Alternatives to Craft CMS logo

Alternatives to Craft CMS

WordPress, Drupal, Contentful, Bolt CMS, and ExpressionEngine are the most popular alternatives and competitors to Craft CMS.
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What is Craft CMS and what are its top alternatives?

Craft CMS is a flexible and powerful content management system that allows users to create customized websites and web applications. With a focus on scalability and user-friendly interface, Craft CMS provides features like live preview, content versioning, asset management, and multi-site capabilities. However, the system can be more expensive compared to other alternatives, and some users may find the learning curve steep.

  1. WordPress: WordPress is a popular open-source CMS known for its ease of use and extensive plugin library. It offers a wide range of themes and customization options, making it suitable for beginners and experienced users alike. Pros include a large community for support and frequent updates, while cons include potential security vulnerabilities due to its widespread use.
  2. Joomla: Joomla is a well-established CMS that caters to users looking for more advanced features and flexibility. It offers a robust content management system with features like multilingual support, user management, and extension availability. Pros include a strong developer community and extensive documentation, while cons include a steeper learning curve compared to other CMS platforms.
  3. Wix: Wix is a popular website builder that offers drag-and-drop functionality for creating websites without coding. It provides a variety of templates and design customization options, making it ideal for small businesses and individuals. Pros include ease of use and quick setup, while cons include limited scalability and flexibility for complex web projects.
  4. Drupal: Drupal is a powerful open-source CMS that is suitable for creating complex websites and web applications. It offers robust features like customizable content types, user roles, and advanced taxonomy options. Pros include scalability and flexibility for large-scale projects, while cons include a steeper learning curve and lower ease of use compared to other CMS platforms.
  5. Squarespace: Squarespace is a website builder that provides visually appealing templates and easy customization options. It is ideal for users looking to create simple yet stylish websites without the need for coding. Pros include integrated hosting and domain services, while cons include limited customization and scalability compared to other CMS platforms.
  6. Magento: Magento is an e-commerce platform designed for users looking to create online stores with advanced features and customization options. It offers features like multi-store management, SEO optimization, and flexible product management. Pros include scalability for large e-commerce sites and extensive customization options, while cons include a steep learning curve and higher cost compared to other CMS platforms.
  7. Shopify: Shopify is a popular e-commerce platform that caters to users looking for a user-friendly solution to create online stores. It offers features like inventory management, payment processing, and customizable themes. Pros include ease of use and quick setup for beginners, while cons include limited customization options compared to other CMS platforms.
  8. Ghost: Ghost is a simple and lightweight CMS designed for creating blogs and publications. It offers a distraction-free writing environment and features like content scheduling, social sharing, and membership subscriptions. Pros include fast performance and SEO optimization, while cons include limited customization options for complex web projects.
  9. HubSpot CMS: HubSpot CMS is a content management system integrated with marketing automation tools for creating personalized and optimized web experiences. It offers features like content staging, SEO recommendations, and CRM integration. Pros include seamless integration with HubSpot's marketing tools, while cons include higher cost compared to other CMS platforms.
  10. Strapi: Strapi is an open-source headless CMS that provides developers with a flexible and customizable content management system for creating API-driven projects. It offers features like content modeling, role-based access control, and custom plugins. Pros include scalability and flexibility for complex projects, while cons include a steeper learning curve for beginners.

Top Alternatives to Craft CMS

  • WordPress
    WordPress

    The core software is built by hundreds of community volunteers, and when you’re ready for more there are thousands of plugins and themes available to transform your site into almost anything you can imagine. Over 60 million people have chosen WordPress to power the place on the web they call “home” — we’d love you to join the family. ...

  • Drupal
    Drupal

    Drupal is an open source content management platform powering millions of websites and applications. It’s built, used, and supported by an active and diverse community of people around the world. ...

  • Contentful
    Contentful

    With Contentful, you can bring your content anywhere using our APIs, completely customize your content structure all while using your preferred programming languages and frameworks. ...

  • Bolt CMS
    Bolt CMS

    It is an open source Content Management Tool, which strives to be as simple and straightforward as possible. It is quick to set up, easy to configure, uses elegant templates. ...

  • ExpressionEngine
    ExpressionEngine

    It is a flexible, feature-rich, free open-source content management platform that empowers hundreds of thousands of individuals and organizations around the world to easily manage their web site. ...

