Acquia takes you where Pantheon can’t.

Your business needs more than Drupal hosting. With Acquia, you get more than just a Pantheon alternative. You get a flexible, scalable solution that works for you.

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G2 Winter 2024 badges

Acquia Climbs The G2 
Podium (Again)

We're out here, in the front of the pack as mid-market and momentum leaders in 2023. You know, running up that road, running up that hill, with no problems.

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The Comparison? It’s Not Close.

Acquia vs Pantheon

Acquia supports Drupal 10. Get support for every Drupal application, regardless of version. Developers and Marketers choose Acquia because their business needs more than just Drupal hosting. Drive alignment and expedited development timelines with a solution that empowers business users to contribute and provides the flexibility and adaptability that your business needs.

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High Availability & Global Delivery
Benefit from a highly available, multi-zone architecture without additional cost. With Pantheon, you'll be paying extra for high availability and peace of mind. Additionally, Acquia offers 9 global regions to host your application compared to Pantheon's 4 regions.

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Effortless Content Editing
With low-code site builder with 70+ pre-built components, and a full suite of marketing tools, get marketers involved in content creation and marketing optimization.

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99.99% Uptime – Back Your Drupal Application With Up to 99.99% Uptime*
Acquia provides the most advanced platform with multi-zone failover built in to ensure that your Drupal experiences are always available.

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Optimized Drupal Developer Tools
We offer the only Cloud-based dev environment made for Drupal, and it's ready to use in minutes. Developers can focus on writing code instead of building and maintaining environments. 

Consolidate

The Only Solution for Sites at Scale
Meet the only solution that allows organizations to seamlessly manage sites at scale and create new sites with one click. All editable with low-code.

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A Hybrid CMS Model
Take advantage of a Hybrid CMS model that lets you deploy content to any channel. Acquia also supports Node.js hosting. Pantheon will not support Node.js apps.

How Acquia Compares
More Value for the Price

More for your money isn't just something we say. It's something we can prove. When you look at the details, time, money and peace of mind start to add up. Fast.

Features Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Fully Managed Drupal Platform
Support for Drupal (7, 8, 9, & 10), System Monitoring, and Website Portfolio Management
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Security & Compliance
Platform Security, Security Add-Ons, Security Testing & Audits, Drupal Application Security, Organizational Security, and Compliance
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Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 Migration Tools and Services
Drupal 7 Extended Support (2024), Drupal 9 platform support, Automated Tool for Drupal 7 migrations, and an Expert Drupal Support Team
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Cloud-based Drupal Development Tools
Cloud Integrated Development Environment
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General Drupal Development Tools
Drupal Development Tools & Services, Local Development, Developer integrations
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Support & Services
Organizational Security, Expert Drupal Support Team, Dedicated Drupal Team, Drupal Application Support, Platform Support, and an Extensive PS Team
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Marketer-Friendly Site Building Tools
Low-code site builder, Pre-built site components, Master Style Guide, Out of the box distribution of Drupal
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Digital Marketing Extensions
Personalization, customer data platform, campaign management
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Drupal Community Contributions
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Flexible, Straight Forward Pricing for Enterprises
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Trusted by Thousands

Developer Tool Comparison

Pantheon: Limited

Planning & Management

No native tooling from Pantheon. Only suggested integrations.

Build

Pantheon LocalDev. Complex setup.

Test

No native tooling from Pantheon. Only suggested integrations.

Review

No native tooling from Pantheon. Only suggested integrations.

Deploy

Automatic cache clear in Pantheon’s WebOps workflow.

 


Full Comparison of Acquia’s Dev Tools

Acquia: Complete

Planning & Management

Code Studio to understand the needs of your project with issue management tools.

Build

Spin up a pre-configured Cloud IDE in minutes.

Test

Code Studio ensures code quality, checks for vulnerabilities, and audits dependencies.

Review

Customizable code review and approval process built into Code Studio.

Deploy

Use Cloud Platform’s Cloud Actions to automatically execute actions after a code deploy.

 

Try Code Studio

Marketer Tool Comparison

Pantheon Leaves Marketing Teams on Their Own

Why Marketing Tools Are Key

Marketing teams need the ability to create and edit their content on the fly. Waiting for simple content edits in a Developer que can take time that Marketers don’t have. Low-code tools allow Marketers to create content on their own.

