Umbraco is an

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...

content management system A content management system (CMS) is computer software used to manage the creation and modification of digital content ( content management).''Managing Enterprise Content: A Unified Content Strategy''. Ann Rockley, Pamela Kostur, Steve Manning. New ...

(CMS) platform for publishing content on the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...

and

intranet An intranet is a computer network for sharing information, easier communication, collaboration tools, operational systems, and other computing services within an organization, usually to the exclusion of access by outsiders. The term is used in ...

s. It is written in C# and deployed on Microsoft based infrastructure. Since version 4.5, the whole system has been available under an

MIT License The MIT License is a permissive software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts very few restrictions on reuse and therefore has high license compatibility. Unl ...

. Umbraco was developed by Niels Hartvig in 2000 and released as open source software in 2004. In 2009, CMS Wire described it as one of the leading

.NET The .NET platform (pronounced as "''dot net"'') is a free and open-source, managed code, managed computer software framework for Microsoft Windows, Windows, Linux, and macOS operating systems. The project is mainly developed by Microsoft emplo ...

-based open source CMS systems. In 2010, with 1000 downloads a day, Umbraco was in the top five most popular downloads via the Microsoft Web Platform Installer, two places below its main rival DotNetNuke.

Technology

Umbraco is primarily written in C#, stores data in a

relational database A relational database (RDB) is a database based on the relational model of data, as proposed by E. F. Codd in 1970. A Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) is a type of database management system that stores data in a structured for ...

(commonly

Microsoft SQL Server Microsoft SQL Server is a proprietary relational database management system developed by Microsoft using Structured Query Language (SQL, often pronounced "sequel"). As a database server, it is a software product with the primary function of ...

) and runs on Microsoft Kestrel server which can run on Windows or Linux. Umbraco's front-end is built upon Microsoft's

, using

ASP.NET Core ASP.NET Core is an open-source modular web-application framework. It is a redesign of ASP.NET that unites the previously separate ASP.NET MVC and ASP.NET Web API into a single programming model. Despite being a new framework, built on a new web ...

. Umbraco uses standard ASP.NET features such as ASP.NET "master pages" to facilitate the creation of reusable page layouts, and supports both

Razor A razor is a bladed tool primarily used in the removal of body hair through the act of shaving. Kinds of razors include straight razors, safety razors, disposable razors, and electric razors. While the razor has been in existence since be ...

and

XSLT XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) is a language originally designed for transforming XML documents into other XML documents, or other formats such as HTML for web pages, plain text, or XSL Formatting Objects. These formats c ...

. XSLT has been used for scripting, and in the past there was much debate as to which yielded better performance, since

XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing data. It defines a set of rules for encoding electronic document, documents in a format that is both human-readable and Machine-r ...

has been used for database storage and for the cache file (umbraco.config) Beginning with Umbraco 9, the platform underwent a major architectural transformation by migrating to .NET 5 and

, a shift that enabled better performance, cross-platform capabilities, and improved scalability. This marked a move away from legacy .NET Framework dependencies and brought Umbraco in line with Microsoft's modern development ecosystem. Since then, Umbraco has adopted Microsoft’s Long-Term Support (LTS) release cadence, regularly updating its core to align with new .NET versions

Database tier

In 2008, a

data abstraction In software engineering and computer science, abstraction is the process of generalizing concrete details, such as attributes, away from the study of objects and systems to focus attention on details of greater importance. Abstraction is a fun ...

layer for Umbraco was built, making it possible to support databases other than SQL Server. In version 4.0 of Umbraco, support for

MySQL MySQL () is an Open-source software, open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Its name is a combination of "My", the name of co-founder Michael Widenius's daughter My, and "SQL", the acronym for Structured Query Language. A rel ...

, SQL Server and VistaDB come as standard. With Umbraco 4.6, released in 2010, VistaDB support was removed, and replaced with support for SQL Server Express and SQL Server Compact Edition, due to licensing issues with VistaDB's parent company. As of Umbraco 6, support for MySQL has waned, as the development team has spent more time supporting Microsoft's SQL Server products. MySQL 5.6.5 or newer is required to support Umbraco 6.1 or newer. Umbraco 7 featured a completely revamped back-end administration UI, with the use of

AngularJS AngularJS (also known as Angular 1) is a discontinued free and open-source JavaScript-based web framework for developing single-page applications. It was maintained mainly by Google and a community of individuals and corporations. It aimed to si ...

for a

single-page application A single-page application (SPA) is a web application or website that interacts with the user by dynamically rewriting the current web page with new data from the web server, instead of the default method of loading entire new pages. The goal is fas ...

experience. It has also been announced that they will implement Angular 2.0. Beginning with Umbraco 9, the platform's migration to .NET 5 and

enabled broader cross-platform database compatibility. This included support for

SQLite SQLite ( "S-Q-L-ite", "sequel-ite") is a free and open-source relational database engine written in the C programming language. It is not a standalone app; rather, it is a library that software developers embed in their apps. As such, it ...

