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ExpressionEngine

ExpressionEngine

Overview

What is ExpressionEngine?

ExpressionEngine is a content management system from EllisLab in 2002, a successor to pMachine Pro, a blogging system, which is written in object-oriented PHP and uses MySQL for data storage. ExpressionEngine is their flagship Content Delivery Platform.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Reliable Performance: Many users have praised the product for its reliable performance. Several reviewers mentioned that the product …
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Popular Features

View all 16 features
  • Role-based user permissions (33)
    10.0
    100%
  • Code quality / cleanliness (32)
    10.0
    100%
  • Admin section (32)
    10.0
    100%
  • Availability / breadth of extensions (32)
    8.0
    80%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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License

$299.00

Cloud
One Time Fee

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

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

Entry Analytics EEDPX Demo

YouTube

EE Harbor's Transcribe Add-on Demo

YouTube

ExpressionEngine Demo of a Staff Section

YouTube

ExpressionEngine demo door Keesâ„¢ Internetbureau

YouTube

DevDemon's Channel Forms add-on for ExpressionEngine

YouTube

Solspace's Calendar Add-on for ExpressionEngine

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.

10
Avg 8.0

Platform & Infrastructure

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

8.5
Avg 7.7

Web Content Creation

Features that support the creation of website content.

8.6
Avg 7.6

Web Content Management

Features for managing website content

9.4
Avg 7.3
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Product Details

What is ExpressionEngine?

ExpressionEngine is an open source content management system developed by EllisLab in 2002 as a successor to pMachine Pro, a blogging system, which is written in object-oriented PHP and uses MySQL for data storage. EllisLab closed in 2018, but ExpressionEngine is still available, as an open source CMS.

With CodeIgniter, an agile, open-source framework, web professionals can use ExpressionEngine to build websites and applications. The software is meant to be useful for companies of any size and private individuals as well, and to that end it is highly customizable, and implementation may vary. Like many content management systems, various add-ons will determine what the system does, though the core features are somewhat broader than similarly classed free offerings. The Multiple Site Manager allows a user to create and manage multiple sites from a single ExpressionEngine installation. Nexcess (a partner) provides a hosting environment for an ExpressionEngine-powered website.

ExpressionEngine Video

10-Minute ExpressionEngine Primer

ExpressionEngine Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

ExpressionEngine is a content management system from EllisLab in 2002, a successor to pMachine Pro, a blogging system, which is written in object-oriented PHP and uses MySQL for data storage. ExpressionEngine is their flagship Content Delivery Platform.

Reviewers rate Role-based user permissions and WYSIWYG editor and Code quality / cleanliness highest, with a score of 10.

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

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Reviews and Ratings

(86)

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!

Reliable Performance: Many users have praised the product for its reliable performance. Several reviewers mentioned that the product consistently meets their expectations and performs well in various scenarios. Ease of Use: The ease of use is a common pro mentioned by several customers. Users appreciate how intuitive and user-friendly the product is, making it easy to navigate and operate without any hassle or confusion. Great Customer Support: Some users have expressed their satisfaction with the great customer support provided by the company. They have found the support team to be responsive, helpful, and efficient in resolving any issues or inquiries they had.

Cons:

  1. Quality Issues: Some users have experienced quality issues with the product, including defects and malfunctions. Several reviewers have mentioned receiving damaged items or products that broke shortly after purchase.
  2. Lack of Customer Support: Many customers have expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of responsive customer support. Several users have reported difficulties in contacting the company for assistance or resolving issues related to their purchase.
  3. Limited Features/Functionality: Some users feel that the product lacks certain features or functionalities they expected. Reviewers have mentioned specific features missing from the product, such as advanced customization options or compatibility with other devices, which have impacted their overall experience.
  1. ExpressionEngine is recommended by many users as a great and promising update in the CMS market. It is praised for being free, open-source, and supported by a helpful developer community. Users suggest exploring extensions in the market to enhance its capabilities.

  2. Improvement is needed in areas such as help and support, as well as managing SEO. Those concerned about security should consider alternative solutions. Reading the developer documentation thoroughly is advised, along with using EE Harbor extensions.

3.ExpressionEngine is suitable for creating different channels and effectively managing website content. It is favored by confident HTML and PHP developers seeking customization options. The platform is considered user-friendly and secure, with the ability to handle large data or databases through proper caching.

