You want a CMS, and you want it on Laravel. Two names come up fast: Statamic and Lara Dashboard. Both are real Laravel applications, both have a free tier, and both let developers extend them with plain PHP. They still make very different bets about where content lives and who pays for what.
Here is the quick answer to Statamic vs Lara Dashboard. Pick Statamic when the project is a content-first website, you like content stored as flat files in Git, and you are happy to pay $349 per site for Pro features such as multiple users and multi-site. Pick Lara Dashboard when the site is the front door of a bigger app, you want a database-backed CMS with roles, modules, CRM-style add-ons and an MCP server, and you want every core feature under the MIT licence.
A quick disclosure. We build Lara Dashboard. Statamic is an excellent CMS, and for some projects it is the better choice. This guide says which ones. Statamic facts and prices come from its official site and docs as of November 2026.
Statamic is a content CMS; Lara Dashboard is a CMS plus app platform
Statamic is a CMS built as a Laravel package. You can start a new Statamic site or add it to an existing Laravel app. Content is modelled with collections, blueprints and fieldsets. Templates use Antlers, Statamic's own template language, or Blade. Statamic 6 shipped in January 2026 with a rebuilt control panel on Vue 3, Inertia.js and Tailwind 4, plus passkeys, two-factor auth and a command palette.
Lara Dashboard is a Laravel 13 application that you install as your project. It ships posts, pages, categories, tags, custom post types, a media library on spatie/laravel-medialibrary, menus, users, roles and permissions, the LaraBuilder page builder, email templates, and a module system. The admin uses Blade, Livewire 4, Alpine.js and Tailwind CSS. Our post on what Lara Dashboard is gives the full tour.
So the real question is not "which CMS is better". It is "is this project mainly a website, or a website attached to an application?" Statamic leans toward the first. Lara Dashboard leans toward the second.
Statamic vs Lara Dashboard at a glance
The table uses Statamic's pricing page, licensing docs and blog, and the Lara Dashboard repository, as of November 2026. Both projects release often, so check the linked pages before you decide.
| Area | Statamic | Lara Dashboard |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Laravel CMS package, content-first | Laravel CMS and admin you install as the app |
| Free tier | Core: one admin user, one form | Full core, MIT licence, no user limits |
| Paid tier (Nov 2026) | Pro $349 per site, then $99 per year for updates | No paid core tier; some paid marketplace modules |
| Current line | Statamic 6 | v1.5.0 (4 November 2026) |
| Content storage | Flat files, or a database with the Eloquent driver | Database through Eloquent models |
| Templating | Antlers or Blade | Blade, plus LaraBuilder blocks |
| Control panel | Vue 3, Inertia.js, Tailwind 4 | Blade, Livewire 4, Alpine.js, Tailwind CSS |
| Roles and multi-user | Pro only | Core, on spatie/laravel-permission |
| Multi-site, multilingual content | Pro only, built in | Admin in 30+ languages; content translation needs extra work |
| Revisions | Pro only, built in | Not in core |
| APIs | REST and GraphQL (Pro) | REST API with Sanctum tokens |
| AI agent access | Community MCP addons | Built-in MCP server with tokens and OAuth |
Flat files are Statamic's superpower and its main trade-off
Statamic's best-known idea is that content can live in Markdown and YAML files next to your code. Entries, collections, navigation and settings go into Git. You can review content changes in a pull request, roll back with Git, and deploy a site with no content database at all. For a marketing site or documentation site, that is a calm way to work.
Flat files get harder when content grows into data. Thousands of entries, frequent writes from many editors, or queries that join content to app records all push you toward a database. Statamic knows this. Its Eloquent driver lets you move some or all repositories into a database with
php please install:eloquent-driver, and export them back later. It works well, but it is a second mode you have to choose and maintain.Lara Dashboard is database-first from day one. Posts, terms, media, menus, settings and users are Eloquent models in normal tables. That makes it easy to relate a post to an order, a ticket or a customer, and to query content from your own code. The cost is that content is not in Git. You back it up like any other Laravel database. Our guide to backing up a self-hosted Laravel CMS covers that routine.
Statamic's free tier is generous for one person, then you pay per site
Statamic Core is free forever, and it is not a demo. The limits are clear: one admin user account and one content form. For a solo developer running a personal site, Core can be all you need.
Most client and team sites need more than one login, and that means Pro. As of November 2026, the pricing page lists Pro at $349 per site, with one year of updates included and $99 per year after that. The price rose on 1 May 2026, the first real increase in six years according to the Statamic team. Pro adds multi-user editing, roles and permissions, multi-site and multilingual content, revisions, the REST and GraphQL APIs, white labelling and Git automation.
Two details from the licensing docs help when you evaluate. Pro runs in Trial Mode for as long as you like on local and staging-style domains. On a public domain, each licence covers one production install, and the control panel checks the licence with Statamic's servers about once an hour while you are logged in.
Lara Dashboard's core is MIT licensed. Multiple users, role screens, the API and the MCP server are all in core, with no licence key and no per-site fee. Some marketplace modules, such as the CRM, are paid. You only buy those if you need them. For an agency shipping many small sites, that difference adds up.
Editors get a polished experience in both
Statamic's control panel is one of the nicest in any PHP CMS. Blueprints give editors exactly the fields they need, Bard gives a structured rich-text editor, and Live Preview shows changes as you type. Statamic 6 added a collection calendar view and hot-reloading Live Preview.
