Craft CMS vs ProcessWire
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted content management systems options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Craft CMS | ProcessWire |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 79 · Good |
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | MIT | MPL-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,608 | ★ 1,153 |
| First released | 2013 | 2010 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Sitecore | WordPress, Drupal |
What are Craft CMS and ProcessWire?
Craft CMS
Craft CMS is a content management system focused on giving developers and designers complete control over content structure and markup. The core product is open source with optional commercial editions.
- Flexible content modeling
- Twig templating
- GraphQL API
- Plugin store
ProcessWire
ProcessWire is an open-source CMS and framework that gives developers a powerful, jQuery-inspired API for working with content. It is known for flexible content modeling and clean front-end markup.
- Powerful content API
- Flexible field-based modeling
- Clean front-end output
- Module ecosystem
Craft CMS vs ProcessWire: key differences
Both projects are written in PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Craft CMS versus MPL-2.0 for ProcessWire. ProcessWire is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Craft CMS. ProcessWire is the more established project (first released 2010), while Craft CMS arrived in 2013. Craft CMS has the considerably larger community, at 3,608 GitHub stars versus 1,153.
Why pick each one
Choose Craft CMS if…
- Excellent for bespoke sites
- Clean control panel
Watch out for
- Pro edition is paid
- Not ideal for non-developers
Choose ProcessWire if…
- Excellent developer API
- Highly flexible
Watch out for
- Less polished for non-developers
- Smaller community
Frequently asked questions
Is Craft CMS or ProcessWire better?
Neither is universally better. Craft CMS has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Craft CMS and ProcessWire free and open-source?
Yes. Craft CMS is licensed under MIT and ProcessWire under MPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Craft CMS and ProcessWire with Docker?
Craft CMS: yes. ProcessWire: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Craft CMS or ProcessWire?
ProcessWire has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Craft CMS. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.