Comparison
Total CMS vs Craft CMS
Craft is a genuinely good CMS with a free tier we cannot match. It is also the closest thing to Total CMS on this site — same language, same templating, same kind of structured content modelling. Which leaves one real question: should your content live in a database?
Craft CMS details last verified
The short answer: these two have more in common than most pairs on this site. Both are commercial, source-available PHP software. Both template in Twig. Both model content as structured fields you define rather than a free-form page builder. A developer moving between them would be productive quickly.
What actually separates them is the database. Craft requires MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL — there is no flat-file mode, and content lives in database rows. Total CMS has no database layer at all. That single decision cascades: it sets what your backups look like, whether content can travel in a pull request, and what you need from a server. Craft also expects Composer and command-line access on that server, and recommends a cron entry or a daemon for its queue in production. Total CMS runs on ordinary PHP hosting.
Craft Solo is free forever and valid for public production sites — one user account, and it still includes multi-site and GraphQL. Total CMS has no equivalent, and for a single-editor site that is a real reason to look at Craft. Worth knowing, though: a free licence does not change the server requirements. You still need a database, Composer and command-line access, so the hosting decision and the running cost are the same as any paid Craft site. Free removes the licence, not the operational overhead.
If you want a free starting point, GraphQL, published end-of-life dates, or your content is genuinely relational, Craft is an excellent choice. If you would rather not run a database at all, need the site on ordinary hosting without Composer or a cron entry, or want your content version-controlled alongside your code, Total CMS will fit better.
At a glance
Total CMS vs Craft CMS, feature by feature
| Feature | Total CMS | Craft CMS |
|---|---|---|
| Database Craft 5 needs MySQL 8.0.17+, MariaDB 10.4.6+ or PostgreSQL 13+. There is no flat-file mode — Project Config stores schema and settings as YAML, but content stays in the database. | None, ever | Required |
| Content storage | JSON files on disk | Database rows |
| Content in version control Craft's Project Config is a real strength here: sections, fields and settings live as YAML you can commit and deploy without pushing a database. It deliberately excludes content, which is the half Total CMS also puts in git. | Yes — content is files | Schema yes, content no |
| Backing up | Copy the folder | Files and a database dump |
| Licence Both are proprietary, source-available software. Neither is open source, so that argument does not apply to this pairing. | Commercial, one-time, per domain | Commercial, per project |
| Price Craft Enterprise is quote-only. Craft also sells first-party hosting, Craft Cloud, from $110 per project per month with the licence bundled. | $79 Lite / $159 Standard / $359 Pro (one-time) | Free Solo / $279 Team / $399 Pro |
| Free tier A real advantage for Craft. Solo is valid for public production use indefinitely, limited to one user account, and still includes multi-site, localisation and GraphQL. | 45-day trial | Free forever (Solo) |
| Updates included Both keep working when the window lapses. Craft is explicit that you may use the licensed version indefinitely, and that you are never charged for gaps in renewals. | 2 years | 1 year, then $99/year |
| If the licence has a problem Worth naming: Craft states that licence issues appear only in the control panel and that the front end of your site is never affected. That is good practice and not universal. | Admin warning | Control-panel warning only |
| PHP version Craft 6, currently in alpha, raises this to PHP 8.5. | 8.2+ | 8.2+ |
| Hosting Craft lists Composer 2.0+ as a requirement and its command-line tool is the documented path for updates and deployments. Several of its recommended PHP settings are commonly disabled on shared hosting. | Any PHP 8.2+ host | Composer and CLI on the server |
| Scheduled tasks and webhooks Craft's queue runs off web traffic by default; the docs recommend a cron entry or a daemonised listener for anything time-sensitive in production. | Built in (Automations) | Queue, cron recommended |
| Templating The rare pairing where both sides use the same template language — templating skill transfers directly in either direction. Craft adds an element query API (craft.entries()) for fetching content. | Twig 3, with 130+ custom filters and functions | Twig 3, with 22 custom tags |
| Content modeling Craft's model is deep and well regarded. Note that Craft 5 reworked Matrix substantially, converting blocks to entries and moving block-scoped fields into a global pool. | JSON schemas | Sections, entry types and field layouts |
