Drupal vs Umbraco
Drupal is an open-source traditional CMS that you host yourself. Umbraco is an open-source traditional CMS that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 11.
- Drupal Traditional · Open source · 16 of 28 built in
- Umbraco Traditional · Open source · 18 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Drupal on 29 Sept 2026, Umbraco 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 .NET CMS that renders sites with Razor or serves content headless. Self-hosted or run on Umbraco Cloud. |
| 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 | Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release. Version 17.7.0, released 17 Sept 2026 |
| Vendor | Drupal community, supported by the Drupal Association drupal.org | Umbraco A/S umbraco.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 Vendor cloud Forms and Deploy are paid add-ons when self-hosted. Umbraco Cloud includes both. |
| Built with | PHP, Symfony, Twig | C#, ASP.NET Core on .NET 10, TypeScript backoffice |
| Database | MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite | SQL Server, SQLite |
| 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 to self-host. Umbraco Cloud Starter €45, Standard €280, Professional €730 per month. Enterprise on request. |
| 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. | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Deploy saves document types as .uda files in Git. Paid on-premises, included on Umbraco Cloud. 45 |
| 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 Document types are built in the backoffice. |
| 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 Block List and Block Grid editors. 6 |
| 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 Culture variants per property. |
| 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 ImageSharp crops and resizes images from query string parameters. 9 |
| 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 Content Delivery API. 7 |
| 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 No official GraphQL. Community package Nikcio.UHeadless adds one. 20 |
| 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 | Built in 8 |
| 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 Razor templates. |
| 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 |
| 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 Rollback compares and restores earlier versions. 11 |
| 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 |
| 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 | Not available |
| 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 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Workflow add-on. Its free version is capped at five approval groups. Full use is paid. 1221 |
| 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 | Plugin or add-on Release Sets in a licensed Umbraco Workflow. 13 |
| 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 | Built in User groups with granular permissions. |
| 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 | Limited Per-property read and write limits per user group, enforced in the UI only. 14 |
| 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 | Built in OpenID Connect providers such as Entra ID, configured in code. 15 |
| 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 | Limited Audit trail per item plus a log viewer. No installation-wide audit screen in core. 16 |
| 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 | Built in Several root nodes, each with its own domains. |
| 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 Backoffice extensions. |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Built in drupal.org module directory. | Built in Umbraco Marketplace. |
| 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 Umbraco Forms, paid licence. Included on Umbraco Cloud. 217 |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Built in | Built in Members, separate from backoffice users. |
| 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 | Plugin or add-on Free Umbraco.AI packages add prompts and an editor copilot. 18 |
| 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 Umbraco CMS Developer MCP server. 19 |
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
Umbraco sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release..
- Umbraco releases
- Umbraco pricing
- Umbraco 18 release
- Umbraco Deploy licensing
- Umbraco Cloud: UDA files
- Umbraco docs: Block Grid
- Umbraco docs: Content Delivery API
- Umbraco docs: Webhooks
- Umbraco docs: Image Cropper
- Umbraco docs: Scheduled Publishing
- Umbraco docs: Rollback to a previous version
- Umbraco Workflow
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Release Sets
- Umbraco docs: Property Level UI Permissions
- Umbraco docs: External Login Providers
- Umbraco docs: Log Viewer
- Umbraco Forms licensing
- Umbraco.AI on GitHub
- Umbraco MCP on GitHub
- Nikcio.UHeadless on Umbraco Marketplace
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Licensing
Considering more platforms? Compare Drupal and Umbraco with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Drupal and Umbraco get a different status on 11 of the 28 features and the same status on 17. Drupal has 16 built in on its baseline edition, Umbraco has 18. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
- Vendor cloud
- Drupal has no vendor-run cloud. Umbraco has a vendor-run cloud.
Built in on Drupal, a different answer on Umbraco 3
- Content model in code Drupal: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Approval workflows Drupal: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Content releases Drupal: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
Built in on Umbraco, a different answer on Drupal 5
- Webhooks Drupal: Plugin or add-on. Umbraco: Built in.
- Scheduled publishing Drupal: Plugin or add-on. Umbraco: Built in.
- Single sign-on Drupal: Plugin or add-on. Umbraco: Built in.
- Multiple sites Drupal: Plugin or add-on. Umbraco: Built in.
- Official MCP server Drupal: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 3
- GraphQL API Drupal: Plugin or add-on. Umbraco: Not available.
- Visual editing Drupal: Limited. Umbraco: Not available.
- Field-level permissions Drupal: Plugin or add-on. Umbraco: Limited.
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Umbraco against other platforms
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