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What is C1 CMS?
C1 CMS is an open-source content management system built on the Microsoft .NET stack, created by Orckestra. It is designed for building and running websites that can scale in cloud environments, and it can be deployed in three ways: as open source, as a fully managed service, or as part of the Orckestra Commerce Cloud platform, according to C1 CMS.
It suits teams already working in a Microsoft-oriented environment — particularly .NET developers and agencies — because the platform aligns with familiar tooling. The page highlights a "very simple and friendly" user interface, with screenshots showing both desktop and tablet views, so editors can manage content on the move. Orckestra also points to a standard feature index, an add-on market, and a community where developers answer each other's questions, which matters if you plan to extend the CMS rather than use it out of the box.
The trade-offs are typical of a .NET-based open-source CMS. You gain flexibility and a strong developer community, but you take on more setup and hosting responsibility than with a turnkey SaaS site builder. The managed and Commerce Cloud options reduce that burden, though they tie you more closely to Orckestra's ecosystem. The site claims installations in roughly 150 countries and tens of thousands of installs, which suggests an established base rather than a brand-new project.
If you are evaluating it, start with the product's plans and pricing page to see which deployment model fits your team, then check the add-on market for the specific capabilities your project needs. If you are a .NET developer, the community forum is the fastest way to judge whether the platform's extension model matches how you like to work.
How does C1 CMS compare to other .NET content management systems?
C1 CMS is a Microsoft-stack CMS that is distributed as open source, as a fully managed service, or as part of the Orckestra Commerce Cloud platform, according to its product site. That mix of deployment options is its main differentiator: it tries to serve both developers who want to self-host an open-source .NET CMS and organizations that would rather buy a managed or commerce-integrated platform.
Where C1 CMS fits among .NET CMS options
| Consideration | C1 CMS | Umbraco | Sitecore | Kentico |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Licensing model | Open source, managed, or commerce-cloud option | Open source core with commercial add-ons | Commercial, enterprise-focused | Commercial |
| Typical audience | .NET developers and mid-market teams wanting a managed path | .NET developers wanting an open-source core | Large enterprises with bigger budgets | Mid-market to enterprise marketers |
| Commerce integration | Tied to Orckestra Commerce Cloud | Via third-party packages | Strong native commerce | Strong native commerce |
| Editing experience | Promoted as simple and tablet-friendly | Editor UI, customizable | Polished, marketer-oriented | Polished, marketer-oriented |
The page evidence highlights a "very simple and friendly" editing interface, including a tablet view, plus an add-on market, community support, and professional support. Those are the practical levers to weigh: an add-on ecosystem and community reduce the cost of extending the CMS, while pro support matters if you lack in-house .NET capacity.
How to choose
- If your team is comfortable in .NET and wants to avoid license fees, compare C1 CMS with Umbraco on add-on availability and hosting flexibility.
- If commerce is central and you want a single vendor, C1 CMS via Orckestra Commerce Cloud competes with Sitecore and Kentico, both of which bundle commerce and marketing tooling at commercial prices.
- If you need a managed service and no server maintenance, the managed C1 CMS option may be simpler than self-hosting an open-source alternative.
A concrete next step: list the features you cannot build yourself, then check whether C1 CMS's add-on market covers them before comparing license and support costs against the alternatives.
What are the pricing plans and support options for C1 CMS?
C1 CMS is positioned as an open-source .NET CMS that can also be run as a fully managed service or as part of the Orckestra Commerce Cloud. On the official product site, pricing is not presented as a simple public rate card; instead, the site points visitors to its Products/Plans area and to a “Pro support” contact route. That means the practical answer depends on which delivery model you choose: self-hosted open source, managed hosting, or the broader commerce platform.
What the site indicates
- Open source: C1 CMS is distributed as open source, so the software itself can be used without a licence fee if you host and maintain it yourself.
- Fully managed: Orckestra offers a managed option, which typically bundles hosting, updates and operational support; pricing for this is quoted rather than listed publicly.
- Commerce Cloud: C1 CMS can also be part of the Orckestra Commerce Cloud platform, aimed at organisations that need commerce features alongside content management.
- Pro support: The site highlights “Pro support” and a “Go to pricing” route, suggesting support is a paid, quote-based service rather than a published per-seat plan.
- Community support: There is also a community channel where developers can post questions and get help from other C1 CMS users.
How to choose
If you have an in-house .NET team and want to control costs, the open-source route is the natural starting point: you download C1 CMS, run it on your own Microsoft-stack infrastructure, and rely on documentation, tutorials and the community for help. If you need guaranteed response times, patching and operational cover, the managed or Pro support route is the better fit. If your project also needs e-commerce, the Commerce Cloud option may make more sense than stitching together separate systems.
Next step
Use the site’s Products/Plans page to request current pricing for managed hosting and Pro support, and compare that quote against your own estimate for self-hosting plus internal maintenance. A useful decision criterion is total cost of ownership over three years, not just the licence line: include server costs, upgrades, security patching and the staff time to handle them. For open-source background and community help, the official project site is C1 CMS created by Orckestra.
How do I develop and customize websites using C1 CMS?
You develop sites in C1 CMS by building pages and templates on the Microsoft .NET stack, then letting editors fill those templates with content. The product site describes it as an award-winning CMS built for the cloud, distributed three ways: open source, fully managed, or as part of the Orckestra Commerce Cloud platform. That distribution choice is the first real decision, because it changes how much of the hosting and upgrade work sits with you.
