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Craft CMS vs TYPO3

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted content management systems options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
CR Craft CMS Flexible CMS for custom-designed websites VS TYPO3 Enterprise CMS popular for large corporate websites
FeatureCraft CMSTYPO3
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score88 · Excellent79 · Good
CategoryContent Management SystemsContent Management Systems
LicenseMITGPL-2.0
LanguagePHPPHP
Setup difficultyMediumHard
Min. RAM512 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 3,608★ 1,209
First released20131998
ReplacesWordPress, SitecoreAdobe Experience Manager, Sitecore

What are Craft CMS and TYPO3?

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

Read the full Craft CMS guide →

TYPO3

TYPO3 is an enterprise-grade open-source CMS widely used in Europe for corporate, government, and large multisite installations. It emphasizes scalability, multilingual content, and a structured editorial workflow.

  • Multisite management
  • Strong multilingual capabilities
  • Granular editor permissions
  • Long-term support releases

Read the full TYPO3 guide →

Craft CMS vs TYPO3: key differences

Both projects are written in PHP. Licensing differs — MIT for Craft CMS versus GPL-2.0 for TYPO3. Craft CMS is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for TYPO3. TYPO3 is the more established project (first released 1998), while Craft CMS arrived in 2013. Craft CMS has the considerably larger community, at 3,608 GitHub stars versus 1,209.

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
Craft CMS details

Choose TYPO3 if…

  • Built for large enterprise deployments
  • Reliable LTS release cycle

Watch out for

  • Complex to learn and configure
  • Resource intensive
TYPO3 details

Frequently asked questions

Is Craft CMS or TYPO3 better?

Craft CMS is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider TYPO3 if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Craft CMS and TYPO3 free and open-source?

Yes. Craft CMS is licensed under MIT and TYPO3 under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Craft CMS and TYPO3 with Docker?

Craft CMS: yes. TYPO3: yes.

Which is lighter on resources, Craft CMS or TYPO3?

Craft CMS has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for TYPO3. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.

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