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MODX

MODX

Overview

What is MODX?

The MODX Digital Experience Platform provides everything you need to build, host, and maintain amazing websites your way. The vendor says that with MODX CMS and cloud hosting, users have complete control over their creative vision and the experiences they…

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

MODX is a highly customizable CMS that offers complete flexibility for tailoring websites to clients' business needs. With MODX, users can …
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Pricing

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MODX Revolution

$0

On Premise
per installation

PRO - Perfect for customers with typical marketing sites

$19

Cloud
per month

STUDIO - Perfect for customers who need more power and resources

$49

Cloud
per month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • Setup fee optional
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://modx.com/solutions/modx-cloud…

Offerings

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

What is MODX?

The MODX Digital Experience Platform provides everything you need to build, host, and maintain amazing websites your way.


The vendor says that with MODX CMS and cloud hosting, users have complete control over their creative vision and the experiences they deliver, without restriction or compromise. They can focus more on building great digital experiences, and less on hosting and maintaining. If you ever need help, MODX Professionals are available worldwide and direct support from the MODX team is available anytime.


According to the vendor, MODX CMS is the fastest, most flexible, scalable and secure open source PHP CMS. Launch any design and use any front-end framework you want—if you can prototype it, MODX can power it with pixel-perfect precision. Extend MODX capabilities with MODX Extras, an ever-expanding collection of plugins and integrations perfectly built to help you get the most from MODX.


Build, host, and maintain all your PHP projects with MODX Cloud Hosting. While built to get the most from MODX CMS, MODX Cloud brings blazing-fast, secured, maintained and well supported hosting for any modern PHP application. The robust, easy-to-use tools available in MODX Cloud empowers creators to confidently manage digital experiences with ease—no DevOps team needed - without fear of breaking their sites.

MODX 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
  • Supported: Website analytics

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

MODX Screenshots

Screenshot of MODX Manager InterfaceScreenshot of SEO Management - page levelScreenshot of Screenshot of Easy editing landing pageScreenshot of Edit files directlyScreenshot of Create & edit custom fieldsScreenshot of Edit templates in the manager

MODX Video

Meet Fred, the Friendly Editor

MODX Technical Details

Deployment TypesOn-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsWindows, Linux, Mac
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported LanguagesEnglish, Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(4)

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!

MODX is a highly customizable CMS that offers complete flexibility for tailoring websites to clients' business needs. With MODX, users can create stunning and unique designs that are not limited by generic templates. The theming setup and syntax in MODX make website design and implementation easy, providing unlimited design possibilities without limitations on HTML code generation.

One of the key use cases for MODX is its ability to enable the quick turnaround of websites within days. This rapid CMS allows users to efficiently create medium to enterprise-level websites and systems, saving development time compared to other CMS platforms. Additionally, MODX's caching feature improves website performance, ensuring fast page load times for a seamless user experience.

Another major use case for MODX is its user-friendly interface and ease of use, making it ideal for both experienced CMS users and those without CMS or HTML experience. Users have had positive experiences with MODX's intuitive theming setup and syntax, as well as its highly customizable site manager that offers the ability to create custom fields and arrange them as desired.

Furthermore, MODX has proven to be a secure and reliable CMS for managing websites, with users mentioning its flexibility, speed, and overall quality. Content creation in MODX is easy and enjoyable when implemented correctly, granting total control over website content. The ability to integrate with popular payment systems like PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net further enhances its functionality for e-commerce websites.

While the learning curve for MODX may be higher compared to other CMS platforms, the active community provides fast support, ensuring that users can overcome any hurdles they may encounter along the way. MODX can be hosted on the MODX cloud or on users' own servers, providing flexibility in deployment options.

Overall, businesses across various industries have successfully used MODX as their main CMS for creating dynamic websites that meet their specific requirements. From simple low-budget websites to major webshops and university websites, MODX has garnered a strong reputation as a mature and favored CMS for delivering reliable content management solutions.

Highly Customizable and Flexible: Reviewers have stated that MODX is a highly customizable and flexible CMS, allowing them to adapt it to the specific needs of their websites or businesses. Many users appreciate the level of customization offered by MODX, enabling them to easily modify and customize the CMS without extensive programming knowledge.