  • Webflow
    Webflow

    Webflow is a responsive design tool that lets you design, build, and publish websites in an intuitive interface. Clean code included! ...

  • Ghost
    Ghost

    Ghost is a platform dedicated to one thing: Publishing. It's beautifully designed, completely customisable and completely Open Source. Ghost allows you to write and publish your own blog, giving you the tools to make it easy and even fun to do. ...

  • Squarespace
    Squarespace

    Whether you need simple pages, sophisticated galleries, a professional blog, or want to sell online, it all comes standard with your Squarespace website. Squarespace starts you with beautiful designs right out of the box — each handcrafted by our award-winning design team to make your content stand out. ...

Craft CMS alternatives & related posts

WordPress logo

WordPress

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A semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability.
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PROS OF WORDPRESS
  • 415
    Customizable
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    Easy to manage
  • 354
    Plugins & themes
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    Non-tech colleagues can update website content
  • 247
    Really powerful
  • 145
    Rapid website development
  • 78
    Best documentation
  • 51
    Codex
  • 44
    Product feature set
  • 35
    Custom/internal social network
  • 18
    Open source
  • 8
    Great for all types of websites
  • 7
    Huge install and user base
  • 5
    Perfect example of user collaboration
  • 5
    Open Source Community
  • 5
    Most websites make use of it
  • 5
    It's simple and easy to use by any novice
  • 5
    Best
  • 5
    I like it like I like a kick in the groin
  • 4
    Community
  • 4
    API-based CMS
  • 3
    Easy To use
  • 2
    <a href="https://secure.wphackedhel">Easy Beginner</a>
CONS OF WORDPRESS
  • 13
    Hard to keep up-to-date if you customize things
  • 13
    Plugins are of mixed quality
  • 10
    Not best backend UI
  • 2
    Complex Organization
  • 1
    Do not cover all the basics in the core
  • 1
    Great Security

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Dale Ross
Independent Contractor at Self Employed · | 22 upvotes · 1.5M views

I've heard that I have the ability to write well, at times. When it flows, it flows. I decided to start blogging in 2013 on Blogger. I started a company and joined BizPark with the Microsoft Azure allotment. I created a WordPress blog and did a migration at some point. A lot happened in the time after that migration but I stopped coding and changed cities during tumultuous times that taught me many lessons concerning mental health and productivity. I eventually graduated from BizSpark and outgrew the credit allotment. That killed the WordPress blog.

I blogged about writing again on the existing Blogger blog but it didn't feel right. I looked at a few options where I wouldn't have to worry about hosting cost indefinitely and Jekyll stood out with GitHub Pages. The Importer was fairly straightforward for the existing blog posts.

Todo * Set up redirects for all posts on blogger. The URI format is different so a complete redirect wouldn't work. Although, there may be something in Jekyll that could manage the redirects. I did notice the old URLs were stored in the front matter. I'm working on a command-line Ruby gem for the current plan. * I did find some of the lost WordPress posts on archive.org that I downloaded with the waybackmachinedownloader. I think I might write an importer for that. * I still have a few Disqus comment threads to map

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A White
Front End Web Dev at Burnt Design · | 21 upvotes · 47.8K views

Below is my own professional history to give some context to my current skill set. I have been a front-end dev for 18 years. My tools of choice are:

  • HTML5
  • CSS 3
  • JavaScript
  • WordPress
  • PHP (but not my strongest skill as I don't write it too often)

I first of all would like to become a better and more 'full stack' developer, and I have a business idea that will hopefully allow me to move in this direction. The queries I have will result in which approach I take here. One of the most important aspects to me is the system being 'future proof'. If successful I know I will eventually bring additional developers on board, and they will likely be better developers than me! I want to avoid them having to rebuild the system and would like it to be something that they can just expand and improve on.

The business which I'd like to create is the following (in a nutshell), I have ideas for many more features, but this is how I'd like to begin:

Web-based system for gym management & marketing. Specifically a class-based gym

  1. One-stop shop for a class-based gym owner
  2. Sell memberships
  3. Manage class bookings
  4. Reporting
  5. Automatically generated website
  6. Choose a pre-designed template and amend the content through their dashboard
  7. Marketing
  8. Easily send a newsletter to members
  9. Book a free trial form on the website linked directly to the booking system

Important requirements

  1. One system, one dashboard. I would like the gym owner to have one place to control everything. Members, marketing, and website amendments.
  2. Future proof. These features are the bare minimum and I'd like to keep expanding on the features as time goes on. Things like uploading programming for members, messaging between members and admin, and selling merchandise via the website.
  3. Fast to load & secure. I live in the WordPress world right now, which isn't the fastest or most secure environment. I appreciate there are better ways to develop a system like this, but I'm a little clueless about where to start.
  4. Mobile. The data created should easily communicate with a mobile app that customers will download to manage their memberships and class bookings.

