CrafterCMS vs Kiln
CrafterCMS
craftercms.com
Kiln
kilncms.comSide by side
| Figure | CrafterCMS | Kiln |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $4.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 9 |
| Spec score · Content Management Systems | 9.3 (#3) | 9.0 (#15) |
| Spec score · Git-Based CMS | 9.4 (#1) | 8.9 (#4) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | Listed integrations include Elastic Stack, Stripe, GitLab, Bitbucket, Elastic Path, GitHub, Jenkins, commercetools and Shopify. | Kiln works with GitHub repositories and hosts that redeploy on push, including Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, Vercel, and GitHub Pages. |
| License | The Community source code is released under GPL v3. | The editor, worker and setup tooling are publicly available under the GNU AGPL-3.0 license. |
| Support | Commercial support includes 24/7 support with SLAs, priority security patches, certified builds and high-availability support. | Self-hosted plans include community support on GitHub, while Fully managed includes priority support. |
| What it does | CrafterCMS is an open-source, API-first headless CMS for structured content and enterprise digital experiences. | Kiln lets invited users edit marked content directly on static webpages, then saves each publication as a Git commit. |
Plans
CrafterCMS
- CommunityPrice not published
- EnterprisePrice not published
- Crafter CloudPrice not published
- CrafterCMS CommunityFree
- CrafterCMS Enterprise$5,472 a year
Kiln
- Self-hostedFree
- Kiln Cloud$4.99 a month
- Fully managed$14.99 a month
- Open sourceFree
- Self-hostedFree
- Kiln Cloud$4.99 a month
- Fully managed$14.99 a month
- Concierge setup$399, paid once
- Concierge setup & tagging$399, paid once
In their own words
CrafterCMS
CrafterCMS is a content management system from CrafterCMS, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, USA. It supports content localization, custom role permissions, webhooks, content preview, and asset transformations. Its API types include REST and GraphQL, and it is listed for web, Windows, macOS, and Linux.
The available plans represent three deployment and support arrangements. Community is an open-source GPL v3 release with community support and a self-hosted download. Enterprise is commercially supported and can be self-hosted or self-managed, with enterprise features and support. Crafter Cloud is a fully managed SaaS option with managed infrastructure, monitoring, and upgrades. The pricing model is listed as free, with a free plan available, but no prices are provided for Community, Enterprise, or Crafter Cloud.
Kiln
Kiln is an open-source, click-to-edit CMS for static sites. Invited editors change content directly on a site, with edits saved as Git commits in a repository owned by the site owner. Supported content includes text, images, documents, blocks, galleries, events, and calendar items. The publishing workflow includes drafts, scheduled publishing, named versions, history, and restoration. Owners sign in with GitHub, while invited editors and members can use Google sign-in and be scoped to particular pages or sections. Reviewer seats can comment only; suggest mode lets owners approve or decline proposed changes field by field. Kiln works with GitHub repositories and hosts that redeploy on push, including Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, Vercel, and GitHub Pages. A REST API and kiln-mcp support scoped, sanitized edits by scripts and agents; optional AI assistance uses an API key supplied by the user. Site content remains plain HTML in the customer's repository, even after leaving Kiln. Self-hosted costs nothing; Kiln Cloud is $4.99 a month, and Fully managed is $14.99 a month.