ProcessWire
by ProcessWire · Open source PHP CMS with custom fields and an API-driven template layer
BenchRank score
Screenshots of ProcessWire
Homepage
Overview
ProcessWire is a free, open source PHP content management system and framework. Content is stored as pages in a hierarchical tree, and all fields are custom fields you define in the admin, including repeatable groups. Templates are plain PHP that fetch and output content through its API, so you control the markup rather than ProcessWire.
- Best for
- PHP developers building content sites who want custom fields and full control of the markup
- Pricing
- The core CMS is stated to be free and open source; no figures are shown for the PRO or paid modules (Form Builder, ProCache, PAGEGRID) sold through the Pro Shop.
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Every field is a custom field, defined and edited in the admin
- Multi-language fields, URLs and translation tools in the core
- Role-based access control plus a hooks system throughout
- Hierarchical page tree with no depth limit imposed
Trade-offs
- You write all front-end markup yourself; no themes are supplied
- Page builder, form builder and caching ship as paid PRO modules
- Self-hosted PHP and MySQL, so you provide and run the server
- No prices published on the captured page for the PRO modules
How ProcessWire markets itself
A structured read of the promise, proof and page design on ProcessWire’s captured homepage.
Homepage capture
“A free CMS you'll love.”
- Angle: Open source / ownership
- Hero: Product screenshot
Pricing
Published plans and prices from ProcessWire’s own pricing page.
How this score is made up
Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.
MCP support
Whether an agent can drive the product through the Model Context Protocol, and how much setup that takes.
API quality
Public API surface: machine-readable spec, official SDKs, documented auth, errors, rate limits and versioning.
Documentation
Publicly reachable docs — coverage, freshness, code samples and machine readability.
Agent friendliness
How readable the site is to an automated client: llms.txt, structured data, server-rendered content, crawler access.
Changelog
A public, dated record of what shipped and when — the clearest signal that a product is still alive.
Marketing site structure
Whether the site answers a buyer's questions: clear positioning, the pages that matter, and accessibility.
Page speed
How fast the site loads for real visitors: Chrome UX Report 75th-percentile LCP, INP and CLS, with a Lighthouse mobile run standing in where a site has too little traffic for field data.
Operational trust
Status page and incident history, security disclosure, compliance and data-processing documentation.
Measured, but not part of the score
Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.
Openness
Source availability, self-hosting, data export and open standards. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — paid SaaS is not worse for being paid SaaS.
Maintenance
Release cadence and repository activity. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — it is only measurable for open repositories.
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Where this comes from
The ProcessWire pages BenchRank reads when it scores the product — its documentation, release notes, status and security pages, and its repository where there is one.
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