Concrete CMS vs Craft CMS vs Statamic

Craft CMS and Statamic are close cousins in spirit: both are source-available, developer-first PHP content platforms sold as per-site licenses with a…

Concrete CMS

Freemium (free open-source core, paid managed hosting) · From Free (self-hosted); managed hosting from $4.99/month

Best for: Organizations that want a genuinely free CMS for unlimited editors, with permissions and version history included out of the box rather than gated behind a paid tier.

Craft CMS

Freemium / One-time license + subscription (Craft Cloud) · From Free (Solo); Team from $279, Pro from $399

Best for: Agencies wanting the most customizable content modeling and the largest plugin ecosystem for bespoke, PHP-driven builds.

Statamic

freemium (free Core tier, paid Pro licenses) · From Free (Core); Pro from $349 per site first year, $99/year renewal

Best for: Laravel-fluent teams wanting Git-friendly, flat-file content with the option to move to a database-driven mode as a project scales.

At a Glance

 Concrete CMSCraft CMSStatamic
Primary categoryCMSCMSCMS
RatingNot documentedNot documentedNot documented
Pricing modelFreemium (free open-source core, paid managed hosting)Freemium / One-time license + subscription (Craft Cloud)freemium (free Core tier, paid Pro licenses)
Starting priceFree (self-hosted); managed hosting from $4.99/monthFree (Solo); Team from $279, Pro from $399Free (Core); Pro from $349 per site first year, $99/year renewal
Free planYesYesYes
Free trialNot documentedNot documentedNot documented
PlatformsWebWebWeb
Team collaborationNot documentedNot documentedNot documented
AI featuresNot documentedNot documentedNot documented
Public APIYesYesYes

Standout Differences

Concrete CMS is the only one that's free for unlimited users in production

Both Craft CMS and Statamic cap their free tiers at a single admin account (Solo and Core, respectively), while Concrete CMS's open-source core has no user limit at all.

Concrete CMS, Craft CMS, Statamic

Statamic and Craft CMS both use per-site licensing with annual renewals

Craft's Team and Pro tiers cost 279 to 399 dollars for the first year with 99 dollar annual renewals, and Statamic's Pro tier follows the same pattern at 349 dollars first year with a 99 dollar renewal, making them a similar buying decision for teams comparing the two.

Craft CMS, Statamic

Statamic leans harder into flat-file, Git-based workflows

Statamic is explicitly built flat-file-first, storing content as Markdown and YAML that live alongside code and track in Git, while still offering an optional database driver, giving it more Git-native flexibility than Craft's database-only model.

Statamic

Concrete CMS bakes in permissions and page history the others treat as paid add-ons

Fine-grained role-based permissions and wiki-style version history ship in Concrete CMS's free core, whereas Statamic reserves unlimited users, roles, and content history for its paid Pro tier and Craft reserves multi-user access for Team and Pro.

Concrete CMS

Feature-by-Feature

Licensing and Free Tier

FeatureConcrete CMSCraft CMSStatamic
Free tier includes more than one userAvailableLimitedLimited
Per-site commercial license required for a multi-user production siteUnavailableAvailableAvailable

Content Storage and Modeling

FeatureConcrete CMSCraft CMSStatamic
Flat-file, Git-trackable content optionUnavailableUnavailableAvailable
Custom field and content-type modeling per projectLimitedAvailableAvailable

Headless and API Access

FeatureConcrete CMSCraft CMSStatamic
Headless REST or GraphQL APILimitedAvailableAvailable

Editorial and Permissions

FeatureConcrete CMSCraft CMSStatamic
In-context or live content previewAvailableAvailableAvailable
Role-based permissions for multiple editorsAvailableAvailableLimited
Multisite or multilingual supportAvailableAvailableLimited

Pricing Compared

Starting price reflects the lowest paid tier, not the full cost for every team size or usage level.

Concrete CMS

Open Source (Self-Hosted) — Free N/A
Starter Hosting — $4.99/month Monthly
Business Hosting — $19/month Monthly

Craft CMS

Solo — Free N/A
Team — $279 (first year), $99/year renewal annual
Pro — $399 (first year), $99/year renewal annual
Enterprise — Custom custom

Statamic

Core — Free N/A
Pro — $349 per site (first year), $99/year renewal annual
Enterprise — Custom custom

Pros & Cons

Concrete CMS

Pros

  • Free and open source under the permissive MIT license
  • Strong built-in permissions and page version history without extra plugins
  • In-context editing is approachable for non-technical content editors
  • Active marketplace and optional managed hosting for teams that want it

