Concrete CMS for publishers: in-context editing under an MIT licence

What is Concrete CMS?

Concrete CMS is a PHP content management system. The vendor’s site describes it as making website management as simple as editing a document, with point-and-click editing directly in pages. It carries a PortlandLabs copyright notice, and the licence file states the MIT License with a 2008 copyright to Concrete CMS Inc.

The repository covers version 9.0 and later. It says earlier concrete5 8.x and 5.7.x versions live in separate branches, which shows the project’s history under a previous name.

Our licence guide explains MIT in plain terms.

Who is Concrete CMS best for?

It suits small publishers, associations and organisations whose editors are not technical and want to change a page where they see it. A site with a mix of editorial pages, a news section and some forms fits the block model well.

It is less obvious for a high-volume newsroom with thousands of articles, many contributors and strict approvals, because the sources we opened lean on page editing rather than article pipelines. We have not tested that, so treat it as a question to put to a trial rather than a verdict. Compare WordPress and Drupal.

Editorial workflow

The vendor describes in-context editing: content managers edit directly within pages. The block library in the repository includes content, image, page list, tags, topic list, FAQ, gallery, video and Express form blocks, so editors assemble pages from ready-made parts.

The source tree includes Workflow, Permission and Conversation directories, plus Calendar and Job directories. Those show that code for permissions, workflow and discussion exists. We did not open documentation describing how they are configured, whether drafts and review stages work as a newsroom needs, or how scheduled publishing behaves, so we make no claim about them. Test those against your process; our features checklist lists the checks.

SEO, structured data and feeds

The block list includes an RSS displayer block, a page list block, breadcrumbs, a search block and a share-this-page block. We have not verified what the RSS displayer does, or whether Concrete publishes your own feed.

We did not open pages on meta tags, canonical handling, XML sitemaps or structured data, so we make no claims about them. The documentation navigation mentions editing domains and sitemaps as a tutorial topic, which suggests sitemap configuration exists. Check it directly, and judge any output against Google’s documentation.

Media, multilingual and performance

The source tree includes a Multilingual directory and the block list has a switch-language block, which indicates multilingual support in the codebase. The block list also has a gallery, image, video and document library blocks. We did not open documentation on translation models or image processing.

The 9.5.5 release notes mention thumbnail editor improvements (crop controls, live preview and dialog changes). The source tree has a Cache directory, but we did not verify caching options or CDN guidance, so check them with your host.

Hosting and requirements

The documentation says version 9.0 requires PHP 7.3 or greater, that 9.4 and later support PHP 8.4, and that 9.5 and later include PHP 8.5 compatibility. The database must be MySQL 5.7 or higher or MariaDB, with InnoDB tables. Official web server support is Apache and Nginx only; IIS may have worked historically but is not officially supported.

For a new install, use a current PHP version rather than the 9.0 minimum. Ask your host which versions it offers and run the install on a staging copy first.

Extending Concrete CMS

The 9.x documentation has a Developers section about extending Concrete with add-ons, themes and core development. The site navigation lists add-ons, themes and translations under Extensions. We did not verify the number of add-ons, so we give none.

The source tree includes Api and Express directories. The block list includes Express entry list, entry detail and form blocks, which point to a structured-data feature, though we did not open its documentation. We did not open API documentation, so we cannot say how complete the API is for headless use. See the headless guide for the trade-offs.

What Concrete CMS costs

The licence is free under MIT. Costs are hosting, developer time for themes and custom blocks, and any commercial add-ons or hosting you buy. The vendor’s site mentions hosting under Get Started, but we did not verify prices, so we give no figures. See the cost guide.

Where Concrete CMS falls short

• Official web server support is Apache and Nginx only.
• We could not confirm from documentation how workflow, scheduling or approval stages behave.
• SEO details such as meta tags and structured data were not verified in the sources we opened.
• We could not verify the size of its extension library or developer pool.
• Version 9.0’s PHP 7.3 minimum is old, so you must choose a current PHP deliberately.

Checks before you commit to Concrete CMS

The unknowns here are about editorial scale, so test them directly. Import a few hundred sample articles, or build a template that mimics your archive page, and see how editors find and update older stories using the page and block tools. Have two editors work at the same time and note how permissions and any approval step behave.

Then check the public-facing details: the output of titles, descriptions and canonical tags, any XML sitemap, and whether the site produces its own RSS feed or needs an add-on. Finally, confirm your host runs a PHP version that Concrete lists as supported. Version 9.5 and later include PHP 8.5 compatibility according to the documentation, so you should not need to run an old release.

The verdict for publishers

Concrete CMS has a clear idea: editors work in the page, and blocks give structure. Under an MIT licence that is attractive for small publishers and organisations that want a visual editing experience without writing code.

For article-heavy publishing with formal workflow and structured data needs, Drupal, TYPO3 and WordPress have clearer public documentation of those features. This profile rests on the official site, documentation and repository, not an install of our own; see how we test.