While some express concerns about the direction and progress of ExpressionEngine, many still regard it as a leading commercial offering. It is advised to carefully consider project requirements and customization needs when choosing between ExpressionEngine and other CMS platforms like WordPress or Drupal. The value of the EE support plan and the helpfulness of the community are also mentioned as factors to consider for web agencies.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 27)
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Doug Black | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use ExpressionEngine to create bespoke, powerful, and secure websites for our clientele. It allows us to create highly extensible sites that focus on the client's content, the functionality that the client needs, and the direct business requirements for each client, all while providing a beautiful user experience (for both front-end and backend users) and the most secure CMS on the market.
  • Highly flexible content management system.
  • Incredible extensibility to provide any functionality needed.
  • The best CMS experience on the market.
  • Little challenging to get started for non-developers.
  • Highly reliant on knowledge of the content structure beforehand.
ExpressionEngine stands out as a robust and genuine content management system (CMS), distinguishing itself from mere page builders in the web development landscape. With a focus on flexibility and extensibility, ExpressionEngine caters to the needs of developers and content creators alike, making it a versatile solution for building and managing websites. One key differentiator is its commitment to being a true CMS rather than a page builder. ExpressionEngine empowers users to create and organize content in a structured manner, offering a sophisticated system for handling various types of data. For sites that truly care about the structure of their content and ensuring that they can optimize for SEO, EE is the #1 choice. EE also stands out as a pioneer in security among CMS platforms. The team managing this ensures there is a constant eye on what is both required as features, and needeed to keep it secure. Regular updates and a vigilant security team contribute to a robust defense against potential vulnerabilities, instilling confidence in both developers and site administrators. EE is best for users who want a very robust experience, a true content management system, and a secure site that can scale with them.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I worked at an advertising agency that used ExpressionEngine for all their client websites; it was their CMS of choice. All of the developers installed it, set up custom fields and made it meet the client's requests, each site is fully customized for the client. We had a boilerplate set up that enabled us to set up a new install quickly.
  • ExpressionEngine manages content and users extremely well and with ease.
  • ExpressionEngine is reliable and scales for small websites to enterprise websites.
  • ExpressionEngine has a large community following and many reliable plugins.
  • ExpressionEngine makes a ton of calls to the database, so caching is extremely important.
  • ExpressionEngine has a learning curve when learning to set up templates properly.
ExpressionEngine is a good option for a CMS for many people. It scales easily, is reliable and has plenty of plugins to extend functionality. I've used it on small websites and enterprise websites, receiving roughly 15,000 requests daily. It's easy for end users to navigate and easy to manage user roles.
Claudia Lorena Aguilar Ayala | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 4 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
My husband and I are software developers. We work for companies with websites built in Drupal, ExpressionEngine, WordPress or any php based platform. There is one company using ExpressionEngine for their website. They have forms, user registration, and data display.
  • Simple admin interface for the end user.
  • Generates clean markup for front-end theming.
  • Not flexible enough to create a really custom website.
  • Source control can be a mess since it's mostly database.
  • Data migration even core updates or server migration are not easy to make.
  • Is not an open source license.
Dynamic validations or complex conditionals are hard to accomplish.
Mike Griffiths | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We used ExpressionEngine to run our news website. We took advantage of the CMS tools that ExpressionEngine offered and used many add-ons and modules to accomplish what we wanted to do. The entire organization was based around the development of the website that was powered by ExpressionEngine. Without the CMS tools, we would not have been able to easily publish our content.
  • ExpressionEngine offers a customizable publishing tool. Each channel can be customized for its specific needs.
  • ExpressionEngine offers simple APIs that allows for many add-ons to be developed.
  • ExpressionEngine's short codes make it easy to accomplish advanced coding tasks.
  • PHP parsing was always an issue when creating templates.
  • Upgrading ExpressionEngine was a difficult task. Many times I had to run the install more than once or recover from a backup.
  • Disabling add-ons and modules sometimes resulted in major issues with the database.
Do you need a tool that will allow your client to publish their own content?
Do you need a tool that will allow the client to create custom publishing fields?
Hercules Schonfeldt | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
The software's administrative features include admin logs, site membership, searchable (and search-and-replace) content forums, data export, a blacklist/whitelist module, SQL and extension manager, which are all tools that come standard with this content management system. In fact, Expression Engine is equipped with the full complement of management elements we looked for in CMS software.
  • We noticed extensive capabilities in the area of user management. The application allows for multiple administrators so that work can be spread out through multiple resources at a company rather than bottlenecking with the web developer.
  • ExpressionEngine has gained a significant following through its high level of customization and ease of use. The interface is straightforward and offers easy access to both front-end and back-end editing. Because this CMS software is open source, you get the best of both worlds. You can add to your website’s functionality through the use of PHP, which means the functionality you desire from a website is easily within reach. For the non-technical user, you can simply work on your site from a simple front-end interface with a simple navigation.
  • For functionality and flexibility, ExpressionEngine content management system software is a versatile option for operations large and small. It has obviously extended its reach to many professional websites, which is evidenced on the front page of their product site.
  • ExpressionEngine has a thriving community base filled with veteran CMS users who can help you with questions through the community forum. For the programming-savvy individual, you have access to a developer portal complete with documentation, forums and tips for increasing your knowledge of the software.
  • Very powerful CMS. Expressionengine can be thought of as a database, where you create your collections and tables and define all sorts of fields for them. Then you can gather the information in this collections any way you want and show it on front-end or at the backend.
  • EE very easy to setup. For a site that is based on eCommerce/ Articles / News this CMS is excellent.
  • Plugin, Module installation should be with ease. Upload as zip - install.
  • Multisite function should be included with purchase and not be as separate module and restriction to 3 sites - it should be infinite.
This is the best CMS on a market for developers. Turn your eCommerce or News Siet project to a winner with Brilliantretail module and simple plugins. Anything can be accomplished without breaking your neck! No project will be brilliant without ExpressionEngine. Devot-ee is the place for all plugins needed to accomplish any project your client desires.
Lee Whitworth | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 5 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized

Satdaya is a creative services firm that includes web development among our services. We recommend and use ExpressionEngine to our clients when their projects and IT needs require more flexibility than what most other content management systems can offer. D&D Technologies is one of those clients, and they have been with us and using Expression Engine since version 1.x! We have also built our firm's project management system with ExpressionEngine, and our software as a service venture, Eventida, also uses it.

ExpressionEngine is unique in that it allows you to build your own content structure to fit, manipulate, and output your information exactly the way you want. Its template structure is like a blank canvas - any HTML, any CSS, any Javascript, any PHP can be used within the templates any way you'd like. Therefore, it is a viable solution to many business problems that require managing and displaying information online.

