What Drupal is
Drupal is a PHP content management framework used heavily by government, university and large enterprise sites. Its render and dynamic page caches are exposed in response headers, which makes it one of the more reliably identifiable systems.
How DNSTrace.dev detects it
Detection reads the final HTTPS response and the first bytes of its markup. One matching signal is reported as strong evidence; two or more independent signals are reported as confirmed.
x-drupal-cache— The page cache outcome, HIT or MISS.x-drupal-dynamic-cache— The dynamic page cache outcome, present on Drupal 8 and later.x-generator naming Drupal— Emitted by default installations.drupal-settings-json in markup— The settings block Drupal's JavaScript reads its configuration from./sites/default/files/ in markup— The default public file directory.
What a detection proves
The document was produced by Drupal.
What it does not prove
The major version, the hosting provider, or which modules are installed. The presence of x-drupal-dynamic-cache suggests Drupal 8 or later but is not a version statement.
Common questions
Does a Drupal detection reveal the host?
No. Drupal is software that any host can run. Managed platforms such as Pantheon are detected separately from their own routing headers.
What if a CDN sits in front of Drupal?
A proxy may cache and forward the Drupal headers unchanged, in which case both layers are visible and reported separately.
Compare with
WordPressOpen source, WordPress Foundation
Content management system
JoomlaOpen source, Open Source Matters, Inc.
Managed web platform
PantheonPantheon Systems, Inc.
Server language
PHPOpen source, the PHP Group
Check a domain
Run a full lookup to see the delivery layer, the detected application stack, live TLS and the announcing network side by side.