---
url: 'https://dri.es/cms-code-base-comparison'
title: 'CMS code base comparison'
author:
  name: 'Dries Buytaert'
  url: 'https://dri.es/about'
date: '2007-07-20T02:40:04-04:00'
license: 'https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/'
type: blog
tags:
  - Drupal
  - Joomla
  - Statistics
  - WordPress
  - Plone
published: true
id: 298
---

# CMS code base comparison

### Drupal

[image drupal/code-history-drupal resize=false]

### Joomla!

[image drupal/code-history-joomla resize=false]

### Wordpress

[image drupal/code-history-wordpress resize=false]

### Plone

[image drupal/code-history-plone resize=false]

(These graphs depict statistics for the core of each project, and do not include contributed modules, extensions or third-party plugins.)

### Conclusions

- All projects have been growing in size. No exceptions.
- Drupal has, by far, the smallest code base. It's lean and mean. Joomla!'s code base is about 8 times bigger than Drupal's. Even Wordpress's code base is larger than Drupal's.
- Of all tools, the WordPress code has the fewest code comments. Drupal and Joomla!, on the other hand, have the best documented code.