to be bothered with all that.

JayNL’s picture

WordPress =IS= a CMS nowadays, eventhough they started out and still are the #1 blogging tool. I've built quite some websites in WP! and none were blogs... Check out oesorichtlijnen.nl or xolution.nl to see what I mean. both built in WP, both are 'just' websites. The latter even has a custom built ordering system in it, fully manageable from within the WP Admin.

That crap aside: Congrats Drupal! Awesome news.

hass’s picture

WordPress is an open source blog publishing application and can be used for basic content management. Nothing more!

A blogging system that is able to create a page and articles don't make it a cms. Aside it may me extendable via contrib to work like a cms, but this has only be done for the reason that people learned how limited they are after they used such a limiting software. Changing a system is difficult and it often looks easier to stay first at a system that is limiting you, but you know it better than a completely new system… I fairly do understand such decisions, but you better do not use system limiting you. Understanding limitations of a system is always the most important part to know before starting a website.

mt3ch’s picture

You said it yourself: "WordPress ... can be used for basic content management".

So it's a content management system (albeit a basic one).

A blog post is content. Wordpress is a tool to manage that content.

grantkruger’s picture

I agree with others that WordPress is a CMS, albeit simple one, and it is a formidable tool. While a programmer might pick a CMS like Drupal, Plone or Joomla, most designers I know prefer WordPress and go to Drupal only if they must (i.e. need greater functionality). This is largely due to WordPress leading the way on usability and simplicity (Drupal 7 may change some of this, but here it is Drupal that needs to catch up). Quite simply designers and bloggers can figure it out as they go along, which is not really true of Drupal (...yet, I hope). There are also a lot of advantages to WordPress's hosted solution as the reality is that most small organizations do not keep their CMS up to date (security patches to core and modules/plug-ins and the like). Overall, WordPress is a magnificent open source project and because of their core user base, they likely will always be more popular than Drupal.

WordPress is a powerful tool in a web developer's arsenal. When I advise nonprofits I have to be agnostic and I generally advise that if you only need simple content and never will need more than this, then consider WordPress. If you need more but want a shallower learning curve, consider Joomla (I'm hoping Drupal 7 will change this one to Drupal). Otherwise, I suggest Drupal.

Which is why I agree with your sentiments. Fantastic as Wordpress is, it's just too limited to be in the same league as a full CMS. If you want greater functionality or the potential for your website to grow almost any way you can think of, then you need one of the big three, preferably Drupal. If you're unsure, you probably need Drupal. I just don't see WordPress as being in the same category as Drupal, let alone running it close. They can teach Drupal lessons on the usability side (for now) and ease of use counts for a lot, and they do serve a very wide range of simple needs... but it's apples and oranges.

In general I consider Drupal, Joomla, Plone and WordPress to all be top notch open source projects and advise accordingly. I think all quality open source projects are great. We're all on the same side. But if they ask me which one is best, I say I believe it's Drupal. I think it's the most powerful and the most flexible. If you're in it for the long haul it's the best way to go.

mcload’s picture

I agree. Unless you need some special or some advanced features of Drupal or Joomla, Wordpress is the way to go.

blackarma’s picture

Congratulations Drupal once again!!!

As far as wordpress in that category i totally agree with all above comments it should be not in that category.
It's popular and newbie frendly to kick off fast, but definetly not one of best cms systems around.
Cheers to drupal once again.

Duarte Cancela’s picture

The best news of 2009, I am very proud to use this powerful CMS, congratulations to all who are part of this project and continue the excellent work.

jweedman’s picture

well said... I second that!

roshan_shah’s picture

Drupal 7 is so key to get way ahead of competition.

Roshan
604-630-4292
http://www.gloscon.com
Drupal and Ruby on Rails Development

lamppr’s picture

congratulations, and happy that we have involved in drupal since the very early days. now we are the no 1 in China.

