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Concrete CMS

Concrete CMS
Formerly Concrete5

Overview

What is Concrete CMS?

Concrete CMS (formerly Concrete5) is a free and open source, PHP built content management system for content on the web and also for intranets. It is optimized to support the creation of online magazines and newspapers.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Smooth User Interface: Many users have praised the smooth user interface of the product, stating that it is intuitive and easy to …
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Best CMS

10 out of 10
March 06, 2021
Incentivized
Concrete5 gets used from standard websites to big portals with a lot of individual funcionallities. It also gets used as a framework.
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 16 features
  • Admin section (40)
    10.0
    100%
  • Page templates (40)
    10.0
    100%
  • Mobile optimization / responsive design (39)
    9.7
    97%
  • WYSIWYG editor (42)
    9.2
    92%
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Pricing

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N/A
Unavailable

What is Concrete CMS?

Concrete CMS (formerly Concrete5) is a free and open source, PHP built content management system for content on the web and also for intranets. It is optimized to support the creation of online magazines and newspapers.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Product Demos

Concrete CMS DevOps Hosting

YouTube
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Features

Security

This component helps a company minimize the security risks by controlling access to the software and its data, and encouraging best practices among users.

9.5
Avg 8.0

Platform & Infrastructure

Features related to platform-wide settings and structure, such as permissions, languages, integrations, customizations, etc.

9.7
Avg 7.7

Web Content Creation

Features that support the creation of website content.

8.4
Avg 7.6

Web Content Management

Features for managing website content

7
Avg 7.3
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Product Details

What is Concrete CMS?

Concrete CMS (formerly concrete5) is an Open Source Content Management System for teams. The vendor states users can run a secure website that content contributors will love using with Concrete CMS. Concrete is a platform that grows with the user's needs.

The user experience is built around in-context editing and is designed to be as easy to use as a word processor so that users spend less time training people, and less time having to fix things.

As an open source framework the user can build complex applications as features like permissions, workflow, file management, calendar, forms, SEO and so much more are built right in. A marketplace of add-ons & themes and an active community can help quickly deliver solutions using Concrete CMS.

The vendor boasts fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, individuals and the U.S. Army as users of Concrete CMS to power critical parts of their web presence.

Concrete CMS Features

Web Content Creation Features

  • Supported: WYSIWYG editor
  • Supported: Code quality / cleanliness
  • Supported: Content versioning
  • Supported: Admin section
  • Supported: Page templates
  • Supported: Library of website themes
  • Supported: Mobile optimization / responsive design
  • Supported: Publishing workflow
  • Supported: Form generator
  • Supported: Content scheduling

Web Content Management Features

  • Supported: Internal content search
  • Supported: Content taxonomy
  • Supported: SEO support
  • Supported: Browser compatibility
  • Supported: Bulk management
  • Supported: Page caching
  • Supported: Availability / breadth of extensions
  • Supported: E-commerce / shopping cart extension
  • Supported: Community / comment management
  • Supported: Import / export

Platform & Infrastructure Features

  • Supported: API
  • Supported: Internationalization / multi-language

Security Features

  • Supported: Role-based user permissions
  • Supported: Multi-factor authentication
  • Supported: User-level audit trail
  • Supported: Version history
  • Supported: Simple roll-back capabilities

CMS programming language or framework Features

  • Supported: PHP

Concrete CMS Screenshots

Screenshot of In-context editing is simple to understandScreenshot of Change text just like a word processorScreenshot of Versioning and workflow built on top of powerful permissionsScreenshot of Flexible backend to power complex communities and intranets.

Concrete CMS Videos

What problems does Concrete CMS solve?
Testimonial from a customer

Concrete CMS Competitors

Concrete CMS Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported Countriesanywhere
Supported Languagesarabic, bangla, bosnian, chinese, czech, danish, dutch, english, estonian, finnish, french, german, greek, hebrew, hungarian, icelandic, indonesian, italian, japanese, korean, lithuanian, malay, persian, polish, portuguese, romanian, russian, slovak, spanish, swedish, thai, turkish, vietnamese, welsh

Frequently Asked Questions

Concrete CMS (formerly Concrete5) is a free and open source, PHP built content management system for content on the web and also for intranets. It is optimized to support the creation of online magazines and newspapers.

WordPress and Drupal are common alternatives for Concrete CMS.