, which is now commonly used in development and test environments. While

remains the preferred option for production deployments, Umbraco’s adoption of the modern .NET ecosystem has made it more flexible in supporting alternative data storage options in self-hosted scenarios.

Deployment

The standard release of Umbraco is typically deployed on IIS in an environment which supports Full Trust. While a Full Trust environment is mandatory to install and operate the standard release, the codebase has been branched and modified to produce a version of the framework and backend UI which supports Medium Trust. Research has also been undertaken on running an Umbraco website on

Mono Mono may refer to: Biology * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monocyte, a type of leukocyte (white blood cell) * Monodactylidae, members of which are referred to as monos Technology and computing * Mono (audio), single-c ...

on Linux. Umbraco can be deployed on a single physical server running the database and web tier, and this deployment model can be appropriate for small low-cost sites. Umbraco sites which serve content under higher load can also be deployed on a load balanced cluster. Load balanced Umbraco installations can use software or hardware load balancers, and load balanced network files can be shared using a SAN,

NAS Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air (S ...

or a cluster file system or using a file replication service between nodes in the cluster.

Releases

Version 4.1 Beta II was released on 16 February 2010 which refactors a number of key components of the framework, including the UI tree control to improve performance and the user experience and parts of the data access layer to reduce the number of database calls. Version 5 (codenamed "Jupiter") is a rewrite of the framework, built using

ASP.NET MVC ASP.NET MVC is a web application framework developed by Microsoft that implements the model–view–controller (MVC) pattern. It is no longer in active development. It is open-source software, apart from the ASP.NET Web Forms component, which is ...

, published in January 2012. Problems (performance and code complexity) inherent in the architecture of the new Version 5 data access layer led to Version 5 being dropped in June 2012 despite having been released on a commercial license, and development efforts refocused on integrating selected Version 5 front end enhancements into Version 4. Version 6 was released on 31 January 2013, and was focused on additional support for MVC 4 and a new streamlined API. Version 7 was released on 21 November 2013. It is updated concurrently with version 6, but provides a redesign of the back-office user interface. Umbraco 8 was released on 26 February 2019. Umbraco 9 was released on 28 September 2021. This marks the first version fully on .NET 5 and ASP.NET Core. Umbraco 10 was released on 16 June 2022. This release brought Umbraco to .NET 6 and ASP.NET Core 6 and

support. Umbraco 11 was released on 1 December 2022. This release brought Umbraco to .NET 7 and ASP.NET Core 7 and a new Block Grid Editor. Umbraco 12 was released on 29 June 2023. This release brought a headless API called the Content Delivery API, and support for Entity Framework Core. Umbraco 13 was released on 14 December 2023. This release brought Umbraco to .NET 8 and C# 12. Umbraco 14 was released on 30 May 2024. This release brought a new backoffice built in Typescript and Lit, and removed the existing deprecated AngularJS version Umbraco 15 was released on 14 November 2024. This release brought Umbraco to .NET 9 and introduced Microsoft HybridCache and Tiptap RTE. Umbraco 16 was released on 12 June 2025. This version introduced Tiptap as the default rich text editor (RTE), replacing the previous editor. Tiptap was first made available in Umbraco 15. Other updates in version 16 included improvements to the back-office user interface and new options for locking, moving, and hiding properties.

Community

2020 - The Umbraco corporation employs over 70 staff and is supported by a core team of over 15 developers who work on the open source core platform. Umbraco's community site, "Our Umbraco", has more than 200,000 registered users and developers. Since 2005, an annual developer conference Codegarden has taken place in or in the region of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, except in 2007, when it was held in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. In 2009, the conference had 170 attendees and subsequently took place in

in June 2010 and June 2011, then growing to 350 attendees for June 2012 and 2013.. It now takes place in Odense each year and in 2023 had 782 physical attendees and 969 virtual attendees. In the UK there has been an annual developer conference Umbraco Spark which takes place in Bristol each spring. Umbraco Spark has had over 150 attendees and has been running each year since 2019 (with a 2 year gap during the Covid-19 pandemic). The next Umbraco Spark will be on 8 March 2024. In the United States, The Umbraco US Festival is a key event for the Umbraco community in the United States, held periodically since 2014. The 2024 festival, hosted in Chicago, featured over 150 attendees, workshops, and presentations focused on Umbraco features, advantages, and accessibility.

Reception

In August 2009, Umbraco was included in a list of 10 CMS platforms recommended by the Danish ''Version2'' magazine. Among these were three systems initially developed in Denmark:

Sitecore Sitecore is a customer experience management company that provides web content management system, web content management, and multichannel marketing automation software. The company was founded in 2001 in Denmark. Origins In 1998, in Copenhagen ...

, TYPO3, and Umbraco. Jesper Stein Sandal (18 Aug 2009
Her er 10 CMS'er, du ikke må gå glip af
, Version2

References

External links

*
Umbraco repository on GitHub
{{Application frameworks Free content management systems Content management systems Website management Web development software Free and open-source software Blog software 2000 software Software using the MIT license Free software programmed in C Sharp