Skip to content
SPECIFICTION
Get listed

GovCMS

govcms.gov.au

Open source WebLinuxAPISelf-hosted
Visit govcms.gov.au
Spec score 8.5 #2 of 33 in Government Website Builders

Spec sheet

What it does
GovCMS is a whole-of-government content management and website hosting platform for Australian government agencies, built on Drupal.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Product
GovCMS is a whole-of-government content management system and web hosting service built on Drupal.Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Audience
GovCMS is available to Australian government organisations at Commonwealth and State level.Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Integrations
GovCMS’s Digital Experience Platform program lists Rules as Code, content personalisation, analytics, digital asset management, and site optimisation services accessible through its Drupal Services Panel.Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Support
The Service Desk provides general support Monday to Friday, 8:30am–5:30pm AEDT, and critical issue coverage 24/7 with a maximum 60-minute initial response time.Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Headquarters
The GovCMS team is sponsored by the Department of Finance in Canberra, Australia.Read 15 Oct 2026 · salsa-digital.gitbook.io
Founded
2015Read 28 Sep 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Accessibility
The official site states GovCMS meets WCAG 2.0 Level AA.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
API capabilities
The Content as an API concept includes content discovery, subscriptions, syndication, quality assurance and cross-agency publishing governance.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
API initiative
Content as an API is an alpha-stage project intended to provide a government content hub and syndication platform.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Availability
GovCMS advertises a 99.95% uptime guarantee and 24/7 monitoring and support.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Backups
SaaS includes self-serve backups retained for 90 days and archival backups retained for seven years.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
CDN and WAF
SaaS includes CDN, web application firewall and DDoS protection; PaaS makes web protection optional.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Current status
The live status page currently reports all listed GovCMS systems as operational.Read 15 Oct 2026 · status.govcms.support
Developer extensibility
The repository supports contributions through GitHub issues and pull requests and requires automated tests before manual review.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Developer prerequisites
The public distribution repository lists Apache or Nginx, PHP 8.4 or newer, and MySQL or PostgreSQL as prerequisites.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Drupal hosting
Drupal 11 hosting is included in both SaaS and PaaS plans.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Environments
Each SaaS subscription includes five environments and additional environments cost $85.00 per environment per month.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Hosting location
GovCMS says its hosting services house websites in Australian data centres.Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Integrations and infrastructure
The status page lists Amazon EKS, AWS Sydney compute and S3, Akamai CDN, Lagoon API, Akamai API, OpenSearch and Freshdesk service desk components.Read 15 Oct 2026 · status.govcms.support
IRAP
The platform completed an IRAP assessment aligned with the 2019 Australian Government Information Security Manual at OFFICIAL: Sensitive level.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Licence
GovCMS is released under the GNU General Public License version 2.0.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Limit: custom code
A GovCMS SaaS case study states that bespoke modules and server-side services cannot be deployed in the SaaS environment.Read 15 Oct 2026 · drevops.com
Limit: design flexibility
An independent comparison says SaaS design and UX are constrained by the supplied templates and themes.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elcom.com.au
Limit: integrations
An independent comparison says advanced integrations, custom APIs, CRM links and complex data workflows can strain GovCMS, especially SaaS.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elcom.com.au
Limit: intranets
An independent comparison says GovCMS is public-facing and does not provide staff intranet or internal portal capability.Read 15 Oct 2026 · elcom.com.au
Limit: review evidence
G2 says there are not enough GovCMS reviews to provide buying insight; its single review is marked as an incentivized G2 invite.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Maker and origin
GovCMS is managed by the Australian Government Department of Finance, which began the project in 2013 and launched GovCMS in March 2015.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Managed offerings
GovCMS provides managed SaaS and self-managed PaaS service options.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
News: planned release
The status page announced a tentative GovCMS Drupal 11 release 4.6.0 deployment window from 27 to 31 October 2026.Read 15 Oct 2026 · status.govcms.support
News: Rules as Code
GovCMS announced on 27 August 2026 that its Rules as Code capability was available as a whole-of-government implementation.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Notable release
GovCMS 4.5.1.1 was released on 29 September 2026 with Drupal core and Webform security updates.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
PaaS responsibilities
For PaaS, the agency retains responsibility for the Drupal application layer, including its security, while GovCMS maintains the platform infrastructure.Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
PaaS security responsibility
PaaS customers must manage Drupal updates, modules, themes, application security, content and accounts; the IRAP assessment covers infrastructure only.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Praise: cost and compliance
Salsa Digital describes shared hosting, security and maintenance as reducing duplicated government costs and procurement effort.Read 15 Oct 2026 · salsa.digital
Praise: support
Salsa Digital reports 24/7 platform support and automated Behat regression testing as benefits of the managed service.Read 15 Oct 2026 · salsa.digital
Praise: unified management
The sole G2 reviewer praised one backend serving multiple frontends and straightforward content-type management for beginners.Read 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
Protection features
Web protection services include a web application firewall, DDoS mitigation, a content delivery network, and bot management.Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Rating on G2
5.0 out of 5 from 1 reviewRead 15 Oct 2026 · g2.com
SaaS responsibilities
For SaaS, GovCMS manages security, Drupal updates, application and infrastructure maintenance, and hosting.Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
SaaS security responsibility
SaaS includes security patching, ongoing assessments and monitoring, while customers remain responsible for themes, content and user accounts.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Scale
The GovCMS home page currently reports 398 live websites, 16 sites in development and 127 organisations signed up.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Security classification
GovCMS is certified to host information classified up to OFFICIAL: Sensitive.Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Self-hosting
The public codebase includes Docker Compose and development documentation, allowing teams to run the distribution outside the hosted service.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com
Support limitation
The Service Desk does not support design, development, or discovery services.Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Web protection
GovCMS SaaS includes Akamai web protection services, while PaaS customers can opt in for an additional cost.Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au

