Contao vs CMS Made Simple
A side-by-side comparison of Contao and CMS Made Simple — pricing, license, deployment, and where each tool wins.
Contao
contao.org
Powerful CMS that allows you to create professional websites and scalable web applications.
CMS Made Simple
cmsmadesimple.org
Faster and easier management of website contents, scalable for small businesses to large corporations.
| Feature | Contao | CMS Made Simple |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Model | Open-source | Open-source |
| License | CC-BY-SA-3.0 | CC-BY-SA-3.0 |
| Deployment | Self-hosted | Self-hosted |
| Category | Content Management Systems (CMS) | Content Management Systems (CMS) |
| Self-hosted | ✓Yes | ✓Yes |
| Free tier | ✓Yes | ✓Yes |
Pick Contao if…
- ✓You prefer Contao's feature set or ecosystem fit.
Pick CMS Made Simple if…
- ✓You prefer CMS Made Simple's feature set or ecosystem fit.
Switch from Contao → CMS Made Simple
16–80hhigh risk
Treat as a project — 16-80 engineering hours plus user training and parallel-run period.
Export from Contao: XML, JSON, Database dump
3 things to watch
- ⚠URL preservation = SEO survival
- ⚠Re-render templates
- ⚠Media file paths
Switch from CMS Made Simple → Contao
16–80hhigh risk
Treat as a project — 16-80 engineering hours plus user training and parallel-run period.
Export from CMS Made Simple: XML, JSON, Database dump
3 things to watch
- ⚠URL preservation = SEO survival
- ⚠Re-render templates
- ⚠Media file paths