Craft CMS is a self-hosted PHP content management system for custom websites, pairing Twig templates with a generated GraphQL API for headless delivery. It suits teams that want full control over the content model and the markup, without renting their publishing workflow from a SaaS platform. Solo is free for a single user account; Team and Pro are paid per project.[1][2]
Quick verdict
Agencies and product teams building bespoke marketing sites, editorial properties, or headless content backends will get the most from Craft CMS. Its custom fields, Matrix blocks, live preview, and generated GraphQL API cover the path from content modeling to Twig-rendered pages or decoupled front ends. The price of that control is developer ownership: PHP hosting, Composer-based installs, and a per-project licence once you outgrow the free Solo edition. If your team can run a PHP application and wants fully owned markup, choose Craft.[1][2]
Key features
Custom fields with 30 field types Model entries, categories, and assets with 30 field types matched to the domain instead of bending content into generic posts.[1]
Matrix fields for nested page building Compose pages from repeatable nested entries so editors assemble layouts without touching templates.[1]
Twig templating with full markup control Render every page from developer-owned Twig templates, which keeps third-party theme output and lock-in out of the markup.[1]
Live preview with drafts and versioning Edit entries against the real template with preview targets, draft separation, scheduling, and revision history before anything goes public.[1]
Anything-to-anything content relations Relate entries, categories, assets, and users in either direction, which covers portfolios, directories, and editorial cross-linking.[1]
Asset management on local or cloud volumes Store and transform images and files on local disk, S3, Google Cloud Storage, or Craft Cloud with built-in image transforms.[1]
Multi-site localization in one install Run translated and regional sites from a single codebase with per-field translation control and per-site publishing.[1]
Generated GraphQL API with headless mode Expose entries, assets, and custom fields through token-authenticated GraphQL, or run Craft purely as a headless backend.[1]
Who will love it
Agencies shipping bespoke client sites: per-project licensing, multi-site support, and full Twig control match how client work is scoped, built, and handed over.[1][2]
Editors who outgrew page builders: Matrix blocks, live preview, drafts, and localization give editorial teams real page-building power inside a structured model.[1][2]
Teams going headless without SaaS rent: the generated GraphQL API plus self-hosting keeps content infrastructure owned instead of subscribed.[1][2]
Who should avoid it
Teams with no PHP or hosting capacity cannot run it: Craft needs a qualifying PHP host, Composer installs, and ongoing application ownership.[1][2]
Buyers wanting everything bundled free pay more than the core licence: Team and Pro are paid per project, and Commerce, forms, and SEO arrive via separately licensed plugins.[1][2]
Cost and learning reports temper the praise: one inspected Studio Manager review warns third-party plugin licences can be difficult and expensive to manage over time, and reviewers note a learning curve for developers new to Twig and Craft conventions.[1]
How people experience it
Three public G2 reviews of Craft CMS: a Senior Digital Producer (July 2026), a Studio Manager (September 2023), and a marketing and advertising administrator (review dated April 6, 2023). One labelled 21-word excerpt is quoted; the other two reports are paraphrased as attributed experience claims.
1 cited community source. Three inspected G2 excerpts from 2023 to 2026; a small convenience sample, not a satisfaction survey. Plugin-licence cost and learning-curve reports are individual experiences, not prevalence scores.
A Senior Digital Producer reports the content model maps to how a business actually thinks, with custom entry types, Matrix fields, and relations, plus drafts, versioning, scheduling, and localization that support serious editorial process.[1]
A Studio Manager reports onboarding new people onto Craft is easy enough to count as a massive benefit to the end user.[1]
A marketing and advertising administrator reports building good-looking pages without relying on the web team, choosing block types and composing the page directly.[1]
Alternatives and compatibility
Craft CMS is a published alternative to Directus and Contentful in this catalogue. Choose Directus where an API-first backend with a generated admin app matters more than Craft's editorial workflow; choose Contentful where fully managed SaaS with no hosting responsibility outweighs self-hosted control.[1][2]
Stay with Craft where bespoke Twig output, Matrix-driven editing, and owned hosting are the combined requirement: editors build from provided blocks while developers own the model, templates, and infrastructure.[1][2]
How people experience it
Exact excerpt
The content model is yours to shape: custom entry types, Matrix fields and relations that map to how a business actually thinks
G2 review dated July 10, 2026; labelled excerpt of a longer review; full text at the source link.
Questions worth asking
What is the best Craft CMS alternative for non-technical users?
A hosted website builder such as Squarespace or Wix fits better, because Craft needs developer setup, PHP hosting, and template work before editors can build pages. Where self-hosted structured content is still the goal, evaluate this catalogue's published incumbent Directus, which pairs its API backend with a generated admin app.[1][2]
Is Craft CMS really no-code?
How much does Craft CMS cost per month?
There is no monthly subscription: Solo is free for one user account, Team is $279 per project, and Pro is $399 per project, each including the first year of updates at $99 per year after that. Budget beyond the licence for hosting and plugin licences. Nonprofits get 35 percent off, and Craft is free when hosted on Craft Cloud. Prices checked October 9, 2026.[1][2]
Sources and editorial review
Source research. Reviewed on October 9, 2026. Written by Sanjib Sah. AI assisted; reviewed by a human editor.
We have not run or tested this product.
Three public G2 reviews of Craft CMS: a Senior Digital Producer (July 2026), a Studio Manager (September 2023), and a marketing and advertising administrator (review dated April 6, 2023). One labelled 21-word excerpt is quoted; the other two reports are paraphrased as attributed experience claims. Three inspected G2 excerpts from 2023 to 2026; a small convenience sample, not a satisfaction survey. Plugin-licence cost and learning-curve reports are individual experiences, not prevalence scores.
- Craft CMS features (official)
official · Observed October 9, 2026
Official Craft 5 feature overview: custom fields, live preview, Twig, relations, assets, localization, user management, headless GraphQL, Matrix, plugin store, Commerce/Shopify/Stripe, forms and SEO plugins, developer tooling, Team $279 and Pro $399 per-project pricing with $99 yearly updates.
- Craft CMS pricing (official)
official · Observed October 9, 2026
Official edition comparison: Solo free for one user, Team five users, Pro unlimited users with branded control panel, Enterprise SSO/SAML with custom licence, 35 percent nonprofit discount, forms and SEO via plugin, GraphQL and dev tools in every edition.
- Craft CMS server requirements (official docs)
official · Observed October 9, 2026
Official Craft 5 server requirements: PHP 8.2+, MySQL 8+ or PostgreSQL 13+, Composer 2.0+, runs on most modern hosting with a managed Craft Cloud option.
- Craft CMS reviews on G2
community · Observed October 9, 2026
G2 Craft CMS review index with dated original user reports: content-model praise (Senior Digital Producer, July 2026), onboarding ease plus plugin-licence cost dislike (Studio Manager, September 2023), intuitive block page building (marketing administrator, April 2023). Page-level pricing shown is stale Craft 3/4-era figures and is not used.