# ExpressionEngine Software Pricing, Alternatives & More 2026 | Capterra > With the help of Capterra, learn about ExpressionEngine Software - reviews, pricing plans, popular comparisons to other Content Management products and more. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/90631/ExpressionEngine --- # ExpressionEngine Software Review 2026: Features, Integrations, Pros & Cons Last updated on March 13, 2026 Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. Independent research methodology Capterra’s researchers use a mix of verified reviews, independent research and objective methodologies to bring you selection and ranking information you can trust. While we may earn a referral fee when you visit a provider through our links or speak to an advisor, this has no influence on our research or methodology. 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[Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/resources/how-we-ensure-transparency/) [Description](#description)[Use cases](#use-cases)[Alternatives](#alternatives)[Features](#features)[Pricing](#pricing)[Support](#support)[Reviews](#reviews) ExpressionEngine ## What is ExpressionEngine? A flexible, feature-rich content management system that empowers thousands of organizations and companies around the world. ## What is ExpressionEngine used for? [Content Management](https://www.capterra.com/content-management-software/) Top alternative Featured Overall rating Based on 12 user reviews Reviews sentiment Positive \- Neutral \- Negative \- Starting price $299 Other, One Time Free trial available Capterra Shortlist charts the highest-rated and most popular products... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Our "Best of" badge program showcases products with the highest ratings... Do you work for ExpressionEngine?[Manage this product listing](https://digitalmarkets.gartner.com/get-listed/claim-bx?url=https://expressionengine.com/&name=ExpressionEngine) ## Compare with a popular alternative Capterra selects software alternatives based on relevant features, verified user reviews and user interactions. Placement may be influenced by client status. ### ExpressionEngine 4.0 (12) VS. [4.7 (118)](https://www.capterra.com/p/205117/Dokmee-ECM/reviews/) Starting Price $299 Other, One Time Starting Price Contact vendor Free Trial Free Version Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version Ease Of Use 3.3 (12) Ease Of Use 4.6 (28,335) Value For Money 3.9 (7) Value For Money 4.6 (20,481) Customer Service 3.9 (8) Customer Service 4.6 (18,481) ## ExpressionEngine alternatives [4.6 (2,227)](https://www.capterra.com/p/146652/Airtable/reviews/) Starting price $20.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 96% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [4.3 (144)](https://www.capterra.com/p/142300/Adobe-Experience-Manager/reviews/) Starting price Contact vendor for pricing Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 90% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars Highest Rated [Google Drive](https://www.capterra.com/p/161425/Drive/) [4.8 (28,459)](https://www.capterra.com/p/161425/Drive/reviews/) Starting price $7.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 98% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/161425/Drive/) [WordPress](https://www.capterra.com/p/131687/WordPress/) [4.6 (14,978)](https://www.capterra.com/p/131687/WordPress/reviews/) Starting price $9.00 Per User, Per Month Pricing Options Free Trial Free Version User Rating 94% of reviewers rated it above 4 stars [Learn More](https://www.capterra.com/p/131687/WordPress/) [View all alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/90631/ExpressionEngine/alternatives/) ## Features Features with the highest number of reviews are displayed first. Those that have no reviews appear next, sorted alphabetically. Access Controls/Permissions Define levels of authorization for access to specific files or systems Collaboration Tools Provides a channel for team members to share media files, communicate, and work together Customizable Templates Pre-designed layouts that can be customized to match preferences and requirements Electronic Forms Digital forms that are shared and accessed online Full Text Search Search for specific words or phrases within a document or database Image Editing Edit, touch up, and convert images for publishing ExpressionEngine 7 features Define levels of authorization for access to specific files or systems Provides a channel for team members to share media files, communicate, and work together Pre-designed layouts that can be customized to match preferences and requirements Digital forms that are shared and accessed online Search for specific words or phrases within a document or database Edit, touch up, and convert images for publishing Optimize and manage the search engine optimization efforts for a website or digital content Get Advice We can help you find the software with the features you need. Features 3.8 (12) 3.8 Based on 12 reviews ## Pricing Value for money 3.9 (7) Free Trial Basic $299.00 Other,One Time Value for money 3.9 (7) 3.9 Based on 7 reviews Connect with a Capterra advisor for a free 15-minute consultation Get a personalized software list aligned to your business needs with guidance from our expert advisors. Our team has helped 1 million+ businesses like yours find options that fit their needs. ## Support, customer service and training options Customer Service 3.9 (8) Support - Email/Help Desk - FAQs/Forum - Knowledge Base - Phone Support - 24/7 (Live rep) - Chat Training - In Person - Live Online - Webinars - Documentation - Videos Deployment - Web - Android - iPhone/iPad Typical users - Freelancers - Small businesses - Mid size businesses - Enterprises Customer Service 3.9 (8) 3.9 Based on 8 reviews ## User reviews Overall rating 4.0 Based on 12 reviews Filter by rating 5(3) 4(7) 3(1) 2(1) 1(0) Mentioned topic Sorted by most recent Erik M. Web Developer Internet ### "Great for Large Companies with Devs on Staff, Terrible for Smaller Companies" 2.0 Overall Rating 2.0 2.0 Ease of Use 1.0 1.0 Features 2.0 2.0 Customer Service 5.0 5.0 Likelihood to Recommend 0/10 April 29, 2021 Are used to work for a company that specializes in ExpressionEngine installations in the heyday of EE2. The move from EE3 was messy and caused a lot of problems. Experience I have now with ExpressionEngine is helping client migrate their sites away and into more modern and well supported CMS platforms. Pros From my personal experience, one of the best things about ExpressionEngine was EllisLabs and their customer support. A lot has changed after Ellis Labs was acquired and then ExpressionEngine was sold off 2-3 years ago. Development seems to proceeding smoother under the new ownership. Another great thing was the level of customization that could be done when building an ExpressionEngine site. Each website could be configured and custom-tailored to the particular client's needs. This made the CMS a great choice for large companies with web developers on staff. Cons It has a really difficult learning curve in my opinion. It can be overcome but website clients have a hard time with using it and maintaining the site without an in-house web developer. This platform was especially difficult for marketing managers with limited HTML knowledge. Overall, the small marketshare size, the lack of third party developer support, and the highly customizable nature of the initial installation all contribute to a high cost to produce and maintain an ExpressionEngine site. Unless you can afford an in-house web developer that is absolutely in love with ExpressionEngine, it's a terrible platform to choose. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. PO P.J. O. editor Writing and Editing ### "20/20 about ExpressionEngine in 2020" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 3.0 3.0 Customer Service 0.0 0.0 Likelihood to Recommend 5/10 July 6, 2020 Overall, my experience was pretty basic. I used the software to edit and fact-check reviews for the PopMatters site. I had little-to-no training and found it fairly straight-forward. Wouldn't object to using it again. Pros I liked how organized the site was and straight-forward it was. Cons It had lots of minutiae. However, for what I was doing, it was fine and easy to use. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. Stephen J. Project Manager E-Learning ### "Very flexible and dynamic CMS" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 10/10 June 30, 2020 It's a great CMS and I wouldn't hesitate to build any site or process on top of it. Pros It's feature complete and extendable, UI isn't just an afterthought Cons Wordpress gets more plugins and more attention in general, so EE has smaller dev base Switched from [WordPress](https://www.capterra.com/p/131687/WordPress/) Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. AE Alyse E. CEO Computer Software ### "Good Foundation for Heavily Content Managed Apps, A Bit Dated" 3.0 Overall Rating 3.0 3.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 3.0 3.0 Customer Service 3.0 3.0 Likelihood to Recommend 5/10 March 17, 2020 It was good for a period of time, but now we are transitioning to Craft. Pros The platform was robust and allowed us to create a complex event management platform layered on top of Expression Engine. We were able to do most of the things we wanted and it served its purpose. Cons Popularity seems to be waning as more companies are shifting to Craft, which has a simpler interface and we find is easier to use. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. Michael H. Web Developer Internet ### "A useful CMS whose best days are behind it" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 3.0 3.0 Customer Service 1.0 1.0 Likelihood to Recommend 6/10 January 13, 2020 I have used ExpressionEngine for several sites, from basic four pagers to full ecommerce solutions. For a few years, ExpressionEngine was my "go to" CMS. However, over the years support has dried up, and it is no longer the first CMS I choose for a new project. Pros When I started using ExpressionEngine I liked the variety and quality of add-ons and extensions that were available. It produced clean code, and was highly extensible. Built on CodeIgniter, it was relatively easy to customise with a little knowledge. Cons Over time, many of the add-ons and extensions have lost developer support. Many key development teams have left the platform. As such, it is harder to create sites that fulfil the requirements of clients. Alternatives considered [WordPress](https://www.capterra.com/p/131687/WordPress/) Reasons for choosing ExpressionEngine Quality of code. