--- title: ExpressionEngine Reviews meta_title: 'ExpressionEngine Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 56 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how ExpressionEngine works for a business like yours. aggregate_rating: rating_value: 3.7 review_count: 56 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-08-04' parent_category: name: Content Management url: https://www.g2.com/categories/content-management --- # ExpressionEngine Reviews **Vendor:** EllisLab **Category:** [Web Content Management Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/web-content-management) **Average Rating:** 3.7/5.0 **Total Reviews:** 56 ## About ExpressionEngine ExpressionEngine is a and secure open-source content management system (CMS) designed to empower developers and content creators to build and manage dynamic websites with ease. Its flexible architecture allows users to organize content into customizable channels, facilitating the creation of diverse content types such as blogs, news articles, product descriptions, and more. With a user-friendly interface, ExpressionEngine enables seamless content editing directly from the front end, eliminating the need to navigate complex control panels. The platform's robust templating system supports the integration of HTML, JavaScript, PHP, and ExpressionEngine tags, providing developers with the tools to craft unique and engaging web experiences. Key Features and Functionality: - Flexible Content Channels: Organize and manage various content types through customizable channels, allowing for tailored content structures. - Front-End Editing: Edit content directly on the live site, streamlining the content management process without accessing the backend. - Comprehensive Templating System: Utilize a powerful templating engine that supports multiple programming languages and ExpressionEngine tags for dynamic content rendering. - Custom Fieldtypes: Choose from over 20 different field types to capture and display content in ways that best suit your website's needs. - Entry Cloning: Duplicate existing entries with a single click to expedite content creation and maintain consistency. - User Management: Efficiently manage different types of members and user roles to control access and permissions. - Multi-Site Management: Administer multiple websites from a single control panel, with the option to share design elements, content, and user data across sites. - Live Preview: Preview content changes in real-time within the site's design before publishing, ensuring accuracy and visual appeal. - Add-On Prolets: Extend site functionality by integrating add-ons that can be accessed directly from the front end. - Robust Security: Benefit from a proven track record of rock-solid security, with no serious security issues reported in its 15-year history. Primary Value and Solutions Provided: ExpressionEngine offers a comprehensive solution for building and managing websites that require flexibility, security, and ease of use. Its customizable content channels and templating system allow developers to create unique web experiences without being constrained by rigid structures. The front-end editing capabilities and live preview features enhance the efficiency of content management, enabling users to make real-time updates with confidence. Additionally, the platform's strong security measures and active community support provide peace of mind for users, ensuring that their websites remain secure and up-to-date. Whether for small personal blogs or large-scale enterprise sites, ExpressionEngine delivers the tools and flexibility needed to bring any web project to life. ## ExpressionEngine Reviews ### 1. Good for developers, not good for users **Rating:** 0.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Design | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** October 15, 2021 **What do you like best about ExpressionEngine?** I liked the extensibility of it and how you could modify and shape the platform to work the way you wanted it to. There were a lot of developer friendly controls **What do you dislike about ExpressionEngine?** The platform has no thought put into it for the end-user and instead it's something that gets bolted onto the back end of a website built by boutique developers that overcharge immensely for their services. My experience with clients using it has been that they are clueless on how it works, regardless of documentation. They end up not using the contact management system, defeating the entire purpose of it **What problems is ExpressionEngine solving and how is that benefiting you?** The problem it solves is providing customers with a content management system for their website. My experience, it doesn't actually solve this problem and just creates new problems. ### 2. Archaic and limiting **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Marketing and Advertising | Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) **Reviewed Date:** September 07, 2019 **What do you like best about ExpressionEngine?