It comes down to the fundamental differences between Open Source and Proprietary Software.

Drupal is an open-source software that relies on a global community of developers to create PHP-based components that improve website content delivery. The program runs on servers, which reduces hosting costs and makes it free to use. Although Kentico and other paid CMS software offer similar features, the vital difference is that Drupal is open source.

Kentico Xperience is a subscription-based CMS product that cannot be used without a paid subscription. In addition, the software has been developed by the parent company ‘Kentico’ instead of a group of individuals or passionate developers who make updates or add new features to a product in their free time. The propriety nature of Kentico Xpereince makes it more secure than an open source solution, making it well suited to projects with strict data protection requirements. Usually, timely updates, new modules, and features are part of a bigger market strategy to capture more people who want to use Kentico Xperience to offer the best experience to customers.

Due to the competitive nature of paid products and the investments that go into them, they typically offer superior services than open-source. Open source services can also be part of a larger scheme to push people into other paid tools or services, and as seen by the main contributors to the Drupal marketplace, many features are part of a marketing strategy to promote the business that created them.

What are the similarities between Drupal and Kentico? They are both used for websites...

Drupal is built by innovative developers, taking the initiative to structure the framework of how an enterprise site should operate, with reliance on the community (in hired developers) to customize and expand in line with your project requirements. Kentico is powerful, and though it might have a price, the customer experience and the ‘out of the box’ value it offers creates efficiencies in the total lifespan of a development project.

Global communities on the internet power the capabilities of Drupal by adding more features and removing bugs. On the other hand, Kentico is proprietary, meaning it is a product offering from a company dedicated to making sure it delivers (with a roadmap of progression to improve and meet market trends ahead of time).

Base Features

Drupal comes with limited out of the box functionality, but works well for people who have small websites or want to implement small-scale solutions for limited customers. The product is open source, meaning it can come in handy for those with programming skills to add more features themselves. In a way, the open-source feature makes it flexible enough to a point it can compete with proprietary software when in the hands of a professional developer.

Flexibility allows for collaborations and on point customisation (no bloat features), where users with the right skills can come together to build web plugins to make it more formidable. The hard part is finding a Drupal developer for the right price to then develop what potentially already exists at the level required for propriety software. 

Kentico Xperience has a wide range of features (and applications), including those offered by Drupal. It has a visible API, which easily integrates with a website via the copy and paste functionality. In addition, it enables a mix of template style content management and widget-based content management. This allows content administrators to freely (without a develop) alter and customize content presentation and design once set up. Kentico also has a built in contact management application that helps manage user data, track user journeys, allow enhanced feature access and create dynamic personalized experiences. 

The contact management feature integrates with email marketing, marketers can then build custom EDM campaigns leveraging a connected user experience and targeted email lists within the one platform.

Market analytics are the heart of any business. An area Drupal has not yet capatilised on yet. Kentico has done its homework and provided a window for administrators to understand their businesses (and users), highlighting what areas (or services) to put more effort into for better results. Kentico analytics track the best-performing campaigns and set them out in an easy-to-understand graph. In addition, customer support may provide you with more insights about what is on the graph to optimize the business more for better performance. 

Flexibility

Drupal gives any project a solid set of core modules to work with, then as you grow and scale there are thousands more community-created modules to leverage and extend how content is managed and presented. Kentico has out of the box applications that are ready to go and powerful, can be configured in a simple manner to cater for unique requirements.

General content management

Both Kentico and Drupal offer what you would expect from a content management platform. You can manage workflows, permissions, URLs and templates. The key difference is the backend use for editors, Drupal is considered difficult to navigate with poor UX for the standard content administrator. Kentico on the other hand has invested in an extremely intuitive backend that is quick to navigate and manage for everyday content activities.

Plugin expansion

Open source software limits you to the number of plugins and management tools available. Drupal has an active and generous developer community that offers thousands of modules that can be leveraged and even expanded on. However if something is not already available, it may mean finding other software to fulfill your demands, and successfully integrating it with the platform. Kentico provides an all-in-one tool where you get a ton of functionality fit for different projects under one umbrella.

Kentico also provides unique solutions for businesses needing specialised software because it can host custom-build products such as intranets and client portals.