Lara Dashboard gives editors posts, pages, a media library, menus and LaraBuilder, a block editor for landing pages that needs no deploy. Developers add their own blocks with
php artisan make:block. See how LaraBuilder works for the details. Our honest view: for deeply structured content models with many custom fields, Statamic's blueprints are more mature. For editors who build landing pages from blocks, LaraBuilder is the closer fit.Lara Dashboard wins when the CMS sits inside an app
Many Laravel projects are not only websites. They are a SaaS with a marketing site, a client portal with help pages, or an internal tool with a blog. In those projects the CMS has to share users, roles and data with the app.
Roles from day one. Lara Dashboard ships role and permission screens built on spatie/laravel-permission. Support staff can use "login as" behind its own
user.login_as permission, and admin actions land in an action log. Our role-based access control guide walks through it.Modules for app features. Each module, built on nwidart/laravel-modules, carries its own models, migrations, routes, views and permissions. You can switch modules on and off in the admin, upload one as a ZIP, or sell your own on the marketplace. Hooks and filters let a module change core behaviour without a fork. Read hooks and filters in Lara Dashboard for examples.
An API for your own front ends. The REST API uses Laravel Sanctum tokens and is documented with Scramble. We compared this approach in REST API first with Sanctum and Scramble.
Statamic can do app work too, since it is Laravel underneath. Addons extend it, and you can write your own routes and models beside it. The difference is focus. Statamic's extension points centre on content: fieldtypes, tags, modifiers and control panel pages. Lara Dashboard's centre on app features.
AI agents can run a Lara Dashboard site out of the box
Lara Dashboard includes an MCP server at
/mcp, built on the official laravel/mcp package. It is off by default. When you turn it on under Settings, Claude, Cursor or another client can list and draft posts, upload media, assign categories and tags, read logs and use module tools, all within the connected user's permissions. Since v1.5.0, Claude.ai can connect by URL with OAuth and PKCE. Our post on Lara Dashboard MCP for Cursor and Claude shows the setup.Statamic core does not ship an MCP server in the docs we read as of November 2026. Community addons on the Statamic marketplace add one, and Statamic 6 ships Laravel Boost guidelines for AI coding tools. If agent access matters to you, compare those addons with a built-in server before you choose.
When not to use Lara Dashboard
Lara Dashboard is the wrong pick in some cases. Be honest about these.
- You want content in Git, reviewed in pull requests, with no content database.
- You need multi-site or multilingual content built in today.
- Editors need revision history and content rollback in core.
- The project is a pure marketing or docs site with no app behind it.
- You want a commercial vendor with paid developer support behind every site.
- You must stay on Laravel 12; Lara Dashboard targets Laravel 13 and PHP 8.3+.
In those cases Statamic is a strong choice, and Pro is fair value for one serious site. Statamic has trade-offs too. Multiple users need Pro on every site, flat-file mode needs care as content grows, and Antlers is one more template language for new team members to learn, though Blade works as well.
Self-check: Statamic or Lara Dashboard?
Answer these with your team. Count how many point each way.
- Is the project mainly a website, with little app logic? Yes points to Statamic.
- Do you want content versioned in Git? Yes points to Statamic.
- Will more than one person log in on every site you ship? Yes points to Lara Dashboard on cost.
- Do you need multi-site or translated content now? Yes points to Statamic Pro.
- Does content need to relate to app data such as orders, tickets or customers? Yes points to Lara Dashboard.
- Do you want modules you can switch on, off or sell? Yes points to Lara Dashboard.
- Do you want AI agents to draft content and handle daily tasks through MCP? Yes points to Lara Dashboard.
A clear majority usually settles it. If it is a tie, build one page type and one form in both during a short spike. Statamic's Trial Mode and Lara Dashboard's MIT licence make that free.
Verdict
Statamic is a mature, beautifully designed Laravel CMS. It is the better fit for content-first sites, Git-based workflows, and projects that need multi-site, translations or revisions built in. Lara Dashboard is a free, open-source Laravel CMS that also behaves like an app platform, with roles, modules, an API and MCP in core and no per-site fee. If your next build is a website attached to a product, try Lara Dashboard on the live demo and see how much is already there. For the wider field, see the best Laravel admin panels in 2026 or our Lara Dashboard vs Filament comparison.
FAQ
Is Statamic free?
Statamic Core is free forever, with one admin user and one content form. As of November 2026, Statamic Pro costs $349 per site, including one year of updates, then $99 per year.
Is Lara Dashboard built on Statamic?
No. Lara Dashboard does not depend on Statamic, Nova or Filament. It is a Laravel 13 app using Livewire 4, Alpine.js and Tailwind CSS. You can check its
composer.json in the GitHub repository.Can Statamic use a database instead of flat files?
Yes. Statamic's official Eloquent driver moves some or all content repositories into a database, and export commands move them back. You can mix both, for example entries in the database and collections in files.
Which is better for a multilingual site?
Today, Statamic Pro. It has multi-site and multilingual content built in. Lara Dashboard translates its admin into more than 30 languages, but translating front-end content takes extra work. Our multilingual Laravel CMS guide explains the options.
Which is cheaper for an agency?
For sites where only one person logs in, Statamic Core costs nothing. Once clients need several users, Statamic Pro adds $349 per site plus renewals, while Lara Dashboard's core stays free under MIT. Paid Lara Dashboard modules are optional.
Can I move from Statamic to Lara Dashboard later?
Yes, but plan it like any CMS migration. Export entries, map fields to posts or custom post types, move assets into the media library, and keep every URL with redirects. Our guide to rebuilding without losing rankings covers the SEO side.
