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Craft CMS review

Best editor experience in PHP

Reviewed by Eugene SuslovUpdated August 2026No affiliate links

Craft has a reputation among agencies for the best editing experience of any PHP CMS, and it earns it. Matrix fields, entry types and live preview give editors real structure without the free-for-all of a page builder, and the control panel is genuinely pleasant.

For headless use it exposes a GraphQL API, so a Next.js or Nuxt front end can consume Craft content while editors stay in an interface designed for them. The licence is a one-off per project, which makes the long-run cost very different from a monthly SaaS.

Who Craft CMS is for

Agencies building client sites where editors will use the CMS daily and the client wants to own the installation. Also anyone who wants headless delivery without per-seat or per-request billing.

Less suitable if your team has no PHP hosting experience.

Strengths and limits

What it does well

  • Content modelling with Matrix fields and entry types handles complex editorial layouts better than almost anything else at this price.
  • One-off licensing means a site's CMS cost is a known number rather than a recurring one that scales with success.
  • Live preview across multiple targets is built in and works properly.
  • Solo is free forever for one user, which covers a lot of personal and small business sites outright.

Where it falls short

  • Source-available, not open source. The Craft licence permits use and modification but it is not OSI-approved, so it will not pass a strict open-source policy.
  • PHP and MySQL hosting is a different operational world from Node, and that is a real cost if your team does not already live there.
  • The GraphQL API is capable but headless is not Craft's primary mode, so the developer experience is a step behind the API-first platforms.
  • Team and Pro are Craft 5 only, so older installs need an upgrade before those editions apply.

Craft CMS pricing

Solo is free forever with one user account and full content features. Team is $279 per project including one year of updates, then $99 a year, and covers up to five user accounts and one user group. Pro is $399 per project on the same renewal terms, with unlimited users and groups plus a branded control panel. Enterprise is quote-only and adds first-party SAML SSO and a custom licence agreement.

Team and Pro are free when hosted on Craft Cloud. Non-profits get a 15% discount on Team and Pro, excluding renewals.

Check current Craft CMS pricing

Verdict

Genuinely excellent if your team is comfortable with PHP, and the one-off licence makes it one of the cheapest options here over a five-year horizon. Editors like it, which is worth more than most feature comparisons admit.

Check the licence against your policy before assuming it is open source, and be honest about whether headless is really how you will use it, because Craft's strengths are strongest in its traditional mode.

Visit Craft CMS

Craft CMS FAQ

  • Is Craft CMS free?
    The Solo edition is free forever with one user account. Team is $279 per project and Pro is $399 per project, each including one year of updates and then $99 a year, and both are free when hosted on Craft Cloud.
  • Is Craft CMS open source?
    No. The source is public and modifiable under the Craft licence, but that licence is not OSI-approved, which makes it source-available rather than open source. If a policy requires open source, Craft does not qualify.
  • Can Craft CMS be used headless?
    Yes, through its GraphQL API, and plenty of agencies do exactly that with Next.js or Nuxt front ends. It is not API-first in the way Sanity or Contentful are, so expect headless to feel like a well-supported mode rather than the primary one.

This is an independent review. We have no affiliate relationship with Craft CMS, earn nothing if you sign up, and no vendor pays for placement in the directory. Prices were read from the vendor's own pages in August 2026 and change without notice.