| Admin interface Craft 5's control panel is built on Vue 2 with jQuery; Craft 6 rebuilds it on Vue 3, Inertia and Tailwind. | Included, server-rendered (HTMX) | Vue-based control panel |
| REST API Craft's headless story is GraphQL rather than REST. | Read and write, all editions | Not offered |
| GraphQL Included even in free Solo, and closed by default until you authorise a schema. A genuine advantage for Craft if GraphQL is what your front end wants. | Not offered | All editions |
| MCP server for AI agents Craft ships no first-party MCP server and no llms.txt. A capable community plugin exists. Be careful searching: the "official Craft MCP server" listed in several MCP directories belongs to craft.do, an unrelated note-taking app. | Built into the CMS (Pro) | Community plugin |
| Underlying framework Craft 6 is a framework change rather than an increment — Yii is replaced by Laravel and PHP 8.5 becomes the floor. Craft 5 is supported until 2031, so there is no urgency, but it is a migration to plan for. | Standalone (Slim) | Yii 2 today, Laravel in Craft 6 |
| Published end-of-life dates Craft publishes a dated support matrix, and Craft 5's window is unusually long. Craft 4 reached end of life in April 2026. Total CMS does not publish equivalent dates — a fair point against us for anyone planning years ahead. | Not published | Yes, Craft 5 to 2031 |
| Extension ecosystem Craft's store is considerably larger and has had far longer to grow. Total CMS's extension API is small enough that an AI coding agent can scaffold one from the starter repo, and each extension's capabilities are individually permissioned. A marketplace is planned. | Growing, with a simple extension API | A large, established plugin store |
When to choose Craft CMS instead
Craft is an excellent CMS with a deservedly strong reputation. Choose Craft if:
- You want a free tier that is genuinely production-ready. Solo is free forever for public sites, and still includes multi-site, localisation and GraphQL. Total CMS has no equivalent.
- You want GraphQL. It is included on every Craft edition, with GraphiQL built in. Total CMS does not offer GraphQL at all.
- Your content is genuinely relational or very large. This is what a database is for, and it is the honest limit of any flat-file system.
- You are planning years ahead. Craft publishes dated end-of-life commitments, and Craft 5 is supported into 2031. Total CMS does not publish equivalent dates.
- You want the larger plugin catalogue and a first-party hosting option. Craft Cloud bundles the licence and removes the server question entirely.
- You want schema in git without giving up a database. Project Config is a genuinely good answer to config-as-code deployment.
When Total CMS fits better
Total CMS is the better fit when:
- You do not want to run a database. Nothing to provision, secure, back up, or keep consistent with your files. A backup is a folder; a migration is a copy.
- The site has to run on ordinary hosting. No Composer on the server, no command-line step in your deploy, no cron entry for the queue.
- You want content in git, not just schema. Craft's Project Config version-controls the model; Total CMS version-controls the content too, so editorial changes review in a pull request.
- You want AI agents working on the site. Total CMS ships a first-party MCP server that exposes your collections and schemas over OAuth, plus an agent skill and Cursor rules installed with the package. Craft has neither, and no llms.txt.
- You want a REST API that writes. Total CMS reads and writes on every edition; Craft's headless story is GraphQL only.
- You would rather not plan a framework migration. Craft 6 replaces Yii with Laravel and raises the floor to PHP 8.5.
- Cost matters per site. Total CMS is $79 to $359 once per domain, against $279 or $399 per Craft project plus $99 a year for updates.
FAQ
Common questions
If both use Twig, how different are they really?
Templating skill transfers almost directly — both are Twig 3, and a developer comfortable in one will read the other's templates immediately. The differences are underneath: how content is stored, how you fetch it, and what the server needs. Craft gives you an element query API against a database; Total CMS gives you collection queries against files.
Craft Solo is free. Why would I pay for Total CMS?
If Solo covers your project, use it — free and production-valid indefinitely is a real advantage and we would rather you had the right tool. Solo allows one user account, so a second editor moves you to Team at $279 per project plus $99 a year. At that point you are comparing against $79 to $359 once per domain, and the database and hosting requirements become the deciding factors rather than price.
Is needing a database actually a problem?