  • Content structuring. You can set up channels and fields to hold just about any kind of information imaginable; text, images, videos, numbers, code, etc. You can structure this information any way you want and in any order. You literally create your own information database just the way you want it using a clear, easy online interface.
  • Template system. Utter freedom. Need I say more?
  • Exensible. There are a lot of add-ons, extensions, and other external modules that extend the core functionality of ExpressionEngine. Need a user management system? Check out the User module at http://solspace.com.
  • Big learning curve! In my opinion, ExpressionEngine is not really for the inexperienced, be it users or developers. Clients who aren't web-savvy have a hard time picking up the backend, and end up paying more for a custom front-end control panel to fit their project needs. Developers have to learn the templating language. It's not that complicated for someone who is experienced with HTML/CSS, at least, let alone a programmer, but still expect to spend weeks, if not months, learning all the ins and outs.
  • It's not free or cheap. A license for the core ExpressionEngine software is currently $299 a pop. Premium add-ons can average between $20-$200 for their licenses, but there are also many add-ons that are free. https://devot-ee.com/ is the premier marketplace for ExpressionEngine add-ons.
  • A relatively small user/developer community = above-average contractor rates. ExpressionEngine experts hard to find and do not come cheap, and understandably so. ExpressionEngine is a highly specialized and advanced CMS. Due to the price barrier, ExpressionEngine is nowhere near as popular as free WordPress or Joomla!.
  • Poor software updating system. ExpressionEngine is NOT WordPress where you get pushed core and add-on update notifications, and apply them with a few clicks. Updating ExpressionEngine requires a developer who can manually go in, backup everything, upload specific files, and otherwise follow specific procedures that require time and expertise. Due to the changing and hazardous nature of the Internet, it's imperative to keep your software updated - so this makes ExpressionEngine not ideal for projects with small budgets.
It really depends on the scope and scale of the project in question, and not to mention its budget. As a creative services firm we analyze a projects informational needs and determine which solutions are best. We highly recommend ExpressionEngine for projects that have complex IT requirements and large budgets for both initial development and ongoing support.
Brennan Sang | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use ExpressionEngine to build websites for several clients. For anything other than a very simple blog site, I recommend ExpressionEngine. With a few essential plugins, it's easy to train clients to use; the documentation is great and once you get the hang of the templating syntax, it's very easy to crank out custom sites quickly.
  • ExpressionEngine does a fantastic job in separating the content from the code, allowing you to build custom templates using only your own code and markup.
  • ExpressionEngine has great documentation. It's easy to find clear and concise explanation of all of the core features.
  • ExpressionEngine has a great module community. Many of the modules require a license, which will seem different from WordPress or Drupal, but many of these module developers also provide great customer service and support.
  • I always seem to use a core set of modules (Structure, Matrix, Playa) when I build an ExpressionEngine site. It'd be nice if they were included in the core feature set. However, I'd hate to stop supporting the developers of these great plugins.
  • As a new ExpressionEngine developer it was a little tricky to figure out the ExpressionEngine way of doing things. Coming from Drupal and WordPress, where the display was more married to the content, it took me a while to really get how ExpressionEngine handled everything. I haven't been a new ExpressionEngine developer for some time, so their documentation may well have changed in the past six years.
  • I'd love to see an easier upgrade process. While upgrades aren't terribly difficult, they're enough of a hassle that I find myself wanting to put them off.
For anything more complicated than a static four page site or a very simple blog, I'd always suggest ExpressionEngine. For the client, they will need to spend some money on the license, but for the developer, you'll save piles of time not wading through plugin code searching for classes and lines of code that are breaking your carefully crafted templates.
Todd Richards | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
National Network (aka NNEPA) is a national membership organization of estate planning attorneys. We needed a new members-only website to replace our seriously outdated website in which we made all of our updates manually. Already having significant experience with ExpressionEngine, it was an obvious choice for me as I knew it could handle the thousands of entries we already had, and the thousands more we would be adding. In addition to our large library of resources and training tools, it handles our member logins, event calendar and more. We will soon be adding a store so members can make their purchases online. The website will also drive a new front-end recruiting area to help grow our membership.
  • The number one thing that I think ExpressEngine allows for is its flexibility. I always tell people there isn't anything that it can't do and that proved true in this case as well. For instance, we needed a few levels of membership for providing access to different areas of the website and ExpressEngine handled this without issue. In addition, some of the library resources are accessible based on that membership group.
  • One of the things that I love about ExpressEngine is that it doesn't come with any expectations about your website look/feel/code. We created the layout and coded our pages, then plugged in the necessary tags.
  • ExpressEngine is a very secure system out of the box, and there are numerous tips and guides to help you further secure the back-end. That was an important feature for us.
  • The ExpressEngine community is probably one of the greatest strengths. There are so many great people involved who are willing to lend a quick hand or provide some advice to help out.
  • For me, one of the greatest strengths of ExpressionEngine is also one of their weaknesses. There are so many add-ons available (some free, some not) for ExpressionEngine to allow you to do just about anything you want. However, the more add-ons that you use the more you have to deal with when performing updates. For instance, is the add-on compatible with the new version of ExpressionEngine - or even another add-on? What if that add-on gets abandoned by the developer - is there another that can perform the same functionality?
  • I think that ExpressionEngine needs to offer more out of the box than it does. Yes, you can get add-ons for just about anything but this adds to the cost. I have a list of add-ons that I use on almost every site which can raise the cost of getting started with a new site by $100-300. So add that to the cost of a license and you're at $400-600 and you haven't even started working on it yet. For instance, I shouldn't have to buy an add-on to allow me to customize the menu for my end-users.
  • The membership management feature is seriously lacking. Fortunately, there are add-ons (for an additional cost) to allow you to manage things better.
For someone with a limited budget, it's hard to recommend ExpressionEngine simply because of the cost of the license and any add-ons just to get up and running. As a developer, the budget needs to be a certain amount before I can even consider ExpressionEngine - no matter how appropriate it is for the site. Besides that, I recommend ExpressionEngine for those who have a lot of content, have a need for a certain level of flexibility, or who have special feature requests. There are a number of ExpressionEngine add-on developers who are willing to help build (for a fee) custom add-ons to fulfill that need.
John Dezember | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
ExpressionEngine powers our college's main web site as well as online training modules, event and ancillary sites. ExpressionEngine's flexibility allows us to publish a variety of content types and designs to our web site and other internal systems. User control and access to manage, update, and approve content changes is also a great benefit.
  • ExpressionEngine has no preconceived ideas about how your content should look or what code is generated.
  • A robust template engine makes integrating designs and content a breeze.
  • The control panel can be customized to control what content managers have access to.
  • The upgrade process can be tedious if your site uses more than a couple of add-ons.
  • Back ups must be managed manually or by a third party system/add-on.
ExpressionEngine can literally be used for any type of site, but for a very basic site with just a few pages or if the site will primarily be used for blogging, there are better tailored solutions.