Plans and prices

Nano A$9,260 a year annually; excludes GST; $1,045.00 setup fee up to 5,000 page views/month · 15,000 hits/month Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
SaaS Nano $9,260 a year $9,260.00 yearly fee; $1,045.00 setup fee; charged annually; fees exclude GST Up to 5,000 page views/month · 15,000 hits/month · 5GB database · 10GB file storage Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Micro A$18,520 a year annually; excludes GST; $3,195.00 setup fee 5,001–15,000 page views/month · 45,000 hits/month Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
SaaS Micro $18,520 a year $18,520.00 yearly fee; $3,195.00 setup fee; charged annually; fees exclude GST 5,001–15,000 page views/month · 45,000 hits/month · 5GB database · 10GB file storage Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Mini A$37,045 a year annually; excludes GST; $3,195.00 setup fee 15,001–50,000 page views/month · 150,000 hits/month Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
SaaS Mini $37,045 a year $37,045.00 yearly fee; $3,195.00 setup fee; charged annually; fees exclude GST 15,001–50,000 page views/month · 150,000 hits/month · 5GB database · 10GB file storage Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Extra-Small A$46,305 a year annually; excludes GST; $3,195.00 setup fee 50,001–100,000 page views/month · 300,000 hits/month Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
SaaS Extra-Small $46,305 a year $46,305.00 yearly fee; $3,195.00 setup fee; charged annually; fees exclude GST 50,001–100,000 page views/month · 300,000 hits/month · 5GB database · 10GB file storage Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
SaaS Small $54,410 a year $54,410.00 yearly fee; $3,195.00 setup fee; charged annually; fees exclude GST 100,001–175,000 page views/month · 525,000 hits/month · 5GB database · 10GB file storage Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Small A$54,410 a year annually; excludes GST; $3,195.00 setup fee 100,001–175,000 page views/month · 525,000 hits/month Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
Medium A$62,510 a year annually; excludes GST; $3,195.00 setup fee 175,001–350,000 page views/month · 1.0 million hits/month Read 15 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au
SaaS Medium $62,510 a year $62,510.00 yearly fee; $3,195.00 setup fee; charged annually; fees exclude GST 175,001–350,000 page views/month · 1.0 million hits/month · 5GB database · 10GB file storage Read 5 Oct 2026 · govcms.gov.au

Every GovCMS plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

Alternatives to GovCMSAll alternatives →