Reviewers rate Code quality / cleanliness and Admin section and Page templates highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Concrete CMS are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(85)

Community Insights

TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!

Smooth User Interface: Many users have praised the smooth user interface of the product, stating that it is intuitive and easy to navigate. Several reviewers have mentioned that they appreciate the clean design and well-organized layout, which enhances their overall experience.

Reliable Performance: Numerous customers have commended the reliable performance of the product. Several reviewers have stated that it consistently meets their expectations and performs tasks efficiently without any glitches or slowdowns. Users have expressed satisfaction with its stability and responsiveness.

Versatile Features: A significant number of users have highlighted the versatility of features offered by the product. Some reviewers have mentioned that it provides a wide range of functionalities, allowing them to accomplish various tasks effectively. The availability of customizable options has also been appreciated by several customers, as it caters to individual preferences and requirements.

Confusing User Interface: Many users have expressed frustration with the confusing and difficult-to-navigate user interface of Concrete5. They find it challenging to complete tasks efficiently due to the lack of intuitive design and organization.

Slow Rendering of Admin Pages: Some users have reported experiencing slow rendering of admin pages, particularly when using older computers. This sluggish performance hampers their productivity and can be frustrating during day-to-day usage.

Limited Customization Options: Users have voiced their concerns about the limited customization options in Concrete5. They feel that these options are buried within the software, making it harder for them to personalize their websites according to their specific preferences and requirements.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 59)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Jalen Séguin | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use it for our public-facing website, and we use it to deliver a range of website solutions for our clients. I offer it to my clients because I know I can create easily maintainable and extensible sites for them and be confident that they can become quite self-sufficient in a short amount of time.
David Reeder | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
We use Concrete CMS for our website and for our clients. We host 120+ websites that we have developed over the past 7 years. Projects range from simple brochure sites to eCommerce, through to highly bespoke sites, where we have created lots of new functionality.
Olivier Soille | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I'm using Concrete CMS for almost all kinds of web-based software I build. It's a real swiss knife. I've made a website, e-commerce, ERP, and many management tools with it. it's a very nice project base. I always have the facility to teach how to use it to the project's users, it's very intuitive.
Katz Ueno | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I've been using Concrete CMS [for] over 12 years. I've switched it from Joomla. I've cheated on WordPress a bit. But I always came back to Concrete CMS. I loved it so much that I even helped Japanese translation [and] helped implement it for other companies in Japan 12 years ago. It's very secure compared to other CMS. In the last 12 years, they barely had any severe, critical vulnerability. They made a very wise decision to switch it to Symfony-based, so it was built much more secure than WordPress. When you use WordPress, you must be careful not to create vulnerabilities. In the case of Concrete CMS, as long as you use its APIs, you worry much less about security. In addition, Concrete CMS has many default features and you won't need many "basic" add-ons that you would usually have to install when you are using WordPress. I highly recommended it. I'm very happy to help many Japanese small to big companies to expand their digital presence.
October 25, 2021

ConcreteCMS: the Best!

Peter Quintus | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use ConcreteCMS as the choice for our customers. We built and maintain websites, and have been happily doing this with ConcreteCMS (fka Concrete5) since 2009. Our customers soon realize that WordPress is not the way to go once they have seen the possibilities we create for them with ConcreteCMS.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use this on a variety of website projects, both internally originated and for clients. It's easy to launch a new site through our hosting platform and keep it up to date, and the compact marketplace for add-ons and themes weeds out so much of the noise you would find on bigger marketplaces.
Wayne Stewart | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I currently build websites for my freelance clients using Concrete5 CMS. Concrete5 allows my clients to edit website content directly on the webpage. This enables my clients to quickly and easily update their website with little to no programming knowledge. Since is a PHP based CMS system, it also very easy to install on a clients web server.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
An awesome tool for a better and inclusive web. I build a lot of websites for different industries like medicine, construction, food, automation, real estate, etc. The principal benefit is the time I save building with concrete5. I discovered it in late 2013 and started building in 2014, making more than 100 websites with this tool.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Concrete5 is used to allow the company's developers to easily create a flexible website that allows its clients to update their content with minimal fuss, and allows the developers to quickly implement new features or changes as when requested by the client. The level of control a client has over their site can be fully tailored to suit the their needs and technical skills.
Chris Kerry | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Concrete5 internally to track and control internal processes. It was very quick to set up and use. We are able to host it on our own Apache server, and setup was similar to other CMS software like Drupal or WordPress--set up database, install code, provision users and permissions. Then we set up some pages for writing out procedures and then we ran it through Concrete5's publish workflow.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
We deliver content managed websites built on Concrete5 to our clients. Our business is now completely focused on designing, building and supporting concrete5 websites. Concrete5 allows us to deliver sites that are easy to use and to build and configure flexible bespoke solutions for most needs.
Ngo Thien | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I used Concrete5 CMS as a solution for my landing page team to show our prices and achievements. It's really helpful and easy to use.
As a web development company, we've seen the move from static HTML web pages to more CMS style pages. This has been for both our clients, who have requested the ability to maintain, update and add their own content, as well as ourselves to be able to better manage development and deployment. Almost all of our projects over the past two years have been done using Concrete5.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As a developer, I use Concrete5 to build custom solutions as well as off-the-shelf products for sale in the community marketplace. Concrete5 provides a reliable, safe, scalable base to create powerful websites and web applications. Being open source, the price is right and it is also supported by a committed community of developers, site editors, and users.

