Is Corteza or Drupal better?

Neither clearly leads. Corteza starts at Free and Drupal at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Corteza or Drupal?

Corteza starts at Free and Drupal at Free.

Does Corteza or Drupal run on more platforms?

Corteza runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Drupal runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.

Can I use Corteza for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Corteza best used for?

Corteza is most often used for a european public body that needs a case management system on servers inside its own jurisdiction with an auditable licence and no per-seat vendor fee, an ngo replacing a salesforce donation that has run out, needing to keep the data model but remove the recurring cost, an integrator building a regulated vertical application it intends to resell, requiring a permissive licence it can ship commercially, a mid-size european company that wants one platform for internal applications and a sales pipeline without paying per seat as headcount grows. Of those, a european public body that needs a case management system on servers inside its own jurisdiction with an auditable licence and no per-seat vendor fee and an ngo replacing a salesforce donation that has run out, needing to keep the data model but remove the recurring cost are not what Drupal is typically brought in for.

What can Corteza do that Drupal cannot?

Corteza covers Corteza Low Code, Automation and workflow, Bundled CRM, Case management. Drupal covers Structured content modelling, Granular permissions, Multilingual, Views.

No-Code · head to head

Corteza vs Drupal

Corteza

No-Code

Apache-licensed open source low-code platform, formerly Crust, positioned against Salesforce

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Drupal

Web Development

Open-source CMS for complex, structured content sites

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Corteza planet Crust is a small company of roughly a dozen or so people, so the entire commercial support capability behind Corteza is thin and a large deployment can outgrow the vendors ability to respond.; Drupal steep learning curve: concepts that are implicit in WordPress are explicit and must be configured
They diverge on capability: Corteza covers Corteza Low Code, Drupal covers Structured content modelling.
Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Corteza and Drupal actually diverge.

Attributes where Corteza and Drupal differ
Attribute	Corteza	Drupal
Platforms	Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker	Web, Linux, Self-hosted
Category	No-Code	Web Development

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Corteza

Corteza Low Code
Automation and workflow
Bundled CRM
Case management
Federation
Role-based access control
Corteza Messaging and integrations
Self-hosted deployment

Only in Drupal

Structured content modelling
Granular permissions
Multilingual
Views

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Corteza

A European public body that needs a case management system on servers inside its own jurisdiction with an auditable licence and no per-seat vendor feenot Drupal
An NGO replacing a Salesforce donation that has run out, needing to keep the data model but remove the recurring costnot Drupal
An integrator building a regulated vertical application it intends to resell, requiring a permissive licence it can ship commerciallynot Drupal
A mid-size European company that wants one platform for internal applications and a sales pipeline without paying per seat as headcount growsnot Drupal

Drupal

Government and university sites with complex content models and strict permissionsnot Corteza
Multilingual sites where translation is structural rather than a pluginnot Corteza
Publishers needing custom content types and editorial workflownot Corteza

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Corteza

Planet Crust is a small company of roughly a dozen or so people, so the entire commercial support capability behind Corteza is thin and a large deployment can outgrow the vendors ability to respond.
No pricing is published for Planet Crusts support, hosting or implementation services, so the true running cost of a supported deployment cannot be estimated without a sales conversation.
The connector ecosystem is small compared with commercial low-code platforms, so integrations with common SaaS tools usually mean writing against the REST API rather than installing something.
Hiring is hard: almost nobody has Corteza on a CV, so you are training internal developers on a niche platform and you cannot easily replace them.
The bundled CRM is a starting point rather than a mature product, and teams that expect Salesforce-equivalent sales functionality out of the box will spend months building the gap themselves.

Drupal

Steep learning curve: concepts that are implicit in WordPress are explicit and must be configured
Smaller developer pool than WordPress, and correspondingly higher build costs
Major version upgrades have historically been substantial projects, not routine updates
Considerably more machinery than a straightforward marketing site needs

Pricing, plan by plan

Corteza

Free

Corteza communityFree
- Apache 2.0 licensed with no feature gating
- Low-code builder, workflow engine, CRM and case management included
- Self-hosted on your own infrastructure
Planet Crust support and services$undefined/year
- Commercial support, hosting and implementation from Planet Crust
- Custom application development
- Training

Drupal

Free

DrupalFree
- Full functionality
- Commercial use permitted
- Community support

Which should you pick?

Choose Corteza if

You need corteza low code.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker.
You also want automation and workflow.

Corteza review

Choose Drupal if

You need structured content modelling.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
You also want granular permissions.

Drupal review

Questions people ask

Is Corteza or Drupal better?: Neither clearly leads. Corteza starts at Free and Drupal at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Corteza or Drupal?: Corteza starts at Free and Drupal at Free.
Does Corteza or Drupal run on more platforms?: Corteza runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted, Docker. Drupal runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
Can I use Corteza for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Corteza best used for?: Corteza is most often used for a european public body that needs a case management system on servers inside its own jurisdiction with an auditable licence and no per-seat vendor fee, an ngo replacing a salesforce donation that has run out, needing to keep the data model but remove the recurring cost, an integrator building a regulated vertical application it intends to resell, requiring a permissive licence it can ship commercially, a mid-size european company that wants one platform for internal applications and a sales pipeline without paying per seat as headcount grows. Of those, a european public body that needs a case management system on servers inside its own jurisdiction with an auditable licence and no per-seat vendor fee and an ngo replacing a salesforce donation that has run out, needing to keep the data model but remove the recurring cost are not what Drupal is typically brought in for.
What can Corteza do that Drupal cannot?: Corteza covers Corteza Low Code, Automation and workflow, Bundled CRM, Case management. Drupal covers Structured content modelling, Granular permissions, Multilingual, Views.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Corteza: Is Corteza the same thing as Crust?

Yes. The project was branded Crust and renamed Corteza in 2019 when Crust Technology donated it to the Commons Conservancy.

Drupal: Is Drupal free?

Yes, open source under the GPL. Costs are hosting, development and any commercial modules.

Corteza: Who owns the code?

The Commons Conservancy, a Dutch foundation. Planet Crust in Cork is the primary developer and sells commercial services around it.

Drupal: Drupal or WordPress?

WordPress is faster to launch, cheaper to staff and has a much larger plugin ecosystem. Drupal is stronger when the content model is genuinely complex and permissions are strict, which is why institutions favour it.

Corteza: Is there a paid enterprise edition?

No. Corteza is Apache 2.0 with no feature gating. Planet Crust sells support, hosting and development instead of a restricted edition.

Drupal: Why is Drupal common in government and universities?

Structured content modelling, granular access control and multilingual support are core rather than bolted on, and those are exactly the requirements those sectors have.

Corteza: Can it genuinely replace Salesforce?

For case management and a straightforward sales pipeline on a self-hosted footprint, yes. For a large sales organisation relying on AppExchange products and a mature ecosystem, no.

Corteza vs Drupal

Corteza

Drupal

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Corteza

Only in Drupal

What people use each for

Corteza

Drupal

Where each one falls short

Corteza

Drupal

Pricing, plan by plan

Corteza

Drupal

Which should you pick?

Choose Corteza if

Choose Drupal if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Corteza

More on Drupal

Keep looking

Other head to heads