Concrete CMS review
A flexible CMS for teams that need visual editing plus structured content controls.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Concrete CMS is a web content management system for creating, editing, organizing, and publishing websites. It is aimed at site owners, content teams, agencies, and developers who need visual editing alongside structured content management. In-context WYSIWYG editing, drag-and-drop blocks, reusable stacks, themes, templates, and responsive layouts support page creation without making the CMS purely design-focused. Developers can also use custom page types and attributes to build customized websites and applications.
The core CMS is free, open-source, and MIT licensed for self-hosting. PortlandLabs also offers optional managed hosting plans. Starter includes one site editor, unlimited support questions, managed upgrades, nightly backup, 10,000 page views per month, and 2GB of storage. Business expands access to five site editors and adds a content delivery network and free SSL, while retaining unlimited support questions, managed upgrades, and nightly backup. Custom SLA adds custom codebase support, continuous backup and restoration, staging and production servers, custom development, co-managed upgrades and development, and custom staging and CI/CD. These options give teams a path from self-hosted publishing to managed operations and tailored development support.
For content governance, Concrete CMS brings role-based permissions, access controls, approval workflows, multilingual content management, SEO controls, metadata, URL management, bulk updates, media and file management, forms, and surveys into the same system. Its strongest fit is a small-to-midsize site that values in-context editing but still needs reusable content structures, editorial controls, and responsive presentation. The published integration scope centers on popular CRMs, so teams that require a broad ecosystem of specialized integrations should assess that fit before choosing it. Concrete CMS suits organizations wanting an open-source foundation with optional managed hosting; teams seeking extensive integration coverage may prefer another CMS.
Concrete CMS pros and cons
- Where it wins
- In-context editing with drag-and-drop reusable blocks
- Structured page types, permissions, approvals, and multilingual content
- Free, MIT-licensed self-hosted CMS with optional managed hosting
- Where it doesn't
- Integration coverage is limited to popular CRMs
- Starter includes one site editor
- Advanced custom codebase support requires the Custom SLA plan
Concrete CMS fact sheet, pricing and score →
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