ProcessWire
ProcessWire is a free, open source PHP-based CMS and content management framework, founded in 2010 and operated by Ryan Cramer Design, LLC, serving web developers and design agencies building custom client sites. Revenue is generated through first-party premium modules sold via the Pro Shop.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersAtlanta, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What ProcessWire does
ProcessWire is a free, open source content management system and content management framework (CMS/CMF) written in PHP, originally released in 2010 by Ryan Cramer and operated through Ryan Cramer Design, LLC, headquartered in Atlanta, USA. The platform is built around a hierarchical page tree, fully custom user-defined field types (including Repeater groups), a hooks-based extensibility model, built-in multi-language support, role-based access control, and an API-first design that the company describes with a "one line of code" content-access philosophy. It targets professional web developers and design agencies that need a flexible, bloat-light CMS for custom websites, with documented use cases scaling from small portfolios to sites with 2 million+ pages.
The product surface consists of the free ProcessWire Core plus a commercial Pro Shop catalog of first-party premium modules including ProCache (static HTML caching), Form Builder PRO, PAGEGRID Page Builder (visual page building with a 2026-beta Figma importer), ProFields, ProMailer, LoginRegisterPro, ListerPro, ProDrafts, and ProDevTools, alongside a broader community module directory. ProcessWire generates no reported funding and no disclosed revenue; its commercial mechanics are limited to module licensing sold via the Pro Shop with quote-based, non-publicly-disclosed pricing.
The go-to-market is community-led and product-led: distribution is global through the official website, GitHub, support forums, a weekly newsletter, and a showcase gallery, with no outbound sales motion or formal enterprise GTM. The operating entity is small (1–10 employees), and the project has been continuously maintained for over 15 years with an emphasis on security stability and long-term site durability.
ProcessWire firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ProcessWire
- Legal name
- Ryan Cramer Design, LLC
- Website
- https://processwire.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- ProcessWire is a free, open source PHP-based CMS and content management framework, founded in 2010 and operated by Ryan Cramer Design, LLC, serving web developers and design agencies building custom client sites. Revenue is generated through first-party premium modules sold via the Pro Shop.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ProcessWire industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Open Source Content Management System (CMS) / Content Management Framework (CMF)
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Blogging & CMS Content Platforms (BPAMAJAG)
Keywords
Where ProcessWire is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Atlanta
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
ProcessWire business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Open Source Core Distribution: ProcessWire CMS core is distributed free of charge as open source software under the GNU General Public License.
- Premium Modules (Pro Shop): First-party paid modules including ProCache, Form Builder PRO, ProFields, ProMailer, LoginRegisterPro, ListerPro, ProDrafts, ProDevTools, and PAGEGRID Page Builder. Commercial licensing for premium functionality.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Others | Free Open Source Core |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
ProcessWire product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ProcessWire is a free, open source PHP-based content management system (CMS) and content management framework (CMF) that provides developers with a powerful API-first architecture, custom field types, a hierarchical page tree, hooks-based extensibility, multi-language support, and role-based access control. The company also sells premium commercial modules (such as ProCache, Form Builder, PAGEGRID Page Builder, ProFields, and ProMailer) through its Pro Shop to web developers and design agencies building custom websites and web applications.
Product overview
ProcessWire is a free and open source CMS and CMF (Content Management Framework) launched in 2010. The core product is available for free download with an extensive ecosystem of community-contributed modules and a Pro Shop offering commercial premium modules. The product portfolio includes the open-source ProcessWire Core, premium modules like ProCache (performance/caching), Form Builder (form creation), and PAGEGRID (visual page builder) sold through the Pro Shop, plus hundreds of community modules covering debugging (Tracy Debugger), hosting integration (KeyHelp), security (Page Protector), database management (Database Backups), and multi-language support (German language pack). The architecture is designed so that the PHP API is the primary development interface throughout the system, with modules extending functionality through ProcessWire's hooks system.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- ProcessWire CMS: The core content management system product
- ProCache
- Form Builder
- Pro Shop
- ProcessWire Store
Products and services
- ProcessWire CMS/CMF Core Free and open source content management system and content management framework (CMF) built for developers. Features custom fields, hierarchical tree structure, secure foundation, multi-language support, and a powerful API. Distributed under the GNU General Public License.
- ProCache Commercial caching module that bypasses PHP and MySQL to deliver ProcessWire pages as static HTML files, drastically reducing server resources and increasing traffic handling capacity. Sold as a first-party paid module through the Pro Shop.
- Form Builder PRO Premium module for creating, editing and publishing front-end forms without development. Supports complex forms, asmSelect, date pickers, variable width fields, spreadsheets export, and third-party cross-posting. Sold through the Pro Shop.
- PAGEGRID Page Builder Visual page builder module that integrates with ProcessWire's API, fields, and permissions. Enables building responsive, visually rich websites without coding while giving developers full control over markup and structure. Sold as a first-party paid module.
- Tracy Debugger Ultimate debugging and development tool for ProcessWire that integrates Nette's Tracy debugging tool with 35+ custom ProcessWire-specific debugging tools for rapid development. Available as a community-contributed module.
- PageGrid Figma Import Module that converts Figma design exports into responsive PageGrid layouts powered by CSS Grid structure, enabling designers to import static Figma designs directly into editable ProcessWire pages.