Also, you will need a developer and/or someone very familiar with content management systems to install and configure the software. There is nothing like the "WordPress famous 5 minute install" that will give you visible results very quickly.
Steve Garcia | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
620 Studio uses ExpressionEngine for both the company website and is the default content management system we use when building websites for other companies. It allows us the ability to design and build websites without any limitations to pre-existing templates or requiring us to build our HTML files just to take them apart again to fit into PHP templates; our code and designs stay completely intact. ExpressionEngine has the flexibility to create any type of website from the ground up; it's a giant box of sand with an arsenal of tools and I can build any type of castle I want for us and our client.
  • First-party and Community Support - ExpressionEngine has a large support base both from EllisLab, the maker of ExpressionEngine, and the vast community of users. Any challenges that arise during a project, there is either a third-party plugin or a solution already posted on a discussion forum.
  • End-User Experience - Every website we build is custom from the ground up; no two are alike. Each install of ExpressionEngine is built and organized to fit that specific client. With the use of custom fields, our clients can easily update and maintain their website while keeping the styling intact. Many systems will give one large WYSIWYG box and it's up to the user to ensure the styling of the content matches the page and branding. ExpressionEngine allows us to create a entry form guiding them through the process of creating or editing a web page. We can decide how strict or loose the content areas are based on the technical expertise of the client or website administrators.
  • Templates - The templates built into ExpressionEngine use native HTML for rendering. Within the HTML, we're able to inject their tags into our code to process the functionality. This makes moving our front-end code into the back-end quick and seamless. This is incredibly helpful for maintenance purposes as we find reading HTML is far quicker and easier to read and diagnose than PHP code.
  • Third-party Plugins - ExpressionEngine has a large community of module, extension and plugin developers to help solve any challenge. Custom fieldtypes can be easily installed for better user experience. Powerful add-ons for eCommerce and site searches developed by well-known and highly reputable companies ensure support is always available. ExpressionEngine does not suffer from an over-abundance of third-party plugins questioning the level of support especially with ExpressionEngine system updates.
  • License - ExpressionEngine is a licensed product and has a license fee that comes with each install. Most of the additional first-party functionality that is available outside of the core ExpressionEngine install has a license attached. For large websites with a lot of functionality, software licenses for ExpressionEngine and third-party plugins as well can cause the price to exceed the budget of a client.
  • Third-party Plugins Required - EllisLabs has been making strives in adding native functionality into ExpressionEngine that would have required third-party plugins in previous versions. They tread carefully not to punish plugin developers who are selling their plugins by building it into the system at no additional charge, however certain functionality like page organization for site navigation should be already included and more streamlined for the client.
  • System Updates - Compared to other content management systems, ExpressionEngine is not the easiest when updating to newer versions. Its a manual process of copying, uploading and moving files. There is no "push-button" approach without purchasing a commercial add-on by a third-party developer. With the requirement of third-party plugins to be added for user experience, each system update will require a proactive approach by the plugin developers and the admin updating the system to ensure the plugins will work on future versions. Most admins will wait several months to ensure plugins and minor bugs are ironed out prior to updating.
The two main factors for my suggestion to use or not use ExpressionEngine for a client are budget and scope. If the website is for a small three to five page website that is strictly informational and have a smaller budget, then I always recommend using a system like WordPress. Most of our clients are usually already on WordPress and ready to "graduate" to a larger system. They understand the need for a custom design and ease-of-use for site maintenance so recommending ExpressionEngine is easier as they will often have more budget available. Very rarely does a client request a specific system and trust our recommendations.

