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. ...

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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.

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Jan Vlnas
Senior Software Engineer at Mews · | 6 upvotes · 68.3K views

Depends on what options and technologies you have available, and how do you deploy your website.

There are CMSs which update existing static pages through FTP: You provide access credentials, mark editable parts of your HTML in a markup, and then edit the content through the hosted CMS. I know two systems which work like that: Cushy CMS and Surreal CMS.

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If you have some server-side scripting support available (typically PHP) you can also consider some flat-file based, server-side systems, like Kirby CMS or Lektor, which are usually simpler to retrofit into an existing template than “traditional” CMSs (WordPress, Drupal).

Finally, you could also use a desktop-based static site generator which provides a user-friendly GUI, and then locally generates and uploads the website. For example Publii, YouDoCMS, Agit CMS.

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