What is craft CMS? A guide for UK brands planning a rebuild

If your business is planning a new website, Craft CMS is likely to come up as an option, especially if you are speaking to agencies that build bespoke sites. It is popular with agencies that build bespoke sites, but it runs far fewer websites than better-known platforms such as WordPress, Wix or Squarespace.

This guide explains what Craft CMS is, how it works, what it costs and who it suits, so you can decide whether it belongs on your shortlist before you start a rebuild.

What is Craft CMS?

Craft CMS is a content management system for building bespoke websites. Made by Pixel & Tonic, it lets developers define exactly what content a site holds, such as products, case studies or events, and gives editors a clean control panel to manage it. Craft can power a traditional website or deliver content to other front ends through its built-in GraphQL API.

Its makers pitch it as a tool for custom digital experiences rather than off-the-shelf websites. Unlike theme-based platforms, it has no ready-made design layer, so every Craft site is built around the brand and content it serves.

Craft CMS at a glance

• Made by: Pixel & Tonic
• First released: Craft 1.0 launched in June 2013
• Built with: PHP, using the Yii 2 framework, with Twig for templates
• Databases: MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL
• Current version: Craft 5, with active support until 31 December 2030 and security support until 31 December 2031
• Editions: Solo (free), Team and Pro, plus Enterprise for specific licensing needs
• Ecommerce: Craft Commerce, Pixel & Tonic’s own ecommerce add-on for Craft
• Usage: More than 150,000 sites created with Craft, according to Craft’s own figures based on BuiltWith data

How does Craft CMS work?

Craft is built around three ideas: structured content, a focused editing experience and complete freedom over how that content is displayed.

Content is modelled around your business

Rather than starting with generic posts and pages, a Craft site begins with a content model. Developers set up sections, entry types and custom fields to match the content your business actually publishes. Craft lets you relate any piece of content to any other, so a product can be linked to its case studies, or a team member to the services they offer. Its Matrix field lets editors build flexible pages from nested entries while keeping the content structured.

Editors work in a clean control panel

Editors manage content through Craft’s control panel, which is set up around the fields each content type needs. Live Preview shows how a page will look while it is still being edited, and drafts and revisions are built in, so changes can be prepared before they go live and earlier versions can be restored. The control panel is available in 25 languages.

Developers have full control of the front end

Craft has no theming layer. Developers build templates using Twig, a templating language, so the design is created specifically for your site. Craft can also run headless, with its built-in GraphQL API delivering content to a separate front end, an app or other channels. Extra features can be added through the official Plugin Store, such as SEOmatic for metadata, sitemaps and structured data.

What is Craft CMS used for?

Craft is used for a wide range of websites, but it is most often chosen when a site needs more structure or flexibility than a template can offer. Common uses include:

• Marketing and brand websites: Bespoke sites where design, content structure and editing experience all matter.
• Multi-site and multilingual projects: Craft includes multi-site and localisation in its core, so several sites or languages can run from one installation.
• Content-heavy sites: Publishers, museums, charities and education providers with large amounts of related content.
• Headless builds: Projects where Craft manages content and a separate front end or app displays it.
• Ecommerce: Online stores built with Craft Commerce, managed alongside the rest of the site’s content.

Sites featured in Craft’s own showcase include A24 Films, the Bezos Earth Fund, Central Park Conservancy, Bob’s Red Mill and the Mingei International Museum.

How much does Craft CMS cost?

Craft’s licence pricing is published on its website, in US dollars:

• Solo: Free for a single user account, with no time limit, on live or private sites.
• Team: $279 (about £205) per project, for up to five users.
• Pro: $399 (about £295) per project, with unlimited users and custom roles and permissions.
• Enterprise: Priced on request, for projects with specific licensing requirements.

Team and Pro include one year of updates and developer support. After that, updates cost $99 (about £75) a year for either edition. If you choose not to renew, your site keeps running at its current version, but you stop receiving updates until you renew. Paid editions can be trialled on private domains during development before you buy.

If you sell online, Craft Commerce Pro costs $1,199 (about £890) per project on top of the Craft licence, with renewals at $299 (about £220) a year. Craft also runs its own hosting platform, Craft Cloud, with plans starting at $120 (about £90) a month per project when paid annually and the Craft licence included in the plan.

The licence is usually a small part of the overall budget. Because Craft sites are built bespoke, the main cost is the design and development work, followed by hosting and ongoing support.

Is Craft CMS right for small businesses?

It can be, but it depends on what you need from your website. Craft’s free Solo edition and five-user Team edition mean the licence itself need not be a barrier for a small business. The bigger question is whether a bespoke build makes sense for your budget and plans.