TIA to anybody that can provide some guidance on where to start here.

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Drupal logo

Drupal

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Free, Open, Modular CMS written in PHP
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PROS OF DRUPAL
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    Great community
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    Easy cms to make websites
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    Highly customizable
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    Digital customer experience delivery platform
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    Really powerful
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    Customizable
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    Flexible
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    Good tool for prototyping
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    Enterprise proven over many years when others failed
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    Headless adds even more power/flexibility
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    Open source
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    Each version becomes more intuitive for clients to use
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    Well documented
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    Lego blocks methodology
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    Caching and performance
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    Powerful
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    Built on Symfony
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    Can build anything
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    Views
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CONS OF DRUPAL
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Hi. I’m a lead developer in charge of designing the build for version 2.0 of our startup SaaS website which is currently a traditional Drupal 7 site. I’m just looking for some peer advice that I am headed down an ok path now the product has grown & changed. tl;dr; 1) Is building a decoupled/headless Drupal 10 site with a JavaScript framework a dumb idea? 2) Should I look to a different headless CMS? 3) React or Vue.js or (other) in 2022?

Our requirements for our new site include

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  • Complex permissions and several user roles
  • Robust security
  • Mobile app capability for iOS (for now - Android in the future)
  • Multilingual capability
  • Easy user management/creation by non-devs
  • Reporting capabilities
  • Some basic “marketing” pages (but this could be separate from the web app I suppose)
  • A large amount of hosted video/image assets on AWS or similar
  • Weekly/daily CRON jobs to send out emails & reports

Being that I am experienced in Drupal & PHP, my thought was to build a headless site with a Vue.js or React as the front end in Drupal 10. I've only got minimal experience in either JS framework so I'm not sure which I should choose to skill up. Does this seem reasonable or am I barking up the wrong tree?

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Contentful logo

Contentful

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Contentful is a cloud-based API-first content platform
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PROS OF CONTENTFUL
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    API-based cms
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    Much better than WordPress
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    Simple and customizable
  • 5
    Images API
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    Free for small projects
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    Extensible dashboard UI
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    Super simple to integrate
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    Managed Service
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    Tag Manager like UI
CONS OF CONTENTFUL
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    No spell check
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    No repeater Field
  • 4
    No free plan
  • 3
    Slow dashboard
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    Enterprise targeted
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    Pricey
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    Not scalable
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Hi, I went through a comprehensive analysis - of headless/api content management systems - essentially to store content "bits" and publish them where needed (website, 3rd party sites, social media, etc.). I had considered many other solutions but ultimately chose Directus. I believe that was a good choice.

I had strongly considered Contentful, Strapi, Sanity, and hygraph. Hygraph came in #2 and contentful #3.

Ultimately I liked directus for:

(1) time in business

(2) open source

(3) integration with n8n and Pipedream

(4) pricing

(5) extensibility

Thoughts? Was this a good choice? We have many WordPress sites we're not (at least now) looking to replace with Directus, but instead to push to.

I'd love some feedback.

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ContentfulContentfulFirebaseFirebase

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Bolt CMS logo

Bolt CMS

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An open source Content Management Tool
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PROS OF BOLT CMS
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      ExpressionEngine logo

      ExpressionEngine

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      Open-Source and feature-rich content management system
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            Free plan
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            Fully Customizable
          • 5
            Simple
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            Prototype
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            Built on web standards
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          CONS OF WEBFLOW
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          Ghost logo

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          Just a blogging platform
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          PROS OF GHOST
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            Fast
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            There's a few that could be better, though. My main complaint is they have a 200 character limit for author biographies, which seems arbitrary and unhelpful.

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            Squarespace logo

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            CONS OF SQUARESPACE
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            Niall Geoghegan
            at experiential psychotherapy institute · | 8 upvotes · 85.1K views

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