Drupal is freely available for anyone to download and use. New users or those unfamiliar with its ins and outs may engage developer or consulting support from the many individuals and agencies who specialize in Drupal.

Is Drupal open source?

Drupal is open source software. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2 or later. Anyone can run, study, share, or modify Drupal.

What language is Drupal written in?

Drupal is written in the PHP programming language but also uses a fair amount of JavaScript.

Drupal core offers everything needed to create a website, with features like blogging, forums, and contact forms. It includes a set of modules that provide content structuring, query building, authentication, permission, workflow, multilingual, and many more powerful capabilities. Users can take advantage of Drupal modules to enhance core features. These modules range in capability from allowing Drupal to display video to helping it manage dates.

Drupal CMS is a ready-to-use platform for marketing teams, content creators and site builders built on Drupal 11 core. When you install Drupal CMS, you get a set of out-of-the-box tools such as advanced media management, SEO tools, AI-driven website building, consent management, analytics, search, automatic updates and more.

What is the Drupal Association?

The Drupal Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on accelerating Drupal, fostering the growth of the Drupal community, and supporting the project’s vision to create a safe, secure, and open web for everyone. Individuals and organizations may become members to help shape the future of Drupal.

What is the difference between Drupal and Acquia?

Drupal is a free, open source content management system first developed by Dries Buytaert in 2000. Acquia is the software company he co-founded in 2007 to provide enterprise support for Drupal users. Today Acquia’s products include the Drupal-powered Acquia Drupal Starter-Kits, Acquia Cloud Platform for hosting Drupal applications, the low-code Site Studio product to make it easy for marketers to build digital experiences using Drupal, and the Code Studio suite of Drupal DevOps tools. Acquia rounds out its digital experience platform with a customer data platform, digital asset management system, product information management system, and marketing automation solution.

Try Drupal on Acquia

The Drupal You Trust Seriously Reimagined

Drupal brings modern developer workflows, AI-ready architecture and open-source flexibility together in a platform built for what developers are building now.

Try Drupal on Acquia

Built on Drupal. Trusted at Scale.

40% reduction in maintenance costs across all sites

363% increase in sessions

40% reduction in time to market

71% increase in donation conversion rates

Build More. Rebuild Less.

Build faster with reusable recipes

Recipes and reusable components to build functionality without starting from scratch.

Build for any digital experience

Use Drupal for websites, apps, headless builds and other digital experiences.

Create once, reuse everywhere

Structure content once and deliver it across websites, apps and other channels.

Develop, test and deploy faster

Use cloud development tools and CI/CD to move Drupal changes from code to production faster.

Drupal, Built for What's Next

Dries Buytaert created Drupal in 2000 and still leads the project. Free under the GNU General Public License, Drupal now powers millions of websites, from government portals to Fortune 500 brands. Its open, API-first architecture is exactly what makes it ready for the age of AI agents. Hear why, straight from Drupal's creator.

Built for Developers. Ready for AI.

Drupal gives AI systems something far more useful than a page of HTML to scrape: clear, machine-readable data with explicit relationships and context.

Core JSON:API exposes Drupal entities through standards-based, spec-compliant endpoints
Structured content provides a cleaner foundation for AI retrieval and reuse

security first. OPEN SOURCE ALWAYS.

Open source means more eyes on the code. Drupal backs that scrutiny with defined processes for reviewing, coordinating and communicating security issues.

Dedicated Drupal Security Team
Community review before changes reach core

DECOUPLED BY DESIGN.

Separate your content and backend from the experience layer, so changing one doesn’t mean rebuilding the other. Change the front. Keep the foundations.

JSON:API and GraphQL support
Change or combine front ends without re-platforming your content

DRUPAL. SERIOUSLY EVOLVED.

Drupal trades manual, click-through configuration for declarative, repeatable setup.

Reusable Recipes package configuration into repeatable workflows
Standardize builds across projects — faster, cleaner and more consistently.

Reusable AGAIN AND AGAIN.

Build components and features once. Put them to work wherever they’re needed.

Single-Directory Components keep everything together
Pair with Recipes to reuse complete features across builds

Built in the Open. Better Together

8,800+ Active contributors
10,000+ Free modules
3,300+ Free themes
100+ Drupal Certified Partners

As an Drupal contributor

Contribute code, modules, documentation and ideas — or build on work the community has already shared.

Documentation, events, local communities and other contributors mean expertise is never confined to one team or company.

Drupal evolves in the open. Contributors can influence the tools, standards and capabilities the platform develops next.

Acquia was founded from Drupal is deeply invested in its ecosystem, giving teams enterprise tools, expertise and support.

Drupal Training and Certification

Acquia Certification validates skills in development, site building, and front-end and back-end specialization, and is recognized across the Drupal industry as a benchmark of proven capability. Exam options and pricing are updated periodically, so check the certification page directly.

Explore Credentials, Exam Details, and Current Pricing

The Drupal Community

One platform. One community. Drupal was created and is driven by one of the largest and most diverse open source communities in the world. That community contributes modules, fixes security issues, mentors newcomers, and gathers at events to shape the platform's future.

Get Involved View Drupal Events

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Drupal FAQs

: Drupal is freely available for anyone to download and use. New users can engage developer or consulting support from the many individuals and agencies who specialize in Drupal.
: Yes. Drupal is open source software distributed under the GNU General Public License version 2 or later. Anyone can run, study, share, or modify it.
: Drupal is written in PHP and also uses a fair amount of JavaScript.
: Drupal core includes everything needed to create a website, such as blogging, forums, and contact forms, plus modules for content structuring, query building, authentication, permissions, workflow, and multilingual capabilities. Users extend core with additional Drupal modules.
: Dries Buytaert created Drupal in 2000 and remains the project lead today. He co-founded Acquia in 2007 to provide enterprise support for Drupal.
: Drupal is a free, open source content management system Dries Buytaert first developed in 2000. Acquia is the software company he co-founded in 2007 to provide enterprise support for Drupal users. Acquia's products include Acquia Drupal Starter Kits, Acquia Cloud Platform for hosting, Acquia Source CMS, and Code Studio DevOps tools, alongside DAM, PIM, and marketing automation.
: Historically, yes, because Drupal is designed for structured content and complex sites. Drupal CMS narrows that gap with out-of-the-box tools and AI-driven site building, making Drupal far more approachable for non-technical teams.
: Acquia is most often evaluated alongside Adobe Experience Manager, Sitecore, Optimizely, and WordPress VIP. Acquia builds on open source Drupal, eliminating license costs and vendor lock-in that come with proprietary platforms.
: Acquia offers a professional Drupal Certification track with credentials for developers, front-end, and back-end specialists. Exam options and pricing are updated periodically, so visit the Acquia certification page for current details.
: The Drupal Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on accelerating Drupal, growing the Drupal community, and supporting the project's vision of a safe, secure, and open web for everyone.