Can Drupal compete with Microsoft Dynamics 365?
Battle of the application frameworks!
A fair comparison
You've seen Microsoft Dynamics 365 used to build huge, powerful systems and applications - but could you achieve your project with Drupal at lower cost?
A mature and ever-growing platform, Drupal has been allowing developers to flexibly and rapidly build applications since its early days. It covers a lot of ground with its range of features, but comes without the big Microsoft price tag.
Understanding the strengths of each platform, then, becomes valuable - often to the tune of a few hundred thousand pounds!
This is our high-level review of Microsoft's offering and how a Drupal build could stack up against it
We'll help you answer questions like:
Which would cost more?
What are the limitations?
When is it worth it?
There are two main sections, each with a feature breakdown:
Application Building Essentials
- Custom data structures
- Business Rules & Workflows
- Display & Reporting
- User Roles & Permissions
- Rapid Development & Extensibility
Boosting business with CRM & ERP
- CRM
- ERP
If your Microsoft bill is getting out of control, or your considering setting one up, this is worth a read!
Application building essentials
At the basic functional level, Drupal and Dynamics 365 have comparable offerings. They're both mature application building frameworks with all the main features you'd expect.
But there are some intrinsic differences that we can tease out by looking a little harder (see each section's breakdown after the table).
The recent emergence of Drupal CMS demonstrates not only how Drupal can be used to build rapidly, but how a CMS is just one thing that Drupal can do. As a centralised web framework with connectivity to all your data sources, the possibilities are huge.
A recurring theme in this section is Drupal's built-for-customisation codebase, which makes bespoke and interesting functionality easier for a developer to put together. Microsoft's products do allow various customisation points, but ultimately you can only integrate when they want to let you, so it's easy to hit limitations. Generally, though, you'd be able to build a whole lot with just a mouse on either platform, and get hold of an experienced developer to cover the rest.
| Drupal | Dynamics | 🌟 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom data structures | ✅ | ✅ | Comparable |
| Business Rules & Workflows | ✅ | ✅ | Comparable |
| Display & Reporting | ✅ | ✅ | Comparable |
| User Roles & Permissions | ✅ | ✅ | Comparable |
| Rapid development & extensibility | ✅ | ✅ | Comparable |
Custom data structures
Dynamics
Dynamics is great for building custom applications, with a fully-featured interface for developers to add and customise data fields.
- Custom fields; add, remove and change fields of various types
- Customise data display
- Customise form display / data entry
Drupal
Drupal similarly allows for rapid application builds via decent User Interfaces; it's not just a CMS but a true application framework
- Custom fields; add, remove and change fields of various types
- Customise data display
- Customise form display / data entry
Summary
Both application builders cover all the bases, and both allow an experienced developer to dive in to make customisations.
Drupal's deep API exposure means that developers have more scope to make bespoke changes that Microsoft might not let you; there are no product walls and few limitations.
Business Rules & Workflows
Dynamics
This is a key functionality area for D365, and is what makes an application out of your fields.
Microsoft's no-code visual interface for designing conditions and flows has found use in a number of places, and their latest iteration generally works well for most people.
Both Business Rules and Workflows allow you to put together complex event conditions and data actions, which puts a lot of key business logic into user-accessible interfaces.
However, big complex rules can be difficult to review, debug and understand - and have even been known to make the interface a bit unstable. Some things are better achieved with some tidy custom code.
Drupal
As an application building framework Drupal has ways to provide similar functionality and experiences, just with a bit more developer setup. Don't mistake this for lack of functionality, though!
- Visual flow builder
- Work with almost any entity or data
- Construct detailed triggers, conditions and actions
- Design and enforce content moderation/lifecycle workflows
Summary
Contributed modules bring much of the same functionality to the Drupal platform, and allow deep access to almost your whole database.
Content lifecycle and moderation can be handled separately in the Workflow system, reducing the number of rules and flows that you need to build and maintain.
Data visualisation and reporting
Dynamics
Dynamics lets you create filtered lists of records (e.g. leads, cases) that can be tailored to show just the fields and filters that you care about.