 

 

Features of Acquia’s Marketing Tools

Acquia offers Marketing Tools

Create Content With Low Code

Acquia Site Studio lets anyone on the team create sites and pages quickly and easily using low-code. With 70+ prebuilt components and a drag-and-drop UI, you are set up to start building from day 1.

Content Editing

Eliminate the endless requests to your development team to edit content. Marketing teams can update content with no coding required, in real time through Site Studio’s drag-and-drop interface.

Learn More About Site Studio

Dedicated Support

We’re Committed to Your Success

No pre-scripted call center runaround. Our team of Drupal experts is here to help you solve problems as quickly as possible.

Our Customer Success Model

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World Class Support

Expert Drupal support available 24/7/365 with custom solution planning and implementation and an option for a Technical Account Manager.

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Training & Certification

Comprehensive Drupal and Acquia product training with option for certification and expert training and advice from Professional Services.

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Product Documentation

Get access to an expansive collection of product documentation, code snippets and tutorials.

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Acquia Developers Center
Turn to the Dev Center for expert guidance from Acquia's tech team, so you can take on any challenge that comes your way.

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We’ll Support Your App

Dedicated support for the platform and your Drupal app is included for all our Enterprise customers. No fancy extra package required.

When You Need More Than Hosting, You Need More Than Pantheon.

When it comes to your digital experience, you shouldn't have to compromise. Acquia Cloud subscriptions come with a full set of products to help you build a better Drupal application.

Cloud IDE - Editing
Site Studio Visual Page Builder
Acquia Migrate
Cloud Platform
Cloud IDE - Editing
Cloud-Based Dev Environment

With Acquia Cloud IDE, all you need is a browser to write great code. Set up and debug in almost no time.

Site Studio Visual Page Builder
Content Editing in a Snap

With a low-code, drag and drop site builder, Acquia Site Studio makes it easy for non-technical users to make great Drupal sites.

Acquia Migrate
Migrate Up to 80% Faster

Make the move from Drupal 7 to Drupal 9 seamless with Acquia Migrate Accelerate, the only automated tool for D7 to D9 migration.

Cloud Platform
Drag and Drop Workflows

Changing the way you work doesn't have to be a chore. With Acquia Cloud Platform, you can adjust your workflows as needed and get back to work quickly.

Features That Set Acquia Apart

Infrastructure

Infrastructure Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Kubernetes-native operators and controllers built specifically for Drupal (not to be confused with just using Kubernetes)
Aurora Serverless DB for fastest DB performance (3x faster than pantheon’s Maria DB)
Amazon EFS to deliver data as fast as 10GB/second
Grow your file systems and databases beyond 1TB with access to almost limitless storage volumes

Platform

Single Site Platform Features Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Fully managed search with Solr 7
Search platform compatible with Drupal 9
Support Drupal 9 applications
Supports Drupal multisite applications
Up to 300 seconds for PHP scripts
Automated syncing between file systems and databases across all environments (Click and Drag UI)
Platform Email
Many Site Platform Features Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Centralized Site Management - A single dashboard to view all of your sites, set roles and permissions and administer new sites.
One Click Site Creation - Within minutes, clone an existing site and use it as a template for a new site(s)
Composable Site Templates - Manage multiple themes in an easily-accessible repository.
Low-Code Presentation Controls - Enforce brand guidelines like color pallets, fonts, and responsive grid layouts.
Low-Code component editing - Drag and drop prebuilt components from Site Studio's library into layouts and new sites
Structured Content & Metadata - Enable content categorization and classification to support search, discovery, and content delivery.
Enterprise Access Management & Site Governance - Establish roles and permissions to ensure correct access for your whole team.
Enterprise Workflows - Optimize workflows at scale to make your entire site delivery process more efficient.
CDN Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Price
Included
Included
Points of Presence (POPs)
65 POPs
65 POPs
Full-Page & Asset Caching
Layer 3 & 4 DDOS Protection & Mitigation
WAF Drupal Cloud Pantheon
OWASP Top 10
Account Takeover (ATO)
API Abuse
Malicious Bots
Partner API Misuse
Abusive, Disallowed Traffic Sources
Application Denial of Service
PCI Compliant
Automatic WAF Updates
Collective intelligence to identify new threats
Comment spam protection
Block or challenge visitors by AS number
User Agent blocking
Security level configuration
Reputation-based threat protection
Block or challenge visitors by IP address
Block or challenge visitors by country code
Zone lockdown
Differentiate between humans and bots using Tor
Adaptive & Self-tuning
API Discovery & Security
Actionable Insights
Flexible Management
Zero-second SLA
High Configurability
Developer Tools Drupal Cloud Pantheon
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Security Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Multi-factor authentication
Roles & Credentials built-in
Real-time log streaming
IPv6 Support
Shell access via SSH
ClamAV support
GeoIP available
Apache mod_proxy support to improve LAMP security
Drupal Steward Program member
Yearly 3rd party security audits including: malicious user testing, insider threat assessments, and spearphishing exercise
Monthly server and web application vulnerability scans
Monthly operating system scans
Monthly database and web application scans
DDoS Detection
Compliance Drupal Cloud Pantheon
FedRAMP Authorized
PCI
HIPAA
ISO 27001
SOC 2 Type 2
SOC 1 Type 2
GDPR
CSA STAR
FISMA
FERPA
EU-US & US-Swiss Privacy Shield
System Monitoring Drupal Cloud Pantheon
New Relic APM Pro - Dig into performance issues with New Relic, included for all Cloud Platform subscriptions
Stack Metrics - Understand your application's performance, health, and resource utilization
Log forwarding, streaming, downloading - Gather, understand, and share information from various logs quickly and easily
Uptime Monitoring & Alerts - Receive alerts if your site is not responsive, and monitor uptime trends