Beer for all your great people when you come and visit us in China

www.lamppr.com

najibx’s picture

we hope to promote more Drupal community activity and implementation especially in the public sector in Malaysia. Many people still don't have the 'feel' why Drupal is such a great tools. We received a lot of feedback during our exhibition we recently participated : Malaysian Government Open Source Software Conference (MyGOSSCON)

Congratulation from Drupal.my Malaysia Drupal Community

duntuk’s picture

congrats. well deserved.

krishna kant mishra’s picture

Dear all,

Congrats for achieving drupal on top.

sayappan’s picture

Great congrs

YSolutions’s picture

Yey! for drupal, always nice to see some official recognition.

isaakordonez’s picture

Felicidades por el Premio!! Que Tengan mas exitos como este ;)

firoz2456’s picture

wonderful wonderful wonderful !

shaneod’s picture

Congratulations to all the developers who put in so much Work, Drupal is our CMS of choice for the last 18 months and really is the bees knees, the cats meow, the Spiders Ankles even!

Thanks,

Shane

Pride Design
http://www.pridedesign.ie

seutje’s picture

<a href="<a href="http://www.packtpub.com/award">announcement</a>

should be

<a href="http://www.packtpub.com/award">announcement</a>

no?

silverwing’s picture

Fixed the typo :)

And ya Drupal!

~silverwing

youkho’s picture

Mabrouk, Drupal really deserve it

webdesigncapetown’s picture

Glad to see i made the right choice on moving from Joomla to Drupal. Well done and hopefully Drupal wins again in 2010!!

drupaloSa’s picture

The call to vote on the drupal.org front page was two weeks late than joomla.org; so i was worried about the number of Drupal votes this year. I'm happy to see that it didn't turn out to be a big problem for Drupal :)

steveadamo’s picture

congrats Drupal... i wasnt worried for a moment... ;)

and as seutje pointed out, the announcement link is borked...

From the award announcement,
Marat’s picture

No Surprise, Congratulations Drupal

shadcn’s picture

AWESOME!!

chrysonline’s picture

so great !

Drupal is alive ! again ! always !

@drupalgrenoble | France

lismail’s picture

Congratulation on winning this category twice in a row.
All the best from friends here in Indonesia.

Lismail
Adandu - Indie VideoNATION

NetSage’s picture

Even though I still can't use Drupal well I know how powerful it can be and that's what I love about it. There are pretty much no limitation at all with Drupal and it's an amazing feeling.

Can't wait for 7 though as that will hopefully put you on top again next year :D.

cssdru’s picture

Great news!

Congratulation! Drupal... forever!

Designing Drupal
www.azridesign.com

dinknaround’s picture

Way to go Drupal! I've tried many of the CMS programs out there, and Drupal IS my favorite. IMHO...Using Drupal, the documentation, API, wealth of imformation provided, and actually "reading" it, it has made building websites, creating custom mods, custom themes, and learning PHP and other scripting languages (yes, all at the same time) easy (actually, easier). So not only Congratulations...but THANK YOU!!! I'm really enjoying this hobby of mine!

arithok’s picture

Congratulation! Good Job!

giorgio79’s picture

Drupal a legjobb

A little Hungarian for everyone. :)

W.M.’s picture

Congratulations... Great job! I am glad I have chosen Drupal when I established my site... Thanks...

preetinder’s picture

hail drupal.... long way to go..

Pasqualle’s picture

We are pleased to announce that Drupal has won the inaugural Hall of Fame Award in the 2009 Open Source CMS Awards.
...
the 2009 Open Source CMS Award has one more category left, the Best Overall Open Source CMS, for which results will be announced on November 13.

Ivo.Radulovski’s picture

and one more time Drupal, Drupal Drupal! ;)

loomar’s picture

No one can beat Drupal

mimosa2002’s picture

Congratulations Drupal!!! Thanks to the community keep it stay on the top.

submit.dk’s picture

Congratulations from Denmark! The award is very well deserved.

www.submit.dk/drupal

ari-meetai’s picture

This only demonstrates the maturity and quality of this product. We're pleased to continue providing Drupal-backed solutions.

A while ago, clients wishing to have an open-source CMS solution where only thinking in Joomla. Now they're starting to see Drupal colors more and more...

Cheers!

mcload’s picture

WordPress won the 2009 Overall Best Open Source CMS Award

gdemet’s picture

Yes, but neither Drupal or Joomla! was eligible for that award this year because they had already won in the past. Drupal not only beat WordPress for the Best Open Source PHP CMS Award, but also won all the awards for which it was nominated, including this year's Hall of Fame Award.

DocMartin’s picture

I think Drupal continues shooting itself in the foot regarding popularity.

