What Umbraco is and what it can do
Umbraco is one of the few mature open-source CMSs in the .NET world. It's developed by the Danish company of the same name, and the core version is free. Key capabilities:
- flexible page and document types, with fields configured by developers to match your content;
- a block editor for assembling pages from pre-built elements;
- multiple language versions of every page, published independently for each language;
- editor roles and permissions, version history, and scheduled publishing;
- a media library and a built-in API for delivering content to other applications.
Benefits of Umbraco
- A natural fit for Microsoft environments. If your systems run on .NET, the website runs on the same platform and is maintained by the same IT team.
- Flexible content structure. Umbraco doesn't force templates on you: the admin panel is configured around how your business actually works.
- Editor-friendly. The admin panel is clean and simple, and editors see only the fields and sections they need.
- A reliable platform. .NET is well suited to enterprise requirements for security, performance, and long-term support.
- No monthly license for the core. The base CMS is free to use on your own servers.
Limitations and drawbacks
- Smaller community. There are far fewer Umbraco developers than for popular PHP CMSs, so it's important to choose a team that knows both the CMS and .NET.
- Parts of the ecosystem are paid. The vendor's cloud hosting and some add-on modules are subscription-based.
- Major upgrades. Migrating from older versions built on the classic .NET Framework to modern ones is substantial work, not a one-click update.
- Higher entry cost for simple sites. For a small website without enterprise requirements, Umbraco development costs more than a mainstream CMS.
When to choose something else
- If your company has no .NET infrastructure and needs a standard corporate website, WordPress is cheaper and simpler.
- If it's not a content site but a web application with its own logic, it's better to build it directly on ASP.NET Core without a CMS.
- If the main content consumer is a mobile app and a JavaScript front end, compare Umbraco with headless systems such as Strapi.
Umbraco as part of your company's IT system
The main reason to choose Umbraco isn't the CMS itself — it's the ability to make your website an extension of your corporate systems. In practice, that means:
- employees log in to the admin panel with the same account they use for work tools;
- the website displays data from internal systems: job openings, documents, product catalogs, request statuses;
- website inquiries flow into your CRM or ERP without manual re-entry;
- the website is hosted alongside your other services, under the same security and backup policies.
Editorial workflows in a large company
A corporate website rarely has just one editor. PR handles news, HR handles job postings, the product team manages the catalog, and translations are done by different people in different countries. Umbraco lets you organize all this without chaos:
- each group sees and edits only its own sections of the site;
- changes can be sent to a designated reviewer for approval before publishing;
- each language has its own version of a page, and translations aren't lost when the original changes;
- the history shows who changed a page and when, and previous versions can be restored.
We set up these rules together with your stakeholders and run separate training for each editor group.
Hosting: your own servers, Azure, or Umbraco Cloud
Your own servers give you full control and suit companies with strict internal data policies.
Azure is convenient if your other services are already there: it's easier to scale and to set up backups and load balancing. Learn more on our cloud infrastructure and Azure page.
Umbraco Cloud, the vendor's hosting, takes care of updates and deploying changes between environments, but it's a monthly subscription with less configuration freedom. We help you compare the options against your requirements.
New website or upgrading an existing one
A new website starts with your IT team's requirements and the content model. These determine which integrations we build in from the start and which can be added later.
For an existing website on an old Umbraco version, we start with an assessment: CMS and .NET versions, custom modules, third-party packages, and content volume. Then we propose a path: a gradual upgrade through intermediate versions, or migrating content to a fresh installation with rewritten templates. The second option is often more reliable when the site is many years old and several teams have changed its code.
What affects the cost
- Content model: number of page types, blocks, languages, and editors.
- Integrations: how many internal systems need to be connected and whether they have a usable API.
- Security requirements: single sign-on, environment separation, audit logs, internal company policies.
- Hosting: your own servers, Azure, or Umbraco Cloud, plus any paid modules you need.
- State of the existing site: for upgrades — version, custom modules, and content volume.
Frequently asked questions
Is Umbraco really free? The CMS core is, yes — it's open source. The vendor's cloud hosting and certain add-on modules may be paid, so we work out those costs with you up front.
Do we need a Windows server? Not necessarily. Modern Umbraco versions run on ASP.NET Core, which also runs on Linux.
Our site is on a very old Umbraco version. What should we do? Start with an audit, then a plan to upgrade or migrate. Old versions no longer receive security patches, so putting this off is risky.
Can support be handed over to our in-house IT team? Yes. We hand over the code, documentation, and environment configuration, and can support your team through the early stages.
Can we connect a mobile app? Yes. Umbraco can serve content through an API, so the app displays the same content as the website.
Why Promodex
Promodex has been in business since 2015, with 750+ projects of all sizes behind us. We see Umbraco as a tool for specific conditions — companies running on Microsoft technologies — and we'll tell you honestly if a simpler solution would suit you better. All work, from planning to ongoing support, is done by our in-house specialists; we never hand anything off to third-party contractors. We agree on terms and the engagement model transparently, and after launch we help your website keep growing.