It's a crucial feature that brings the right data to the right screens, and helps users see what they're working with.
In Dynamics you get:
- Create custom data listings
- Clickable data to filter further or directly view records
- Role-based access to listings
- Data shared across Dynamics apps and available in PowerBI
Drupal
A keystone feature for Drupal is Views, a core module that provides a powerful interface to your site database. It allows privileged users to query, filter and display any content or data stored in Drupal (and even outside of it, with a little dev expertise!). Almost everything is available, including graphs and charts (with additional modules) and it's all done through a UI.
Views displays can then be built into your admin pages and content, allowing you to build dashboards and other data-driven experiences.
While Dynamics is automatically part of a data/application ecosystem, you can create custom exports and integrations with your systems as needed to make your Drupal site part of your business data ecosystem. Integrations with major service providers allow you to import and export data routinely, building your own data workflows that suit your business.
- Create custom data listings
- Clickable data to filter further or directly view records
- Role based access to listings
- Share and export your data through various mechanisms
Summary
Content building and reporting has always been strong in Drupal, and it easily matches Dynamics' every feature.
The developer experience is a little different, but the end-user experience can be more powerful. With some careful design and setup, even your content team should be able to access and create custom data analytics and reports.
Rapid deployment and extensibility
Dynamics
Well-known for being a powerful application builder, and with a decent developer experience, Microsoft Dynamics 365 gets your project moving quickly.
Some admin screen customisations force you to write Javascript plugins, but there are decent APIs available and simple things have documentation and explainers online.
- Build, edit and customise via the UI
- Powerful access possible to privileged users
Drupal
Years of supporting enterprise and hobbyist application-building needs means Drupal's community-driven features continue to hit all the marks you'd expect.
The emphasis on empowering the Site Builder means that privileged users can access and customise system and data structures on-the-fly if needed (though that can of course be locked down), and that flexibility makes for truly rapid iteration and development without waiting for developers and deployments (depending on your setup).
- Build, edit and customise via the UI
- Powerful access possible to privileged users
Summary
Both application frameworks do everything you'd hope and expect.
Drupal's ability to empower Admins or Site Builders to make changes in the application (rather than in a separate editing platform, and with optional restrictions) can set teams up for fast progression and quick issue fixing.
User roles and permissions
Dynamics
Managing roles and permissions in Dynamics can be a little intimidating and confusing. There are a lot of permissions to manage and a lot of screens to do that from! It gives access control over a lot of entity actions and a lot of system actions, and that will always bring some UX difficulty. But it makes admins and system designers happy, and that's super important.
- Roles and permissions used to manage access
- Create and edit roles and permissions in the UI
- Assign roles via the UI
- Content ownership
Drupal
Used by international businesses, governments and organisations around the globe, Drupal has a fine-grained and powerful roles and permissions system that also allows for "interesting" adaptations and extensions where desired, and a host of mature modules provide for common use cases.
- Roles and permissions used to manage access
- Create and edit roles and permissions in the UI
- Assign roles via the UI
- Content ownership
- Extendable and customisable
Summary
Both application frameworks do everything you'd hope and expect.
Either platform would need custom development work to set up entirely custom roles or permissions, but Drupal would likely get it done easier and faster.
Boosting business with CRM and ERP
Sales-oriented application building
Now we're hitting the good stuff!
When we compare Dynamics vs. Drupal for CRM and application-level functionality, there's more to pick apart.
Dynamics has CRM-supporting add-ons already available to give you a fairly polished head start on building your CRM.
Drupal, focused on facilitating any custom build, has community modules that can provide a base level of functionality for many different applications, including CRM and commerce. Its capacity for deep customisation can shine through with more flexibility to work how you need it to - not just what Microsoft decide you can have.
| Drupal | Dynamics | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Run as a CRM | ✅ | ✅ | Dynamics more ready to run as a CRM |
| Integrate with other CRM | ✅ | ✅ | Drupal more ready for custom actions |
| ERP | ❌ | ✅ | Dynamics only |
CRM
Dynamics & CRM
Lots of businesses choose the Dynamics platform because of the add-on options. It's a whole ecosystem built around CRM and ERP, and there are several products you can layer on:
- Dynamics 365 Sales
- Dynamics 365 Customer Insights
- Dynamics 365 Customer Service
- Dynamics 365 Marketing
- Dynamics 365 Field Service
Not to mention Power Platform, Finance, Supply Chain Management and Business Central.
