CraftCMS

A PHP CMS with a clean-slate content model, Twig templates, a GraphQL API and a plugin store, for building custom websites.

3.6k stars, 713 forks PHP On GitHub since January 2017

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

CraftCMS at a glance

Open sourceUnclear licenseRead the license before commercial use
Health82 of 100Actively developed
Self-hostingDockerSteps in the README
Interface32 languagesIncluding English, German and French
Issue repliesWithin ~8 hoursMedian first reply; 100% of recent issues answered

What is CraftCMS?

Craft CMS makes no assumptions about your content: you model sections, fields and entries yourself, then render them with Twig templates or consume them headless through an auto-generated GraphQL API. A control panel serves editors, and the built-in Plugin Store offers hundreds of free and commercial plugins, including an ecommerce platform. It is a self-hosted PHP application that stores content in MySQL or PostgreSQL and installs with Composer. The control panel speaks 32 languages.

Good fit if

  • Your agency builds bespoke sites and wants full control of content structure and markup.
  • You want classic templates and a GraphQL API from the same system.

Look elsewhere if

Before you adopt it

The repository data did not match Craft's license to a known one, so read its license file and treat it as not open source by the OSI definition; some plugins in the store are commercial. One developer writes most of the code, supported by about ten others. A Docker setup is available, or you run it on standard PHP hosting.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 31 October 2026. Report a correction

How to run CraftCMS yourself

Docker
Dockerfile or compose file in the repository
Compose file
None in the repository
Setup effort
Not rated: no compose file to judge from
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
No app builds in GitHub releases
Interface languages
32 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish
Show all 32

Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Welsh

Install instructions: craftcms.com or the README on GitHub.

CraftCMS health: is it still maintained?

82 of 100, actively developed

Release rhythmAlmost dailyLatest: 5.12.0.1, 3 November 2026
Issue repliesWithin ~8 hoursMedian first reply; 100% of recent issues answered
Bus factorMedium riskThe most active of 4 authors wrote 68% of recent commits
  • Activity
    996 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 5 November 2026.
    30 / 30
  • Contributors
    4 people wrote the latest 100 commits; the most active wrote 68% of them.
    9 / 20
  • Releases
    11+ releases in the last 12 months; the latest, 5.12.0.1, on 3 November 2026.
    18 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 100% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 8 hours.
    20 / 20
  • Security practices
    OpenSSF Scorecard 5.4 of 10.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 5 November 2026. How the score works

CraftCMS security practices

OpenSSF Scorecard checks how a project is developed and released: reviews, protected branches, pinned dependencies, signed releases. It does not audit the code itself.

OpenSSF Scorecard5.4 of 10How the project is built and released
Security policyYesExplains how to report a vulnerability

What each check found

  • Binary files10 / 10No compiled binaries checked into the repository
  • Maintained10 / 10Steady commits and issue activity in the last 90 days
  • Security policy10 / 10Explains how to report a vulnerability
  • License file9 / 10A license file is present, but not where tools look for it
  • Branch protection3 / 10Rules on the main branch are partly enforced
  • Best-practices badge0 / 10No OpenSSF Best Practices badge
  • Code review0 / 10Changes are merged without review
  • Fuzzing0 / 10No fuzz testing found

From the OpenSSF Scorecard of 2 November 2026. Checks that do not apply to CraftCMS are left out.

CraftCMS license: is it open source?

We could not identify the license of CraftCMS. Check the repository before you build on it.

  1. January 2017First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayUnidentified license.

CraftCMS for developers

Written in

  • PHP 79%
  • JavaScript 13%
  • Twig 4%
  • SCSS 2%
  • Vue 2%
  • Other <1%

Getting involved

Contributing guideYesCONTRIBUTING.mdOpen issues488On GitHub
Authors, 90 days4Of the latest 100 commits

Language shares are GitHub’s count of the code in the repository.

Alternatives to CraftCMS

  • JoomlaHome of the Joomla! Content Management System 86 health · GPL-2.0 · 5.2k stars
  • octoberSelf-hosted CMS platform based on the Laravel PHP Framework. 75 health · Unidentified license · 11.2k stars
  • UmbracoUmbraco is a free and open source .NET content management system helping you deliver delightful digital… 92 health · MIT · 5.3k stars
  • WagtailA Django content management system focused on flexibility and user experience 88 health · BSD-3-Clause · 20.6k stars
  • ApostropheA full-featured, open-source content management framework built with Node.js that empowers organizations by… 70 health · Unidentified license · 4.7k stars

All 8 projects in Websites & CMS

Questions about CraftCMS

Is CraftCMS open source?

We could not identify its license, so treat it as not open source until you have checked the repository.

Is CraftCMS still maintained?

Its health score is 82 of 100 (actively developed). It had 996 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 5 November 2026, and its latest release came out on 3 November 2026.

How do I run CraftCMS?

You can run it with Docker. The README on GitHub has the exact steps.

What is CraftCMS written in?

CraftCMS is written mainly in PHP (79% of the code), with JavaScript (13%), by GitHub’s count of the repository.

What languages is CraftCMS available in?

The repository has interface translations for 32 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish and Russian.

What are the alternatives to CraftCMS?

Close alternatives in the Websites & CMS category include Joomla, october, Umbraco.