Josh Koenig Writes an Open Letter to His Peers

"The Drupal economy is at crossroads," begins Josh Keonig, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer at Pantheon in a post inviting the attention of many prior to DrupalCon Atlanta 2025. With Drupal 7 End-of-Life and Drupal CMS getting off the ground, there is much tension and uncertainty in the Drupal world. But Josh notes that the global conference happening at the end of the month could be a catalyst for a discussion:

"Does Drupal have a Future?"

Josh earnestly believes Drupal has a future. On the other hand, a commenter who requested not to be named in this article, let us call him Mr X, points out that the position of Drupal isn't that promising according to the 2024 Stack Overflow Developer Survey. He writes,

"I am waiting for the code red moment from the Drupal higher-ups where they have a serious plan to popularize Drupal for the masses. 1.9% usage score, no concrete/built-in integrations with modern JS frameworks like React, hard-to-navigate core API docs, lack-of or outdated documentation, the list goes on."

He appreciates many aspects of Drupal but also finds plenty to dislike. He can do anything he wants with it, but he doubts its ability to captivate new developers like modern JS/TS frameworks and headless CMSs do. The JS ecosystem makes bootstrapping projects far easier, with Next.js offering a much simpler API than Drupal controllers and React or Vue providing a far better experience than Twig and jQuery. 

"I don't know what I hope for in Drupal's future... but it needs to address the learning curve problem, head-on."

he concludes. A remark, indeed accepted by many in the discussion.

"We need simpler Drupal for simpler users. This is what Drupal CMS is about," adds Tony Philips

Tony suggests that the platform could evolve by offering different user experiences tailored to specific use cases, simply by rethinking the admin interface. 

“By just changing the admin menu, we can diversify the experience without forking,”

he suggests, envisioning versions of Drupal optimized for e-commerce, enterprise portals, or digital experience management—all without altering the core technology.

Returning to Mr X, he directs our attention to what Drupal can be in the future. He believes the project’s success depends on navigating the collapse of the DXP category, as the vendors that once led it are now struggling. At the same time, it needs to establish a clear identity that amplifies Drupal’s unique strengths and sets it apart.

The failure of the DXP category is one of the biggest hurdles facing Drupal today. Once pitched as a one-stop shop for digital needs, DXPs have proven to be anything but. Instead of the market consolidating around a handful of large players, the opposite happened. Martech tools multiplied, giving businesses more choices, not fewer. Vendors that tried to dominate by offering everything in a single package—Acquia among them—are now struggling under the weight of their own complexity.

“The hypothesis was wrong. In fact, the exact opposite thing happened,” Josh says.

For Drupal to thrive, it must redefine its value proposition. Competing with WordPress for mass-market adoption is not the answer, nor is clinging to a model that has already failed. Instead, Josh sees two areas where Drupal’s strengths shine. First, as an “agile business driver” that helps digital teams continuously improve customer experiences without the burden of a massive system overhaul. Second, as a framework that gives large organizations flexibility without forcing them into an all-or-nothing vendor lock-in.

Drupal’s modularity, advanced data handling, and integration ecosystem make it a powerful tool for businesses that want to build their digital strategy on a foundation of adaptability. The platform’s emerging distribution and recipe capabilities provide a way to launch projects quickly while maintaining room for customization. Unlike traditional DXPs, which often require large-scale rebuilds, Drupal offers an incremental approach that keeps organizations moving forward without accumulating technical debt.

Many in the Drupal community share this sentiment, though perspectives vary. Josh Miller, Director of Web Development at Urban Institute, highlights what makes Drupal indispensable:

“We use Drupal because everything is a view, a display mode, and a field… No other CMS can do this, especially this easily, using only open-source code.” 

His team has leveraged Drupal’s modularity to reorganize 30,000 nodes multiple times while still maintaining efficiency. For organizations handling large volumes of structured content, Drupal remains unmatched.

Others, like Michael Klemczak, CTO at Magnetic Point, acknowledge Drupal’s unique strengths but point to a deeper issue: visibility.

“I believe that for a certain type of project, Drupal is the ideal solution and, more importantly, unbeatable.” 

he says, yet its recognition remains limited outside its existing ecosystem. He argues that Drupal’s challenge is not just in positioning itself correctly but in making sure potential users even know it exists as an option.

However, not everyone agrees that DXP is dead. Jim Nourse, Senior Director of Web Strategy at Penn State, argues that the answer depends on the perspective of the buyer.

“If your goal is to efficiently host 1,000+ unique Drupal sites, DXP is probably dead (or never was a thing in the first place). If your goal is to knit together a unified user and data experience as part of a marketing strategy… DXP is alive and well,”

he notes, warning that if Drupal turns away from the enterprise DXP market entirely, buyers may seek alternatives.

Eric Peterson, a platform developer at Spotify, offers another take, seeing Drupal not as a full-stack solution but as a key part of a best-of-breed technology stack. 

“One monolithic solution for front-of-house customer experiences has yet to be delivered. The dream of being able to ‘no-code’ together CRM A with Tag Manager B and Site Builder C in any coherent way is still off in the distance.” 

In his view, Drupal’s real strength is as the glue that holds disparate systems together.

As DrupalCon Atlanta approaches, the discussion around Drupal’s future is set to gain momentum. The platform has the tools to remain relevant, but only if it can escape the outdated expectations that have held it back. The industry is changing, and Drupal must change with it. The question remains: Will it?

Read and engage in Josh Koenig's LinkedIn post here.