Drupal vs EmDash
Drupal is an open-source traditional CMS that you host yourself. EmDash is an open-source traditional CMS that you host yourself. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 14.
- Drupal Traditional · Open source · 16 of 28 built in
- EmDash Traditional · Open source · 14 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Drupal on 29 Sept 2026, EmDash on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.
WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.
Feature comparison
Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available
| Platform |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| What it is | Open-source PHP CMS with fieldable content types, core JSON:API and multilingual modules. Teams self-host it or use Drupal hosting platforms. | Open-source CMS from Cloudflare that runs inside an Astro site, with the admin and pages in one app on Cloudflare Workers or Node.js. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | Drupal 11 core. Drupal CMS 2 bundles core with selected contrib modules. Version 11.4.8, released 26 Sept 2026 | EmDash 1.0, open source Version 1.0.1, released 28 Sept 2026 |
| Vendor | Drupal community, supported by the Drupal Association drupal.org | Cloudflare emdashcms.com |
| Licence | Open source GPL-2.0-or-later | Open source MIT |
| Hosting | Self-hosting No vendor cloud Acquia, Pantheon and other companies sell managed Drupal hosting. | Self-hosting No vendor cloud No managed hosting. You deploy to your own Cloudflare account or Node.js server. |
| Built with | PHP, Symfony, Twig | TypeScript, Astro |
| Database | MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite | SQLite, Cloudflare D1, PostgreSQL, libSQL |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Free and open source. Hosting, support and contrib services cost extra. | Free to start Free and open source. You pay only for hosting. |
| Content modelling | ||
| Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited. | Built in Content types and fields export to YAML config files. | Limited Seed files set up new sites. A live site's model changes through the admin, API or CLI. 20 |
| Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code. | Built in Field UI in core. | Built in Admin role only. 220 |
| Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them. | Built in Layout Builder in core. Paragraphs and Drupal Canvas are contrib. 910 | Built in Blocks field with versioned block types. 5 |
| Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language. | Built in Field-level content translation in core. 7 | Built in Each translation is a separate entry with its own status. 6 |
| Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service. | Built in Image styles scale, crop and convert images. 8 | Built in Uses Astro's image endpoint for sizes and formats. Crop and focal point in the editor. 78 |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Built in JSON:API and REST modules in core. 3 | Built in 9 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Plugin or add-on GraphQL contrib module. Developers build the schema. 4 | Not available |
| Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published. | Plugin or add-on Webhooks contrib module. Core has no outgoing webhooks. 18 | Plugin or add-on Official webhook-notifier plugin. 18 |
| Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no. | Built in Twig themes. | Built in The Astro site renders the pages. 2 |
| Editorial workflow | ||
| Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then. | Built in Drafts of published content need the core Content Moderation module. 5 | Built in 10 |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Plugin or add-on Scheduler contrib module. 11 | Built in 10 |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Built in Revert in core. Side-by-side compare needs the Diff contrib module. | Built in On revision-enabled collections. 10 |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in Preview button on the edit form. | Built in Signed preview links. 11 |
| Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it. | Limited Layout Builder edits blocks on a rendered preview. Drupal Canvas is contrib. 910 | Built in Signed-in editors get visual editing on the rendered page. 11 |
| Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage. | Built in Workflows and Content Moderation modules in core. 5 | Not available Contributors cannot publish. No configurable review stages. 1210 |
| Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release. | Built in Workspaces module, stable in core since 10.3. 6 | Not available |
| Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live. | Not available | Not available |
| Access and governance | ||
| Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set. | Built in | Not available Five fixed roles from Subscriber to Admin. 12 |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Plugin or add-on Field Permissions contrib module. 12 | Not available 12 |
| Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider. | Plugin or add-on OpenID Connect or SAML Authentication contrib modules. 13 | Limited Microsoft Entra sign-in built in. Other IdPs through Cloudflare Access. No native SAML. 12 |
| Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log. | Limited Database Logging records content events by user. It caps and prunes entries. 20 | Plugin or add-on Official audit-log plugin. 19 |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Plugin or add-on Domain contrib module. Core multisite shares only the codebase. 14 | Not available |
| Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface. | Built in Custom field widgets, forms and admin routes. | Built in Plugins add admin pages and dashboard widgets. 13 |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Built in drupal.org module directory. | Built in Plugin registry, launched with 1.0. 143 |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Plugin or add-on Webform contrib module. Core Contact is deprecated in 11.4. 152 | Plugin or add-on Official forms plugin. 17 |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Built in | Limited Subscriber role reads member-only content. Members share the editors' user system. 12 |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Plugin or add-on AI module from the Drupal AI Initiative, bundled with Drupal CMS. 1619 | Not available |
| Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content. | Not available Community contrib only, e.g. the MCP Server module by Lullabot and Omedia. 17 | Built in Built in and on by default. 15 |
Drupal sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Drupal 11 core. Drupal CMS 2 bundles core with selected contrib modules..
