The really little
content management system

Perch is a PHP content management system that installs on your own website.

You can try it out locally for free first.

Perch is supported and regularly updated, and used by thousands of happy customers around the world.

Perch brings the content management, you bring the design.

A CMS should not be dictating your front-end code. With Perch, you bring your own code to your project. Be that something bespoke for that one special client, a design built on a popular framework like Bootstrap or Foundation, or a time-saving off-the-shelf template from a theme site. Your call.

Perch does its best to deliver your design without getting in the way of it. There are no default themes to overcome. Want something modern, responsive, fast? Go for it, Perch has your back.

Deliver effective, easy-to-use sites to your clients

Successful design agencies choose Perch as the basis for their client projects. Either as a next step up for a client who has been using a website builder service, to retro-fit an existing static site, or for brand new builds, freelancers and small agencies find that Perch is a great choice for their projects.

The simple interface results in less client training and fewer support calls, and the powerful features help clients feel in control of their online presence.

Simple licensing and fast support

There’s lots of free software out there, but there are also lots of dead and abandoned projects. You don’t want that for your clients. Perch isn’t like that. We charge a simple, one-time cost per license, which covers one website. This enables you to fold the cost into your website quote and then forget about it. There are no on-going costs.

This enables us to keep updating Perch with free updates and improvements, to offer responsive technical support, and to maintain an excellent security track record.

Some features

No theme to wrestle with

Perch has no themes or inbuilt mark-up. Develop your own starting points, or start from scratch. You’ll never have to overrule our decisions first.

Retrofit existing sites

Perch is a brilliant choice if you need to retrofit an existing site with a CMS, or just make some small parts of the site editable.

Give the editing ability that makes sense for each client

Some clients want full editing capability and to be able to make big changes. For others they want simple, task-focused capability. Perch gives you control over what to hand over, and you can change that at any time.

Make SEO simple

Perch can help you ensure that your SEO is up to scratch. Giving clients ways to edit page titles and descriptions through the CMS.

No hidden costs

With free addons and support, Perch really is a one time cost. Compare that to systems that charge for every feature you want to add.

Edit with Markdown, Textile or a WYSIWYG

If you want to do some formatting within a textarea Perch offers you a choice of Markdown, Textile or HTML - with or without an editor plugin.

Lots of powerful add-ons, all included in the price

Perch likes to keep things uncomplicated out of the box. When you need to take the next step and add more functionality to your site, there are lots of comprehensive add-ons you can install, all included in the price.

Add a blog, an events calendar, or a logged-in members area, and even start selling with Perch Shop. Take a look at what is available.

What do people say about Perch?

Martin Underhill

“Perch is a joy to build a site with, has great docs, an awesome community, and support is there whenever it’s needed. My clients love it too as the control panel is so intuitive, making it a breeze to update their content.”

Martin Underhill, TemperTemper Web Design