Exponential is free software, and its developers are not obliged to give free support; the project's support page says so plainly, and adds that they like to see people use the software and go the extra mile when they can. So there are two kinds of support: free help from the community, and paid help from 7x when you need it faster or need someone to do the work.
First: look it up
Most questions have been answered before. Look in this order:
- This help. Search it with the search box of the help dashboard, or press the "?" button on any page of the administration for help about that page.
- The documentation website, exponential.doc.exponential.earth, with the installation manual for Exponential 6 and the technical manual.
- eZpedia, ezpedia.exponential.earth, the community wiki.
- The articles on Share Exponential, share.exponential.earth/learn, on key subjects.
More places are listed in Documentation sources.
Free help from the community
If the answer is not documented, ask. These are the channels the support page names, all free:
| Channel | Good for | Address |
|---|---|---|
| Share Exponential forums | Questions that need a longer answer, that others will search for later | https://share.exponential.earth/forums |
| Telegram | Quick questions in real time; the support page describes it as a chat with members of the development team and the community | https://t.me/exponentialcms |
| Discord | Chat with the community, development talk, feedback | https://discord.gg/zXzGMgfzej |
| Slack | Chat, especially about development | https://exponentialcms.slack.com/ |
Details and the other places the community meets are on Community channels.
How to ask so you get an answer
- Say what you run: the Exponential version, the PHP version, the web server (Velocity, Apache or nginx with PHP-FPM, FrankenPHP), the database. Setup > System information gives you a summary to copy, without passwords, keys or server paths.
- Say what you did, what you expected and what happened, with the exact message.
- Show what you tried and what you already read.
- Never post passwords, keys, session cookies, database addresses, or personal data of your users or customers.
- Report back when you solved it, so the next person finds the answer.
When it is a bug, not a question
If the software does something wrong, report it where it can be fixed for everyone: When something goes wrong explains which issue tracker to use, and the Report an error page of this help prepares the issue for you. Security problems are never posted in public: send them privately as When something goes wrong explains.
Negative features
Not everything that looks like a bug is one. Some behavior is a deliberate choice that simply does not suit every installation, and some is open to interpretation: two reasonable people read the same documentation and expect different results. Engineers call a behavior like this a negative feature: it can feel like a defect from one side, yet it exists on purpose, often to protect security, backward compatibility, performance, or the many sites that already depend on it working exactly as it does today.
Examples of what can be a negative feature rather than a bug:
- a setting that is off by default because turning it on would change existing sites (for instance prices, URLs or permissions);
- a limit or refusal that guards against misuse, such as a check that rejects input other sites never send;
- an old behavior that extensions, templates or integrations rely on, even if a new design would choose differently;
- a difference between what you expected and what the documentation actually promises.
What this means for an issue or a pull request:
- Explain the why, not only the what. Describe your use case, what the current behavior costs you, and who else it affects. A change to a negative feature is weighed against every installation that depends on it.
- Expect discussion. Such a change may need extensive justification, and a pull request may go through several rounds of review and revision before it is accepted and merged. That is normal, not a rejection.
- Prefer an option over a new default. A proposal that keeps today's behavior as the default and adds a setting, a hook or an extension point for the new one is much easier to accept than one that changes everyone's site.
- Ask first if you are unsure. A short question in the community before you write code saves you a long review.
If a maintainer answers that something works as intended, the reason is usually written down in the documentation, the changelog or the code. You can still propose a change: the project wants to hear why the current behavior does not work for you.
Paid help from 7x
When you cannot wait, or you need someone to do the work, the support page recommends hiring 7x, the company that maintains Exponential: se7enx.com/services, or contact them at se7enx.com/contact. The support page notes that developers both in and outside the Exponential team can be hired; 7x is the one it names. More about 7x: Who is 7x?.
Companies that offer services around Exponential can also become partners of the project, and partners have their own support levels (Partners: support levels and response times).
What free support cannot promise
Free help depends on the time people give. Nobody promises an answer time in the forums or chats, and nobody will log in to your server for free. For a guaranteed answer time, or work on your site, use paid support. If the free help saved you time or money, consider giving something back: an answer to someone else's question, a fix, or a donation (Give and donate).
Related pages
- Community channels
- When something goes wrong
- Exponential: frequently asked questions
- 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.