Hi rantmode ! I wrote the article shared above. Let me answer your points.
1. Drupal Layout Builder > Indeed. The problem lays deep in Drupal's modular architecture, making it almost impossible to create a simple (in terms of UX) page builder with Drupal. I do not see Drupal fighting with Webflow, WeWeb or any other page builder there. Drupal ingest too much complexity.
2. Using Drupal 7 UI screenshots > I confess, clickbait on my side. Drupal 10 UI with tons of modules is still way more complicated to use than Content Stack.
3. The point about Drupal modules is not the same as for FE/JS Frameworks. The audience is not the same. On one side we have end-users that will prefer the simplicity of Mailchimp vs Simple News module. So what you're saying is that there is no point, as Mailchimp is integrated with Drupal. I'm returning you the question, if almost each module in Drupal is worse than it's SaaS equivalent, and you simply integrate Drupal with it, why using Drupal at all? At the end if your Drupal is only a content storage with CRUD, you have hundreds of better solutions (Hygraph, Xano, Content Stack, Prepr, etc...)
4. On ressources shortage. It's very different. A good PHP developer is not a good Drupal developer. Drupal's Learning curve is steep. But when you use any SaaS headless CMS you don't have to know it's internals. You simply build your front-end in any framework you're familiar with and connect it through GraphQL. Therefore any front-end developer will be ok, while with Drupal you'll need to specifically loook for experienced Drupal developer.
5. Google trends is not an argument, I regret that slippery slope I've taken. You can spank me.
I'm getting the feeling that your opinions (such as mine) come from dealing with many of the issues you've encountered when working with Drupal.
My opinion is it's far from being perfect, but is much better now than it was with Drupal 7.
If page building is all you want a CMS for, you're right: Drupal isn't for you; there are better alternatives. Doesn't mean it's dying.
Having the possibility of integrating with 3rd party services via installing a module is better than having to wire up your product/codebase to work with it. Many SaaS services also offer this, Drupal is not different.
I agree that a PHP Dev isn't a Drupal Dev and vice-versa (even though there's a very significant overlap). The learning curve for Drupal isn't steep if you only focus on learning what any of the simpler SaaS CMSs you mentioned offer. I argue it might even be lower and better documented. It does get steeper when you have to develop for Drupal - but then again, that's not something you can or have to do for a SaaS. Those products have learning curves of their own as well.
I've used Webflow before and liked it, but when the client started asking for some custom stuff, Webflow couldn't cut it either. Every tool has its limitations.
I have worked with Drupal as a backend with REST APIs for exposing data in multiple frontends and the experience was fine - probably not ideal and yes, it did require Drupal knowledge - but not different of what you'd expect trying to wire a FE app to consume/use JSON/GraphQL (which, by the way, is making its way into Drupal, too) from any other source.
Also, there's a significant point that neither of us has addressed, that I think is worth mentioning: what happens if/when one of those hot SaaS products goes bust because it didn't gain traction? Do you own the codebase? Can you quickly and simply migrate to another platform? Can you host it yourself? My guess is you're back to the same kind of predicaments you'd find in Drupal all the same. With the added bonus of now also having to find someone with experience and expertise to help migrate away from that even "nichier" product - might prove even harder to find talent than with Drupal.
