Concrete CMS Overview – The Good and Unhealthy for 2023

With all of the instruments accessible in the marketplace at the moment, it’s simpler than ever earlier than to launch and publish a web site. However how are you supposed to decide on the proper software to host and handle your new website? Choosing the proper CMS (Content material Administration System) may be complicated and time-consuming, particularly for non-technical customers. If this sounds such as you, chances are you’ll think about using Concrete CMS.

Concrete CMS is an open-source content material administration system that was designed particularly for non-technical customers. Utilizing Concrete CMS’s drag-and-drop performance, you may rapidly construct and edit a web site with none superior technical information of HTML, CSS, or JavaScript.

On this article, we’ll take an in-depth have a look at Concrete CMS’s strengths, weaknesses, and key options so you may resolve if it’s the proper platform in your web site.

Concrete CMS: The Good and the Unhealthy

Out of the field, Concrete CMS affords a spread of options that cater to customers who desire a streamlined content material creation and modifying expertise on their web site. That being mentioned, it additionally has limitations that must be considered. Listed here are the completely different benefits and drawbacks you may anticipate to see throughout the Concrete CMS platform.

What Concrete CMS Is Good At

Consumer Friendliness: In case you lack expertise constructing and managing web sites, Concrete CMS simplifies core content material creation duties considerably. The platform’s visible editor permits you to effortlessly rearrange content material blocks via drag-and-drop performance with no need to write down a single line of code. This user-friendly interface makes Concrete CMS supreme for anybody who desires to replace and reorganize their website’s content material rapidly with out getting slowed down in any technical work.

The platform supplies a WYSIWYG editor, which implies there’s no guessing with regards to what the ultimate product will appear like. Moreover, you may simply add interactive components to your web site, like kinds, surveys, and calendars. This lets you work together with prospects in a significant method whereas capturing leads and changing guests into prospects.

Moreover, you may leverage Concrete CMS’s ease of use past the standard public-facing web site by creating an intranet or extranet for your corporation.

In case you’re new to web site creation, Concrete CMS is an all-in-one bundle that gives the instruments it’s essential get your web site off the bottom with out problem.

Optimized for Search Engines: Not an search engine optimization guru? Most individuals aren’t. And that’s okay—with Concrete CMS, you don’t must be. The platform simplifies technical search engine optimization duties so that you don’t must get too within the weeds with search engine marketing.

The platform’s instruments provide help to optimize your content material for serps, making search engine optimization really feel loads much less scary.

Constructed-in search engine optimization options embody {custom} URLs, an xml sitemap, meta tags, and straightforward use of H1 via H6 headers. You’re additionally in a position to set up Google Analytics simply, permitting you to watch your web site visitors and see how your content material performs over time.

Concrete CMS additionally affords a Bulk search engine optimization Updater software, which lets you replace meta titles, meta descriptions, meta key phrases, and web page slugs for each web page in your website rapidly.

Code High quality and Extensibility: By way of code high quality and extensibility, Concrete CMS is top-notch, which is sudden contemplating how user-friendly the platform is on the entrance finish. The platform makes use of a key value-based NoSQL information storage system as an alternative of a slower conventional SQL database, which makes issues run loads sooner. In different phrases, in case you select to make use of Concrete CMS, you received’t have to fret about your internet pages loading slowly.

Concrete CMS’s codebase additionally adheres to strict high quality requirements and follows a modular structure strategy that permits simple extensibility. For instance, its plugin structure permits for practically countless enlargement of performance via tons of of group plugins that improve the platform’s capabilities. The power to create person boards and consider web site analytics are nice examples of Concrete CMS’s group plugins at work.

Excessive-Finish Safety Options: Being an open-source platform, Concrete CMS advantages from code transparency that permits the group to scrutinize it for vulnerabilities. Which means that any points found by its customers may be swiftly addressed via fixes and patches for the reason that code is accessible to everybody in its person group.

Concrete CMS additionally contains safety measures similar to granular person roles and permissions, password encryption, password reset capabilities, and safety in opposition to frequent internet vulnerabilities like SQL injection and cross-site scripting. Moreover, Concrete CMS helps SSL/HTTPS connections to make sure safe communication on its customers’ web sites.

