Craft CMS Review: Is It The Right Content Management Software For Your Team?
Best for SMB teams · Mid-market
Free Plan Available
GDPRStarts from $199, also offers free forever plan
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Pricing
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Buyer feedback
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Spotsaas Analysis for Craft CMS
Craft CMS at 4.3/5 from 52 reviews and SpotScore 9.1 serves web developers and designers building custom sites that need flexible content structures. The platform gives developers full control over data modeling without forcing a predefined schema, which matters for teams handling non-standard content types. Its asset management and content editor reduce the manual work of organizing media and publishing updates.
Craft CMS is a headless content management system for developers who need to structure content their way. Teams use it to replace rigid, template-driven CMS workflows and ship custom front-ends faster.
Quick picks:
What is Craft CMS?
Craft is flexible and powerful content management software that helps manage website; from writing, to publishing, to editing and refinement. Craft features a simple content editing interface for users who are not as familiar with code, as well as an advanced code-centric interface for those who like to tweak and customize.
Pricing
Starts from $199
Best For
Built for growing teams, from small businesses to mid-market
Security & Compliance
GDPRSSO & MFA supported
Data residency:🇺🇸
Craft CMS Screenshots
Craft CMS was reviewed internally using user feedback, in-house testing, and market research to assess its performance, reliability, and user experience. Learn how we review products and our evaluation process.
Who should consider Craft CMS
- Use cases
- Website development agencies, Medium and small business websites, Freelance web developers
- Team types
- Web developers, Content editors with some technical knowledge
- Company size
- Small Business, Medium Business
- Workflow style
- Flexible and configurable
- Setup complexity
- Medium
Why teams choose Craft CMS
Highly flexible and customizable data structure
User-friendly back-end editor with live preview
Strong support and active developer community
Is Craft CMS right for you?
Best for developers needing flexible, customizable CMS with intuitive editing.
Choose Craft CMS if
- You require a highly flexible and customizable data structure for complex sites.
- Your team includes developers and designers collaborating on intricate website builds.
- You want a user-friendly back-end editor with live preview for content editors.
Consider alternatives if
- You are a non-technical user without developer support for setup and maintenance.
- You need extensive out-of-the-box front-end features like advanced form handling.
What buyers should know before shortlisting Craft CMS
Craft CMS stands out as a highly flexible and developer-friendly platform, earning praise for its customizable data structure and intuitive back-end editor. Users appreciate the ease of setting up the system and the support of the active community.
The platform's flexibility allows for easy collaboration between developers and designers, making it a valuable tool for building sites with complex data structures. While Craft CMS offers robust features and clean UI, some users noted occasional bugs and the lack of video tutorials.
Additionally, the pricing could deter some cost-conscious users. However, with the right expertise, Craft CMS empowers users to create custom websites efficiently and effectively.
Overall, Craft CMS shines as a powerful and versatile platform that enables users to build sites tailored to their requirements. It's ideal for those comfortable with PHP and seeking a CMS that offers extensive control and flexibility.
Craft CMS pros and cons
- Craft CMS pros
Highly flexible and customizable data structure
User-friendly back-end editor with live preview
Strong support and active developer community
- Craft CMS cons
Occasional bugs and stability issues, especially with text formatting and asset management
Pricing can be a barrier for smaller businesses
Ready to try it?
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Compare Craft CMS side-by-side with top Content Management Software alternatives.
What is the pricing of Craft CMS?
Craft CMS Pricing Plans
Solo (Craft CMS pricing)
Ultra-flexible content modeling
Powerful front-end tools
Multi-Site
Localization
Single admin account
Pro (Craft CMS pricing)
Everything in Solo plus:
Unlimited user accounts
Enhanced content previewing
GraphQL API
System branding
Show more +
Enterprise (Craft CMS pricing)
Everything in Pro plus:
Priority Technical Support
Procurement
Custom Licenses
Launch Support
Lite (Craft commerce pricing)
Donations
Products
Subscriptions
Custom Payment Gateways
Custom Checkout Process
Craft CMS reviews and ratings
Buyer sentiment
Overall positive sentiment highlighting flexibility and developer-friendliness, tempered by concerns about bugs and pricing.
