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Public Platform review

#14 of 33 in Government Website Builders

A broad GOV.UK-based publishing platform with page-view pricing and managed hosting.

7.3/10Editor score
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Public Platform7.3 Visit platform

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Public Platform is a hosted content-management service for councils and other government organisations. It combines a GOV.UK Design System-based frontend with Gutenberg block editing, service pages, A-Z listings, news, events, forms, surveys, search and editorial workflows. Bilingual publishing supports both manual and machine translation, while scheduled publishing, content expiry, file uploads and a media library cover common publishing needs. Its best fit is a UK public-sector team that needs structured, accessible web publishing rather than a general-purpose website builder.

Pricing starts at £200 per month for up to 5,000 page views and rises to £400 for 5,001 to 15,000, £800 for 15,001 to 50,000, and £1,200 for 50,001 to 100,000 page views. The next tiers cost £1,650 for 100,001 to 150,000, £1,950 for 150,001 to 300,000, £2,250 for 300,001 to 500,000, and £2,700 for 500,001 to 800,000 page views. The lower four tiers include production and test hosting, support, documentation, uptime monitoring, security updates and a 99.9% uptime SLA. Prices are monthly, in GBP, and exclude VAT.

The platform’s breadth is a clear strength for organisations managing multiple public services. Solr-powered global search, multistep forms, accessibility audit scans and support for multiple microsites from one instance extend beyond basic page publishing. Integrations include Bartec, ModernGov, Elgin Roadworks, Council Advertising Network, Microsoft Azure Chatbots, Google Analytics, SiteImprove and ReciteMe. Higher plans list microsites, cookie-less analytics, accessibility auditing and Doc2Page PDF-to-web conversion. Choose Public Platform for managed, structured public-sector publishing; teams wanting a free plan, seat-based pricing or a non-web platform should look elsewhere.

Public Platform pros and cons

  • Where it wins
    • GOV.UK Design System-based frontend with multilingual publishing
    • Forms, workflows, search, events and scheduled content management
    • Managed hosting, monitoring, security updates and a 99.9% uptime SLA
  • Where it doesn't
    • No free plan is available
    • Pricing is based on monthly page views rather than users or seats
    • The platform is available on the web only

Public Platform fact sheet, pricing and score →

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