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. AU Anonymous User Digital Marketing Manager Restaurants ### "Easy Admin of Users and Content Updating" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 3.0 3.0 Customer Service 0.0 0.0 Likelihood to Recommend 6/10 January 9, 2020 Expression Engine makes it easy to train someone new or entry-level on administrating site content blocks as long as it's all set up properly for them. Pros I appreciate the ease of updating content. The channels and entries are easy to navigate and the tabs to easily check categories and other options such as post time and expiration time are most helpful. You can schedule content to post and also schedule when it comes down, so you don't have to do everything in real time. Cons I wish there were easier previews of the changes being made or a content editor that showed the page layout while you were editing. There just isn't an easy way to preview how the changes will appear on the actual page. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. AU Anonymous User COO Internet ### "A great and flexible CMS " 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 7/10 December 4, 2019 I was in love with ExpressionEngine and used it for almost all my project (big and small) for 4 years or so. If you have a big project it can handle it like a charm! Pros ExpressionEngine was one of the first CMS to support extensively custom fields. Via its plugin architecture it was possible to shape content to fit your needs. Moreover its template system was great and HTML free (meaning that you were in full control of the code). ExpressionEngine was a pricy CMS since two years ago when it eventually turned OpenSource, which is a great news. Cons The great template engine was not supported in the forum and member section of the site, so code this sections was a real pain... Alternatives considered [Statamic](https://www.capterra.com/p/183605/Statamic/) Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. VF Vicki F. Director of Administration Human Resources ### "Easy Website Management" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 3.0 3.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 4.0 4.0 Likelihood to Recommend 8/10 April 3, 2019 Because we have a web designer who is extremely familiar with this product, when we have issues, we reach out to him, but for the easier edits, we can do them ourselves without much of a problem. Pros This product is helpful when we want to update and/or change our website. It behaves much like other website design programs. Cons It's not as easy to learn the system and int's not as intuitive as we would like. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. MS Martin S. Law student Law Practice ### "Similar in function and quality to Wordpress" 5.0 Overall Rating 5.0 5.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 5.0 5.0 Customer Service 0.0 0.0 Likelihood to Recommend 9/10 September 1, 2018 Pros I had previous experience with Wordpress which helped a lot to get used to ExpressionEngine quickly. It has a similar interface. Publishing is instantaneous and easy to go back and fix if you made mistakes. I worked on a calendar at work and it kept it very neat and orderly. Ultimately very happy with it. Cons I know it had plenty of other functions that at other departments used it for (who were more focused on story publication), so I guess my biggest complaint is that I didn't how to use them more. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. AU Anonymous User Talent Acquisition Associate Education Management ### "Great for quick website edits" 4.0 Overall Rating 4.0 4.0 Ease of Use 4.0 4.0 Features 4.0 4.0 Customer Service 0.0 0.0 Likelihood to Recommend 7/10 May 14, 2018 Pros It is easy to navigate to the page you would like to edit, and is overall a very user-friendly platform. Cons I don't have experience actually building any of the pages, just editing/updating, so I can't speak to how simple it is to set up. Review source Incentivized review: software users are invited to submit an honest review and offered a nominal incentive for their time and effort. All incentivized reviews are subject to our verification process prior to publication. [View all Reviews](https://www.capterra.com/p/90631/ExpressionEngine/reviews/) ## Top-rated software of 2026 ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox. Independent research methodology Capterra's researchers use a mix of verified reviews, independent research and objective methodologies to bring you selection and ranking information you can trust. While we may earn a referral fee when you visit a provider through our links or speak to an advisor, this has no influence on our research or methodology. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/resources/proprietary-data-research/) How Capterra verifies reviews Capterra carefully verified over 2.5 million+ reviews to bring you authentic software experiences from real users. Our human moderators verify that reviewers are real people and that reviews are authentic. They use leading tech to analyze text quality and to detect plagiarism and generative AI. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/resources/how-we-verify-reviews/) How Capterra ensures transparency Capterra lists all providers across its website—not just those that pay us—so that users can make informed purchase decisions. Capterra is free for users. Software providers pay us for sponsored profiles to receive web traffic and sales opportunities. Sponsored profiles include a link-out icon that takes users to the provider's website. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/resources/how-we-ensure-transparency/)