Craft CMS vs Umbraco
Craft CMS is a closed-source traditional CMS that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. Umbraco is an open-source traditional CMS that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 13.
- Craft CMS Traditional · Closed source · 14 of 28 built in
- Umbraco Traditional · Open source · 18 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Craft CMS on 29 Sept 2026, Umbraco on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.
WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.
Feature comparison
Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available
| Platform |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| What it is | Self-hosted PHP CMS with custom fields and Twig templates. Pixel & Tonic sells licences per project and runs Craft Cloud hosting. | Open-source .NET CMS that renders sites with Razor or serves content headless. Self-hosted or run on Umbraco Cloud. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | Craft CMS 5 in Solo, Team and Pro editions. Craft 6 is in alpha. Version 5.11.3, released 18 Sept 2026 | Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release. Version 17.7.0, released 17 Sept 2026 |
| Vendor | Pixel & Tonic craftcms.com | Umbraco A/S umbraco.com |
| Licence | Closed source Proprietary Craft License, source available | Open source MIT |
| Hosting | Self-hosting Vendor cloud Craft Cloud starts at $120 per month per project and includes a Team licence. | Self-hosting Vendor cloud Forms and Deploy are paid add-ons when self-hosted. Umbraco Cloud includes both. |
| Built with | PHP, Yii 2, Twig | C#, ASP.NET Core on .NET 10, TypeScript backoffice |
| Database | MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL | SQL Server, SQLite |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Solo free for one user. Team $279, Pro $399 per project, then $99 per year for updates. Enterprise on request. | Free to start Free to self-host. Umbraco Cloud Starter €45, Standard €280, Professional €730 per month. Enterprise on request. |
| Content modelling | ||
| Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited. | Built in Project config YAML records sections, entry types and fields for Git. 7 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Deploy saves document types as .uda files in Git. Paid on-premises, included on Umbraco Cloud. 45 |
| Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code. | Built in 6 | Built in Document types are built in the backoffice. |
| Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them. | Built in Matrix fields with nested entry types. 8 | Built in Block List and Block Grid editors. 6 |
| Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language. | Built in Per-site and per-language field translation on every edition. 61 | Built in Culture variants per property. |
| Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service. | Built in 10 | Built in ImageSharp crops and resizes images from query string parameters. 9 |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Plugin or add-on Free first-party Element API plugin. 12 | Built in Content Delivery API. 7 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Built in 111 | Not available No official GraphQL. Community package Nikcio.UHeadless adds one. 20 |
| Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published. | Plugin or add-on Free first-party Webhooks plugin. 13 | Built in 8 |
| Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no. | Built in Twig templates. | Built in Razor templates. |
| Editorial workflow | ||
| Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then. | Built in 14 | Built in |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Built in Post date and expiry date on entries. 15 | Built in 10 |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Built in Editors can view and restore revisions. 14 | Built in Rollback compares and restores earlier versions. 11 |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in 1 | Built in |
| Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it. | Limited Live Preview shows the edit form beside the page. No click-to-edit. 14 | Not available |
| Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage. | Plugin or add-on Workflow plugin by Verbb, $49. 16 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Workflow add-on. Its free version is capped at five approval groups. Full use is paid. 1221 |
| Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release. | Not available | Plugin or add-on Release Sets in a licensed Umbraco Workflow. 13 |
| Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live. | Not available | Not available |
| Access and governance | ||
| Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set. | Paid tier Pro. Team allows one user group. Solo has one user. 51 | Built in User groups with granular permissions. |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Paid tier Per-field Current User Condition. Rules by user group need Pro. 65 | Limited Per-property read and write limits per user group, enforced in the UI only. 14 |
| Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider. | Paid tier First-party SAML SSO on Enterprise. 13 | Built in OpenID Connect providers such as Entra ID, configured in code. 15 |
| Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log. | Not available No core log. Craft 5 audit plugins exist but are niche. 20 | Limited Audit trail per item plus a log viewer. No installation-wide audit screen in core. 16 |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Built in Included on every edition. 19 | Built in Several root nodes, each with its own domains. |
| Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface. | Built in 18 | Built in Backoffice extensions. |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Built in Craft Plugin Store. 1 | Built in Umbraco Marketplace. |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Plugin or add-on Formie by Verbb, $99. Pricing page lists forms as plugin-only. 171 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Forms, paid licence. Included on Umbraco Cloud. 217 |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Paid tier Public registration needs Pro. 5 | Built in Members, separate from backoffice users. |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Not available No first-party AI feature. | Plugin or add-on Free Umbraco.AI packages add prompts and an editor copilot. 18 |
| Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content. | Not available Third-party Craft CMS MCP plugin by Stimmt Digital. 19 | Built in Umbraco CMS Developer MCP server. 19 |
Craft CMS sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Craft CMS 5 in Solo, Team and Pro editions. Craft 6 is in alpha..
