Documentation
Install, configure, extend and run Exponential: manuals for every version, tutorials, FAQ and the extensions.
Who makes Exponential
Exponential is free software with a history of nearly thirty years. Meet the company that leads it and the nonprofit foundation that operates the open source project.
- Who is 7x? The company behind Exponential, from its first release to today.
- Who is the Exponential Foundation? The nonprofit, the product family and its commitments.
- Partners Exponential Partners contribute financially to the sustained future of the project, contribute code and more back to the project, and engage directly with 7x and the Exponential Foundation.
- Community Exponential Community members use, contribute to, promote and develop software using Exponential worldwide.
- Ecosystem The greater ecosystem extends beyond the community to cover all aspects of the Exponential world within the PHP stack: its users and creators.
Exponential Developer Manuals
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Upgrade guides
Step by step from any earlier version to the current one, with the changes to the database and the settings.
Choosing a product
6 products share the name Exponential. Here are the 2 most projects choose between; all 6 are compared on the choices page.
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Exponential Recommended
- What it is
- The complete content management system and application framework, maintained by 7x, and the line this help center documents
- Best for
- Structured content, several sites or several languages from one installation; agencies, hosting providers and developers who build without Symfony
- Kernel and stack
- The Exponential 6 kernel in plain PHP, no Symfony; SQLite, MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB or Oracle
- Editing and administration
- The admin4 administration and the editor siteaccess, in more than 150 languages, with the help center built in
- Key features
- Customizable content model, versions and translations, roles and policies, multisite, a shop, workflows, REST and GraphQL, Exponential Layouts, Exponential Velocity
- PHP
- 8.0 to 8.5 (7.4 usable without support)
- Learning curve
- One stack: PHP and Exponential's templates; installs with two commands on SQLite
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Exponential Platform DXP
- What it is
- A Symfony-only digital experience platform, the free continuation of eZ Platform and Ibexa Open Source
- Best for
- New Symfony projects, and teams leaving eZ Platform or Ibexa Open Source for current PHP
- Kernel and stack
- Symfony 7.4 LTS (Platform v5), without the Exponential 6 kernel
- Editing and administration
- The platform's admin UI; no layouts editor, approval workflow or scheduler
- Key features
- REST, GraphQL, the HTTP cache, Solr and core search
- PHP
- 8.3 or later (the 4.6 branch: 7.4 to 8.5)
- Learning curve
- Symfony only
How to choose
- You want the most complete CMS with the best editor experience: many sites and languages, a shop, workflows, Exponential Layouts and a built-in help center Exponential
- You want a Symfony-only stack, without the Exponential 6 kernel Exponential Platform DXP
The best user experience and the most features are in Exponential 6, not in Platform, Basic or even DXP.
Not sure? Choose Exponential 6.x today and get started fast.
Fastest way to try it: Exponential Starter Distribution (ESD) Exponential 6 ready to run on SQLite, with the Composer vendor directory included: clone it and serve it.
More choices: compare all 6 products and find the right one. Compare all 6 products View all products
Products
2 of the 6 products of Exponential, the ones most projects start with.
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Exponential Supported
The content management system and application framework of the Exponential 6 line, maintained by 7x: a customizable content model, versions and translations, roles and policies, multisite, a shop, workflows, REST and GraphQL. It runs on PHP 8.0 to 8.5 with SQLite, MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB or Oracle.
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Exponential Platform DXP Supported
A Symfony-only digital experience platform, the free continuation of eZ Platform and Ibexa Open Source maintained by 7x: Symfony 7.4 LTS and PHP 8.3 or later, without a layouts editor and without the Exponential 6 kernel.
Grow from user to developer
Exponential is free software with its full history on GitHub. Install it as Git clones, the recommended way to build websites, and you can follow every change, try fixes before they are released and send your own improvements back.
- Use the administration Sign in, edit and publish.
- Install with Git The kernel and every extension as clones with history.
- Update with Git Get updates as they are pushed to GitHub, then update Composer to match: hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or only at each release.
- Contribute back Fork, fix and open a pull request.
