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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

(1-3 of 3)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
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.
Web Content Creation (8)
71.25%
7.1
WYSIWYG editor
90%
9.0
Code quality / cleanliness
90%
9.0
Admin section
90%
9.0
Page templates
100%
10.0
Library of website themes
10%
1.0
Mobile optimization / responsive design
90%
9.0
Publishing workflow
90%
9.0
Form generator
10%
1.0
Web Content Management (5)
92%
9.2
Content taxonomy
90%
9.0
SEO support
100%
10.0
Bulk management
90%
9.0
Availability / breadth of extensions
80%
8.0
Community / comment management
100%
10.0
Platform & Infrastructure (2)
50%
5.0
API
50%
5.0
Internationalization / multi-language
50%
5.0
Security (1)
90%
9.0
Role-based user permissions
90%
9.0
CMS programming language or framework
N/A
N/A
  • If you’re not completely sold on the software itself, then you can visit their website to see a comprehensive showcase of popular websites that were created using this content management system software.
  • SEO friendly URLs are one of the best features of EE.
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. It may seem a bit pricey, but through its ease of use and expandability, it is a force to be reckoned with. This CMS is certain to help bring your website from the far reaches of obscurity and, with the right tweaks, put your business in the limelight.
12
Designers, Copy writers, Developers, Management
2
Simple knowledge of HTML and CSS is sufficient.
  • Reports
  • Websites
  • Data Collecting
  • Creating Reports for management with CSV , PDF and XLS outputs
  • Conferences
By renewing your use of ExpressionEngine you are boosting your ability to create even more modern and robust websites. ExpressionEngine already boasts a secure and stable system, one which has not been victim to a major security breach in the 10 years it has existed. Spam blockers are already in place, which means you can avoid unwanted attention from the malicious forces of the web. The security features offered here are quite comprehensive and include the most advanced of protective features offered among the CMS products we reviewed.
Yes
WordPress, Joomla been replaced with ExpressionEngine because of flexibility and endless power for developer.
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
  • Prior Experience with the Product
Freedom of use. Freedom in language selection.
We would stop wasting our time and money on research and train our developers in ExpressioEengine.
  • Vendor implemented
  • Implemented in-house
No
Change management was a small part of the implementation and was well-handled
Expressionengine handles all sorts of data and it was very easy to change organizational management. But if your organization can work with a single level workflow management capability and manually manage their document versions then Expressionengine can be a very powerful asset to your organization. Considering the power it has for a low priced CMS.
  • Window servers are a bit tricky to implement. Please don't try to run Expression Engine on Windows. Yes, it's possible to run it on Windows, and self torchering individuals might even enjoy it. Still, Expression Engine is developed on and for the LAMP stack. Just get Linux!
Easy to use for client and for developer. To install - it is a breeze. ExpressionEngine start as a blank slate, which means you are free to develop anything. There are no assumptions about what kind of data you will store in your site. Because of this, your models and creations become very powerful.
Community for Expressionengine is growing day to day. You can have your questions answered on ellislab website or stackexchange. On Ellislab site it says: "Whether you're a freelancer or working in-house, you're covered for whatever you are working on. There's no limit to the number of support requests you can make, and you're covered whether your projects are on a current platform." And I strongly agree it is true!
Exceptional support is provided for Expressionengine at all times. My client was having an issue installing Expressionengine on GoDaddy server and Ellislab reviewed server configuration, answered all possible questions and installed instance for us. Guided me and my client on where to find relevant information and insured that we will not encounter any other problems with installations in the future.
  • Creating channels and assigning channel fields are as easy as it can be.
  • eCommerce modules can be a pain in the afternoon.
No
More and more customers and agencies started using Expressionengine.
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.
Web Content Creation (5)
66%
6.6
WYSIWYG editor
60%
6.0
Code quality / cleanliness
90%
9.0
Admin section
90%
9.0
Page templates
90%
9.0
Mobile optimization / responsive design
N/A
N/A
Web Content Management (2)
80%
8.0
Availability / breadth of extensions
90%
9.0
Community / comment management
70%
7.0
Platform & Infrastructure (2)
N/A
N/A
API
N/A
N/A
Internationalization / multi-language
N/A
N/A
Security (1)
80%
8.0
Role-based user permissions
80%
8.0
CMS programming language or framework
N/A
N/A
  • Quicker turnaround for new features and/or micro-sites.
