# ExpressionEngine Software Reviews, Demo & Pricing - 2026

> Review of ExpressionEngine Software: system overview, features, price and cost information. Get free demos and compare to similar programs.

Source: https://www.softwareadvice.com/cms/expressionengine-profile

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ExpressionEngine

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Overview

# ExpressionEngine 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

Wondering if ExpressionEngine is right for your organization?

Our Content Management Software selection experts can help you in 15 minutes or less.

On this page

-   Overview
    
-   User Interface
    
-   Popular Alternatives
    
-   Pricing and Plans
    
-   Features
    
-   User Reviews
    

## Overview

ExpressionEngine

4.0

[(12)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/cms/expressionengine-profile/#reviews)

Pricing

Starting at $299.00 one time

### About ExpressionEngine

ExpressionEngine is a content management system (CMS) that helps organizations create and manage digital content for multiple websites. It allows content editors to preview the pages and modify the interface using custom colors and themes.

The platform enables teams to capture and store content across multiple channels, design web pages using custom templates and configure workflows. Features of ExpressionEngine include role-based access, collaboration, SEO management, analytics, custom templates and more.

Pricing is available on request and support is extended via phone, email and other online measures.

Wondering if ExpressionEngine is right for your organization?

Our Content Management Software selection experts can help you in 15 minutes or less.

## ExpressionEngine User Interface

## Popular ExpressionEngine Alternatives

Main Product

ExpressionEngine

4.0

[(12)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/cms/expressionengine-profile/#reviews)

Ratings Breakdown

-   3.33Ease of use
-   3.86Value for money
-   3.88Customer support
-   3.83Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $299.00 one time

Get Price

Alternative Product

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4.8

[(28524)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/cms/google-drive-profile/reviews/)

Ratings Breakdown

-   4.70Ease of use
-   4.72Value for money
-   4.39Customer support
-   4.63Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $7.00 per month

Get Price

Alternative Product

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Ratings Breakdown

-   4.25Ease of use
-   4.59Value for money
-   4.08Customer support
-   4.48Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $9.00 per month

Get Price

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Ratings Breakdown

-   4.70Ease of use
-   4.56Value for money
-   4.61Customer support
-   4.70Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $9.00 per month

Get Price

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[(5440)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/cms/microsoft-sharepoint-profile/reviews/)

Ratings Breakdown

-   4.08Ease of use
-   4.23Value for money
-   4.13Customer support
-   4.27Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $5.00 per month

Get Price

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[(3691)](https://www.softwareadvice.com/project-management/confluence-profile/reviews/)

Ratings Breakdown

-   4.25Ease of use
-   4.28Value for money
-   4.28Customer support
-   4.36Functionality

Pricing

Starting at $5.42 per month

Get Price

## ExpressionEngine Pricing and Plans

Starting price: $299.00 one time

Free Trial

Free Version

Basic

$299.00

one time

No plan information available

Confused about pricing? We've got you covered.

Get a personalized pricing breakdown tailored to your specific needs—no guesswork, no generic estimates.

## ExpressionEngine Features

-   Popular features found in Content Management
    
    Access Controls/Permissions
    
    Audio File Management
    
    Content Library
    
    Customizable Templates
    
    Image Editing
    
    Search/Filter
    
    SEO Management
    
    Text Editing
    
    Version Control
    
    Video Support
    
-   More features of ExpressionEngine
    
    Collaboration Tools
    
    Electronic Forms
    
    Full Text Search
    

## ExpressionEngine User Reviews

Overall Rating

4.0

Ratings Breakdown

5

25%

4

58%

3

8%

2

8%

1

0%

Secondary Ratings

Ease of Use

3.3

Value for money

3.9

Customer support

3.9

Functionality

3.8

Have you used ExpressionEngine and would like to share your experience with others?

VF

Vicki F.

Verified reviewer

Human Resources

11-50 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed April 2019

Easy Website Management

4

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.

Ratings Breakdown

3

Ease of use

4

Value for money

4

Customer support

4

Functionality

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.

Read More

VR

Verified

Reviewer

Internet

11-50 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed December 2019

A great and flexible CMS

4

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!

Ratings Breakdown

3

Ease of use

4

Value for money

4

Customer support

4

Functionality

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...

Read More

Erik M.

Verified reviewer

Internet

2-10 employees

Used other for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed April 2021

Great for Large Companies with Devs on Staff, Terrible for Smaller Companies

2

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.

Ratings Breakdown

1

Ease of use

1

Value for money

5

Customer support

2

Functionality

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.

Read More

Michael H.

Verified reviewer

Internet

Self-Employed

Used other for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed January 2020

A useful CMS whose best days are behind it

4

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.

Ratings Breakdown

3

Ease of use

4

Value for money

1

Customer support

3

Functionality

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.

Reasons for choosing ExpressionEngine

Quality of code.

Read More

Stephen J.

Verified reviewer

E-Learning

Self-Employed

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed June 2020

Very flexible and dynamic CMS

4

It's a great CMS and I wouldn't hesitate to build any site or process on top of it.

Ratings Breakdown

4

Ease of use

4

Value for money

4

Customer support

5

Functionality

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

Read More

VR

Verified

Reviewer

Restaurants

1001-5000 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed January 2020

Easy Admin of Users and Content Updating

4

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.

Ratings Breakdown

3

Ease of use

3

Functionality

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.

Read More

MC

Melissa C.

Marketing and Advertising

2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed December 2016

No restrictions on what you can build

5

It's hard to start with what's the best thing about ExpressionEngine (EE). Member management is definitely at the top, but the biggest thing for us is the ability to build whatever you want to build. EE is a blank slate and you decide what you want to build and how. That's great for developers that know the software. It can be intimidating for those that don't and are more use to a "plug and play" CMS. We've used EE on over 500 sites, from simple blogs, brochure sites, college websites to e-commerce sites to robust custom infrastructures. It never fails and the support is amazing.

Ratings Breakdown

5

Ease of use

5

Value for money

5

Customer support

5

Functionality

Pros:

that we can build whatever we want with it and there are a ton of premium addons that build on to the core functionality

Cons:

upgrading can be a challenge since sites are so uniquely built

Read More

AE

Alyse E.

Verified reviewer

Computer Software

201-500 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed March 2020

Good Foundation for Heavily Content Managed Apps, A Bit Dated

3

It was good for a period of time, but now we are transitioning to Craft.

Ratings Breakdown

3

Ease of use

3

Customer support

3

Functionality

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.

Read More

Robin M.

Verified reviewer

Publishing

2-10 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed December 2016

Great Website Building Tool

5

Our website designer used this program and it's been a lifesaver for our organization. There is a learning curve, but it's easy to learn.

Ratings Breakdown

4

Ease of use

5

Value for money

5

Customer support

5

Functionality

Pros:

Functionality is great and ease of using once you learn can save a business a lot of time and frustration.

Cons:

There's a learning curve, but it's a small one

Read More

VR

Verified

Reviewer

Education Management

501-1000 employees

Used monthly for more than 2 years

Review source

Reviewed May 2018

Great for quick website edits

4

Ratings Breakdown

4

Ease of use

4

Functionality

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.

Read More

Showing 1 - 10 of 12 Reviews

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