Developer Solutions
 

Plan Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Project and issue management
Task lists with automated updated from tags
Description templates for issues
Kanban board for projects
Milestone tracking and issue due dates
Build Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Lando integration for local development
Cloud IDE for turn key development
CI/CD pipelines out of the box
Optimized Drupal environment
Dedicated hardware per IDE
PHP Code Sniffer
Ruby / RVM
Node.js / NPM / NVM
Preconfigured Xdebug
Composer / Composer 2
Environment isolation
Code, database and files synchronization
Auto-configured database connection
Prod-matched PHP configuration
Ready to use development environments deployed within minutes without installing any extra software (i.e. Cloud IDEs)
Test Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Audit Dependencies
Audit vulnerabilities
Audit Code Quality
Review Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Customizable code review and approval process
Issue Management tools
Merge request tracking and automation
Value Streams Analytics
Issue and project time tracking
Deploy Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Visual UI for deploying code
Branch and tag management per environment
Set defaults per environment
Select Actions on the fly while deploying
Automatically execute actions after a code deploy
Ability to manage multiple sites from one UI and push code updates to all sites with guaranteed success (Site Factory)
Automated code deployment across environments controlled by a drag-and-drop interface
Built in code security and performance quality testing
Build API to integrate your development platform with external systems
Code tests automatically run when you push code from development to staging environments to ensure code quality
Integration between development platform and third-party services (i.e. Github)
Automated syncing between file systems and databases across all environments (Click and Drag UI)
Seamless Drupal Development Workflows
Cloud based Developer environment

