Drupal vs Pico

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted content management systems options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureDrupalPico
CategoryContent Management SystemsContent Management Systems
LicenseGPL-2.0MIT
LanguagePHPPHP
Setup difficultyHardEasy
Min. RAM1,024 MB128 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcebare-metal, docker, source
GitHub stars★ 4,280★ 3,904
First released20012012
ReplacesAdobe Experience Manager, SitecoreWordPress

Why pick each one

Choose Drupal if…

  • Scales to very large sites
  • Enterprise-grade security track record
Drupal details

Choose Pico if…

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Zero configuration to start
Pico details

Frequently asked questions

Is Drupal or Pico better?

Neither is universally better. Drupal has the larger community, while Pico is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Drupal and Pico free and open-source?

Yes. Drupal is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Pico under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Drupal and Pico with Docker?

Drupal: yes. Pico: yes.

Related comparisons