Craft CMS
A self-hosted content system licensed per project, built for developers who define their own content shapes.
- Price
- Solo is free. Team is $279 once per project and Pro is $399 once per project. Updates are $99 a year after the first year.
- Delivery Model
- Self-hosted software, licensed per project
- Who It Fits
- Small shops with real development skill doing fewer, larger builds
- What You Own
- The installed site on your own hosting, under a licence you bought
- If You Stop Paying
- The site keeps running. Ongoing updates are the part that lapses
- Cost Shape
- One licence per project, plus optional annual updates, plus hosting
A one time licence rather than a subscription. Team and Pro licences are included if you host on Craft Cloud.
Craft is what a lot of experienced developers move to when WordPress starts costing them more evenings than it saves. It is a self-hosted content system that assumes you will define the content shapes yourself rather than bending a blog into whatever the client needs.
For client work that has unusual content, that assumption pays. You model the thing the business actually has, and the editing screens follow from the model instead of fighting it.
It expects a developer. There is no version of this where a designer with no server experience ships a Craft site over a weekend. Licensing is per project, bought once with optional ongoing updates, and the finished site is yours on your own hosting.
The right reader for this one is a small shop with real development skill, doing fewer and larger projects. If your business is twenty simple local sites, the setup cost per site will not pay you back.
Current terms and features: craftcms.com/ · Price read from craftcms.com/pricing