SHSelfHostIndex

Drupal vs TYPO3

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?
Drupal Flexible enterprise CMS for complex content structures VS TYPO3 Enterprise CMS popular for large corporate websites
FeatureDrupalTYPO3
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score86 · Excellent79 · Good
CategoryContent Management SystemsContent Management Systems
LicenseGPL-2.0GPL-2.0
LanguagePHPPHP
Setup difficultyHardHard
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 4,290★ 1,209
First released20011998
ReplacesAdobe Experience Manager, SitecoreAdobe Experience Manager, Sitecore

What are Drupal and TYPO3?

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

Read the full Drupal guide →

TYPO3

TYPO3 is an enterprise-grade open-source CMS widely used in Europe for corporate, government, and large multisite installations. It emphasizes scalability, multilingual content, and a structured editorial workflow.

  • Multisite management
  • Strong multilingual capabilities
  • Granular editor permissions
  • Long-term support releases

Read the full TYPO3 guide →

Drupal vs TYPO3: key differences

Both projects are written in PHP. TYPO3 is the more established project (first released 1998), while Drupal arrived in 2001. Drupal has the considerably larger community, at 4,290 GitHub stars versus 1,209.

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
Drupal details

Choose TYPO3 if…

  • Built for large enterprise deployments
  • Reliable LTS release cycle

Watch out for

  • Complex to learn and configure
  • Resource intensive
TYPO3 details

Frequently asked questions

Is Drupal or TYPO3 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 TYPO3 free and open-source?

Yes. Drupal is licensed under GPL-2.0 and TYPO3 under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Drupal and TYPO3 with Docker?

Drupal: yes. TYPO3: yes.

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