Not inherently — databases are excellent at what they do, and if your content is large or genuinely relational you want one. It changes your operational life rather than your capability: backups become files plus a consistent dump, migrations involve moving that database, and content cannot be reviewed in a pull request or rolled back with your code.
Should I worry about Craft 6 replacing Yii with Laravel?
Not urgently. Craft 6 is in alpha with no announced release date, and Craft 5 has published support into 2031, so an existing site has years of runway. It is worth knowing about because it is a framework change rather than a normal upgrade — templates move, the mail layer changes, and PHP 8.5 becomes the minimum — so budget for it rather than assuming a routine version bump.
Can I run either on cheap shared hosting?
Total CMS runs on any host with PHP 8.2 or later and no database. Craft needs a database plus Composer and command-line access, and several of its recommended PHP settings are commonly disabled on shared plans. Craft is happier on a VPS or on their own Craft Cloud.
Can I migrate from Craft to Total CMS?
There is no automated Craft importer. Total CMS ships importers for Total CMS 1, Alloy, WordPress, CSV, JSON, RSS and URLs. Because Craft exposes GraphQL on every edition, scripting an export of your entries into JSON or CSV is more straightforward than with most systems — but expect to write that export yourself, and to rebuild templates.
Other comparisons
- Total CMS vs Kirby Kirby is one of the best flat-file CMSs there is, and if its philosophy suits you it is a great choice. The question was never whether Kirby is good — it is whether plain PHP templates and a per-site licence match the way you build. Total CMS answers that differently.
- Total CMS vs Statamic Statamic is excellent, and if your team already lives in Laravel it is probably the natural pick. The real question is whether you want a CMS with a framework attached — because that is the trade, and it cuts both ways.
- Total CMS vs Grav Grav is free, fast, MIT licensed and genuinely well built. If budget decides this, go and use it — you will not be cutting corners. What is left to compare is not capability but how much you want to assemble yourself.
- Total CMS vs WordPress WordPress runs 41% of the web and it earned that. This is not a page about WordPress being bad — its core is well built and its ecosystem is unmatched. It is about what you sign up to maintain, and whether that trade suits the site you are building.
- Total CMS vs Webflow Webflow's designer is the best visual building tool there is, and nothing here replaces it. But two questions are worth asking before you commit a client's site to it: what can you actually take with you, and who is Webflow building for now?
- Total CMS vs Squarespace Squarespace is very good at what it does, and for a lot of people reading this it is the right answer. This page is not an argument that you should leave it. It is about what happens if you ever want to.
Related guides
- Hosted vs self-hosted Before you choose between Squarespace and Webflow, or between Kirby and Craft, there is a bigger question underneath: do you want to rent a website platform or own the software that runs it? Here is how to decide, from someone with an obvious stake in the answer.
- The best flat-file CMS in 2026 Five flat-file content management systems worth your time, what each is genuinely good at, and where each one will frustrate you. Written by the makers of one of them — which is exactly why every entry lists real tradeoffs.
- A PHP CMS without a database Running a CMS with no MySQL sounds like a corner-cutting exercise. It isn't — but it does involve real tradeoffs, and it helps to know them before you commit a client project to one.
- WordPress alternatives for freelancers If you build client sites for a living, the CMS decision is really a decision about the next three years of your evenings. Here are the serious alternatives, judged on the things that actually affect a freelance business.
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Craft CMS details verified on . Software changes — check Craft CMS's own site for their current details.
Sources
Craft details verified from primary sources on 27 July 2026, against Craft 5.10.12:
- craftcms.com/pricing — editions, prices, renewals
- How Craft licences and renewals work and how enforcement works
- Craft — requirements — database, PHP and Composer
- Craft — Project Config
- Craft — queue — the cron recommendation
- Craft — GraphQL
- Craft — supported versions — the end-of-life matrix
- Craft 6 upgrade guide and the 6.x composer.json — the Laravel and PHP 8.5 change
- Craft Cloud — first-party hosting
- plugins.craftcms.com — the plugin store
Craft CMS is a trademark of Pixel & Tonic. We have no affiliation with Craft, and we have tried hard to represent it accurately — including where it is the better choice. If anything here is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will correct it.