Most platform comparisons stop at the build cost. That is the cheapest part. The real cost of owning a content site is the five-year sum of build, licences, hosting, maintenance, plugin upgrades, security patches, editor training and the eventual rebuild when something fundamental changes.
Below is a five-year ownership comparison for a typical UK content site on Statamic and Craft CMS, with realistic 2026 numbers. The scenario is a brochure or content-led site with ten to fifteen content types and around three to five regular editors.
Initial build
A senior freelance build for the scenario above costs broadly similar on both platforms. Statamic builds tend to run slightly faster for the same brief because the flat-file content model needs less infrastructure. Craft builds tend to run slightly longer because the content model takes more upfront planning, which pays back later.
Realistic range for either platform: eight to fifteen working days, £4,000 to £10,500 with a UK senior freelancer.
Licences over five years
Craft Pro: $299 upfront plus $59 per year of update fees. Five-year total around $535 or £425. Craft Commerce adds $999 plus $199 annually.
Statamic single licence: comparable to Craft Pro after the 2025 simplification. Budget around £400 to £500 over five years for the equivalent profile.
For the backstory on how Statamic licensing got here, see the Statamic price hike and the quiet exit problem. The headline number now is similar to Craft, but the trajectory matters for renewal years three to five.
Plugins for both platforms add £200 to £800 over the period depending on add-on choices.
Hosting over five years
A small Statamic flat-file site can run on £10 per month hosting comfortably. Five years equals £600. A small Craft site needs database hosting and runs closer to £25 per month minimum for a managed setup. Five years equals £1,500.
For larger sites with hundreds of entries the hosting gap narrows because both platforms benefit from caching, CDN and faster database tiers. Budget £100 to £200 per month for either at the higher end.
Maintenance over five years
A small site on either platform typically needs around two to four hours per month of senior developer attention to apply updates, run security checks, handle the occasional plugin issue and field editor questions. At UK senior freelance rates that is between £180 and £450 per month.
Craft sites tend to consume slightly fewer maintenance hours per month at the same scale because the editor experience handles more of the content workflow without developer intervention. Statamic in flat-file mode is also low-maintenance for the same reason. The gap is small but real.
Five-year maintenance total: £10,800 to £27,000 for either platform depending on hours and rate.
Editor time and training
A modest line in the spreadsheet that often turns out to be the largest in practice. Hours spent by editors finding the right field, fixing a layout, formatting an entry or chasing a developer because something is unclear.
Craft has the edge here for editorial-heavy teams. The control panel is more polished for daily publishing. Statamic flat-file mode is fine for technical or developer-adjacent editors but can feel rougher for content marketers without dev experience.
For a team of five editors, an extra five minutes per content item adds up. Over five years, the difference can equal a significant portion of the total maintenance cost.
Bottom line
For a small site with one or two editors and modest publishing volume, the five-year totals on Statamic and Craft are within ten per cent of each other. The choice should follow the team and the integration story rather than the cost.
For a medium site with three to ten editors, Craft tends to pull ahead on total cost because the editorial efficiency offsets the higher infrastructure spend. The gap grows with the editorial team size.
For a site sitting alongside a Laravel application, Statamic wins because the shared infrastructure and stack alignment remove a category of costs entirely.
For more, see Statamic vs Craft CMS or what Craft CMS really costs to own.
Frequently asked questions
Which platform is cheaper to host?
Statamic in flat-file mode, comfortably. Craft requires database hosting and starts at higher infrastructure cost.
Which platform has the lower learning curve for editors?
Craft for typical marketing-team editors. Statamic in flat-file mode favours technically-adjacent editors.
Should we choose the platform with lower five-year cost?
Only if cost is the deciding factor. Most projects benefit more from picking the platform that fits the team. Cost difference is usually smaller than the productivity difference.
Want a five-year cost projection for Craft or Statamic?
I can model the real cost of ownership for both, based on your traffic, team and update appetite.
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