Craft CMS
| Developer(s) | Pixel & Tonic, Inc. |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 5.x
/ March 26, 2024 |
| Written in | PHP |
| Engine | |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Platform | Web platform |
| Available in | Multilingual (25+ languages) |
| Type | Content management system (CMS) |
| License | Proprietary (Source-available) |
| Website | craftcms |
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Craft CMS is a proprietary, source-available content management system (CMS) written in PHP. Developed by the American software company Pixel & Tonic, it is designed for developers and content editors who require a "blank slate" approach to web development. Unlike platforms such as WordPress or Joomla, Craft CMS does not include pre-built themes, requiring developers to build front-end templates using the Twig templating engine.
As of 2024, Craft CMS powers approximately 0.2% of all websites globally but maintains a higher market share among top-tier performance sites. It is utilized by several high-profile organizations, including Netflix, Associated Press, IKEA, and Salesforce.[1]
History
Craft CMS was created by Pixel & Tonic, a company founded by Brandon Kelly in 2010. Before developing Craft, the team was well known for creating popular add-ons for the ExpressionEngine CMS, including Matrix, Assets, and Playa.
Development of the platform began in 2010 under the working title "Blocks." It was officially released as Craft CMS 1.0 on June 4, 2013. The software was positioned as a modern, leaner alternative to existing systems that were often criticized for code bloat and rigid data structures.
Major version milestones include:
Craft 2 (2014): Introduced substantial improvements to localization and user management.
Craft 3 (2018): Migrated the codebase to the Yii 2 PHP framework and introduced an in-app Plugin Store.
Craft 4 (2022): Focused on accessibility (WCAG compliance) and enhanced content authoring workflows.
Craft 5 (2024): Released on March 26, 2024, introducing "entry types" for every section and nested Matrix fields for complex content modeling.[2]
Features
Craft CMS is recognized for its "content-first" philosophy, which decouples the back-end data from the front-end presentation.
Matrix Fields
The Matrix field is a cornerstone feature of Craft, allowing editors to create modular, repeatable blocks of content. This enables a "page builder" experience where marketing teams can assemble pages using predefined components (e.g., text, galleries, or videos) while adhering to the site's design system.
Live Preview
Craft includes a native Live Preview feature that offers a real-time, split-screen view of the website during editing. This allows authors to see how content will appear across different device viewports (desktop, tablet, mobile) before publishing.
Multi-site and Localization
The system provides built-in support for managing multiple websites or localized versions of a site from a single installation. This is frequently used for global brands requiring distinct content across different domains or languages.
Technical Architecture
Craft CMS is built on the Yii 2 PHP framework and uses Composer for dependency management. It supports both MySQL and PostgreSQL databases.
Templating: It uses the Twig templating engine, which allows developers to write clean, semantic HTML.
Headless Support: Craft includes a native GraphQL API, making it a popular choice for "headless" CMS architectures where content is served to modern JavaScript frameworks like Vue.js or React.
Licensing
Unlike many open-source CMSs under the GPL, Craft CMS uses a proprietary, source-available license. It is free to use for personal projects (Solo edition). Production use for businesses requires a one-time license fee, with an annual fee for continued access to software updates.[3]
References
- ↑ Honcho Agency. "Craft CMS". honcho.agency. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
- ↑ "Craft CMS 5 with Many Helpful Improvements". Retrieved April 20, 2026.
- ↑ "Craft CMS FAQs". Retrieved April 20, 2026.
External links
Category:Content management systems Category:PHP software Category:Software using the Yii framework Category:2013 software
This article "Craft CMS" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Craft CMS. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
