Kritano CMS: Built from Scratch to Run Client Projects

The Challenge

Every web project needs a CMS. WordPress powers 40% of the web, but it comes with baggage: plugin bloat, security vulnerabilities, performance overhead, and a maintenance burden that never ends. For the kind of projects I build - fast, secure, SEO-optimised sites for professional service firms - WordPress was holding me back more than it was helping.

I needed a CMS that was fast by default, secure by design, built for the content structures my clients actually need, and simple enough that non-technical users could manage their own content without training.

The Approach

I built Kritano CMS from the ground up. Not a fork of an existing project. Not a wrapper around a headless CMS. A purpose-built system designed specifically for the kinds of sites I deliver.

Architecture decisions

Static-first rendering. Pages are pre-built at deploy time, not generated on each request. This means sub-second load times with zero server processing for visitors. No caching plugins needed. No CDN configuration. Fast by default.

Block-based content. Instead of a single rich text field for everything, content is structured into blocks: heroes, text sections, columns, CTAs, forms. Each block type has defined fields. This means content always looks right - there's no way to break the layout by pasting from Word.

Built-in SEO. Every page and article has structured SEO fields: meta title, description, focus keyword, secondary keywords, OG image, robots directives. Not a plugin that might conflict with something else. Built into the core.

API-first. Every piece of content is accessible via a REST API. This means content can be consumed by the website, by automation scripts, by mobile apps - whatever the project needs. The CMS is the single source of truth.

What Clients Get

Speed. Kritano-powered sites consistently score 95+ on Google PageSpeed Insights. Not because of optimisation tricks - because the architecture is fast by default. Static HTML, optimised images, minimal JavaScript.

Security. No public-facing PHP. No plugin vulnerabilities. No database exposed to the web. The admin panel is authenticated, the API is permissioned, and the public site is static files. The attack surface is minimal.

Simplicity. The admin interface is clean and focused. Create a page, add blocks, fill in the fields, publish. No widget areas, no shortcodes, no 47 settings panels. Clients manage their own content without needing me for every text change.

Lower ongoing costs. No WordPress hosting requirements. No plugin licences. No security patching. The maintenance overhead is a fraction of what a WordPress site demands.

The Result

The site you're reading runs on Kritano CMS. So does every client project I deliver. It's open source on GitHub - you can inspect the code yourself.

Building your own CMS sounds excessive until you realise that most of the cost and frustration in web projects comes from fighting the platform. Remove that friction and everything gets faster: development, content management, deployment, maintenance.

If you want a site built on Kritano, get in touch. Every project I deliver runs on it.