- Contribute extensions back Share the extensions you distribute, as the GPL requires, so everyone benefits.
Recently changed
Recently added
- 4. Choosing an install method Exponential 6.0 can be installed in three ways that all end in the same kind of installation: the setup wizard in a b...
- Installing by hand, without an installer Added for Exponential 6.0.15. The setup wizard, the kickstarter and ./console exp:install do every step of an install...
- Siteaccesses: how a request finds its site Added for Exponential 6.0.15. One Exponential installation can serve several sites: a public website, the administrat...
- Installing and running Exponential 6.0: the book This book takes you from an empty server to a production Exponential 6.0 site. It covers checking the requirements, g...
- Images and files This page is for editors who put images, documents and other files on the site and use them in pages. In Exponential...
- Translating content An item can exist in several languages. Each language is a translation of the same item: it has its own text, but the...
- The AI assistant in the editor Exponential Intelligence is the writing assistant of the administration (the extension expai ). It writes, rewrites,...
- Comments Visitors can comment on pages such as blog posts and products. In Exponential 6 a comment is an item of the Comment c...
Recent comments
Recent ratings
Recent Markdown changes
Recent commits
- Updated: The hide cronjob puts ShowHiddenNodes back when it ends and …
- Updated: The manifest check of the pre-commit hook passes a commit wi…
- Updated: The hide cronjob ends also when the process fetched nodes wi…
- Added: The URL map import shows every format with an example to copy,…
- Updated: share/filelist.md5 for the OpenSpec files of pull request #358
- Updated: The translation cache checks the locale it names a directory…
- Updated: The translation cache keeps each locale apart, so an English…
- Updated: The service worker leaves the shop to the browser, so a bask…
Recent forum activity
- Reply How do I get the best performance from a LiteSpeed web server?
- Reply Request for More Example Themes and Available Downloads
- How to Make a LiteSpeed Web Server Run Faster and Smoother While Using Exponential 6+
- Request for More Example Themes and Available Downloads
- How do I get the best performance from a LiteSpeed web server?
- The Future of Collaboration Is Here — Welcome to Exponential.Earth Share
- Reply How Custom Content Types in eZ Publish Can Transform Your Website
- Reply Do you need custom content types (e.g., product listings, event pages, portfolios)?
Found an error?
Tell us on GitHub: the guide shows which tracker fits, what to include and the system details to copy, without any secrets.
A security issue? Report it privately, not in a public issue.Free documentation: use it to help yourself and others
This help is free documentation, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 or later. You may use it, share it and improve it:
- Study it Read any page as often as you like, for any purpose.
- Copy it and share it Give pages to other users, on paper or as files. Keep the copyright notice, the license notice and a copy of the license with every copy.
- Translate, adapt and improve it Share your version under the same license, with the original notices and a note of what you changed.
- Cite it Refer to a page by its title and its address in the help, or its file in the doc directory.
- Contribute fixes back Use "Edit on GitHub" on any page. Changes are accepted under the same license, so they stay free for everyone.
Exponential Copyright © 1998-2026 Exponential Foundation and 7x
Support Exponential
Exponential is free software. Every new feature, help page, extension, theme and application is work that somebody pays for with their time. A sustaining monthly sponsorship, of any size, keeps that work going and lets it grow.
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7x
The company that leads Exponential and the first sponsor of the project: it develops, supports and hosts it and makes the releases.
Your sponsorship pays for:
- Monthly releases and the work that keeps the lights on
- Security patches to the libraries Exponential builds on, such as Zeta Components
- New features given back to the community as open source
- The bridges, forks and tools around the platform
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Exponential Foundation
The nonprofit that operates the open source project and is dedicated to its funding, adoption, support, education, development, promotion and documentation.
Your sponsorship pays for:
- Maintenance of the core libraries
- Documentation, tutorials, how-tos and FAQs
- Integration layers: GraphQL, REST and Solr
- Community infrastructure: chat, mirrors, wikis and developer resources
A monthly sponsorship, even a small one, is planned income: it pays for work that one-time gifts cannot keep going. What sponsorship funds