I did not give a ranking of 10 as there are some instances where other systems would handle the job better than ExpressionEngine; it's not the end-all-be-all. If a client is looking strictly for an eCommerce site, there are other systems that are better prepared for the task and will cut down on development time reducing the overall budget for the project.
Eric Nance | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I use ExpressionEngine as a tool in my arsenal to provide web design and development services to clients. I've found that it is an extremely flexible and scalable CMS solution for a large number of web application needs. ExpressionEngine is a blank canvas upon which my clients can build their web-based marketing and business solutions.
  • Flexible templating engine - ExpressionEngine makes no assumptions about what type of website or application you want to create. It does a good job of separating data from data presentation, allowing you to choose the front-end framework that works best for your/your client's needs.
  • Robust community support - The ExpressionEngine community is very helpful. There are many resources for third-party add-ons and technical support answers.
  • Forward-thinking architecture - Built on CodeIgniter, ExpressionEngine uses a well-documented and proven PHP architecture that is scalable and powerful.
  • Third-party AddOns - ExpressionEngine's flexibility is also a drawback. Because it makes no assumptions about your web project, it doesn't offer every feature under the sun. Expect to increase your budget to accommodate the variety of third-party AddOns that really make it shine. Not everything is done well, and some functionality is best left for dedicated third-party solutions.
  • Configuration - ExpressionEngine requires time and expertise to get an installation really dialed in before you can hit the ground running. There are a lot of configuration options, and adding third-party AddOns to the mix increases the amount of configuration. However, this is a good example of the power of the software. You have a lot of options and can really dial in security settings, software behavior, administrative access and so forth.
ExpressionEngine is a great choice for web projects that need a flexible CMS solutions that puts power and control in administrators' hands. I don't believe it's the best solutions for smaller web projects on limited budgets. ExpressionEngine can be overkill for smaller sites, like using a sledgehammer to drive a nail into butter.

It does a great job as a scalable and flexible CMS. ExpressionEngine begs you to be organized and think through your information architecture before you start coding. This is a good thing right? I think ExpressionEngine can quite possibly lead to a better website and a better user experience as you really need to think through channels, variables, custom fields and architecture.
Frank Milne | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
The job was for the site Monumentsmen.com, a marketing site to advertise the upcoming feature film directed by and starring George Clooney, as well as advertise the book The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel as well as his follow up book Saving Italy. The site was also set to feature a vast amount of historic information as well as a subscription restricted access section featuring lesson plans for University art programs. I was also given a deadline of two weeks to develop a stable release.

ExpressionEngine was also used as the CMS for a corporate presence site for a well known cloud storage company.
  • What you're given is a CMS with a strong database schema to group and deliver contextual data with fantastic ease of development. Accessing data from a table is an easy scripting language in which the results read like English language sentences yet still powerful enough to adapt to infinite design needs.
  • No need to amend a template system. Build the templates on the fly and let ExpressionEngine deliver them. This resulted in an easy front end development with no learning curve. It was like having a blank slate in which the CMS would exist to mainly feed the data to the front end.
  • ExpressionEngine can deploys the entire site as flat files for an extremely fast loading product which also pleases the SEO nerds.
  • At it's base, all of the site, HTML, CSS, javascript, data, etc... , are stored in a sql database. If you have a site that needs to be dynamic: IE a site that has a blog, or comments, or customer contributions, you'll find that each and every page load would result in thousands of database calls. Queries to a database is some of the slowest transactions a page load can have. If the entire site is loaded through said transactions you'll find it's impossible to break any speed records. ExpressionEngine would not be my choice if those are a requirement. Though there are work-arounds. As of 2.5.5 there was no option to render part of the site as flat file and part of the site as dynamic.
  • Because the development of the site is saved entirely in the database it became somewhat cumbersome save versions of the site to a git repository. The only difference between one install of ExpressionEngine and another is the database itself. You could make a SQL dump from one site and load it into another and have completely migrated the site. This sounds great if you need to migrate sites all the time, but backing up versions of an existing site meant backing up sql dumps.
  • In EE v.2.8.1 you can now export template files to flat files so that database connections will be reduced. This addition will help the CMS greatly.
  • This is actually in part and parcel with the last point. Being that git repository back up is difficult, collaborate development would also be a challenge. I was lucky to be the sole developer on my projects, but if you have multiple developers working on one product and they have branching code sets, the merging of this code would be time consuming, being that the developers would have to manually add the code to the same install rather than an easy deploy script. Why would this be? Because until the product is rendered to flat files it's all in the database. Of course this could all be overcome by having a dev environment that is shared by all developers. Then deploying to staging or production would just be the act of dumping then loading SQL files. But that is not the current work flow that developers have grown to appreciate.
Best suited if the development time is short, and if the end product will be a website with few dynamic elements. The CMS itself is intermediate to learn for a lay person. Not a good choice for a large development team working on the same project. Not friendly for git repositories.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use ExpressionEngine almost exclusively for client web projects. We've built hundreds of sites on it and have appreciated its flexibility. Clients like it because it greatly simplifies content management on their website, with very little technical knowledge needed. We like it because of the professional community that backs it and because it doesn't dictate any predefined markup or styling. We can customize it to fit most client project needs.
  • ExpressionEngine has a very good track record on security
  • It doesn't dictate markup or styling or use predefined templates--100% of the outputted code is developer generated
  • It is extremely customizable to fit a proejct's specifications
  • Non-technical users find it very easy to use for managing their site content
  • Performance can be an issue on complex pages--nested conditionals can result in slower load times
  • A fairly powerful server is required to generate the many SQL statements in order to generate complex pages
  • Many of the back end database tables are not normalized
  • There is room for improving some of the base functionality (EE has done better with this recently--e.g. Grid)
  • Corporate communication to users has historically been a mess
ExpressionEngine is well suited for most website projects; it would not be appropriate for projects that are more "web application" than "website". When launching an EE site we take into account the performance needs and will place the site on a caching server to improve performance. EE will run in both Linux and IIS environments, which is a plus.
Rodrigo Passos | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
ResellerIncentivized
Here at Dative we build custom website solutions that will fit the needs of our clients both from front-end / back-end stand points. ExpressionEngine's biggest strength is the ability to add dynamic content tags into custom HTML markups. That's sounds trivial, but it allows our designs to be created unrestrained, while still being able to deliver fast page loads in a dynamic fashion.
  • Flexible Templating
  • Caching
  • Custom Content Types
  • Underlying framework based on codeigniter, could move to a more modern framework
  • Could make use of Composer
  • Better testing for add-ons.
ExpressEngine is well suited for simple, one page websites. We used it when we engage in small projects where the client only really needs what we call a "mini-site", that would post a form to a third-party form service. It is also used in cases, where there is very little content management, where we can just have a static website built with a uri router.
Jonathan Mulkey | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
I use ExpressionEngine for several websites that I have developed for clients and I have taken a couple of projects for existing EE driven websites that needed a front-end design refresh.
  • It has an extremely flexible front-end templating system, unlike most of the other CMSs that I have used.
  • The community is very helpful and supportive. You can almost always get an answer through the Stack Exchange or Ellislab discussion forums.
  • The third party add-on developer are very talented and you can find an add-on for just about anything you would need.
  • Since it is a licensed product and not open source, it is not as widely used as other CMSs. I believe this is a benefit because it creates a niche for the developer.
  • It's also more secure because it's not targeted by hackers and malicious scripts as much as the more popular CMSs.
  • Pricing - At $300 per site, I feel like EE should come with a certain level of built in support from Ellislab. They just recently made support tickets a separate membership cost ranging from $50 to $2000 per month, it simply not an option for me. I've had to seek support from the Stack Exchange community instead.
  • There are some built in features that and enhancements that I feel are missing in EE. I almost always have to install a third party add-on like Structure to help with building and maintaining pages and navigation throughout the site. This should be a core feature of any CMS.
  • The built in search function is not very robust. I usually have to buy a third party add-on to enhance this function.
  • The pagination function needs improvement. It just doesn't work well and it's very limited in the options and styles that can be applied.
  • A responsive back-end would be helpful. Many other CMSs have adopted this approach in the last few years.
  • It's really difficult to update the core system and plugins with ExpressionEngine. There are third party plugins that make this process easier like DevDemon's Updater, but I feel like EE could follow the lead from Wordpress and make updates and installs a built-in system feature.
ExpressionEngine can be a good choice for a CMS based on the budget and the level of customization needed. If you only need a basic brochure site with a blog and have a limited budget, Wordpress might be a better option. If you are building more of a custom web application and need the design flexibility that EE provides, it is a good choice.
Barry Parr | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
I've published a community news site, Coastsider.com, since 2004, using Expression Engine and its predecessor, pmachine. I built all the site's templates, managed the data, upgraded the software, and produced the vast majority of the content.

