The Future of Drupal Development: Why Hiring an Expert Matters

Drupal has been a powerful content management system (CMS) for over two decades, helping businesses build scalable, secure, high-performance websites.

As the digital field evolves, Drupal innovates with enhanced security, flexibility, and emerging technologies like AI and headless CMS.

However, exploring Drupal’s full potential requires technical expertise and a deep understanding of its ecosystem. This is where hiring a skilled Drupal developer becomes essential.

In this blog, we explore the future of Drupal development, the role of Drupal developers, and why having an expert on board is crucial for long-term success.

The Current State of Drupal Development

Drupal, initially a message board, has evolved to power millions of websites across several industries and is expected to be a preferred choice for CMS development in 2025.

Drupal Adoption Across Industries

It is estimated that there are more than 1.7 million active Drupal sites. Drupal is also built on 7% of the world’s top 10,000 sites and 0.9% of all sites utilizing a CMS.

Drupal is used by:

Startups and small businesses
Educational and public institutions
Governmental agencies
E-commerce and multinational enterprises
Media and publishing houses

Drupal-Key Features

Scalability: Handles high-traffic websites with ease.
Customization: Highly modular with extensive customization options.
Security: Built-in compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, and WCAG.
Community Support: Over 1 million contributors driving continuous innovation.
Multilingual Support: Seamless global reach with native language capabilities.

Impact of Drupal 10

Drupal 10 brings a more advanced, developer-friendly, and efficient CMS experience, enhancing performance, security, and usability.

Latest security patches and features for a 90% reduction in security risks.
Improved performance and page load times. With Drupal 10, bounce rates are 33% lower, and session duration is 22% longer.
Enhanced user experience (UI/UX) with a 40% reduction in user support requests.
Better content management tools and over 50% more modules and features than the earlier version.
Compliance with regulatory requirements such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) accessibility standards.

Emerging Trends in Drupal Development

Here are some emerging trends shaping the future of Drupal development:

1. Headless CMS and Decoupled Architecture

Drupal 10’s headless CMS helps in flexible content delivery.

Decoupling the backend CMS from the front-end facilitates building interactive mobile apps, smart IoT interfaces, or immersive voice-powered experiences.

Drupal 10 is the backend CMS, with frontend technologies handling the user interface. It enhances performance and scalability and enables developers to use modern JavaScript frameworks like React, Vue.js, and Angular for a more dynamic user experience.

2. AI and Automation in Drupal

AI-powered solutions enhance Drupal user experiences with AI content tagging and categorization. Chatbots and conversational interfaces enhance engagement through real-time assistance and personalized interactions. In addition, AI-facilitated search and suggestions allow users to find relevant content more quickly.

3. Enhanced Security and Compliance Requirements

The CMS has strong API security for headless deployments to prevent vulnerabilities and unauthorized access. The CMS also includes GDPR and HIPAA compliance capabilities to meet regulatory necessities, safeguarding user data and privacy.

4. The Role of Personalization and User Experience (UX)

Drupal employs AI-driven A/B testing to personalize content performance and optimal impact. The CMS also employs location-based content delivery to offer content relevant to users based on their geographical environment.

5. Growing Focus on Accessibility and Inclusivity

Drupal allows for an inclusive digital experience by aligning with WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines, making content accessible to users of all abilities. These standards improve usability, SEO, and accessibility.

Challenges in Drupal Development

Drupal is a powerful CMS but has some challenges.

1. Complexity of Custom Module Development

Custom module development for Drupal requires understanding PHP, the Drupal API, the hook system, the Drupal service architecture, and good coding principles.

2. Performance Optimization and Scalability Issues

Drupal sites can load slowly and use resources ineffectively. The CMS might have performance issues due to inefficient caching, and heavy database queries can impact Drupal’s response time.

3. Security Vulnerabilities

Drupal is secure, but improper user role management can lead to unauthorized access. Security flaws may also exist in older versions of Drupal modules.

4. Keeping Up with Updates

Major version upgrades in Drupal tend to involve major code changes, complicating the upgrade process. Moreover, theme and plugin compatibility can be an issue because some third-party plugins may not be updated immediately to support the new release.