Intuitive Interface: The interface of MODX has been praised for its intuitiveness and ease of use. Users find it easy to navigate and manage their content and assets. They particularly like how simple it is to create and edit pages without any complications.

Improved Speed and Performance: Users have reported significant improvements in Google PageSpeed Insights after implementing MODX as their CMS. Some reviewers even claim that MODX is the fastest CMS they have ever used, highlighting its excellent speed and performance.

Confusing User Interface: Many users have found the user interface of MODX to be confusing, making tasks difficult and impacting their overall experience with the software. The complex navigation and organization of features can lead to frustration and hinder efficient workflow.

Lack of Direct Deployment Process: A number of users have mentioned the absence of a direct deployment process from platforms like GitHub, which makes updating content and code tedious and not developer-friendly. This lack of seamless integration limits efficiency for developers who rely on version control systems.

Difficulties in Installing and Configuring: Users have expressed difficulties in installing and configuring MODX, particularly for beginners. The initial setup process can be challenging, requiring technical knowledge that may deter less experienced users. The need for improved installation documentation or guided tutorials has been highlighted by reviewers.

Users have made several recommendations for ModX based on their experiences with the platform.

  1. ModX is highly regarded as a great platform for hosting websites and managing content. Users appreciate its functionality and ease of use in these areas.

  2. Many users recommend ModX specifically for developing business websites. They find that the platform provides the necessary tools and features to create professional and effective websites for their businesses.

  3. Users also commend ModX for its security and robustness as a CMS. They believe that it can be scaled to a greater extent, making it suitable for organizations that require a flexible and adaptable solution over time.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-3 of 3)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Philipp Schmidt | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Great system, really flexible, really fast, really secure especially when hardened (which only takes a few minutes and no plugins are required unlike other CMS)...

Content creation is easy, however this often depends on how it was implemented, a bad implementation (like in any other CMS) will make content creators dislike the system, hence good implementation is key. This would also be the case in any other CMS. If implemented correctly it is way easier [and is] more enjoyable to use than WordPress. For example have had client that came from a WP as well as a typo3 background and they preferred MODX.

As a designer you are not limited to anything. No html code is generated by the CMS. Hence anything goes, we have even build apps that only output json, and the client edits the pages all the same on the backoffice. Very few limits.

Writing custom code is easy using "snippets" hence it is extremely scalable.

It is also fast, really fast, faster than most out of the box, even faster than many flat-file CMS.

Bad things are, that the learning curve is higher than in other cms, and that the community is not as big. However they are very active on slack and questions get answered very fast.

Hosting can be done by MODX directly using their cloud (for a monthly fee), or on your own server.

And it is mature, all in all it is our fav CMS out there.

  • Customize, no limits anything is possible in terms of design and output.
  • Scalable, can grow fast in terms of page numbers and still serve them faster than most CMS out there.
  • Security - its really secure esp if you harden it. Knock on wood, but we never had a MODX site hacked.
  • Fast - caching is great really great speeds
  • Quality add ons - instead of 1000000 plugins MODX has a few that are written really well and do everything you need, fast and optimized.
  • Releases - MODX 3 is taking long to get released
  • Small community
[MODX is well suited for] all websites, from blogs to corporate sites. It is fast scalable and really good. A small site can be build really fast, and a large site can be made extremely scalable. A website redesign is easy to implement with a new template, without having to redo the content. It got great user groups and users and back-office access can be completely customized.

While ecommerce is possible with some really good plugins I would only use MODX with ecommerce for sites where ecommerce is not the primary role. For pure ecommerce sites rather use a dedicated system like e.g. PrestaShop (i would say the same thing with other ecommerce plugins e.g. WP woo commerce don't do it unless its a site add on.)