Application

Content Management System Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Curated version of Drupal CMS
Build and launch new content within days
Pre-selected Drupal Modules to eliminate any configuration requirements
Fully managed security and performance updates
Pre-built content types and defined authoring experience
Pre-built integrations to key marketing technology
Drupal Starter Kit Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Enterprise Low Code
The low code starter kit will install ACMS with Site Studio enabled and will include a UI Kit. The content model is optional. You will be prompted to choose to enable a content model while selecting the starter kit if required.
Community
This starter kit will install base modules of Acquia CMS. This will not install Site Studio, the UI Kit or a content model. The user will have an option to select if they want a content model.
Headless
The headless starter kit aims to pre-configure Drupal for serving structured, RESTful content to 3rd party content displays such as mobile apps, smart displays and frontend driven websites (e.g. React or Next.js)
Application Security Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Secure Virtual Private Cloud (Acquia Shield VPC)
Add-On
Secure Virtual Private Network (VPN)
Add-On
Secure tunnel between your firewall and your public facing website
Add-On
Built-in CDN for optimal performance (60+ Points of Presence around the world)
Advanced Global CDN with over 200 Points of Presence around the world
Add-On
Basic WAF available to protect against ~20% of threats
Add-On
Advanced WAF with highly customizable rules and automatically applied Drupal WAF rules to protect against 80% of threats (Edge Security)
Add-On
Specify application access by IP address in the Cloud UI (Access Control List)
Add-On
Centralize view of logs (Log Forwarding)
Add-On
Leverage internal organizational security policies to authenticate users (Enterprise SSO)
Add-On
Drupal Migration Tools Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Leverage a comprehensive migration environment and curated process for your Drupal upgrade.
Optimized Cloud Environment - Leverage a pre-built cloud environment to support your new Drupal 9 application
Module Recommendation Engine - Automatically recommends modules and patches from your D7 site to smooth migration paths.
Migration User Interface - Curated user interface built specifically for D7 to D9 migrations making it easier to use.
Pre-Loaded Drupal 9 Code Base - Make migration smoother with top equivalents for your D7 contrib modules, as well any core + contrib patches.
Migration Dashboard - View your progress and any errors encountered during migrations in one centralized migration dashboard.
Dependency Knowledge Baked In - Acquia Migrate Accelerate will not let you import article comments unless articles have already been imported.
Migration Preview - View the before/after values as well as a rendered preview, before importing content.
Migration Queue - Queue one or more migrations for import. Migrations sort automatically according to their result.
Migration Error Logs - Log any errors you encounter in one console that tracks migration/code-related errors, and validation errors.
Error Resolution Suggestions - Acquia Migrate Accelerate generates a solution for the most common error messages and provides next steps.
Content Mapping Page - Use insight into how source and destinations map together, and what process plugins are used.
Low-Code Presentation Building - Leverage Site Studio's low-code approach to accelerate your Drupal 9 presentation build.
Marketers Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Site building experience created for non-technical users
Low-code visual, drag and drop interface
70+ pre-built components to quickly assemble new pages
Prebuilt page templates to spin up new pages or sites faster
Style Guide manager to ensure brand governance and consistency across pages and sites
Preset design elements w the ability to customize each component
Empowers all team members to create content - marketing, agency partners, IT, subject matter experts
Customer Data Platform that natively connects with Drupal
Customer Data Platform that provides a 360 degree view of your customers and prospects
Campaign Management design to work with Drupal
Digital Asset Management with pre-built integrations to Drupal
Personalization Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Designed to natively integrate with Drupal
Build individual experiences for each user
A/B testing and optimization of content
Unified customer profile
Real-time optimization across channels and devices
Identify the best performing content

Trust Management

Organization Security Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Guaranteed price match (assuming feature parity)
Guaranteed best-practice based developer experience with turnkey availability
Guaranteed superior security
Guaranteed application support on any Drupal code issue
Analyst Rankings Drupal Cloud Pantheon
3 dedicated security teams
Internal security awareness training for entire organization required
All operations, support, engineering, and security personnel are trained on Acquia Cloud specific platform security
Designated incident response manager
3rd party platform audits performed bi-annually to test and prove platform security: Malicious user testing, Insider threat assessments, Spearphishing exercise
Quarterly independent platform audits to test and prove platform security
Monthly operating system, database, server and web application security scans to detect vulnerabilities
Investment in Drupal & Developer Community Drupal Cloud Pantheon
Drupal’s Founder, Dries Buytaert works here
#1 Overall Drupal Contributor over the past 10 years
Dedicated Drupal Acceleration Team
#1 Drupal Contributor to Drupal Security
Within the top 30 Drupal contributors
1800+ Drupal Contribution Credits
Focused on Drupal
Sponsors Drupal events
Support Staffing Drupal Cloud Pantheon
3 fully trained security teams dedicated to securing the platform and implementing best-practices
Platform support available to all 24/7/365
Expert Drupal application support available 24/7/365
Add-On
Dedicated Drupal Acceleration Team committed to contributing to Drupal
Drupal experts ingrained in our engineering teams to ensure all products are built Drupal-first
Internal team training (including yearly training on security best practices)
Internal security awareness training for entire organization required
All operations, support, engineering, and security personnel are trained on Acquia Cloud specific platform security
Designated incident response manager
3rd party platform audits performed bi-annually to test and prove platform security: Malicious user testing, Insider threat assessments, Spearphishing exercise
Quarterly independent platform audits to test and prove platform security
Monthly operating system, database, server and web application security scans to detect vulnerabilities

Request a Demo and See How Acquia Can Take You Where Pantheon Can't

The Difference Is Clear