Comparison

Contensio vs. Statamic

Statamic is a well-crafted CMS with a clean UI and a flat-file-first approach. Contensio takes a different bet: a database, a fully open license, and everything multilingual from day one.

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Two different bets

Statamic stores content in flat files — Markdown or YAML on disk, ideally in a Git repository. The selling points are version-controlled content and no database to manage. The tradeoffs show up at scale: complex queries require workarounds, sorting and filtering large collections is slow, and relational data (link this product to these categories) gets awkward.

Contensio uses a database. Not because databases are cool, but because they're the right tool for querying, filtering, and relating structured content — which is what most real sites need.

The other major difference is licensing. Statamic is freemium — free for one user, $259/year for teams, with a commercial Pro tier for features like user accounts on the public site. Contensio is AGPL-3.0 — the full feature set, free for any project, any team size, forever.

Feature-by-feature

Feature	Statamic	Contensio	Notes
License	Paid addon Freemium — $259/year for teams	Built into core AGPL-3.0 — fully open source, any team size	Statamic is free for solo developers only.
Content storage	— Flat files (Markdown/YAML on disk)	— Database (MySQL / MariaDB)	Flat files are great for Git. Database is better for queries and relations.
Complex queries & filtering	Partial Limited — no SQL, collection filtering only	✓ Available Full SQL via Eloquent — WHERE, JOIN, aggregates	Matters for large datasets, related content, dynamic pages.
Custom content types	— Collections (configured in YAML / control panel)	Built into core Content Types — created in admin panel	Both support it; Statamic calls them Collections.
Custom fields	— Blueprints — YAML config or control panel	Built into core Field builder in admin — GUI, no config files
Multilingual	Paid addon Multisite addon — $199/year	Built into core Per-field translatable flag, translated slugs	One of the sharpest cost differences.
User accounts (public site)	Paid addon Pro feature — paid tier	Built into core Built in
Editorial workflow	Partial Basic revision and draft support	Built into core Submit → approve / soft-reject / hard-reject + emails + audit log
Content approval emails	Not available Not available	Built into core Reviewers and authors notified automatically
SEO metadata	Addon required SEO Pro addon	Built into core Meta title, description, OG image per item per language
Redirects manager	Addon required Redirect addon	Built into core 301/302 redirects with hit counter
Installation	— composer require statamic/cms	— composer require contensio/contensio	Same Composer-based approach.
Admin UI	✓ Available Clean, modern	✓ Available Clean, modern	Both have good admin UIs.
Hosting	— Any PHP 8.2+ host — file writes required for flat files	— Any PHP 8.2+ host with database

When each one wins

Choose Statamic when…

→Your content fits in flat files and Git is your deployment workflow
→You're a solo developer on a personal project (free tier)
→You don't need multilingual or complex relational queries

Choose Contensio when…

→You need multilingual without paying $199/year for it
→Your team has more than one person (no freemium gate)
→You need SQL queries, relationships, or large-dataset filtering
→You want an editorial review workflow without paying for addons

FAQ

Isn't Git-based content a feature, not a limitation?

For developer-managed content, yes. For editors and non-technical teams, committing a blog post to Git is not a workflow. Contensio's database stores content in a way that non-technical editors can manage entirely through the admin panel.

Does Contensio support Git-backed content?

Not currently. The database is the source of truth. Exporting content to Git is on the long-term roadmap as a plugin, not a core feature.

Statamic has a beautiful control panel — how does Contensio's compare?

Contensio's admin panel uses Tailwind CSS with a clean editorial design. It prioritises clarity for non-technical editors: clear labels, straightforward navigation, no configuration YAML exposed to users. The UI is opinionated rather than infinitely customisable.

Is there a migration path from Statamic?

No automated importer exists yet. Because Statamic stores content in flat files (Markdown/YAML), a migration script to read those files and insert them into Contensio's database is feasible to write — but you'd need to author it for your specific content structure.

Open source, full features, no freemium gate.

Install Contensio with Composer. Multilingual, editorial workflow, and custom fields included.

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