I've been using this CMS since 2009, and over a decade later, I'd still choose it again in a heartbeat. The team behind Concrete5 is always pushing the platform further, and taking bold, brave steps to make it a world-class system. As a developer, it's a breeze working with Concrete5. The elegant architecture makes it easy to create complex add-ons and functionality that is clean, fast, and future-proof.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use C5 as a go-to solution for medium to large web applications, smaller webshops, and as a management system for users and access-control to standalone applications. We mainly use it for its intended purpose as customizable CMS for websites.
Janne Wolterbeek | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I am a freelance designer and developer and use Concrete5 for client projects. It helps setup website with CMS that are not bloated and based on well-written PHP code.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Concrete5 is great for everything from simple websites to custom, complex, applications. The peer-reviewed marketplace offers out-of-the-box solutions that save plenty of time and cost less than developing on your own with many add-ons available for free. Community support is fantastic with user forums and projects, including an e-Commerce solution that is robust and inexpensive to run with no monthly fees (seriously, the best e-Commerce package you're going to find). Sites can be deployed quickly with minimal costs and end-users can be trained often in minutes instead of hours or days. The platform is secure and allows fine-tooth permissions control. Internationalization is handled too for those that need to display their sites in multiple languages. Self-hosted and Concrete5 hosted options are available and maintenance is usually easily managed at the user-level.
Marc Stress | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Concrete5 allow my team to develop and deliver robust and dependable websites that help our clients grow their businesses, attract new customer and hire the best employees. My firm builds designs, develops and builds brands, Concrete5 is our go-to web solution. There are a number of benefits including how much our clients web-team like managing through the Concrete5 in-context editing. Other benefits include superior security when compared to other CMS platforms, and limited need for software updates and patches for security reasons.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Amazing and really well thought out CMS. Works out of the box, easy to setup and is packed with features so you don't need loads of plugins. Great for editors and very good for developers to build off. The code base is excellent.

This has been design with the basic user in mind, the UX and UI is very well thought out and being able to edit content within the page without having to go to a backend is very valuable.

The team behind this CMS is constantly improving and updating it but not just fixing bugs, really user improvement. The community that supports it is vast and there is always someone on the forums to help you out.

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Concrete5 is my Content Management System of choice for implementation of my customer's websites. I install it for my customers as it is, in my view, the simplest of content management systems for the end user/editor. It minimises the amount of training I have to provide for the individuals who take on the editing of the website. Whilst being a simple to use system it also allows me to create fast, secure websites built to my clients specification.
Anel Pasic | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
After using, customizing ad developing on most common CMS systems such as Joomla, Drupal, WordPress and others, Concrete5 became a clear choice for almost all of our projects. Unless you plan to develop anything but a webshop, then there is no need to search further.
Dave Becker | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Our website is built on Concrete5. We are able to integrate our CRM and customer accounts system with the Concrete5 platform to give our customers a seamless transition between the two. We host all of our services and offerings on the site and customers are able to read all about our company and what we can do for them.
Collin Berg | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
With Concrete5, you don't have to explain to your clients on how to edit a site/page. Once they are familiar with the very basics, they can do their thing. Just go to the page where you want to edit something, and click on a so-called "Block" to edit it (a page is a collection of blocks).
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