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A CMS worth your while, Concrete5
June 21, 2014

A CMS worth your while, Concrete5

Melanie Mumme | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Concrete5

Concrete5 is used when clients come to us requesting a new site built with the CMS Concrete5, or they have an existing site using Concrete5. Concrete5 is one of many CMS platforms out there, however it is in our top 3 for many reasons. A good CMS will speed up development time, and make extending a websites functionality easier, it solves the problem of reinventing the wheel for all the basic framework needed for various functions and features
  • Easy to use interface. Unlike many other CMS Concrete5 has a relatively simple and intuitive interface. This makes it easier to learn to use the platform.
  • Consistent way of entering content into the CMS. Everything is a block and content is placed into that block and entered into the CMS through the front end.
  • Built in meta data, xml sitemap capabilities included in the core distribution, unlike other CMS where you need extensions or plugins to get these features
  • Easy to use WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor window for non-coders
  • Ability to revert pages to older versions
  • Built in permissions
  • Availability of add-ons is limited, especially when compared to Wordpress plugins.
  • The number of free vs. paid (quality) add-ons is inferior to Wordpress, many paid add-ons are priced arbitrarily, if there were more competitors prices would normalize
  • Drag and drop functions are not present throughout, this can be confusing for first time users. Some users may find drag and drop to be annoying.
  • Validation errors in the core seem to be common, maybe not as common as Drupal, but the core should not be pushed to production with validation errors.
  • I think being able to offer multiple CMS options gives our service more value for our customers. They are not stuck with one CMS.
  • Better customer service to be able to assist clients already using Concrete5
  • Drupal,Joomla!
Comparing Concrete5 to Drupal and Joomla are easy. Joomla has a steep learning curve, and Concrete5 does not, this means if I have to teach a client to use a CMS, Concrete5 will be a much smoother process. Drupal also tends to have a bit of a learning curve, but beyond that Drupal tends to produce the most errors, errors which prevent the site from working, If there is a headache CMS that makes me want to code everything from scratch instead, it is Drupal!
I would never discourage a client from using Concrete5, and I will continue to offer Concrete5, among other CMS, to new clients. I think Concrete5 will continue to grow and the number of quality add-ons will do the same. The core of Conctere5 is powerful and the interface is pleasing, there is room for improvement but I think people will continue to support this CMS, adding to its value overtime.
When a client wants to be able to modify their own site, Concrete5 is a great choice. I tend to offer more than one solution when implementing a CMS. I give a demonstration of each option to the client (Usually WP, Concrete5 and Joomla) and then I let them decide. It is important that the client be comfortable with the interface if they are going to use it. It is also important to understand the scope of the project, as some CMS will handle certain applications and tasks better. With a good developer, anything is possible, with any CMS, but some CMS can make development times shorter, thus reducing costs for the client.