Web Content Creation (8)
95%
9.5
WYSIWYG editor
100%
10.0
Code quality / cleanliness
100%
10.0
Admin section
90%
9.0
Page templates
100%
10.0
Library of website themes
70%
7.0
Mobile optimization / responsive design
100%
10.0
Publishing workflow
100%
10.0
Form generator
100%
10.0
Web Content Management (5)
96%
9.6
Content taxonomy
100%
10.0
SEO support
100%
10.0
Bulk management
90%
9.0
Availability / breadth of extensions
90%
9.0
Community / comment management
100%
10.0
Platform & Infrastructure (2)
80%
8.0
API
60%
6.0
Internationalization / multi-language
100%
10.0
Security (1)
100%
10.0
Role-based user permissions
100%
10.0
CMS programming language or framework
N/A
N/A
  • Bigger learning curve but well worth it
After having built sites with WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, october cms, craft cms, magento, presstashop, opencart, os commerce and more it is my number 1 (october cms is 2).

Once you know what you are doing it is faster and easier to build amazing sites that have really clean good code, great SEO, are scalable and are fast, compared to he other systems.

Problem is most people only try 1 CMS which is usually wordpresss and then stick to it without testing others and what advantages they yield, its a bit sad but thats human nature I guess......
Great and easy to use for both the coder and the end user. Especially if setup correctly by the coder.
Great community support on slack.
If you have a paid plugin great support also esp from modmore
If you have cloud hosting MODX support is fast and all servers are optimized for MODX
4
We all use [MODX] to both create and manage websites.
1
We have 1 person doing support
  • Provide us with a really good CMS solution
  • Provide clients and content creators with a excellent CMS solutions
  • Output just json and then use jasonelle to build native mobile apps in record time
  • Hopefully [MODX] 3 will make everything faster, better and future proof the CMS
It is the CMS we use the most, not because we know it well but because we literally tried many of other CMS and this one did it for us.

However having said we really do not like the one shoe fits all approach. E..g for eCommerce we usually use PrestaShop etc. if a specialized CMS can do a task rather use that.
However for a general CMS [MODX] is hard to beat.
Yes

clutterd, bad security not scalable , or complicated. the best out of the 3 above is Drupal. We decided [MODX] works much better for us
  • Product Features
  • Product Usability
  • Product Reputation
no clutter / bloat, great security, fast, scalable, customizable
try even more CMS if and when time allows
  • Implemented in-house
No
Change management was minimal
No change management needed. Just a little training
  • Back-office needs to be setup well and easy for inexperience content editors to be happy
Good system
  • no training
Lots of tutorials if someone builds a [MODX] site for you then you will get training.
There are also great videos and books
Literally everything can be configured which is really great
However it does take time.....
Harden it
Slight manager changes to make it easier for content editors

Some - we have done small customizations to the interface
Just small changes, like adding client logos and sometimes colors
Some - we have added small pieces of custom code
You can write snippets and plugins and customize everything
None
No
It is available but I do not host in the [MODX] cloud because my clients are in south africa and our sites need to be hosted locally to optimize speed.
Yes
Report on github like any opensource software
On slack, people explained exactly how CMP with MIGX worked very helpful
  • Template variable
  • CMP migx need better tutorial for lower learning curve
Yes
Well it is responsive
Very scalable. e.g. in the [MODX] manager you can manage multiple websites at once without having to login else where. it is very convenient and this way resources and be easily managed and shared.
We have not had it go down due to bugs etc. especially when comparing it to other cms out there.
Damn its fast. really good page speed out of the box.
  • jsonette
  • ecwid
You can customize the output of [MODX] hence there is ALOT that can be done.

