Installing Drupal with the stock installation files downloaded from Drupal.org represents a blank slate for your website. You can install a distribution if your website matches a common use case, like a company intranet or a conference website, and you would like to take advantage of some common features built by other developers.
Distributions (also known as distros) are a packaged group of files including Drupal core along with a group of themes and modules selected to address a particular need.
Different distributions are available to meet specific needs, including meeting the needs of a particular market (for example, governmental or educational institutions), or providing specific, deeply integrated functions into websites such as social media or commerce.
Due to the open nature of Drupal, anyone can create a useful distribution others can use to help them start faster.
For help identifying a distribution that meets your needs on Cloud Platform, see Choosing a Drupal distribution.
For a list of available distributions created to address various needs, see Download & Extend on Drupal.org.
Acquia’s documentation contains articles and resources you can use for reference as you install your Drupal distribution, including the following:
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