FAQ

#General

#Is Contensio a WordPress replacement?

Yes, for content-driven sites. Contensio covers everything WordPress does for publishing: posts, pages, custom content types, taxonomies, custom fields, media, multilingual, users, comments, SEO metadata, and themes.

What Contensio doesn't have yet: e-commerce (planned), and a few edge-case features. See the feature map for a full comparison.

#Do I need to know Laravel to use Contensio?

Not if you're a site owner — the admin panel works like any CMS. If you're a developer building themes or plugins, Laravel knowledge helps but isn't strictly required for themes (they're Blade templates). It is helpful for plugins.

#Is Contensio free?

Yes — Contensio core is open source. Commercial plugins and themes are sold separately.

#Features

#What replaces Yoast SEO?

SEO fields are built into every content item: meta title, meta description, and OG image. There's no separate plugin needed for the basics.

Advanced features like XML sitemaps and breadcrumb schema are not built in yet — they're on the roadmap or available as plugins.

#What replaces WooCommerce?

Contensio Commerce is planned as a separate package. It's not available yet. If you need a shop today, Contensio is not the right platform for a primarily e-commerce site.

#What replaces WPML / Polylang?

Nothing to replace — multilingual is built in. Add languages under Settings → Languages, and each content item has translations per language with its own title, slug, excerpt, meta, and blocks.

#What replaces Advanced Custom Fields?

Nothing to replace — custom fields are built in. Create field groups under Content → Fields and assign them to content types. Field types include text, textarea, number, email, URL, date, media, select, multi-select, and checkbox.

#What replaces PublishPress / EditFlow (editorial workflow)?

Nothing to replace — the content approval workflow is built into core. Enable it in Settings → Content. Authors submit content for review; reviewers approve or reject with notes; email notifications go to reviewers on submission and to the author on decision. See Content approval workflow.

#What replaces a page builder (Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder)?

The block editor. Blocks are the building unit for all content — paragraphs, headings, images, galleries, embeds, and custom blocks from plugins. It's not a drag-and-drop visual editor; it's closer to Gutenberg.

Full visual drag-and-drop page building is not a current roadmap item.

#What replaces Wordfence / WP security plugins?

Contensio is a standard Laravel application — it doesn't have the WordPress-specific attack surface that security plugins protect against (XML-RPC, admin scanning, plugin vulnerabilities, etc.). Standard Laravel security practices apply: keep dependencies updated, use strong credentials, configure your web server properly.

#What replaces a caching plugin (W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket)?

Laravel's cache layer. Configure CACHE_DRIVER=redis (or file for simple setups) in your .env. Page-level full-page caching can be added via a plugin or a reverse proxy (nginx, Varnish, Cloudflare).

#What replaces UpdraftPlus?

Contensio has a built-in backup system under Tools → Backups. It creates a single ZIP containing a full SQL dump of your database and (optionally) all media files. You can create, download, and restore backups directly from the admin panel, or use the command line:

php artisan contensio:backup          # full backup
php artisan contensio:backup --no-files  # database only

See Backups for full details.

#What replaces the Redirection plugin?

Configure 301 redirects in your web server (nginx/Apache) or write a redirect middleware in a Contensio plugin. See SEO & redirects for examples.

#Is there a contact form builder?

Yes — it's built into Contensio core. The Contact page includes a visual block builder, a configurable multi-field form, an admin inbox for managing submissions, anti-spam protection (honeypot, time check, math question, reCAPTCHA, Cloudflare Turnstile), email notifications, auto-reply, webhook support, file uploads, and GDPR consent — no plugin required.

See the Contact page docs for a full overview.

#Migration

#Can I import my WordPress content automatically?

A one-click WordPress importer is on the roadmap. In the meantime, see the content migration guide for a manual process with script examples.

#Will my URLs change?

Depends on your WordPress permalink structure. If you were using /%postname%/ (plain slugs), Contensio's default /slug structure is already compatible. If you used date-based URLs (/2024/03/15/my-post/), you'll need redirects. See SEO & redirects.

#Will I lose my Google rankings?

Not if you set up proper 301 redirects and migrate all your metadata (title, description, OG). Search engines follow 301s. The risk period is 4–8 weeks while Google recrawls and re-indexes. Monitor Search Console closely.

#Can I migrate my WordPress theme?

Yes — it takes effort but the template files map almost 1:1. Rename .php to .blade.php, replace template tags with Blade variables, and replace get_header()/get_footer() with @extends('theme::layout'). See Themes vs WordPress for a full side-by-side.

#Technical

#What PHP version does Contensio require?

PHP 8.2 or higher.

#What database does Contensio support?

MySQL 8+ and MariaDB 10.3+. PostgreSQL support is planned.

#Can I use Contensio on shared hosting?

Yes, if the host supports PHP 8.2 and Laravel (most modern shared hosts do — check for Composer support and a writable storage path).

#Does Contensio support multisite?

No. Each site runs as its own installation. This is intentional — it keeps deployments clean and sites fully isolated.

#Can I use Contensio headlessly?

Yes. The JSON API exposes published content and is designed for headless setups. See JSON API.

#Is there a REST API?

Yes — a read-oriented JSON API at /api/content, /api/media, etc. A full write API is on the roadmap.

#What hosting do you recommend?

Any host that runs Laravel comfortably: Laravel Forge + a VPS (DigitalOcean, Hetzner), Ploi, or cloud platforms like Railway or Render. Contensio doesn't require any WordPress-specific infrastructure.

#For WordPress agencies

#Can my team learn Contensio quickly?

Developers who know WordPress — especially the template hierarchy and hook system — will find Contensio familiar within hours. The hook functions are the same (add_action, apply_filters), the template file names are the same with .blade.php, and the mental models are identical.

Blade templating has a gentle learning curve (a day or two to get fluent). Laravel Eloquent is more powerful than WP_Query and well documented.

#Can I offer Contensio sites to clients?

Yes. Contensio is open source and free to deploy for client projects.

#Is there a white-label option?

The admin panel uses "Contensio" branding. White-label customisation is on the roadmap for agencies.

#Where do I report bugs or request features?

The GitHub repository and the community forum. Links are in the footer.