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HTMX vs Drupal

Security & risk comparison · Updated October 2026

How does HTMX compare to Drupal on security, AI-readiness, and total cost of ownership? We scored both across 7 dimensions using NVD/NIST CVE data, GitHub metrics, and our census of the Tranco top 100,000.

Key finding

HTMX scores 79/100 overall versus Drupal's 41/100. HTMX has 1 total CVEs compared to Drupal's 1200, giving it a smaller vulnerability surface. (Source: WebPulse framework scoring, NIST NVD and CISA KEV, updated October 2026)

Who actually runs HTMX and Drupal

Share of sites with an identified platform, from WebPulse's scan of the Tranco top 100,000 and our Common Crawl census.

WhereHTMXDrupal
Top 1,000 0.0% (0) 4.2% (9)
Top 10,000 0.5% (14) 7.5% (192)
Top 100,000 0.4% (107) 7.2% (1,994)
Wider web0.1%4.4%

Highest-ranked sites on HTMX

  1. actu.fr#1,298
  2. ssstik.io#1,447
  3. freedesktop.org#3,290
  4. codeberg.org#3,719
  5. ollama.com#4,226

Highest-ranked sites on Drupal

  1. europa.eu#114
  2. nist.gov#239
  3. un.org#363
  4. noaa.gov#530
  5. unesco.org#627

Detected from each homepage's HTML, headers and cookies in September 2026. Methodology

79
HTMX
Modern · JAVASCRIPT
vs
41
Drupal
Legacy · PHP
Dimension-by-dimension breakdown
security HTMX
95
35
HTMX
Drupal
performance Tie
65
65
HTMX
Drupal
ecosystem HTMX
80
40
HTMX
Drupal
ai readiness HTMX
78
40
HTMX
Drupal
developer experience HTMX
75
40
HTMX
Drupal
market trajectory HTMX
55
35
HTMX
Drupal
cost of ownership HTMX
90
35
HTMX
Drupal
Security details
Metric HTMX Drupal
Total CVEs 1 1200
Critical CVEs 0 89
Exploited (KEV) 0 8
CVEs last year 0 120
Avg CVSS 2.0 6.5
Security score 95/100 35/100
Recommended
HTMX

HTMX scores 79/100. Verdict: Recommended.

Caution
Drupal

Drupal scores 42/100. Consider migrating to: nextjs, django, laravel.

Alternatives: nextjs, django, laravel

Quick facts
HTMX
Category: Frontend_lib
Language: JAVASCRIPT
First release: 2020
Generation: Modern
Trend: Rising
Market share: 0.1%
Drupal
Category: Cms
Language: PHP
First release: 2001
Generation: Legacy
Trend: Stable
Market share: 1.5%
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HTMX vs WordPress HTMX vs Next.js HTMX vs React HTMX vs Angular HTMX vs Django HTMX vs Laravel HTMX vs Vue.js HTMX vs Astro HTMX vs Hugo HTMX vs SvelteKit HTMX vs Rails Drupal vs WordPress Drupal vs Next.js Drupal vs React Drupal vs Angular Drupal vs Django Drupal vs Laravel Drupal vs Vue.js Drupal vs Astro Drupal vs Hugo Drupal vs SvelteKit Drupal vs Rails

Data sourced from NVD/NIST CVE database, GitHub API, and WebPulse framework scanner. Scores calculated using a 7-dimension model covering security, performance, ecosystem health, AI-readiness, developer experience, market trajectory, and cost of ownership. Updated October 2026.