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The Impact of Open Source: How Drupal, WordPress, and Laravel Are Shaping the Web in 2025

Open source software is a technology that is available for anyone to use at no cost. Over the last ten years, the impact of open source technologies on the web development industry has significantly changed the industry in terms of cost-effectiveness, flexibility, and scalability. Open source has become a key part of the digital world, allowing businesses across industries to access the latest tools and technologies, as well as establish their online presence at no or minimal cost. Nowadays, businesses have a possibility to reach new markets and audiences, grow and evolve faster.

The top Content Management Systems (CMS) in open source web development are Drupal, WordPress, and Laravel. In this blog post, the team at Drupfan explores the influence of open source technologies on the website development industry and explains how Drupal, WordPress, and Laravel are shaping the web. Stay tuned!

The Impact of Open Source on the Web Development Industry

Open source technologies have changed the approach to web development forever, growing strong communities around software, uniting the most skilled professionals, and enabling collaboration on a global scale. In addition, it had a strong impact on businesses in terms of web project’s cost-effectiveness, timeframes, and customizability.

drupfan web developer standing with his back turned

Previously, website and app development looked like a centralized process, with web developers relying on closed-source tools and software. Such an approach led to limited customization options, higher costs, and slow vulnerability addressing. However, the rise of open source platforms like Drupal, WordPress, and Laravel, provided a free and completely accessible pool of resources, libraries, and frameworks for everyone to use. Specialists can now use these open source frameworks and CMSs to build robust and scalable websites or web apps. Besides, the new environment of shared knowledge and skills in the open source environment has led to faster software evolution.

Let’s review the impact of the open source ecosystem on the web development industry in more detail.

  • Open source software is highly flexible and customizable for specific needs.

Capability of being flexible and customizable are top priorities for modern software. These two features allow us to tailor websites and web apps for specific business needs, as well as unique user experiences. Open source platforms like Drupal, WordPress, and Laravel, are adaptable to ever-evolving market demands, meaning their data structure could be easily rebuilt to align with new features or functionalities.

  • Open source offers cost-effective digital solutions.

Open source software is a proven way to reduce a project's budget while still achieving the desired digital solution. With an open source platform, you only pay for the development services, while the software itself and its contributed features and functionalities remain free of charge. What’s more, such software often offers a wide array of contributed features and functionalities, reducing the time necessary for custom solution development.

  • Open source offers broad community support.

Open source allows developers from all over the world to contribute to its innovation and bug fixing, making the community support invaluable. Don’t worry about the code quality: any releases or fixes are thoroughly tested by the original authors of the code or other developers before releasing to production.

  • Open source is faster in evolution and innovation.

Having an accessible source code and being open to updates and modification by developers all over the world makes open source software faster in evolution and innovation. Thousands of web developers constantly share their knowledge, leading to more efficient problem-solving and faster software development.

  • Open source provides more efficient debugging.

Open source platforms always have dedicated communities that unite skilled developers from all over the world. The accessibility of source code means multiple contributors can review it, as well as offer improvements or fixes, turning debugging into a more efficient and fast process.

Key Feature of Open Source Web Development

Here, the specialists from Drupfan digital agency highlight the key principles of open source web development:

  • No licensing fees.
  • Publicly accessible source code.
  • The community can contribute to innovation and bug fixing.
  • Other developers examine any code changes.
  • Continuous testing & integration.

How Open Source Software Like Drupal, WordPress, and Laravel are Changing the Web

The rise of open source and the release of platforms like Drupal, WordPress, and Laravel, have changed the approaches to web development, providing access to powerful tools at no cost for individuals and businesses of all sizes across industries. These digital solutions not only allowed us to enter the world of web and app development at no cost but also fostered the spirit of collaboration and connected the leading industry specialists across the world.

The core idea of open source software is to create transparency and collaboration within the community. By making the source code free, open source software invites web developers to contribute their skills and expertise for software improvements, bug fixing, new features development, and security enhancements. Such a collaborative approach leads to the constant evolution and innovation of open source platforms, like Drupal, WordPress, and Laravel, ensuring the compliance with ever-changing demands of the digital landscape.

Let’s take Drupal, for example. A simple and primitive Content Management System with limited functionality has evolved into a powerful and robust platform that currently powers over 1 million of websites worldwide. Its extensible data structure, high level of customizability, and advanced security have turned Drupal into the leading choice for web development for many enterprises and organizations with websites of any size and complexity. Whether you need to build a one-page landing or a complex site with custom functionality — Drupal open source CRM can deal with any task with ease. Similarly, WordPress offers a vast ecosystem of plugins and themes suitable for website development across various industries from personal blogs to eCommerce. Laravel now has become the best open source solution for the development of web apps.

Open source platforms like Drupal, WordPress, and Laravel, have changed the industry of web development forever, offering available tools and features for individuals and businesses across the globe, enabling their online presence and participation in the global market.

Outsource Open Source Web Development to Drupfan Software

The rise of open source software has become one of the most significant technological breakthroughs of the past decades. It becomes clear that open source technologies significantly impact the web development industry in terms of cost-effectiveness, collaboration, efficiency, and innovation. Open source has become a top player in the world of web development by offering security, flexibility, and scalability out of the box. Drupal, WordPress, and Laravel have already become top open source choices across industries, offering website owners a set of rich features for content management & editing capabilities at minimal or no cost. With more businesses turning to open source software, the constant evolution and innovation of the industry are guaranteed in the years to come.

Here at Drupfan, we specialize in providing efficient and robust web development outsourcing services within various sophisticated technologies, such as DrupalWordPressLaravel, and others. Based on your project’s needs and requirements, we will advise on the best software match for your website. Contact us today to get a free quote on your web development project.