When I was first told of CMS, Drupal recommended to me. Yet it looked baffling; I couldn't figure re nodes etc etc - or "plumbing". I looked for info, learned of Mambo, which looked far more appealing - and which I began using. Mambo became Joomla, and still retained more appealing look.
Yet, Joomla came to frustrate me, I had another look at Drupal, and it was more user friendly. I gave it a go, and switched.

As those in the know appreciate, Drupal is powerful, and capable of wide variety of things.

But have a look at homepage of Drupal.org. I've written before that it's dull n staid - no matter how capable Drupal, we get a ho-hum homepage: slightly better over time, but nothing to make you say wow, or even "Hello, this could be what I'm looking for".
And - come on - "community plumbing" might have seemed interesting when Drupal conceived, goes with the misspelled droplet and so forth.
But who is there that espouses Drupal to others, and tell them, "Well, it's for Community Plumbing" Anyone here?
Gotta be potential for sexier branding; maybe someone could tell Dries, as his baby grows up. Drupal no longer just for coders.

Otherwise, Drupal will remain for those in the know.
Over time, popularity stakes contest could matter greatly, if more people inc some capable developers are attracted elsewhere - such as "the dynamic portal engine and content management system" (ie Joomla; Wordpress is "A semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability." - quite a mouthful, tho clear), which may have pulled its socks up somewhat. - rather as popularity of Wordpress is leading to significant improvements

____________________________
DocMartin and Hong Kong Outdoors

amitray’s picture

Congrats once again to achieve Best open source PHP Content Management System Award. You really deserved that and I had also voted for drupal only. Again Best wishes for next year also.

keyo’s picture

These awards have a conflict of interest. Packt aren't going to award any CMS they don't have books for.
I think it's quite a clever way of marketing.
Awards the most popular software then get a free advert on the front page of their website.

atxbkk’s picture

Congratulations Drupal.

However, instead of beating around the bush on whether WP deserves to be in that list, it would be better to focus on what can be learned from it.

I have been able to set up community with Drupal but it cost me blood, sweat, tears and bottles of jack. I have been able to have almost exactly the same functionality set up with Wordpress in less than a day (having no experience with it).

There are some things that may be difficult to do with WP (or I have not found them yet) and for a full blown community WP would not be my first choice

BUT

at least with WP you can hit the update button and all updates flawlessly. The big pain of Drupal (and the charm of WP) is in the update process. Keeping Drupal patched is really really really way to cumbersome.... especially if you manage a great deal of site where it can almost become a full time job!

I am seriously considering switching to WP for smaller community sites and only keeping some powerhorses on Drupal so just my piece of advice from someone who has to make money from a site and not get paid by the hour to develop a site:

.... work out an easier update procedure that works all the time without breaking things.

Oh and yes .... it would be good to fund a design company with 10 designers that start out cranking themes for Drupal because one of the things that WP has is that they have lots and heaps of great looking themes that don't need customization and that don't break on an update or vice versa.

Just my honest opinion.

xiv’s picture

Could not agree more.

I would add the module installation. I would not mind to have an option to download and install a module from the administrator panel. I know it is a security risk, but it would make live much easier for those who would like to try new modules and ideas. [I did some DNN development five years ago and AFAIR this functionality was there already!]

--
xiv

Sophia’s picture

Drupal, of course you won, the Best always do :) Congratulations all the same!

sohail_arif’s picture

I have worked in drupal5 and drupal6. But Drupal6 is simply classic. I am very happy to see that drupal has won the best cms award 2009.

Mocha67’s picture

I am currently testing Drupal on local server. Early days yet for me but it looks mighty.

W.M.’s picture

It is solid. It is not going to disappoint.

gabrieluk’s picture

All this post is just funny...started with comparisions of word press being a cms (lol) and finish saying that J! is worthy to be in the podium.This is all nonsense.Word press=blogging not a portal.j!=there's no paragone,j! is one of the worst platforms you can work,comparing Drupal to J! is like compare Gold and cheap metal.
Conclusion:Drupal has no match. :P

Henry Tran’s picture

I've been with Drupal for 10 years now. 

My new site timnhanhvietuc build from Drupal 8.6. Really good CMS framework.

I'm really happy with that.