A number of Useful Assist Sources: We have been extraordinarily impressed with the quantity of assist sources Concrete CMS affords. In case you’re having points with content material or need to create {custom} code in your website, simply navigate to its assist webpage. From there, you’ll discover full directories of people that will help you remedy your points. Moreover, the platform affords a group discussion board that’s actively used—once we final checked, there had been a query posed and responded to inside the final 5 hours.

Concrete CMS additionally affords loads of documentation, together with a Consumer Information that’s separated into sections so you may simply discover what you’re in search of. For example, there are pages within the Consumer Information for sitemap administration, search engine optimization, making certain electronic mail deliverability, and extra.

Concrete CMS’s Potential Drawbacks

Smaller Neighborhood: As a result of Concrete CMS is smaller than among the different content material administration techniques on the market, the group can be smaller. Meaning there’s much less objects accessible within the market (like themes and add-ons). For example, if you wish to add ecommerce performance to your web site, there are a pair add-ons for integrating with Shopify, however among the different main ecommerce platforms are notably lacking.

You is probably not utterly out of luck, although. If there’s a characteristic or customization Concrete CMS doesn’t supply, you may attain out to the platform to advocate for superior options and customizations. There’s even a kind on its Contact web page particularly for requesting new options.

Documentation Can Be Imprecise: Whereas the platform affords a well-organized Consumer Information, which we appreciated, the precise documentation inside the subjects could be a bit obscure. Usually, once you click on on one of many hyperlinks, the documentation you get is just a few sentences. That is additionally one of the vital echoed critiques of the platform throughout person opinions—the documentation simply isn’t as strong because the code itself.

In case you have any points discovering the provide help to want within the documentation, you continue to have the choice of reaching out to Assist or visiting the platform’s boards for assist.

Plans and Pricing for Concrete CMS

One important benefit of utilizing Concrete CMS is that its core platform is on the market without charge below the MIT license.

Nevertheless, in case you’re trying to outsource your Concrete CMS website’s internet hosting and administration, there are three completely different paid plans accessible primarily based in your particular use case.

SaaS Plan

At $16 per 30 days billed yearly, the SaaS plan supplies a totally hosted and managed Concrete CMS setting. That is supreme for customers who need the convenience of an optimized website with no need to handle any technical particulars.

Key SaaS plan options embody:

• Upgrades mechanically managed
• Configuration assist included
• Nightly backups
• 10,000 web page views per 30 days
• 20GB of space for storing

DevOps Plan

Beginning at $175 per 30 days billed yearly, the DevOps plan is designed for builders wanting full management over a {custom} Concrete CMS setting that’s tailor-made to their particular wants.

Key DevOps plan options:

• Full entry to supply code
• Customers handle Concrete CMS upgrades
• Configuration & developer assist
• Steady backup & restoration
• 1 staging and 1 manufacturing server
• 50,000 web page views per 30 days
• 50GB of space for storing

Customized SLA Plan

For superior {custom} initiatives, Concrete CMS affords custom-tailored enterprise plans with devoted assist and SLAs.

Pricing begins at $1,596+ per 30 days billed yearly and contains:

• Co-managed upgrades & improvement
• Configuration & developer assist
• Steady backup & restoration
• Customized staging & CI/CD
• Hybrid improvement groups
• 100,000 web page views per 30 days
• 100GB of space for storing

The fantastic thing about Concrete CMS is that it might probably scale from a easy managed web site to a totally personalized enterprise deployment. In different phrases, the platform can scale with you as your wants change into extra bespoke, and also you need superior CMS performance.

Last Ideas on Concrete CMS

In case you have a easy web site or a lean crew that values simple content material updates over intensive customization choices, Concrete CMS is value contemplating. Its intuitive drag-and-drop editor makes it accessible to non-technical customers who need to create compelling content material and leverage a small however lively group of open-source customers.

General, Concrete CMS strikes an amazing steadiness between accessibility and performance. In case you’re a non-technical person who desires a safe, useful CMS that permits you to deal with content material creation over superior technical customization, Concrete CMS is a superb selection.