They know what they're doing, and their offering is strong!
You'll still want various custom fields and some careful application design, but going down the Dynamics route gets you a decent head start with expansion options for down the line. Though it really doesn't take long to find that certain very-useful-looking fields are only available with an extra product.
Yet, each addition comes with a line item in your monthly invoice - and they're not small. (Maybe that's what brought you here) If you're questioning the ROI, this is the moment to consider what you actually use on the platform and how much benefit it truly brings to your business. AI-powered features are already coming through the pipeline trying to add value to the proposition, but it's you that decides whether they're worth their salt.
Drupal & CRM
As a generic application building framework, Drupal doesn't have some big specific CRM ecosystem to suck you into. But there is an ecosystem of community-supported modules ready to help you build your dreams, bringing a lot of substance to the table.
There are two routes to go when talking Drupal and CRM:
- Make Drupal a CRM
- Connect Drupal to your CRM
Either can be attractive, depending on your circumstances and perceived ROI. How you go forward probably depends also on what your application actually is. If you're doing commerce, you could build your store in Drupal to combine your sales pipeline with your CRM and enjoy having your data consolidated in one place. Alternatively, Drupal is an ideal central hub in your MarTech setup, capable of bringing together multiple data and event sources for personalised experiences.
Make Drupal a CRM
You could make Drupal do almost anything, and handling CRM activity is well within its limits.
There are a couple of modules that will give you a boost, too, bringing some core CRM functionality to get things going. Review with our experts whether they bring the value you need, then layer on the specifics for your business and processes.
This will be most worth it if:
- your needs are bespoke and hard to fulfil, making a custom build worth the cost
- your needs are simple and quick to fulfil, making it a small addition to your project
- your needs demand a highly flexible system at the centre of your MarTech stack
Connect Drupal to your CRM
The active module ecosystem has modules providing connectivity to a huge range of online services, including a number of CRM providers. All the basics are covered, and Microsoft too. So, hooking up your data streams and getting them in sync shouldn't be a hard job.
Summary
Microsoft's ecosystem is complete and attractive, but if the cost is off-putting or the product limitations are frustrating you, it's worth looking at something else. Typically expect subscription costs of £80-200 per month per user, depending on the packages and extras you layer on. With just ten users, you're looking at an annual cost that you might rather invest in your choice of platform development.
Drupal is a great framework to build a CRM with, and many already have. If your needs are very specific or very simple, the ROI compared to a Microsoft invoice could work out quite well. Layering some CRM functionality on top of your planned Drupal project/application could be cost-effective, too. Ultimately you'll need to do the math on your business values and costs.
ERP
Dynamics & ERP
Enterprise Resource Planning is a natural extension of the CRM and sales world, and Microsoft naturally have products ready. It's easy to add them to your basket and get going with your app customisations.
Drupal & ERP
To build your own ERP at this point you must have very bespoke needs that even SAP or Sage can't accommodate - and that's unlikely.
Additionally, there is presently (as of Autumn 2025) no community-supported module providing ERP functionality. So if you want to build an ERP platform with Drupal, you'll have to do it from scratch. The ROI probably isn't there.
That said, if you were building a Drupal CRM and wanted some ERP functionality built alongside, there is scope for something working out. It all depends on your business needs and the resulting build complexity.
Summary
Between Dynamics and Drupal, it's very likely best to go with the Microsoft option. And if you really don't want Microsoft, there are plenty of other ERP platforms to choose from.
Adding some ERP functionality to a Drupal site wouldn't be crazy, especially if it does help streamline your processes and keep people in one central platform rather than spread across multiple services. But trying to build full, complex ERP processes may not be worth the investment.