Drupal CMS 2.0 is a landmark release with Drupal Canvas, native AI, and recipe-based architecture. It delivers everything organizations need to build powerful digital experiences.
Varbase 11 builds directly on that foundation, adding enterprise-specific workflows, security configurations, and editorial tools.
You get full Drupal CMS compatibility with zero roadmap divergence. The enterprise capabilities you need, ready from day one.
From Distribution to Recipe-Based System
Varbase has evolved from a traditional profile-based distribution to a recipe-based system built on Drupal CMS 2.0.
Varbase 11 leverages all recipes in Drupal core and the Drupal CMS, and enhances them with enterprise configurations refined across hundreds of implementations.
You get the full Drupal CMS 2.0 experience plus Varbase's enterprise layer with guaranteed compatibility for future Drupal releases.
Vardot's Role in Drupal CMS
Vardot contributed to Drupal CMS 2.0 development since the Starshot Initiative days, specifically to the default publishing workflow that now ships with the product.
We're also among the first to build an enterprise distribution on Drupal CMS 2.0, making Varbase 11 both a contribution to and an extension of the official Drupal ecosystem.
For Technical Leaders
Varbase 11 gives you three recipe layers:
- Drupal core recipes: Foundational building blocks
- Drupal CMS recipes: For user-friendly configurations
- Varbase recipes: Enterprise accelerators (with additional recipes)
This combination is built for:
- Donation platforms where you need robust forms, payment integrations, and donor management
- News websites where editorial workflows and publishing speed matter
- Institutional sites where governance, accessibility, and multilingual support are non-negotiable
- Government platforms where security and compliance are paramount
If your organization needs to launch quickly without sacrificing enterprise requirements, this is your stack.
What does this mean for Marketing Teams?
Build Without Waiting for Developers
What changes for marketers:
- The editorial workflow matches how you actually work.
Content moves through clear stages: Draft → Needs Review → Published - with scheduling built in.
The component system gives you control.
Need a landing page for next week's campaign? Build it yourself using pre-built components:
- Hero sections and calls-to-action
- Newsletter signup forms
- Event registration pages
- Contact forms with conditional logic
No developer tickets. No two-week wait times.
You assemble the page from tested, brand-compliant components.
Varbase 11 includes AI-powered features that accelerate content creation:
- Content suggestion: Workflows get AI-assisted recommendations while you write
- Automatic tagging: AI handles taxonomy, so you focus on the message
- AI editor assistant: writing help directly in the interface
The key difference: these aren't bolted-on AI features. They're integrated into the editorial workflow with proper governance controls.
Why This Matters for Your Next Project
Drupal CMS 2.0 provides:
- Modern visual building
- Native AI capabilities
- Recipe-based simplicity
- Community support and innovation
Varbase adds:
- Enterprise guardrails
- 15 years of implementation experience baked into defaults
- Faster time-to-launch for complex requirements
- Guaranteed compatibility with Drupal's roadmap
Together, they deliver what neither provides alone: enterprise-ready from day one.
Is This Right for Your Organization?
Varbase 11 is ideal if you:
- Need to launch a complex site quickly (donation platform, news site, institutional portal)
- Want enterprise features without enterprise complexity
- Require governance, security, and compliance out of the box
- Have marketing teams that need autonomy without developer bottlenecks
- Plan to scale to multisite or multilingual in the future
The Bottom Line
Varbase 11 represents the next evolution of enterprise Drupal.
It's built on the official Drupal CMS 2.0, ensuring you stay on the main road, not a fork. And it's enhanced with 15 years of enterprise experience, so you don't have to figure out security configurations, editorial workflows, and performance optimization on your own.
Drupal CMS 2.0 provides the foundation. Varbase makes it enterprise-ready.
Ready to See It in Action?
Talk to our team about your next project.
FAQs
Is Varbase 11 a separate fork or a "Community-Aligned" system?
Varbase 11 is an official extension of the Drupal ecosystem, not a fork. It builds directly on the Drupal CMS 2.0 foundation, ensuring that your site stays on the official community roadmap while benefiting from Vardot’s 15 years of enterprise-ready configurations and security defaults.
What are the three recipe layers that power Varbase 11?
To provide a modular yet powerful architecture, Varbase 11 utilizes three distinct layers: 1. Drupal Core Recipes for foundational building; 2. Drupal CMS Recipes for user-friendly defaults; and 3. Varbase Recipes, which serve as enterprise accelerators for workflows, security, and multisite scaling.
How does this stack solve the "Developer Bottleneck" for marketing teams?
Through the integration of Drupal Canvas, marketers can build complex landing pages, event registrations, and campaign forms independently using brand-compliant, pre-built components. This eliminates the need for IT tickets for routine layout changes and reduces time-to-market from weeks to days.
How is AI different in Varbase 11 compared to standard AI plugins?
In Varbase 11, AI is not a "bolt-on" feature; it is integrated into the publishing workflow with governance controls. Marketers receive AI-assisted content suggestions, automatic taxonomy tagging, and editorial assistance directly within the interface—all governed by the Drupal CMS Context Control Center to ensure brand accuracy.
What is the performance impact of moving to the 2.0 baseline?
By leveraging Drupal Core 11.3, Varbase 11 inherits a 33% performance increase in request handling. This massive efficiency gain significantly lowers the total cost of ownership (TCO) by reducing server resource requirements while maintaining high-speed delivery for institutional and news-heavy platforms.
Which organizational types benefit most from this specific stack?
Varbase 11 is ideal for Institutional and Government platforms where security is paramount, News websites requiring fast publishing speed, and Donation platforms that need robust payment and form integrations out of the box.