** Makes it easy to manage users, clean code output **What do you dislike about ExpressionEngine?** I dislike almost everything about Expression Engine. The UX is deplorable and we constantly get signed out and lose changes. **Recommendations to others considering ExpressionEngine:** Use Wordpress. **What problems is ExpressionEngine solving and how is that benefiting you?** Used with team of writers to update many location subsites of franchise company website. ### 3. Terrible CMS **Rating:** 0.5/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Information Technology and Services | Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** January 23, 2018 **What do you like best about ExpressionEngine?** I honestly don't like anything about this platform. **What do you dislike about ExpressionEngine?** Literally everything. The UI, the UX, the actual platform itself. Nothing is easy about using our navigating EE. When recently went through n EE upgrade that was originally supposed to take 1 week. It ended up taking 4 months. **Recommendations to others considering ExpressionEngine:** Do not use it. Build in wordpress or any other CMS. **What problems is ExpressionEngine solving and how is that benefiting you?** Allows us to publish content to our website(blog). There really are no advantages to using this platform. It seems to be the lowest form of content management platform on the market, and even consultants who work on implementing it can't fix the issues that arise in it. ### 4. Very complicated templating system **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Machinery | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** April 25, 2016 **What do you like best about ExpressionEngine?** It was easy to navigate and the ability to include users and create user accounts with set permissions was great. **What do you dislike about ExpressionEngine?** The templating system was a complete mess. It was very difficult to understand, and it was not user friendly if you do not know HTML. **Recommendations to others considering ExpressionEngine:** High quality installation is required **What problems is ExpressionEngine solving and how is that benefiting you?** It served as our main website. It was probably much more robust than we needed, and the software has improved since our initial install. There were some plugins that were able to be integrated. ### 5. Outdated. **Rating:** 1.0/5.0 stars **Reviewed by:** Verified User in Higher Education | Enterprise (> 1000 emp.) **Reviewed Date:** June 07, 2016 **What do you like best about ExpressionEngine?** Templates are nice, the platform is somewhat intuitive. **What do you dislike about ExpressionEngine?** The platform seems somewhat outdated in terms of plug ins and WYSIWYG editing. I have difficulty with code going array and just overall ease of use. **What problems is ExpressionEngine solving and how is that benefiting you?** Website content management ## ExpressionEngine Discussions - [Is ExpressionEngine dead?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/is-expressionengine-dead) - 1 comment - [Why use ExpressionEngine?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/why-use-expressionengine) - 1 comment - [View ExpressionEngine pricing details and edition comparison](https://www.g2.com/products/expressionengine/reviews?filters%5Bnps_score%5D%5B%5D=1§ion=pricing&secure%5Bexpires_at%5D=2026-08-07+08%3A42%3A52+-0500&secure%5Bsession_id%5D=716cb09f-b1e0-408b-9e1d-1a086f5f0c7e&secure%5Btoken%5D=cf042a71aa70e3b37c3a87d43ce37f4e81245d3bdee23629d06c602ec4a32a5c&format=llm_user) ## ExpressionEngine Features **Content** - Content Authoring - Rich Text Editor - Versioning - Plug-ins/Widgets/Apps - Approval Process - Content Scheduling - Asset Management - Internal Search - Content Repository - SEO Management - eCommerce Management - Forms Management - Campaign Management - Media Management - Drag & Drop Editor - Audio Editor **Design** - Breadth of Pre-Built Templates - Mobile - Branding/Themes - Customization **Platform** - User Community - SEO - Flexible Navigation Structures - User, Role, and Access Management - Enterprise Scalability - Internationalization - Dashboards and Reports - API / Integrations **Agentic AI - Web Content Management** - Cross-system Integration - Natural Language Interaction - Social Media Integration **Additional Functionality** - AI/Machine Learning - Reporting/Analytics - Collaboration Tools - Image Editing - Website Publishing Options - Chatbot - Content Publishing Options - Text Editing - Access Control - Website Accessibility Tools - Content Delivery - Content Personalization - Configurable Workflow - Generative AI - Alerts/Notifications - Video Editing - AI Copilot - Performance Testing - Activity Monitoring - Multi-Channel Distribution ## Top ExpressionEngine Alternatives - [Craft CMS](https://www.g2.com/products/craft-cms/reviews) - 4.2/5.0 (48 reviews) - [Drupal](https://www.g2.com/products/drupal/reviews) - 3.9/5.0 (406 reviews) - [WordPress.org](https://www.g2.com/products/wordpress-org/reviews) - 4.4/5.0 (9,389 reviews)