EllisLab

What EllisLab does

EllisLab, operating under the legal entity Packet Tide, is a privately held software company headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, that develops and maintains ExpressionEngine, an open source content management system (CMS) built on PHP. ExpressionEngine provides flexible content storage, management, and publishing capabilities for websites, with differentiated features including a Multi-Site Manager that allows multiple websites to be administered from a single installation, and Front End editing that brings the control panel to the front end of any site for friction-free content administration. The platform is extended by a large ecosystem of community-developed add-ons and is supported via Slack, GitHub, forums, and a partner developer directory.

The company operates a two-tier business model: a free open source core available for self-serve download, and a paid commercial ExpressionEngine Pro subscription tier that adds premium features and support. Pricing is not publicly disclosed on the website, but the Pro tier is sold through an online store with annual billing. The go-to-market combines a community-led and product-led model (free download, developer community, partner directory) with relatively limited enterprise sales motion. EllisLab is bootstrapped with no venture capital funding and serves a global customer base that includes historically significant enterprise logos such as Nike, Disney, Starbucks, Toyota, Garmin, and Whole Foods, though the active revenue contribution from these logos is not disclosed. The company employs 11-50 people and has maintained a small, independent operating posture since its founding in 2001.

Name

EllisLab

Legal name

Packet Tide

Website

http://ellislab.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

EllisLab (Packet Tide) develops ExpressionEngine, an open source PHP-based CMS used by developers, agencies, and enterprises to build and manage websites. It monetizes via a freemium model with a paid Pro subscription tier and a community-led developer ecosystem.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Content Management Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Blogging & CMS Content Platforms (BPAMAJAG)

akta.pro secondary industry

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Suites (HDAEAGAB)

Keywords

• Open source CMS
• Content management system
• Website content management
• Multi-site management
• PHP CMS platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Beaverton

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. ExpressionEngine Pro Subscription: Commercial Pro version with additional features beyond the open source core, offered as a paid subscription with annual billing.
2. Open Source Core (Free): Free open source ExpressionEngine core download available for self-hosting, community-supported with no licensing fees.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

EllisLab developed ExpressionEngine, an open source content management system (CMS) built on PHP that serves as mission control for website content management and publishing. The platform offers a free open source core, a paid ExpressionEngine Pro commercial tier with additional features, and a community-driven add-on ecosystem. Key capabilities include multi-site management from a single installation, front-end editing, and flexible content storage for any website requirement.

Product overview

EllisLab offers ExpressionEngine, a single unified open source CMS platform for building and managing website content. The core ExpressionEngine product is available as a free download, with an optional ExpressionEngine Pro paid upgrade tier that provides additional features. The ecosystem includes community-developed Add-ons that extend system capabilities, as well as educational resources including Documentation, Forums, and ExpressionEngine University.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ExpressionEngine Pro: Professional tier version of the ExpressionEngine CMS with advanced features and support.

Products and services

• ExpressionEngine An open source content management system (CMS) that serves as mission control for website content management and publishing. It offers multi-site management, front end editing, and flexible content storage capabilities for developers, agencies, and enterprise organizations.
• ExpressionEngine Pro The premium paid tier of ExpressionEngine offering additional features and capabilities beyond the free open source version. Users can connect with ExpressionEngine developers for upgrades and site modernization through the certified partner network.
• ExpressionEngine Add-ons Extensions developed by the community that extend ExpressionEngine's core capabilities, providing solutions for various tasks and functionality requirements.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100% customer satisfaction rating in last 60 days, never below 98%

Named customers10 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Packet TidecoreOthersPacket Tide is the company that owns and develops ExpressionEngine. EllisLab originally created ExpressionEngine, and Packet Tide now maintains and develops the platform.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Emerging players

• Contentful: Contentful is a headless CMS platform serving enterprise content management use cases, representing the modern API-first alternative to traditional CMS platforms like ExpressionEngine. It targets overlapping enterprise customers managing content for omnichannel experiences.
• Strapi: Strapi is an open source headless CMS built on Node.js, representing the modern alternative to PHP-based CMS platforms like ExpressionEngine. It targets developers building content-driven applications and APIs, partially overlapping with ExpressionEngine's developer persona.

Broad incumbents

• HubSpot CMS Hub: HubSpot CMS Hub is a commercial content management platform integrated with HubSpot's marketing suite, serving enterprise and mid-market customers for website content management. It competes with ExpressionEngine's enterprise offering through a more bundled, SaaS-delivered model.
• Sitecore: Sitecore is an enterprise digital experience platform with CMS capabilities, competing with ExpressionEngine in the multi-site enterprise website space. Both target large organizations requiring robust content management with extensibility and partner ecosystems.
• WordPress: WordPress is the dominant open source PHP-based CMS, directly comparable to ExpressionEngine as a self-hosted content platform for websites of all sizes. ExpressionEngine positions itself as a more flexible, secure alternative, addressing the same developer and enterprise website-build use case.
• Adobe Experience Manager: Adobe Experience Manager is an enterprise CMS and digital experience platform used by large organizations for multi-site content management, comparable to ExpressionEngine's enterprise positioning. Both serve large brands (Disney, Nike-class customers) with multi-site content infrastructure.

Direct peers

• Drupal: Drupal is an open source CMS used for complex, enterprise-grade websites with strong multi-site capabilities, similar to ExpressionEngine's Multi-Site Manager. Both target developers building highly customized sites for large organizations and offer extensibility through community modules.
• Craft CMS: Craft CMS is a commercial open source CMS targeted at developers and agencies building custom content-driven websites. It overlaps directly with ExpressionEngine's value proposition of flexible, developer-friendly content management for client sites.
• Ghost: Ghost is an open source publishing and CMS platform with a freemium/Pro subscription model similar to ExpressionEngine's. Both serve professional publishers and content-driven sites with community-led growth and paid tiers for advanced features.
• Joomla: Joomla is an open source PHP CMS that competes in the same horizontal category as ExpressionEngine for SMB and mid-market website builds. Both offer free open source cores with commercial extensions and serve developers building custom sites.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses2 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/ExpressionEngine/ExpressionEngine
• Xx.com/EllisLab
• Facebookfacebook.com/expressionengine
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ellislab

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about EllisLab