However one thing that is not that great is the [MODX] api, however I have not played enough with it to really give a good opinion on it
  • telegram bot
  • File import/export
  • Single Signon
  • API (e.g. SOAP or REST)
  • Javascript widgets
All integration work easy
None were a problem all were fast to do
Simple integration are really straight forward. For more complex stuff writing a snipped is not that difficult
Ended up not signing up to the [MODX] cloud because it will not work for us in south africa. however you can host it on your own server.
Ended up not signing up to thee [MODX] cloud because it will not work for us in south africa. however you can host it on your own server.
Did not attempt to neg
If in EU or US, and not at the end of the world like use then the cloud system makes good sense
Yes
Very easy both manually and via a snippet (which auto upgrade)
  • Bug fixes
  • New features
  • Bug fixes
  • New features
  • MODX 3 release cool new stuff I hope
No
No
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
MODX is currently being used as the main CMS for our university website. It is managed solely by the office of information technology, specifically the marketing and database teams. For our university it delivers a reliable content management platform that allows the university to customize each webpage for various purposes.
  • Ease of use - the MODX platform is very easy to use for someone who may have limited experience in content management.
  • Content blocks - the content blocks within MODX add to the usability and customization of the website being managed.
  • Content Blocks - I mentioned this as a strength, but it also has its quirks. There are times that things do not function properly within the content blocks we have set up.
  • More Customization - The ability for the average user to customize more without having to know a ton of code.
The biggest scenario in which MODX is well suited is for a company who wants to have a top-notch site that is hosted on a CMS that allows a user-friendly experience for both the back-end and front-end users. It would not be suited for an organization does not have anyone in-house that can code who wants to have a lot of control over future designs.
Web Content Creation (8)
68.75%
6.9
WYSIWYG editor
40%
4.0
Code quality / cleanliness
70%
7.0
Admin section
70%
7.0
Page templates
70%
7.0
Library of website themes
60%
6.0
Mobile optimization / responsive design
80%
8.0
Publishing workflow
80%
8.0
Form generator
80%
8.0
Web Content Management (5)
78%
7.8
Content taxonomy
70%
7.0
SEO support
90%
9.0
Bulk management
80%
8.0
Availability / breadth of extensions
70%
7.0
Community / comment management
80%
8.0
Platform & Infrastructure (2)
80%
8.0
API
80%
8.0
Internationalization / multi-language
80%
8.0
Security (1)
70%
7.0
Role-based user permissions
70%
7.0
CMS programming language or framework
N/A
N/A
  • The positive impact that MODX has had on our organization is that it has allowed us to generate more organic traffic to our site.
  • We are also able to push more paid advertisements to our site on our lead generation landing pages.
The other company that we looked into was WordPress and all of the features that it offered our organization. What MODX offered to us from development to everyday use just made more sense for our organization as a whole. WordPress is still a great CMS platform, just not exactly what we were looking for.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
MODX was the content management software that my business used for our website. We've since changed to WordPress, but MODX was used for several years before that to custom design and host web pages. It was used by our Marketing and Creative teams and managed by our Development team for the most part.
  • Custom design capabilities.
  • Works well with plugins.
  • Permission systems for users.
  • The user interface was confusing at times.
  • Not a plug and play CMS system.
  • The site manager doesn't always run fast.
In my opinion, MODX is usually the choice of a developer who wants to build out custom designs that create really interesting web pages, but when it comes to being easily used and edited by your marketing team, you can run into a lot of issues and end up making simple changes a more involved process.
Web Content Creation (8)
81.25%
8.1
WYSIWYG editor
70%
7.0
Code quality / cleanliness
80%
8.0
Admin section
80%
8.0
Page templates
80%
8.0
Library of website themes
80%
8.0
Mobile optimization / responsive design
90%
9.0
Publishing workflow
80%
8.0
Form generator
90%
9.0
Web Content Management (5)
84%
8.4
Content taxonomy
90%
9.0
SEO support
80%
8.0
Bulk management
80%
8.0
Availability / breadth of extensions
80%
8.0
Community / comment management
90%
9.0
Platform & Infrastructure (2)
40%
4.0
API
80%
8.0
Internationalization / multi-language
N/A
N/A
Security (1)
100%
10.0
Role-based user permissions
100%
10.0
CMS programming language or framework
N/A
N/A
  • Increased security permissions of the users and freelancers who worked on our website.
  • Gave our developers the ability to create any page that they wanted with custom code.
  • Hindered our Marketing team's ability to stay on top of our content strategy with changes.
As said before, MODX is a coder's dream because of the flexibility it provides to own your code and has true creative freedom. Because of that, there is a bigger learning curve when it comes to a non-developer trying to iterate on the CMS with content additions and changes. To that end, WordPress, HubSpot, and Unbounce all incorporate a far more user-friendly approach to website building.
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