This was basically a one-user part-time business, but it gave me pretty broad experience with the product.

  • The template language is powerful and easy to use
  • The user management and access controls are very good
  • The back end control panel is very good
  • The community and support is not as strong as it used to be
  • Software updates are difficult and risky
  • Most applications will require additional commercial add-ons
Expression Engine is a good choice if you're building your own site and plan to maintain it, but don't want to acquire the expertise in PHP required by Drupal, Joomla, or WordPress templates.

It's a better choice than WordPress if you require highly customized templates.

It's a good choice if you require strong member and access management.



Justin Koivisto | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
EE is used for nearly all of the websites we build. We are a web development shop and have used EE for everything from small brochure sites to sites with product description or ordering for hundreds of products. The control panel is able to be customized to make the user experience more enjoyable than what users experience from CMS products like WordPress or Drupal.
  • Control Panel customization. With the ability to install addons in mere minutes to help with tweaking the UI for the user, it removes much of the learning curve so even those not versed with a CMS can learn quickly.
  • Flexibility. Not just for blogs! EE has the power to run full-featured blogs without a blink or make short work of forum websites, but that power can be used for any number of situations easily (simple pages, product lines, listings, etc.)
  • Extendability. For those developers that like to get their hands deep into PHP coding, EE allows for easy extension of classes and creation of your own custom modules to do tasks that the core system doesn't already do.
  • Community. If you don't opt for the official support (which is very good in my experience), there is a community of users that are available to answer questions you may have. There is also a great repository of add-ons (both free and commercial) to help you customize your project easily.
  • Documentation. Some of the documentation on the website lacks clear information. However, support and community make up for this if you can afford to wait for an answer.
With the ability to be extended your own way, all the features of a CMS, and the powerful CodeIgniter engine behind it, EE can be used for any kind of project. New features are being added with each release to make it even more powerful for developers. With settings relating to template caching, data caching, and gzip compression, the system can handle large sites without overloading.
Sterling Hamilton | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Reseller
Our Agency has used EE in the past as the primary CMS for the majority of our projects. Unfortunately the implementation historically was done in a way that suits Developers. This is poor because the platform had Designers in mind when it was built.

This fact is important to remember because it's fundamental to how you implement and use it long term.

A few things to note:

  • Copy and Paste development is actually expected.
  • Versioning can be difficult.
  • Upgrading IS difficult.
We've stopped using it as of late in favor of things that scale better with normal sized teams of Developers (>= 5) who can work on the same project at once.

We migrated to Drupal and WordPress.

The community of EE has dwindled in recent months and with the announcement that the core framework is up for sale, it looks like the product is on its last legs.

It is still good for:

  • Design Shops.
  • People not maintaining it themselves.
  • Small companies.
It costs more to implement, to maintain and the evolution of the product and its extensions are slower than that of WordPress and Drupal because the community just isn't there.