Cons

  • Smaller plugin, theme, and developer ecosystem than WordPress
  • Managed hosting adds recurring cost beyond the free open-source core
  • Sites still on the legacy 5.x (concrete5) branch require migration to stay supported
  • Fewer third-party integrations available compared to larger CMS platforms

Craft CMS

Pros

  • Highly flexible content modeling suited to custom, design-driven websites
  • Free Solo edition available for personal projects and evaluation
  • Source-available codebase allows full inspection and extension
  • Team and Pro licenses become free when hosted on Craft Cloud
  • Strong plugin ecosystem and GraphQL API for headless use cases

Cons

  • Not free for production use beyond the single-user Solo edition
  • Requires PHP development expertise, unlike no-code website builders
  • License renewal fees apply annually for continued updates
  • Smaller plugin and developer ecosystem than more widely used CMS platforms like WordPress

Statamic

Pros

  • Free Core tier with no cost for single-admin, single-site use
  • Flat-file storage enables true Git-based content version control
  • Built on Laravel, appealing to PHP and Laravel developers
  • Polished, modern control panel that non-technical editors can use comfortably
  • Flexible headless API options for decoupled front-end architectures

Cons

  • Pro tier requires a per-site license fee, which can add up for agencies managing many sites
  • Smaller plugin and theme ecosystem compared to WordPress
  • Requires PHP and Laravel familiarity to extend or customize deeply
  • Flat-file storage can become harder to manage at very large content scale

Use Cases

Choose Concrete CMS: Organizations that want a genuinely free CMS for unlimited editors, with permissions and version history included out of the box rather than gated behind a paid tier.
Choose Craft CMS: Agencies wanting the most customizable content modeling and the largest plugin ecosystem for bespoke, PHP-driven builds.
Choose Statamic: Laravel-fluent teams wanting Git-friendly, flat-file content with the option to move to a database-driven mode as a project scales.

Concrete CMS

  • Government and Institutional Websites — Organizations needing granular, role-based editorial permissions use Concrete CMS's built-in access controls.
  • Small Business and Agency Sites — In-context editing lets non-technical staff update site content without training on a separate admin panel.

Craft CMS

  • Custom agency websites — Digital agencies building bespoke, design-driven websites for clients with unique content structures.
  • Headless content delivery — Organizations using Craft's GraphQL API to power decoupled front ends built with frameworks like Next.js.

Statamic

  • Agency client websites — Web agencies use Statamic's white-label Pro tier and Git-based workflows to build and maintain marketing sites for multiple clients.
  • Developer-controlled content sites — Laravel developers use Statamic's flat-file storage to keep content under version control alongside application code.
  • Headless content delivery — Teams building decoupled front ends use Statamic Pro's REST and GraphQL APIs to serve content to custom applications.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which of Concrete CMS, Craft CMS, and Statamic is completely free for a team of editors?

Concrete CMS is the only one of the three with no cap on users in its free, open-source core. Craft CMS's free Solo edition and Statamic's free Core tier are both limited to a single admin account, so a multi-editor production site on either requires a paid license.

What is the main difference between Craft CMS and Statamic?

Both are source-available, developer-focused PHP platforms with similar per-site licensing (a free single-user tier, then paid Team/Pro or Core/Pro tiers with annual renewals), but Statamic is flat-file-first, storing content as Git-trackable Markdown and YAML files, while Craft CMS is database-driven with a more established plugin marketplace and GraphQL API.

Do any of these three support Git-based content workflows?

Statamic is purpose-built for this, with flat-file Markdown and YAML content that can be committed and tracked in Git. Concrete CMS and Craft CMS are both database-backed and do not offer a comparable flat-file, Git-native content model.

Which is best for a nonprofit or institution with many content editors and no development budget for licenses?

Concrete CMS, since its permissions system, page version history, and multi-user access are all included in the free, open-source core with no per-seat or per-site license fee.

Can I use Craft CMS or Statamic without hosting through the vendor's own cloud service?

Yes, both can be self-hosted anywhere that runs PHP. Craft's Team and Pro license fees are waived only if the site is hosted on Craft Cloud; self-hosting elsewhere still requires paying the standard license fee.

Do all three support headless, API-driven content delivery?

Craft CMS and Statamic both offer GraphQL and REST APIs on their paid tiers for decoupled front ends. Concrete CMS provides a documented developer API through its MVC architecture but is not positioned as a headless-first platform in the same way.

Read the full Concrete CMS review · Read the full Craft CMS review · Read the full Statamic review