- Modules Manager 2 Module management tool providing an easy interface to download, update, install, uninstall and configure ProcessWire modules with live-search, browsable directory, and modern UIKit design.
- Database Backups Admin interface module for creating, uploading, restoring, and managing database backups for ProcessWire installations, with support for large file operations via PhpMyAdmin or native MySQL client.
- Page Protector Module allowing site editors to protect pages from guest access directly from page settings, supporting role-based access control and optional child page protection.
- German (de-DE) Language Pack German language pack for ProcessWire using formal language (Sie), supporting both admin backend translation and front-end multi-language sites.
Quantifiable outcome
- 0.017 seconds response time with ProCache enabled vs 29 seconds without cache (ApacheBench test)
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use ProcessWire
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
ProcessWire technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration3 records
Feature7 records
ProcessWire partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.
- Perago SolutionsminorPerago Solutions provides AWS hosting services for processwire.com, managing servers for the ProcessWire website infrastructure.
- KONKAT StudiominorKONKAT Studio designed the ProcessWire website template and design.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
ProcessWire competitors and assessment
Company assessmentEmerging players
- Ghost: Ghost is an open source Node.js-based publishing platform with a paid hosted service. It competes for a subset of ProcessWire's audience (publishers, content-heavy sites, modern developers) with a different technology stack and SaaS-led business model.
Direct peers
- Grav: Grav is an open source flat-file PHP CMS with a modular plugin architecture and a GPM marketplace for paid plugins. It shares ProcessWire's PHP roots, developer-first orientation, and plugin-ecosystem model, making it a direct niche competitor.
- Statamic: Statamic is a flat-file or database-backed PHP CMS aimed at developers building custom sites, with first-party add-ons and a paid Pro tier. It targets the same developer/agency niche as ProcessWire with a similar premium-module monetization approach.
- Kirby: Kirby is a flat-file PHP CMS known for its clean API and developer-friendly templating, with a paid commercial license. It competes directly with ProcessWire for the same developer audience that values flexibility, clean markup, and a simple API over a full admin-driven CMS.
- Craft CMS: Craft CMS is a commercial PHP/MySQL CMS/CMF with a custom-fields-driven content model, similar developer-first philosophy, and a paid licensing/SaaS revenue model. It is the closest direct peer to ProcessWire in terms of target audience, technology stack, and API-driven design.
- October CMS: October CMS is a PHP/Laravel-based modular CMS with a marketplace for paid plugins and themes. It overlaps with ProcessWire in technology stack (PHP), developer target audience, and premium plugin monetization.
Broad incumbents
- Drupal: Drupal is an enterprise-grade open source PHP CMS with strong custom content modeling, role-based access control, and multi-language support. It overlaps with ProcessWire's enterprise-adjacent features but targets larger organizations and has a much broader community.
- WordPress: WordPress is the dominant open source PHP/MySQL CMS powering a majority of the web. ProcessWire explicitly compares itself to WordPress in its marketing and competes for the same developer/agency audience, but WordPress offers a vastly larger plugin ecosystem, hosting integrations, and community.
- Joomla: Joomla is a long-established open source PHP/MySQL CMS with extensions and templates. It is a broad incumbent in the same PHP CMS space as ProcessWire, though it serves a different (more generalist) audience.
- TYPO3: TYPO3 is an enterprise open source PHP CMS widely used in European government, higher education, and large organizations. It overlaps with ProcessWire's multi-language and role-based access control capabilities but is a broad incumbent with a much larger installed base.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
ProcessWire social profiles
Digital presenceProcessWire financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ProcessWire leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
ProcessWire funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ProcessWire M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about ProcessWire
What does ProcessWire do?
ProcessWire is a free, open source PHP-based content management system (CMS) and content management framework (CMF) that provides developers with a powerful API-first architecture, custom field types, a hierarchical page tree, hooks-based extensibility, multi-language support, and role-based access control. The company also sells premium commercial modules (such as ProCache, Form Builder, PAGEGRID Page Builder, ProFields, and ProMailer) through its Pro Shop to web developers and design agencies building custom websites and web applications.
Is ProcessWire a public or private company?
ProcessWire is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was ProcessWire founded?
ProcessWire was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is ProcessWire based?
ProcessWire is headquartered in Atlanta, United States, in the North America region.
How does ProcessWire make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Open Source Core Distribution is the primary driver. The others are premium Modules (Pro Shop).
Who are ProcessWire's main competitors?
Ghost is listed as an emerging player. Direct peers are Grav, Statamic, Kirby, Craft CMS and October CMS. Broad incumbents are Drupal, WordPress, Joomla and TYPO3.
Does ProcessWire have an API?
Yes. ProcessWire provides a powerful PHP API where every bit of content in a site is accessible with a single line of code. The API covers all classes and API variables, enabling developers to get and find pages using Selectors, render front-end HTML output with template files, access custom fields, and manipulate page data. The API is available throughout the system as the primary development interface. Developer documentation is at processwire.com/api/ref.
What industry is ProcessWire in?
ProcessWire's product category is Open Source Content Management System (CMS) / Content Management Framework (CMF). Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAJAG, Blogging & CMS Content Platforms. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.