* All of this is based on my experience with the product, my interactions with other developers with extensive experience, people that I respect and encounters in the field.
  • Once you understand the "ExpressionEngine way" of things -- it does what it set out to do, very well.
  • It's not widely used, so one COULD consider that to be a security strength. (Note: we have seen it hacked before.)
  • It's a common brand with design shops, so it's an easy recommendations as a solution to them.
  • The community, is just no longer there. With most projects, this is one of the most important areas.
  • Maintenance, upgrades, versioning, etc is a nightmare.
  • It is NOT for developers. Thinking that will set you up for failure.
I'd only recommend it for the following:
  • Short lived projects.
  • Design shops.
  • Small companies.
Trent Willis | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 6 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
ExpressionEngine is being used by our entire office, which houses five separate sub-offices and a handful of initiatives. Each of these requires its own web presence, but still operating under our office domain name. ExpressionEngine helped give us an easy to use solution for allowing each department to take some of the responsibility over their own content.
  • Easy to use. We can train up new employees on how to use the system to perform all basic tasks in under 30 minutes.
  • Effective interface design. The interface is surprisingly uncluttered and makes navigation easy. Additionally, they provide easy ways to customize the navigation and options available to each user.
  • Secure. There are far less vulnerabilities using ExpressionEngine than the other CMSs we considered, such as WordPress or Drupal. We have never had an issue with security on our site.
  • Convoluted development. Starting developed is a bit tricky, as the idea of channels, fields, field groups, etc. is not very intuitive. Takes building a site and then rebuilding to fully get the hang of.
  • Poor support. Since there are many free alternatives, ExpressionEngine often lacks documentation that you'd expect it to have since there is not as large of an online community.
  • Lacking default features. ExpressionEngine allows you to customize and expand it a lot, but out-of-the-box it has a lacking set of features. It is usually better to install plugins to help meet your needs. For instance, Structure is an almost required module if you plan on having to manage many pages.
The questions to ask are based on its strengths and weaknesses. If you are looking for a secure, easy to teach platform for simple content management and are able to have dedicated staff to learning the platform and maintaining it, this is for you. If you do not have a dedicated person to administer the site and troubleshoot issues, it would be better to go with an alternative platform, like Wordpress.
Ryan Bentz | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use EE for our public facing marketing websites to communicate company service offerings, news and industry insights. As the central comms department, we recommend it for other departments throughout the organization as well as our spin-off companies as a good platform on which to get their feet wet on the web.
  • Secure. Built on CodeIgniter, EE has very few vulnerabilities compared to similar content management systems (e.g., WordPress, Drupal and Joomla).
  • Flexible. The system is as strong or as weak as you make it.
  • Easy to use. I've found that little training is needed to get team members and clients up and running in the system. I can set and forget it.
  • Learning curve. The ideas behind EE can be confusing to some starting out building websites. And even for those who are used to using other CMS's, the terminology can be strange.
  • Navigation. Native EE functionality doesn't support navigation very well. I'm always hunting for add-ons to help. Structure works in some instances. Taxonomy works in others. And then in some instances, I end up just using the template/snippet system which isn't ideal for clients who need to edit.
  • Workflow and preview. Better Workflow as an add-on is really the only way to implement workflow in EE. It would be great if it could be natively supported at some point.
For very large sites, EE will be difficult to maintain. If you're building an average corporate site, it's a good option. In order for EE to be strong, you need solid developers to build it. Don't rely on junior or inexperienced talent to build.
April 30, 2014

EE CMS Overview

David Anderson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We leverage Expression Engine to build customer friendly CMS websites to spec. Expression Engine offers a vast arsenal of plugins that work with each other, and allow a creative developer to build custom publish and edit forms that make sense to the end users who are often not so web-saavy.
  • Bends around website design instead of the other way around.
  • Good solution for large customers with different permission groups of users.
  • Excellent for managing multiple websites under the same 'hood'.
  • Be sure to discuss maintenance options with your customers - the update process is not difficult, but can take a bit of effort.
EE is well suited for managing multiple websites or for structuring a CMS over a standard or non-standard website design. We don't even look at other CMS options - when customers come knocking this is what we reach for.
Jeremy AAsum | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use ExpressionEngine as a CMS (Content Management Platform) for clients seeking small to medium sized marketing websites. ExpressionEngine is a cost-effective solution for most clients seeking an easy way to manage content of their website in-house. ExpressionEngine is primarily used by our User Experience Design department when a custom software solution is not needed on a project, which sometimes may be part of a larger digital product.
  • Easy to use: ExpressionEngine is a platform that takes little to no training with my clients, regardless of their technical proficiency.
  • Easy to manage: ExpressionEngine can be easily hosted and updated at very little cost.
  • Well supported: We choose ExpressionEngine because it's a commercial product. Our clients have purchased a license (an affordable one at that) and have a company they can contact for support or to report issues or ask questions (though issues are rare).
  • Robust: ExpressionEngine has an impressive amount of functionality as-is, which solves the majority of a company's needs for their website. This sets it above other open source platforms that require a variety of third-party add ons in to get the desired functionality (leading to difficulty in updating and managing the website). If a third-party add on is needed they tend to be commercially supported as well.
  • Potentially Limiting: This isn't a flaw, but eventually a company may outgrow the needs of a CMS website and need something with robust functionality, especially in regards to e-commerce.
  • Two-way communication: ExpressionEngine as a CMS does not implement user-interaction well. If a company wants a way for their audience to interact with or manage content on their website ExpressionEngine will struggle. This doesn't reflect the ease our clients have from updating the site content from the ExpressionEngine administration.
  • Lagging technology stack: ExpressionEngine lacks some of the more robust features for updating a codebase. Larger updates to a website may require downtime or "content locks" where our clients cannot add or edit content on their websites. Modern websites should be able to add larger updates seamlessly with a live website. Minor updates aren't a problem.
ExpressionEngine is excellent if a company's goal is to manage content for a small to medium-sized website. It allows us to focus on the marketing and design goals a client has without limitation. ExpressionEngine provides our clients with an intuitive administrative interface to manage their website from, and provides us as designers the freedom we need to build a solid front-end experience for their visitors. ExpressionEngine is well supported and is easy to maintain over time with it's affordable hosting and ease of updating.

