Modx
Web content management software
PHP web frameworks
Web frameworks
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$36 per month
Free Trial unavailable
Free version
Small
Medium
Large
- Construction
- Professional services (engineering, legal, consulting, etc.)
- Real estate and property management
What is Modx
MODX is an open-source web content management system (CMS) built on PHP for creating and managing websites and web applications. It is typically used by developers and digital agencies that want flexible templating and fine-grained control over content structure and presentation. MODX supports custom content types, role-based permissions, and an extension ecosystem for adding features. It is commonly deployed as a self-hosted platform and maintained through community and vendor-supported options.
Developer-controlled templating
MODX uses a template and snippet approach that lets developers control markup and rendering without being constrained by a fixed theme system. This can reduce the need to work around opinionated page builders when implementing custom front-end frameworks. It supports reusable chunks and snippets for consistent site components. This model fits teams that prefer code-centric implementation and structured content.
Flexible content modeling
The platform supports custom resource types and structured fields through add-ons, enabling content models beyond basic pages and posts. This helps teams represent complex site structures such as product catalogs, multi-site hierarchies, or localized content. Permissions and contexts can be used to separate content areas and publishing workflows. The approach suits organizations that need more control than a basic blog-oriented CMS.
Self-hosted deployment control
MODX is commonly deployed on customer-managed infrastructure, allowing control over hosting, data residency, and security tooling. Teams can integrate it with existing PHP stacks, CI/CD pipelines, and monitoring practices. This can be advantageous for organizations with strict infrastructure requirements. It also avoids mandatory reliance on a single managed hosting provider.
Smaller ecosystem and mindshare
Compared with the most widely adopted CMS platforms, MODX has a smaller plugin/theme marketplace and a smaller pool of experienced developers. This can increase implementation effort for common features that are readily available elsewhere. Community support and third-party integrations may be less extensive. Organizations may need to budget more for custom development.
Admin UX can feel dated
Some users find the manager interface less modern than newer content platforms, especially for non-technical editors. Editorial experiences such as visual page composition often require additional configuration or third-party components. Training and governance may be needed to keep authoring consistent. This can be a drawback for teams prioritizing out-of-the-box editorial tooling.
Requires ongoing technical maintenance
As a self-hosted PHP application, MODX requires patching, upgrades, backups, and server hardening managed by the customer or an implementation partner. Major version upgrades and dependency changes can require planning and testing. Performance and scalability depend on hosting architecture and caching configuration. This operational overhead may not fit teams seeking a fully managed service.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Base | $36/mo (billed annually — shown as monthly equivalent) | 10 GB Server Disk, 15 GB Vault Storage, for small businesses; Extra Sites $5/mo; Backstage add-on $18/mo per site (annually). |
| Pro | $91/mo (billed annually — shown as monthly equivalent) | 30 GB Server Disk, 75 GB Vault Storage, for marketing teams/agencies; monthly billing available (Pro shown as $99/mo on signup). |
| Business | $320/mo (billed annually — shown as monthly equivalent) | 100 GB Server Disk, 300 GB Vault Storage, priority support for larger organizations; Extra Sites $9/mo. |
| Free (Self-hosted) | Free | MODX Revolution open-source CMS available for download — self-hosted; requires managing your own servers. |
| Enterprise | Custom pricing (starts at $4,000/mo billed annually with 3-year commitment) | Custom SLAs, PO invoicing, on-premise support; contact sales. |
Additional add-ons & example costs (from official MODX site):
- Extra Sites: $5/mo (Base/Pro), $9/mo (Business).
- Cloud Edge CDN/WAF: from $14/mo per site (Cloud Edge).
- Backstage selective staging: $18–$28/mo per site (paid annually).
- Failover: $32–$78/mo per site (paid annually).
- Server Disk add-on: $5/mo for 5 GB (support docs); standard $1/GB/month; $0.50/GB/month for usage over 250 GB.
- Vault storage add-on: $5/mo for 10 GB; examples up to multi-TB with volume pricing.
Seller details
MODX, LLC
Dallas, Texas, United States
2004
Private
https://modx.com/
https://x.com/modx
https://www.linkedin.com/company/modx/
