Internal Analysis: Why We Chose Display Builder Over Canvas

Before standardizing on Display Builder, our architecture team at UI Suite conducted a thorough analysis of the next-generation layout tools available for Drupal. The other main contender was Canvas (Experience Builder). While both are impressive projects, we ultimately chose Display Builder because its technical approach and scope were a better fit for our strategic goals.

One of the deciding factors was Display Builder's wider "horizontal" scope. It aims to be a unified solution for entity displays, page layouts, and Views displays. This "one tool to rule them all" approach was very appealing to us, as it promised to simplify our toolset and developer training. In contrast, Canvas is more focused on the "vertical" scope of content editing and component authoring, which are currently less critical for our needs.

We were also drawn to Display Builder's technical foundation. It is built as a traditional Drupal module using HTMX, which makes it feel like a natural extension of Drupal. Canvas, on the other hand, is a full React application that runs alongside Drupal. While powerful, we felt the HTMX approach offered a lighter footprint and was easier for our current team of Drupal developers to extend and maintain. Both are fantastic tools, but for UI Suite, Display Builder's philosophy of enhancing Drupal's existing strengths was the winning argument.