  • Quicker content updates now that managers can update their own content.
  • WordPress,Joomla!,Mambo
ExpressionEngine is vastly more flexible than any other content management system I have used to date and the quality of the add-ons are significantly higher than what you find in other directories. The ExpressionEngine community is also very willing and helpful with if you have any questions or run into any issues.
15
Department heads or assistants regularly login to submit content updates for approval.
1
We have one web developer that manages ExpressionEngine. The skills required for this include experience with web servers and/or hosting environments, FTP, git (recommended), HTML, CSS, Javascript, and other related web technologies.
  • Central content repository.
  • Content update workflow and approvals.
  • Professional services company
Paramore Digital of Nashville, TN was hired to implement ExpressionEngine, redesign the web site and work with us to migrate content.
Yes
  1. Discovery/Strategy: to gather information about our needs and form a plan of action.
  2. Information Architecture: Develop a Site-Map.
  3. Homepage Wireframe/Design
  4. Interior Wireframe/Design
  5. Front-End Development: Coding the design.
  6. Back-End Development: Installing and configuring software.
  7. Quality Control: Review the site in a test environment to ensure all features and content was in place and functional.
  8. Launch: Migrate site from test servers to live servers.
  • Gathering updated and/or accurate content from internal departments.
  • Communication with the service provider had to be scheduled and was often difficult to feel like we were on the same page.
  • The service provider was reluctant to give super-admin access to the control panel.
Ask the implementing company for references and talk to those references about their experience.
  • Login
  • User management
  • Templating
  • Upgrades, if many add-ons are installed
No
Some areas are very easy to use, others need to be configured by users, and there are some areas that Ellis Lab needs to update.
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.
  • Development speed has increased over previous "free" products. EE's install/config time has saved me on avg 4-7 hours of time over other free products, making the cost of the commercial license a non-issue.
  • By using the same system throughout the company, EE makes maintenance on sites simpler and more efficient - even when working with another developer's work.
The learning curve on EE was less intense than those for Zend Framework, drupal or WordPress. Setup and config for highly-custom sites is quicker and quite simple. Having the ability to quickly make the control panel UI look nice for end-users is a huge plus and is often commented about from our customers.
The fact that the system is easy to use, extensible and powerful on top of it being quick to setup makes this an easy decision. While there may still be projects where I will turn to Zend Framework, EE will definitely be the most-used system in my arsenal for custom websites.
8
Developers, designers, project managers, account administrators
6
Account administrators and project managers are the first line. They are training much the same way as end-users, but have more experience. Developers know the ins-and-outs of the systems as they are the ones that use it to build the sites for the end-users.
  • custom websites
  • nline data applications
  • informational websites
  • commerce websites
  • school websites complete with online bookstore
  • nline communities
  • large questionnaires
  • custom websites
  • large questionnaires
  • ecommerce sites
  • Implemented in-house
No
  • developers learning system terminology
  • developers learning and template syntax
  • finding add-ons to do very specific tasks
After installing the system a few times, you can see a pattern of things that have to be done to work the way you want them (settings, paths, etc.). By knowing what you want, you can put together some scripts that prepare the file system for installation, adjust post installation configuration settings, and install initial templates.
  • installation, configuration
  • Setting up categories and the fields to use for pages, listings/entries
  • custom control panel layouts for the end-user
  • installation of add-ons
  • creation of custom add-ons (advanced developers)
  • template system and features
  • some 3rd party add-ons add a level of complexity that takes time to get into due to things like template parse order if you aren't aware of it
  • template parse errors are sometimes too vague to translate directly (default PHP warnings/errors)
Yes
EE doesn't provide a stock mobile interface, but allow for easy customization to create one using themes. 3rd party mobile themes may be currently available for the control panel, but I haven't had a need to look for any as the default theme works well on mobile devices for me.
The default control panel is plain and requires knowing some terminology (channel/entry) to use. However, by installing a couple add-ons (vendor or 3rd party), the control panel can quickly become very user-friendly and increase the usability of the system. Developers have full control of how to make the system usable for their end-users.
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