- drupal 11.4.8 release
- drupal 11.4.0 release notes
- JSON:API module documentation
- GraphQL module
- Content Moderation module documentation
- Mark Workspaces as a stable core module (#3088643)
- Multilingual guide: translating content
- Image module: working with images
- Layout Builder module documentation
- Drupal Canvas
- Scheduler module
- Field Permissions module
- OpenID Connect / OAuth client module
- Domain module
- Webform module
- AI (Artificial Intelligence) module
- MCP Server module
- Webhooks module
- Drupal CMS 2.0 is here
- Database Logging module documentation
EmDash sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. EmDash 1.0, open source.
- emdash on the npm registry
- EmDash homepage
- EmDash 1.0: an open source CMS for Astro
- EmDash repository on GitHub
- EmDash docs: Blocks
- EmDash docs: Internationalization
- EmDash docs: Configuration reference
- EmDash docs: Media Library
- EmDash docs: REST API
- EmDash docs: Content lifecycle
- EmDash docs: Preview mode
- EmDash docs: Authentication
- EmDash docs: Plugins overview
- EmDash docs: Plugin registry
- EmDash docs: AI tools and MCP server
- EmDash docs: Database options
- @emdash-cms/plugin-forms on the npm registry
- @emdash-cms/plugin-webhook-notifier on the npm registry
- @emdash-cms/plugin-audit-log on the npm registry
- EmDash docs: Evolving a deployed site
Considering more platforms? Compare Drupal and EmDash with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Drupal and EmDash get a different status on 14 of the 28 features and the same status on 14. Drupal has 16 built in on its baseline edition, EmDash has 14. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
Built in on Drupal, a different answer on EmDash 5
- Content model in code Drupal: Built in. EmDash: Limited.
- Approval workflows Drupal: Built in. EmDash: Not available.
- Content releases Drupal: Built in. EmDash: Not available.
- Custom roles Drupal: Built in. EmDash: Not available.
- Site member accounts Drupal: Built in. EmDash: Limited.
Built in on EmDash, a different answer on Drupal 3
- Scheduled publishing Drupal: Plugin or add-on. EmDash: Built in.
- Visual editing Drupal: Limited. EmDash: Built in.
- Official MCP server Drupal: Not available. EmDash: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 6
- GraphQL API Drupal: Plugin or add-on. EmDash: Not available.
- Field-level permissions Drupal: Plugin or add-on. EmDash: Not available.
- Single sign-on Drupal: Plugin or add-on. EmDash: Limited.
- Audit log Drupal: Limited. EmDash: Plugin or add-on.
- Multiple sites Drupal: Plugin or add-on. EmDash: Not available.
- AI writing assistant Drupal: Plugin or add-on. EmDash: Not available.
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EmDash against other platforms
- Adobe Experience Manager vs EmDash
- Contentful vs EmDash
- Contentstack vs EmDash
- CoreMedia Content Cloud vs EmDash
- Craft CMS vs EmDash
- DatoCMS vs EmDash
- Decap CMS vs EmDash
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- EmDash vs FirstSpirit
- EmDash vs Framer
- EmDash vs Ghost
- EmDash vs HubSpot CMS
- EmDash vs Hygraph
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- EmDash vs Joomla
- EmDash vs Keystone
- EmDash vs Kirby
- EmDash vs Liferay DXP
- EmDash vs Optimizely CMS
- EmDash vs Payload
- EmDash vs Prismic
- EmDash vs Progress Sitefinity
- EmDash vs Sanity
- EmDash vs Sitecore
- EmDash vs Squarespace
- EmDash vs Statamic
- EmDash vs Storyblok
- EmDash vs Strapi
- EmDash vs TYPO3
- EmDash vs Umbraco
- EmDash vs Wagtail
- EmDash vs Webflow
- EmDash vs Wix
- EmDash vs WordPress
- EmDash vs Xperience by Kentico
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