A typical build path
- Install C1 CMS and open the console. The site points to an End User Guide for setting up C1 CMS and developing websites, plus videos, tutorials and guides.
- Model your content types and page types so editors get structured fields rather than raw HTML.
- Build page templates and layouts that render those types. The Microsoft stack matters most here: if your team already writes C#, ASP.NET and Razor-style views, the learning curve is mostly about C1's conventions rather than a new language.
- Add functionality from the Add-on market instead of writing everything yourself. The page reports tens of thousands of add-on installs, so there is a real ecosystem to draw on.
- Hand the console to editors. The site's own screenshots emphasise a "very simple and friendly" interface and a tablet view, which suggests day-to-day editing is meant to be approachable for non-developers.
Where customization actually happens
- Templates and layouts control structure and markup.
- Content and page types control what editors can enter.
- Add-ons extend the console and the public site.
- Translations localize the console itself; the page lists ten language translations and invites contributions.
If your team is small and you want to skip server management, the managed or cloud route reduces operational work but ties you more closely to Orckestra's platform. If you need to self-host and modify the core, the open-source distribution gives you that freedom at the cost of owning upgrades and security patching yourself.
Getting help and judging fit
Orckestra offers pro support and a pricing page, and the site also points people to a community forum and a "Wingman" onboarding offer for newcomers. For a concrete test, take one real page from your current site, rebuild it as a C1 content type plus template, and time how long that takes. If the template work feels natural to your .NET developers and editors can update the page without calling them, the platform fits. Related references worth checking are Orckestra for the commerce platform context and Microsoft for the underlying stack documentation.
Can C1 CMS be used for e-commerce with the Orckestra Commerce Cloud?
Yes. C1 CMS is positioned as one of the ways to run Orckestra Commerce Cloud, so e-commerce is a supported path rather than a workaround. The product page describes C1 CMS as distributed three ways: open source, fully managed, or as part of the Orckestra Commerce Cloud platform. That third option is the e-commerce route: Orckestra Commerce Cloud supplies the commerce layer, and C1 CMS supplies the content management and editing experience on top of it.
Who this fits
- Retailers or brands that want a .NET-based CMS with commerce functions in the same platform, rather than stitching a separate CMS to a separate storefront.
- Teams already comfortable on the Microsoft stack, since C1 CMS is built on it.
- Organizations that want the same content tools across a marketing site and a transactional storefront.
Trade-offs to weigh
- Choosing the Commerce Cloud route means you are buying into Orckestra's platform, not just an open-source CMS. The open-source and fully-managed editions are separate options with different implications for hosting and support.
- The public page emphasizes the CMS interface, add-ons, community and pro support. It does not lay out commerce-specific capabilities such as catalog management, checkout or payment integrations, so those details need to come from Orckestra directly.
- E-commerce projects usually need payment, tax, shipping and inventory integrations. Confirm which of these Orckestra Commerce Cloud handles natively before committing.
A practical next step
If you are evaluating this for a store, ask Orckestra for a commerce-specific demo rather than a general CMS demo: walk through adding a product, changing a price, running a promotion and processing a test order. That will show whether the CMS and commerce layers feel like one product or two. For general context on the CMS itself, see C1 CMS created by Orckestra.
Decision criterion
Pick the Commerce Cloud route if you want one vendor accountable for both content and transactions and you are already on .NET. If you only need content management, or you want to keep your existing commerce engine, the open-source or fully-managed editions of C1 CMS are the more sensible starting points.
How do I install and set up C1 CMS?
Start with the official documentation and setup guide, then confirm the hosting model you want before you install anything. C1 CMS is distributed in more than one form — open source, fully managed, or as part of the Orckestra Commerce Cloud — and the setup steps differ depending on which one you choose. The product site at C1 CMS created by Orckestra links to an End User Guide covering "setting up C1 CMS and developing websites," which is the right first stop.
Typical setup path
- Decide your hosting model. Self-hosted/open source means you manage the server and deployment yourself. A fully managed option shifts that work to the vendor. Pick based on whether you have .NET-capable staff.
- Check the platform requirements. C1 CMS is built on the Microsoft stack, so your environment needs to support that. Verify the exact version requirements in the current documentation rather than assuming.
- Follow the official install guide. The End User Guide on the product site is the authoritative source for installation and initial configuration steps.
- Set up your first site and content. Once installed, the CMS console is where you configure the site, add pages and manage users.
- Add capabilities as needed. The Add-on market extends the core CMS; install add-ons only after the base site works.
Who this suits
The interface is presented as simple and friendly, with screenshots showing both desktop and tablet views. That points to a CMS aimed at editors and content managers, not only developers. If your team includes non-technical content editors, the tablet-friendly console is worth testing early with them.
A practical reader scenario: a small .NET shop building a marketing site for a client. The developer installs and configures; the client's marketing coordinator edits pages from a tablet. Before committing, have the coordinator try the console on their actual device — the screenshots suggest it works, but only a hands-on test confirms it fits their workflow.
Trade-offs to weigh
- Open source vs. managed: open source gives control and no vendor lock-in but requires you to handle hosting, updates and security. Managed reduces that burden but ties you to the vendor's environment.
- Microsoft stack: an advantage if your team already works in .NET; a barrier if it doesn't.
- Add-ons: useful for extending functionality, but each one adds maintenance and compatibility considerations.
Next step
Go to the product site's documentation and End User Guide, confirm your hosting model and platform requirements, then run the install in a test environment before touching production. If you get stuck, the community forum and pro support are both listed as options — the community is free, pro support is a paid path.
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Microsoft Corporation
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