Craft is likely to suit a small business that:

• Has content that doesn’t fit a template: For example, products, services, locations or case studies that need to link together.
• Plans to grow: A well-planned content model can expand with new sections, sites or languages without a rebuild.
• Wants a distinctive design: Every Craft site is designed from scratch rather than adapted from a theme.
• Has a small team publishing regularly: The Team edition covers up to five users with a straightforward editing experience.

If you need a simple site live quickly on a tight budget, or you want to build and manage the site yourself, a template-based platform such as WordPress, Wix or Squarespace is likely to be the more practical choice. Craft sites are built by developers, so you will normally need a developer or agency involved from the start.

What a Craft rebuild involves

If you are planning to rebuild your website on Craft, most projects follow a similar path.

• Discovery and content audit: Review what content you have, what is working and what your new site needs to do.
• Content modelling: Plan the sections, entry types and fields before design starts, as this shapes everything else.
• Design and build: Design the site around your brand and build custom Twig templates or a headless front end.
• Content migration: Move pages, media and data from your current site, with redirects from old URLs to protect search rankings.
• Training and launch: Give editors time to learn the control panel before the site goes live.
• Hosting and support: Agree how updates, security and future improvements will be handled after launch.

It is also worth knowing where Craft is heading. Craft 5 is the current version and is supported until the end of 2030, so building on it today gives a long runway. Craft 6 is in development and is listed in Craft’s documentation as unreleased. One Craft partner, webdna, reported in October 2025 that a public release was expected around March 2027, alongside a move from the Yii framework to Laravel. If you are starting a rebuild now, ask any agency how it plans to handle a future upgrade.

When to bring in a Craft CMS agency

Because Craft has no themes, Craft websites are normally built by a developer or agency. Bringing in a specialist early helps most when you are moving from another platform, running several sites or languages, selling online, or connecting your site to other systems such as a CRM.

Craft’s official Partner Network lists 244 partners worldwide, and you can filter it by region and by verification badges: Craft Verified, Commerce Verified and Enterprise Verified. In the UK, COMMON is a York-based Craft CMS agency listed as a Craft Verified Partner, which focuses on teams moving on from WordPress. Brands weighing up a switch can book a 45-minute CMS review with a senior strategist and a senior developer from its team, and COMMON follows up in writing with its view on whether Craft is a good fit.

Whichever agency you speak to, ask to see Craft sites similar to yours, how they plan content models, how they handle migrations and what support looks like after launch.

Frequently asked questions

Who owns Craft CMS?

Craft CMS is made by Pixel & Tonic, which also makes Craft Commerce and runs the Craft Cloud hosting platform.

Is Craft CMS open source?

Craft’s source code is publicly available on GitHub, and the Solo edition is free to use indefinitely. However, Craft is a commercial product with paid Team, Pro and Enterprise editions, so it is not free in the same way as some community-run open-source platforms.

What language is Craft CMS written in?

Craft is a PHP application built on the Yii 2 framework. Front-end templates are written in Twig, and it runs on MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL databases. Craft 5 requires PHP 8.2 or later.

Is Craft CMS free?

The Solo edition is free for a single user account. Team costs $279 (about £205) and Pro costs $399 (about £295) per project, with optional renewals for updates after the first year. Design, development and hosting are separate costs.

Is Craft CMS a headless CMS?

Yes, if you want it to be. Its built-in GraphQL API can send content to a separate front end or app, but Craft can equally render its own pages, and some sites combine the two approaches.

Is Craft CMS good for small businesses?

It can be a good fit for small businesses with structured content, growth plans or a need for a distinctive design. For a simple site built quickly on a tight budget, a template-based platform is usually more practical.

Is Craft CMS like WordPress?

Both are content management systems, but they take different approaches. WordPress is built around posts, pages and themes, with plugins adding extra features. Craft starts with a custom content model and bespoke templates, with features such as multi-site, localisation and a GraphQL API built into its core.

Final thoughts

Craft CMS is a flexible platform for brands that want a website built around their content rather than a template. It offers structured content, a clean editing experience, published pricing and a long support window for its current version. It is not the cheapest or quickest route to a website, but for UK brands planning a rebuild that needs to last, it is well worth considering.

 

This guide is an editorial overview based on Craft CMS’s own website, documentation and published pricing, along with publicly available information from Craft partners, rather than hands-on testing. Prices are shown in US dollars as listed by Craft, with approximate sterling conversions based on the exchange rate at the time of writing, and features, pricing and release dates can change. Check the latest details with Craft and with any agency you speak to before planning your rebuild.