Why Hiring a Drupal Expert Matters

Here is why hiring a Drupal developer is crucial for your project’s success:

1. Proficiency in Module Development and Customization

In-depth expertise is needed to create custom themes, modules, and connectors. Drupal developer abilities enable people to enhance Drupal’s core features, create custom modules for business purposes, and guarantee smooth third-party interaction.

2. Ensuring Compliance and Best Practices for Security

Security best practices, such as safe authentication and access control, adherence to data protection laws, frequent security audits, and timely patch updates, are among the duties and responsibilities of Drupal developers.

3. Improving the Scalability and Performance of the Site

Employing a Drupal developer can assist with caching techniques to speed up website loading, effective database queries, optimizing content distribution, and scalability to accommodate future growth and heavy traffic.

4. Effective Debugging and Troubleshooting

Finding and resolving bugs, compatibility problems, and malfunctioning features are among the duties and obligations of Drupal developers. In order to avoid downtime and performance snags, they also execute preventive maintenance.

5. Long-Term Cost-Effectiveness

In the long term, hiring a Drupal developer can save money because fewer errors can result in rework and higher expenses. Additionally, Drupal developers can increase user retention and conversions while reducing website downtime.

How to Choose the Right Drupal Expert?

Here are key factors to consider when hiring a Drupal developer:

Drupal Developer Skills: A potential Drupal developer should be familiar with PHP and PHP frameworks, theme development, version control with GIT, Drupal site updation, and command-line interface tools. In-depth knowledge of Drupal security also helps.
Certifications and Community Contributions: Candidates should be Acquia-certified developers or site builders and should have contributed their might to the Drupal community.
Review of Portfolio and Previous Projects: Prior to employing a Drupal developer, companies should assess the scope and complexity of previous site migrations, customer module development, and Drupal projects. They should also look at the developer’s case studies or project testimonials, as well as their ability to create
Communication and Problem-solving Skills: Soft skills like proactive project management, problem-solving techniques, and good communication are as crucial as technical capabilities.

The Future of Drupal

Drupal’s future looks promising as it continues to evolve with modern web development trends.

Focus on Headless and API-driven Development

Drupal will continue to be used as a headless CMS, and its API-first features will continue to offer seamless integration with frontend frameworks.

AI-driven Content Management

Future Drupal versions may see deeper AI integration, AI-based tagging, and categorizing. Drupal modules like SEO AI will analyze content and offer suggestions to improve rankings.

Enhanced Security Measures

Drupal is highly secure, but improper handling of user roles can lead to unauthorized access. Drupal’s old modules can have security loopholes.

Integration with Emerging Technologies

Drupal may support blockchain-based authentication, decentralized content verification, and the Internet of Things (IoT). This will lend the CMS to finance, healthcare, and supply chain management industries.

Impact of the Drupal Community

The Drupal community drives innovation and will continue to do so. Developers will contribute more modules and themes to make Drupal feature-rich and flexible.

To Wrap Up

Drupal is a highly rated CMS option due to its flexibility, scalability, and strong security features.

Hiring a Drupal developer ensures optimized development, performance, and security compliance. Drupal’s capability to handle complex sites and intricate functionalities allows businesses to stay at the forefront of the ever-changing technology landscape.

At Uplers, we connect you with top-tier, pre-vetted Drupal developers who can help you easily build, optimize, and scale your website. We provide access to skilled professionals and ensure cost-effective hiring, faster onboarding, and seamless project execution.

Partner with Uplers to find the right Drupal talent and take your website to the next level!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How is Drupal different from other CMS platforms?

Ans: Drupal offers flexibility, scalability, robust content modeling capacity, high security, and customization.

2. Will Drupal still be important in the future?

Ans: Drupal’s affordability, adaptability, and robust community support for security and upkeep will ensure its continued relevance in 2025 and beyond.

3. What advantages does Drupal offer companies?

Ans: Drupal’s great scalability, security, flexibility, modular design, and strong API support make it suitable for enterprises.

4. What are the common mistakes to avoid in Drupal development?

Ans: Poorly designed content types, failure to implement security patches, failure to optimize performance, and improper caching are some mistakes that must be avoided.

5. How can a Drupal expert be helpful in website migration?

Ans: A Drupal expert makes website migration easy by handling data transfer, maintaining SEO, and optimizing performance. They also fix compatibility problems, upgrade modules, and guarantee security.