Rising Cost of ExpressionEngine Development

Posted on 5 May 2010 | by Ryan Battles

Developing websites in ExpressionEngine used to be pretty affordable, but recent events have caused the cost of development to rise.  The system has also grown tremendously in power, flexibility, and ease-of-use thanks to a new version and a plethora of add-ons by third party developers.  Is the extra cost worth the extra features?  Is the "ideal candidate" for an ExpressionEngine-powered website changing?

A Little History

A couple of years ago I set out to research the best Content Management System (CMS) to specialize in, to provide a combination of power, value, and ease-of-use to my clients.  My research led me to ExpressionEngine as the CMS that best embodied these three qualities. 

While I would have preferred a free solution like Joomla or Drupal to begin my training with, ExpressionEngine provided a free "core" version for people to learn on, and could continue using for personal and non-profit websites.  I was fortunate enough to be a part of Mike Boyink's Train-EE session in Holland, MI, which gave me a great boost over the initial learning curve that comes with learning any CMS worth it's salt. 

My first ExpressionEngine installation was for my own site, utilizing only a couple of free, third-party add-ons.  While I had to fork over the $250 for the professional license (I was using the site for my business), I justified the cost with knowing that I was also training myself on the system in the process.  At this time, most of the add-ons were free, except for a few specialty plugins that only certain types of sites needed.

The Situation Today

ExpressionEngine version 2 is in Beta, and soon to be officially replacing ExpressionEngine 1 as the standard for EE-powered sites.  The cost has gone from $250 for the professional license to $300.  I find this increase to be totally reasonable, as a number of years have passed since the $250 price point was set, and the new version of ExpressionEngine contains enhancements over the previous version. 

The world of add-ons is where the interesting story begins.  There are now over 500 add-ons for ExpressionEngine, many of which providing features that we didn't know we needed until we tried it, and now we can't go back.  Specific add-ons that come to mind are FF Matrix, Playa, and Structure.  I believe that all three of these plugins started out as free in their early development, but are now commercially licensed.  There are many other add-ons that are commercially sold, and expand ExpressionEngine to fit a variety of situations: CartThrob, User, Static Page Caching, etc.  Not all sites need these, but those that do will have to pay for them.

A typical ExpressionEngine install now typically costs between $400 and $800 to provide the software needed to run the system.

The Good News

I shudder to think of a robust website without any EE add-ons.  An ExpressionEngine install is sort of like vanilla ice cream.  It's okay by itself, but when you add things to it, it becomes something tasty.  The add-ons are the hot fudge, whipped cream, sprinkles, and cherry to an ExpressionEngine install.  In a way, paying for these features shouldn't be surprising.  I think that we are so used to software being free with the plethora of open-source alternatives, that we take offense to having to pay somebody for software.  People clearly put a lot of time into these add-ons, and I see nothing wrong with compensating them for their time.  I don't think any of them are being greedy either, as most of them are one-man shops.

Future Predictions

I suppose the rising cost of ExpressionEngine development is just inevitable.  Sites built on ExpressionEngine are becoming more powerful, easier to use, and aesthetically more pleasing in the back-end.  The rising cost is a byproduct of this movement.  Perhaps as ExpressionEngine becomes more popular, there will be more competition amongst add-on developers, lowering prices.  This would be a good thing, as the developers would also be selling many more of their add-ons in the process. 

One thing is clear for now, ExpressionEngine is positioning itself as a higher-end, elegant solution, aimed at clients with larger budgets.  Increasingly I'm having to tell clients that their budgets are too small for an ExpressionEngine-powered website. 

Also, the barrier to entry is increasing for aspiring young developers.  The free version is being done away with, and many hobbyists just don't have the time to keep up with the add-on community to see just what is possible to do with ExpressionEngine.  Selfishly, I like this scenario.  This will keep ExpressionEngine developers from becoming a dime-a-dozen, and making it easier to stand-out as a quality solutions provider.