Drupal vs Sulu
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted content management systems options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Drupal
Flexible enterprise CMS for complex content structures
VS
Sulu
Symfony-based CMS for business and enterprise websites
| Feature | Drupal | Sulu |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,290 | ★ 1,350 |
| First released | 2001 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Adobe Experience Manager, Sitecore | Adobe Experience Manager, Sitecore |
What are Drupal and Sulu?
Drupal
Drupal is a robust open-source content management framework suited to large, complex websites with structured content and demanding requirements. It is known for granular permissions, multilingual support, and an extensible module architecture.
- Structured content modeling
- Strong multilingual support
- Granular access control
- Headless and decoupled options
Sulu
Sulu is an open-source content management system built on the Symfony framework, targeted at mid-size and large business websites. It offers structured content, multi-site management, and a clean admin UI.
- Built on Symfony
- Multi-site and multilingual
- Structured content templates
- Clean admin interface
Drupal vs Sulu: key differences
Both projects are written in PHP. Licensing differs — GPL-2.0 for Drupal versus MIT for Sulu. Drupal is the more established project (first released 2001), while Sulu arrived in 2015. Drupal has the considerably larger community, at 4,290 GitHub stars versus 1,350.
Why pick each one
Choose Drupal if…
- Scales to very large sites
- Enterprise-grade security track record
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Heavier hosting requirements
Choose Sulu if…
- Great for Symfony developers
- Solid for business sites
Watch out for
- Requires Symfony knowledge
- Steeper setup
Frequently asked questions
Is Drupal or Sulu better?
Neither is universally better. Drupal has the larger community; both share a hard setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Drupal and Sulu free and open-source?
Yes. Drupal is licensed under GPL-2.0 and Sulu under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Drupal and Sulu with Docker?
Drupal: yes. Sulu: yes.