The Exponential Platform products
This page is for developers who know Symfony and ask whether there is an Exponential they can build as a normal
Symfony project. There is: next to Exponential 6, 7x maintains the Symfony-based Exponential Platform line that
descends from eZ Platform and Ibexa OSS. Some of its distributions include the Exponential 6 kernel, some do not. The
descriptions below come from each distribution's own documentation and composer.json, as summarized on
The platform line.
Contents
The distributions
| Distribution | What it is | Includes Exponential 6? |
|---|---|---|
| Exponential Platform 3.2.9 | a CMS on the last free eZ Platform versions, "Symfony / New Stack Only" | No |
| Exponential Platform Legacy | the Symfony platform plus the legacy bridge and se7enxweb/exponential ("dual kernel") | Yes |
| Exponential Platform Nexus | platform, Exponential 6, Netgen Media Site and Exponential Layouts, with demo content | the 1.0.0.x to 1.2.0.x lines and Nexus 2.5 yes; 1.3.0.x (Platform v5) no |
| Nexus starter | the Platform v5 Nexus site as its own repository | No |
| Exponential Platform DXP | a Symfony-only digital experience platform, the continuation of the Ibexa DXP OSS line | No |
Per-line details: Nexus starter, DXP skeleton, Legacy bridge.
What each one has
| Platform 3.2.9 | Legacy | Nexus | DXP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Symfony, Twig, platform REST | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| GraphQL | in its requirements | check the line's composer.json | yes, with the REST API | yes, with GraphiQL |
| Exponential 6 kernel and legacy admin | no | yes | lines up to 1.2.0.x and 2.5 | no |
| Exponential Layouts editor | no | not stated | yes | no (only se7enxweb/layouts-core) |
| Demo site | no | no | yes | no (clean skeleton) |
SQLite installs exist for several platform lines (SQLite for the platform); the Nexus v5 starter uses SQLite as its development default.
The DXP does not ship a layouts editor, an approval workflow, a scheduler or the legacy kernel; its requirements contain none of them (What Exponential is: the product family).
Choosing
| You want | Start from |
|---|---|
| A PHP application with a content model, permissions and an administration, no Symfony | Exponential 6 |
| A new Symfony project with a CMS, REST and GraphQL, no legacy kernel | Exponential Platform DXP (DXP skeleton) |
| A finished demo site with Exponential Layouts on Symfony | Exponential Platform Nexus |
| An Exponential 6 site plus Symfony beside it | Exponential Platform Legacy (Symfony legacy bridge) |
| A team on eZ Platform 3 that wants current PHP | Exponential Platform 3.2.9 |
The rest of this audience's pages describe Exponential 6. The platform products follow Symfony conventions, so your Symfony knowledge applies to them directly (PHP 8.4 and 8.5 for the older Symfony stack, Platform administration interface, Layouts on the platform, Site bundles).
Check before you promise
- Read the distribution's
composer.jsonfor the version you will install; that is what you get. - Name a version on
composer create-project: some repositories carry upstream tags too, and five-part tags are not on Packagist (Nexus starter). - The package map lists which fork replaces which upstream package (Platform package map).
Related pages
- Who is the Exponential Foundation? The product family
- When to choose Exponential
- Platform console commands
- Free documentation: this page is free to copy, translate and improve under the GNU FDL 1.3.
Become an Exponential Partner
Partners share their information, provide funding, contribute back and develop the products with us, and that is how Exponential grows. A partner website and dashboard are planned for mid-2027: please become a partner today to speed up our growth rate and land new features faster.