CrafterCMS
Digital experience platforms (DXP)
Headless CMS software
Web content management software
OTT platforms
Video software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$380 per month
Free TrialFree version
Small
Medium
Large
- Healthcare and life sciences
- Banking and insurance
- Information technology and software
What is CrafterCMS
CrafterCMS is a content management system designed for building and managing digital experiences using a headless and API-driven architecture. It supports authoring workflows, content modeling, and delivery to multiple channels such as websites and applications. The product is commonly used by development teams and digital teams that need Git-based content operations and integration with modern front-end frameworks. It is available as an open-source core with enterprise options and managed services.
Git-based content workflow
CrafterCMS uses Git as a foundational mechanism for content versioning and collaboration, which aligns well with developer-centric workflows. This can simplify branching, reviews, and rollbacks compared with systems that rely primarily on database-only versioning. It also supports CI/CD-style promotion patterns between environments. For teams already using Git tooling, this can reduce operational friction.
Headless APIs and delivery
The platform supports headless delivery patterns, enabling content reuse across web, mobile, and other digital touchpoints. This architecture fits organizations that want to decouple authoring from presentation and use modern front-end stacks. It also supports integration with external services (e.g., search, identity, analytics) through APIs and extensions. This makes it suitable for composable implementations where the CMS is one component in a broader stack.
Open-source core option
CrafterCMS provides an open-source edition, which can be evaluated and adopted without an upfront license purchase. This can help teams validate fit, prototype implementations, and inspect core behavior before committing to enterprise support. It also provides flexibility for organizations with internal engineering capacity to operate and extend the platform. Enterprise offerings can add support and operational assurances beyond the community edition.
Implementation requires engineering
CrafterCMS is typically implemented with a developer-led approach, especially for front-end delivery and integrations. Organizations seeking a primarily no-code/low-code site-building experience may find it less turnkey than some managed web experience platforms. Building templates, components, and deployment pipelines often requires engineering time. This can increase total implementation effort for smaller teams.
DXP features not all-in-one
While it supports digital experience delivery, broader DXP capabilities (such as advanced personalization, experimentation, and customer data unification) often require integration with third-party tools. Teams may need to assemble and maintain multiple products to match end-to-end suites. This increases integration and governance work across the stack. Buyers should validate which experience features are native versus partner/integration-based.
OTT/video not primary focus
Although it can support content for video-centric experiences, CrafterCMS is not primarily an OTT platform or video management system. Video ingestion, encoding, DRM, and streaming workflows typically depend on specialized video infrastructure outside the CMS. Organizations building full OTT services may need additional platforms for media pipeline and playback. The CMS is better positioned as a content layer rather than a complete video platform.
Plan & Pricing
Per-project (official CrafterCMS compare page):
| Plan (Per-project) | Crafter Enterprise - Self Managed (Monthly) | Crafter Cloud - Fully Managed SaaS (Monthly) | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $380 | $880 | 1 CMS project; 1 admin user; 1 CMS user; 1K content items; 0 lower env; 1 region; unlimited developer licenses, sites/apps, traffic, API calls. |
| Growth | $983 | $1,983 | 1 CMS project; 1 admin user; 3 CMS users; 5K content items; 1 lower env; 1 region; unlimited developer licenses, sites/apps, traffic, API calls. |
| Premier | $2,233 | $5,417 | 1 CMS project; 1 admin user; 10 CMS users; 10K content items; 2 lower envs; 3 regions; unlimited developer licenses, sites/apps, traffic, API calls. |
| Custom / Contact Sales | Contact | Contact | Custom packages available; contact sales for enterprise pricing. |
Open Source (official pricing page):
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Crafter Community (Open Source) | $0 USD | All platform features; unlimited sites/apps, CMS projects, CMS users, content items, API calls; online docs; community Slack support; GPL v3 license. |
Usage-based / other official models (from CrafterCMS pricing page):
Pricing model: Usage-based / custom (officially listed as "Pay Per Use" and "Pay Per Compute") — pricing provided by sales. Free tier/trial: See below (trial available). Details:
- Pay Per Use: Pricing based on number of CMS projects, CMS users (authors/editors), and content items. Includes all platform features plus enterprise entitlements (clustering, SSO, white-labeling, developer support, SLAs, private Slack, training discounts, commercial license, certified releases, priority security patches).
- Pay Per Compute: Pricing based on number of CPU cores running CrafterCMS authoring and delivery systems (no other limits). Includes same enterprise entitlements as Pay Per Use. Note: Official site lists these models as custom/quote-based; no per-unit public rates shown on the vendor site beyond the per-project monthly prices shown above.
Free trial / Trial terms (official):
- CrafterCMS provides a time-limited Trial for Crafter Cloud / Enterprise. Crafter's Trial Terms of Service state: the Trial term is fourteen (14) days (may be extended by Crafter in writing). Trial registration/launch available via the vendor's /try and trial subdomain.
Seller details
Crafter Software Corporation
Private
https://craftercms.org/
https://x.com/craftercms
https://www.linkedin.com/company/craftercms/
