The About section of the project website describes the project, the people behind it and the websites around it. This page retells it, read in October 2026, and adds what the repository says where that is more precise.
What Exponential is
The website describes Exponential as an enterprise-grade open source content management system and development framework for web publishing, media portals, intranets, e-commerce and extranets: a flexible content engine at the core, a lot of functionality out of the box, and its real strength in how far it can be customized. It is free software written in PHP that runs on Linux, macOS, Windows and BSD. The website says it has been installed tens of thousands of times.
For the features in detail, see the README and Build with Exponential.
Who runs the project
- 7x leads it. The website's Project page calls the project a community effort led by the company 7x, which fosters its growth, support and maintenance, and says the project is funded by donations of time and resources from 7x and its sponsors (Who is 7x?).
- The Exponential Foundation operates it. Every page of the website ends with "Developed by 7x" and says the project is operated by the Exponential Foundation, a public nonprofit corporation. The Foundation's mission, in the website's words, is to support the Exponential family of CMS and DXP projects and to educate, assist, guide and foster the growth of the software, its users and the community. Its website has two official addresses, foundation.exponential.earth and exponentialfoundation.earth (Who is the Exponential Foundation?).
- The name. The project used the name eZ Publish until 11 August 2025, when it changed to "Exponential" or "Exponential (CMS)" at the request of the owner of the old name; the website adds that the project is not associated with the original software's developer (/about/project).
The family of websites
The website's Projects list names the sites 7x runs for the community:
| Site | What it is for |
|---|---|
| exponential.earth | The project's home: news about the 6.0 releases, the FAQ, the roadmap, support and giving |
| share.exponential.earth | Share Exponential, the community gateway: forums, articles, blogs and tutorials from decades of community writing; also the official and the community roadmap |
| projects.exponential.earth | Exponential Projects, the project forge for extensions, designs and bundles: project news, reviews, screenshots, downloads, RSS feeds, group project management, notifications for tracked projects and Git or GitHub integration (chapter on Exponential Projects) |
| ezpedia.exponential.earth | eZpedia, the community wiki, built with Exponential |
| exponential.doc.exponential.earth | The Exponential Documentation Project: official and community documentation (Documentation sources) |
| basic.exponential.earth | Exponential Basic |
| platform.exponential.earth | The Exponential Platform distributions |
| foundation.exponential.earth | The Exponential Foundation |
| status.exponential.earth | Whether the project's services are up |
The chats, social media and issue trackers are on Community channels.
The Exponential Translation Project
The Exponential Translation Project (ETP) restarted translation work for the whole family, including Exponential 6.0: first an inventory of which translations exist and how complete they are, then new languages, with the goal that every widely used language works out of the box. The state of each language in this repository is on Languages; how to help is on Contribute to the project.
The package server
The setup wizard installs site designs, extensions and demo content from packages. 7x hosts the package server
that holds them, at exponential.packages.exponential.earth, with a mirror of its contents on GitHub in
se7enxweb/exponential.packages.exponential.earth
(/about/packages). You can propose your own site package by forking that
repository and sending a pull request, the website says; how, step by step:
Contribute your site package.
Note
The website's packages page shows a settings/override/package.ini.append.php that points the wizard at the 6.0.9
folder of the server, and says this is the default since 6.0.10. You do not need it: Exponential 6.0.15 already
sets RemotePackagesIndexURL to the 6.0.15 folder of the same server in settings/package.ini. Only add an override
if you want a different server or folder.
The public demo
demo.exponential.earth shows the latest Exponential 6 with the responsive 7x Simple design and a shop, and edit.demo.exponential.earth lets you try the administration; the website's community page gives the sign-in details. The demo's files, database and software are reset every day.
Powered by Exponential
The website offers a "Powered by Exponential" banner, as PNG and WebP, for sites built with Exponential to show their pride and promote the software (/about/powered-by). Partners have their own rules for marks and logos (Powered by Exponential for partners).
Free software and open source
The website stresses that Exponential is free and open source software under the GNU GPL, and invites its users to support the Free Software Foundation's work. It asks open source developers to contribute a pull request or file an issue. What the license means in practice: Licensing questions.
Related pages
- The Exponential project: start here
- Who is the Exponential Foundation?
- Who is 7x?
- 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. Start with Partners: start here and How to apply.
Copyright and copyleft
Since 29 October 2026 the copyright of Exponential is held by the Exponential Foundation and 7x together, the Foundation named first: "Exponential Copyright © 1998-2026 Exponential Foundation and 7x", in files "Copyright (C) 1998 - 2026 Exponential Foundation and 7x. All rights reserved." Who holds it and why, what the GPL lets you do, the third-party notices that stay and how to write the notice in new files and extensions: Copyright and copyleft.