What buyers like
- Flexibility and customization
- Intuitive content editing interface
- Active community support
Common complaints
- Bugs and stability issues
- Pricing concerns
Are you using Craft CMS?
What users are saying
HG
Hillary G
04/24/20
Have a developer with you
AI
Administrator in Leisure, Travel & Tourism
04/22/20
Great
What do you like best? I love how easy it is for people to to start using it. Also love the whole support of of the community! What do you ...
Read more
AK
Aaron K
04/10/20
A CMS that's actually built from a developer's mindset
What do you like best? The idea the everything from the ground up is a customizable data structure. You don't have to fit into a pre-build mold like ...
Read more
AI
Administrator in Marketing and Advertising
04/08/20
How Craft commerce work with Vue
What do you like best? Craft CMS has the most flexible structure I have ever seen from any CMS system. What do you dislike? Craft CMS has some ...
Read more
AI
Agency in Marketing and Advertising
03/05/20
One of the best mid market CMS platforms
What do you like best? Extremely flexible CMS that doesn't feel like you are hacking it to accommodate requirements. Come with a great blend of base ...
Read more
UI
User in Information Technology and Services
05/19/19
Craft is a Great CMS but Needs Dev Work
What do you like best? Craft was set up for us by a dev team and has quite a few pre-built things we can pull from. As a marketer, there is a lot I ...
Read more
- See if Craft CMS fits your business
- Real pricing — no sales pressure
- A demo or quick answers, your call
Step 1 of 4
How big is your team?
We tailor recommendations to companies your size.
What are the features of Craft CMS?
An approval process is a mechanism through which a company approves documents, invoices, budgets, and purchase orders, as well as a new proc…
A system or process for capturing, tracking and storing electronic documents such as PDFs, word processing files, and digital photographs of…
Indexing is a data structure approach for retrieving records fast from a database file. A short table with only two columns is called an ind…
Permission Management allows you to grant and remove permissions for users on files, directories, and the registry. Permissions are divided…
Plain text is less exciting than rich text. Text formatting such as bold, italics, and underlining, as well as different fonts, font sizes,…
Publishing is a method of making information available to the public. Previously, this was primarily accomplished by issuing printed copies…
SEO (search engine optimization) increases exposure in relevant, targeted keywords (SERPs) on search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bin…
Paid and unpaid techniques on search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo are used in search marketing to acquire online presence and traffi…
The social media template allows regular publishing of text and visual content for brand promotion across various social media networks. Whe…
Version control, often known as source control, tracks and manages changes to digital asset management software code. Version control system…
Craft CMS security and data handling
Key compliance certifications and security features for IT and security teams evaluating Craft CMS.
Certifications
Security features
Developer & data
Alternatives to Craft CMS
Recommended
Streamline your content creation ...
9.1
Very Good
Craft CMS Support Options
Frequently Asked Questions About Craft CMS
Common questions buyers ask before choosing Craft CMS.
Craft CMS is a Content Management Software. Craft CMS offers Template Creation, SEO Management, Search, Rule Based Publishing, Rich Text Editor and many more functionalities.
Craft CMS is a strong fit if: You require a highly flexible and customizable data structure for complex sites.; Your team includes developers and designers collaborating on intricate website builds.. Consider alternatives if: You are a non-technical user without developer support for setup and maintenance.; You need extensive out-of-the-box front-end features like advanced form handling..
Buyers commonly note the following limitations of Craft CMS: Occasional bugs and stability issues, especially with text formatting and asset management; Pricing can be a barrier for smaller businesses; Learning curve and initial setup require technical expertise.
Some top alternatives to Craft CMS includes Story Chief, WordPress, Webflow, TalentLMS and Crafter CMS.
Craft CMS offers Freemium, Subscription, Quotation Based pricing models
The starting price of Craft CMS is $199
Ready to try it?
Get started with Craft CMS
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About the reviewer
Rajat Gupta is the founder of Spotsaas. Over the past two years, he has reviewed 2,000+ tools across CRM, HR, AI, and finance — applying hands-on product research and a background in commerce and the CFA program to evaluate software through a business and ROI lens. His goal: help teams make software decisions they won't regret.
Disclaimer: This research has been collated from a variety of authoritative sources. We welcome your feedback at [email protected].