However, ExpressionEngine is not a robust e-commerce or custom software platform. If our clients seek to manage a robust and seamless online storefront, or to develop a fully interactive product, we will recommend other technologies to achieve this.
Antony Gravett | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
ExpressionEngine (EE) is being used for our two major brands, The Human Element® and LIFO®, training and occupational development systems we market in the US and manage worldwide. We use it for both public websites, http://thehumanelement.com, and http://lifo.co. We manage mostly static pages, with some dynamic elements that take advantage of EE's database underpinnings.
  • Content management: very easy to log in and add pages or make changes.
  • Managing global elements and implementing them site-wide. Need a new logo or sidebar element? Change one "embed" and it's implemented throughout your site.
  • Dynamic content that needs sorting by date. From the obvious such as blogs, to the less so, such as event listings, EE's extensive category management, display options and sorting make it relatively easy to flow dynamic content into your pages.
  • Simple commerce: yes, it's unsophisticated, but it's a breeze to set up and manage.
  • Image management isn't as effortless as other solutions, but it's getting better ... plus, there are a myriad of third-party tools that add more features in this area
  • Updating to the latest version of EE involves a lot of technical work in FTP, and can get messed-up easily if not done exactly right. It is a far cry from a typical OSX or Windows update experience, to be sure.
  • This is not an in-page editing scheme, such as Barley — you will be managing content from a separate, back-end admin site, and so it feels less "hands-on" than the in-page CMS's out there. That said, there is way more power to EE than these other offerings.
If you are able to provide training in the use of EE's control panel, then I would recommend it wholeheartedly. The person you train will need to have some technical proficiency, so I feel that this product self-selects based on that skill level. If you want a quick page editing tool for a small website without any dynamic content such as a blog, EE is not well suited, though Ellis Labs offers a simpler solution for that scenario, too.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
ExpressionEngine is used to run our entire website. It's used across the whole organization with various people submitting articles, for blog postings, news updates, etc. For us, ExpressionEngine shines in its flexibility. Right out of the box, ExpressionEngine doesn't assume you want your website structured in any specific way, unlike other Content Management Systems, and allows us to build out our website as we see fit.
  • Flexibility out of the box.
  • Offers considerable add-on capabilities through its use of modules and plug-ins.
  • Low entry price compared to others (such as Sitecore and Ektron), for all it offers and enables you to do.
  • Updating - We purchased a module to take care of this (only 15 dollars), but easy updating should be built in
  • Relationships - again, something that can be purchased but should be available.
  • Default Admin color scheme. Nit-picky for sure, but shades of grey with hot pink highlights doesn't say professional. Again, something you can change.
Because of it's flexibility, ExpressionEngine is well-suited for any sort of site. And given the plethora of modules and add-ons available in the aftermarket, you can build out the site of dreams, from large e-commerce shops to customer service portals. ExpressionEngine really can fill that need in many different ways.
Brian Mallett | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
ExpressionEngine has been chosen as the primary CMS of use for our company when we begin a new project here at Black Belt Designs. If the customer comes to us with a previously existing base, we will evaluate it and determine if a change is either one, necessary, or two, feasible. So far, each client has been extremely happy with the change over to ExpressionEngine if they were previously using another CMS.
  • If you know HTML and CSS, you can begin using ExpressionEngine. Unlike other CMS products out there, you don't necessarily need to know PHP, C#, .NET, or any other language.
  • If you DO know PHP, you can extend ExpressionEngine to limitless usages. The 'hooks' provided within the code base allow you to further stretch ExpressionEngine's capabilities to whatever needs you might have. You can think of ExpressionEngine as a 'development environment' that allows you to define the needs.
  • ExpressionEngine allows you, the developer, to establish guidelines for your clients during the development process. There are no boundaries or limitations that bind you to specific realms.
  • ExpressionEngine's control panel is clean, simple, and allows users to create, edit, and find their entries with ease.
  • Maybe not a weakness per se, but one thing that tends to 'get' people in the beginning is the understanding of the parsing order. There are many thing that ExpressionEngine can do. One thing you will find yourself questioning is "Why aren't my variables rendering properly?". Many times it is due to a parsing order issue. One thing that can help with this is properly mapping out your development prior to beginning your code.
  • The use of third party addons is a great extension to ExpressionEngine. However, you definitely want to keep a development version of your project on ice for any updates to, not only your addons, but ExpressionEngine yourself. There is not a good way to 'roll back' your project once you update your version.
  • Multiple environment development scenarios can prove to be problematic. This is to be somewhat understood though due to the reliance of the database driven nature of the CMS itself.
If you are developing a web project in which maintenance of your content will be handled by multiple people, content will be changed or modified frequently, memberships are required, or look to be complex in nature then ExpressionEngine is a shoe in for most projects. A simple website of 2-4 pages in which content will remain static and not be maintained at all might be overkill.
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