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.
Sections
About Exponential
Exponential is a content management system and application framework written in PHP. One installation holds a fully customizable content model (classes, objects, versions and translations), roles and policies, several sites and languages, a shop, workflows, a template engine, REST and GraphQL access, and the administration interfaces for editors and administrators. It is free software under the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later; the package is se7enxweb/exponential and the repository is github.com/se7enxweb/exponential.
Exponential 6 runs on PHP 8.0 to 8.5 and stores its content in SQLite, MySQL or MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB or Oracle (through the ezoracle extension). With SQLite it needs no database server at all. It is served by Exponential Velocity, the PHP web server that is part of Exponential from 6.0.15 on, or by Apache, nginx, LiteSpeed, Caddy or IIS with PHP-FPM. The newest release is 6.0.14 (7 June 2026); the 6.0.15 line is in development.
Who it is for
Exponential is made for organizations that run structured content, several sites or several languages from one installation, for hosting providers and agencies, and for developers who build on a framework in plain PHP, without Symfony. Sites that still run an older version of the software can move to Exponential 6 and keep their content, their extensions and their templates.
A short history
The code of Exponential has one continuous history. It began as eZ publish, written by eZ Systems AS in Norway from 1999; version 1.0 appeared in November 2000. A new design, released as eZ publish 3.0 in March 2003, created the architecture that Exponential still has: the kernel with its modules and views, the content model, the datatypes, the INI settings, the siteaccesses, the template language, the design and override system, extensions, workflows and roles. eZ Publish 4 (2007 to 2012) moved the same kernel to PHP 5, and eZ Publish 5 (from 2012) placed a Symfony based stack next to it, which made it the "legacy kernel". eZ Systems made its last eZ Publish releases in 2014 and continued with eZ Platform, without the legacy kernel; the company is called Ibexa today. The legacy kernel lived on as the community repository ezsystems/ezpublish-legacy and in a fork maintained by Netgen.
On 5 October 2023, 7x (known as Brookins Consulting before 2022) forked the maintained legacy kernel on GitHub as se7enxweb/exponential and gave it a new release line: 6.0.0 became stable on 1 January 2024, on PHP 8 and with SQLite as a database that needs no server. In August 2025 the product was renamed Exponential; 6.0.10, released on 28 August 2025, was the first release under the new name. Identifiers, class names, file paths, database tables and settings kept their old names, so every existing site, extension and template kept working, and new code uses the prefix exp. Since then the line has added PHP 8.4 and 8.5 support, MongoDB (6.0.14), Exponential Velocity, the admin4 design, the help center, Exponential Layouts and Exponential Intelligence.
The copyright of Exponential is held by the Exponential Foundation, the nonprofit that operates the project for its users and community, and 7x, the company that leads the development and supports the customers. Exponential is not associated with eZ Systems or Ibexa; the original developer's copyright notice stays in the code, as the license requires. The whole story, release by release, is in the help center's History of Exponential.
The Exponential family
7x publishes these distributions under the GitHub organization se7enxweb:
- Exponential 6, documented here: the content management system and framework in plain PHP, without Symfony.
- Exponential Platform, the Symfony based family:
- Exponential Platform Legacy: a Symfony platform with the Exponential 6 kernel inside.
- Exponential Platform Nexus: a finished site with Exponential Layouts and demo content.
- Exponential Platform DXP: Symfony only, without the Exponential 6 kernel and without a layouts editor.
- Exponential Basic: a very small CMS for learning or a personal site.
Which one fits your project is answered by the help center's guide Distributions of Exponential. If you are unsure, start with Exponential 6.
Where to start
- Install. Installing Exponential 6.0 covers the requirements, the setup wizard, the kickstarter, the one command install, and serving the site. The shortest path needs only PHP and Composer and installs on SQLite.
- Update or upgrade. A 6.0 site is brought to a newer 6.0.x release with Updating Exponential 6.0. A site on 4.x, 5.x or an older release follows Upgrading and the help center's upgrading guide.
- Manuals. The Technical manual 6.x is the reference for developers and administrators, the User manual 6.x the guide for editors. The manuals of the versions 3.6 to 5.x stay here for the sites that run them.
- Learn and look up. Tutorials, Frequently Asked Questions, the Extensions and Security.
- Help center. Every installation carries its own help center with the current guides, in English and German. Its copy on this site is the help center.
composer create-project se7enxweb/exponential exponential cd exponential php bin/php/console exp:install --apply --random-password --url=http://localhost:8087
These commands install Exponential 6 with the default site package on SQLite; Installing Exponential 6.0 explains every option.