- Craft CMS pricing
- Craft Cloud pricing
- Craft CMS Enterprise
- Craft 5 docs: Licensing and editions
- Craft 5 docs: User management
- Craft 5 docs: Custom fields
- Craft 5 docs: Project config
- Craft 5 docs: Matrix fields
- Craft 5 docs: Sites and localization
- Craft 5 docs: Image transforms
- Craft 5 docs: GraphQL API
- Element API plugin (Pixel & Tonic)
- Webhooks plugin (Pixel & Tonic)
- Craft 5 docs: Drafts and revisions
- Craft 5 docs: Entries
- Workflow plugin by Verbb
- Formie plugin by Verbb
- Craft 5 docs: Extending Craft
- Craft CMS MCP plugin by Stimmt Digital
- Trails audit plugin
Umbraco sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release..
- Umbraco releases
- Umbraco pricing
- Umbraco 18 release
- Umbraco Deploy licensing
- Umbraco Cloud: UDA files
- Umbraco docs: Block Grid
- Umbraco docs: Content Delivery API
- Umbraco docs: Webhooks
- Umbraco docs: Image Cropper
- Umbraco docs: Scheduled Publishing
- Umbraco docs: Rollback to a previous version
- Umbraco Workflow
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Release Sets
- Umbraco docs: Property Level UI Permissions
- Umbraco docs: External Login Providers
- Umbraco docs: Log Viewer
- Umbraco Forms licensing
- Umbraco.AI on GitHub
- Umbraco MCP on GitHub
- Nikcio.UHeadless on Umbraco Marketplace
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Licensing
Considering more platforms? Compare Craft CMS and Umbraco with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Craft CMS and Umbraco get a different status on 13 of the 28 features and the same status on 15. Craft CMS has 14 built in on its baseline edition, Umbraco has 18. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
- Licence
- Craft CMS is closed source (Proprietary Craft License, source available). Umbraco is open source (MIT).
Built in on Craft CMS, a different answer on Umbraco 2
- Content model in code Craft CMS: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- GraphQL API Craft CMS: Built in. Umbraco: Not available.
Built in on Umbraco, a different answer on Craft CMS 6
- REST API Craft CMS: Plugin or add-on. Umbraco: Built in.
- Webhooks Craft CMS: Plugin or add-on. Umbraco: Built in.
- Custom roles Craft CMS: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Single sign-on Craft CMS: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Site member accounts Craft CMS: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Official MCP server Craft CMS: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 5
- Visual editing Craft CMS: Limited. Umbraco: Not available.
- Content releases Craft CMS: Not available. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Field-level permissions Craft CMS: Paid tier. Umbraco: Limited.
- Audit log Craft CMS: Not available. Umbraco: Limited.
- AI writing assistant Craft CMS: Not available. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
More comparisons
Full write-ups with worked examples and costs: Craft CMS vs Payload.
Craft CMS against other platforms
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Umbraco against other platforms
- Adobe Experience Manager vs Umbraco
- Contentful vs Umbraco
- Contentstack vs Umbraco
- CoreMedia Content Cloud vs Umbraco
- DatoCMS vs Umbraco
- Decap CMS vs Umbraco
- Directus vs Umbraco
- Drupal vs Umbraco
- EmDash vs Umbraco
- FirstSpirit vs Umbraco
- Framer vs Umbraco
- Ghost vs Umbraco
- HubSpot CMS vs Umbraco
- Hygraph vs Umbraco
- Instatic vs Umbraco
- Joomla vs Umbraco
- Keystone vs Umbraco
- Kirby vs Umbraco
- Liferay DXP vs Umbraco
- Optimizely CMS vs Umbraco
- Umbraco vs Payload
- Prismic vs Umbraco
- Progress Sitefinity vs Umbraco
- Sanity vs Umbraco
- Sitecore vs Umbraco
- Squarespace vs Umbraco
- Statamic vs Umbraco
- Storyblok vs Umbraco
- Strapi vs Umbraco
- TYPO3 vs Umbraco
- Umbraco vs Wagtail
- Umbraco vs Webflow
- Umbraco vs Wix
- Umbraco vs WordPress
- Xperience by Kentico vs Umbraco
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