Drupal vs. Cascade CMS: A Perspective From an Agency That Loves Both

Drupal and Cascade are both content management systems (CMS) that power higher education, government and institutional websites. As an agency we have been using both platforms for more than a decade and have built dozens of websites with each CMS. This is a quick primer on when to choose one over the other. But first a little background on each.

Drupal is open-source, free, highly flexible, highly customizable with a large publicly-available repository of modules and themes. However, it is complex and has a steep learning curve for non-technical content teams. To unlock its full power, an institution needs robust Web/IT teams.

Cascade is a commercial grade CMS backed by Hannon Hill corporation’s solid customer support. It is easier to use for large content teams without technical chops.

For the benefit of a recent client team, we created a comparison matrix between the two CMS systems.

In a nutshell, Drupal is more developer friendly while Cascade is more content team friendly.

We recommend choosing Drupal if you need a highly customizable, scalable, secure,  open-source solution with a large community and have the technical resources to manage it. It’s ideal for organizations that require complex functionality and extensive flexibility.

We recommend choosing Hannon Hill Cascade if you need a more user-friendly, secure, out-of-the-box solution with good support. It’s perfect for institutions that prefer ease of use, advanced workflows, governance features, and have less need for extensive customization.

Elliance builds websites and offers comprehensive support for both Drupal and Cascade CMS systems.

If you are seeking web development agency for your next website project, please see our work and consider partnering with us.