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Comparison · Mkt Auto
Craft CMS vs Senja
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Craft CMS and Senja — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Craft CMS vs Senja: at a glance
What is Craft CMS?
Craft 6's alphas keep converting the plugin API, one removal at a time
Craft is running two lines with very different energy. The 5.10 maintenance branch ships one-bug releases hours apart and nothing else. Craft 6 is in its seventeenth alpha, still migrating onto Laravel: alpha 17 removes Plugin::settingsHtml() in favour of a settingsForm() built on the Control Panel Form system, replaces the Pane.vue component with a craft-pane web component, and moves another management command onto Laravel's schema API.
What is Senja?
Senja is closing the loop from collecting proof to producing the asset.
The dated window covers the merge of classic forms into forms 2.0, native Slack notifications, and an MCP server that connects Senja directly to an assistant. The undated rows fill in both ends of the story: a 2025 run that added AI sizzle reels, case studies from single testimonials, editable testimonial images and reusable video clips, and a 2026 run concentrated almost entirely on invites — performance tracking, editable follow-ups, quick invite, and Stripe events triggering the ask.
Craft CMS vs Senja: editorial side-by-side
Craft CMS
6.3MKT AUTO
Craft 6's alphas keep converting the plugin API, one removal at a time
◆ Current state
Craft is running two lines with very different energy. The 5.10 maintenance branch ships one-bug releases hours apart and nothing else. Craft 6 is in its seventeenth alpha, still migrating onto Laravel: alpha 17 removes Plugin::settingsHtml() in favour of a settingsForm() built on the Control Panel Form system, replaces the Pane.vue component with a craft-pane web component, and moves another management command onto Laravel's schema API.
◆ Where it's heading
The pattern established at alpha 14 has not changed shape, only advanced: every alpha retires another Yii-era extension point and re-lands it on the new stack, with craftcms/yii2-adapter carrying the compatibility burden. Alpha 17 adds an Inertia-native slideout system that renders any CpScreenResponse as an in-page panel, which is the control panel moving from a legacy JavaScript layer to a genuinely Inertia/Vue one rather than wrapping it. The long fix list — stale permission trees, autosave firing on unchanged values, provisional drafts created on page open, queue jobs stuck reserved — reads as the cost of that churn being paid down alpha by alpha.
◆ Prediction
Expect further alphas that remove specific Yii-era plugin APIs with adapter fallbacks, and the 5.10 line to keep shipping single-fix patches until a Craft 6 beta absorbs the team's attention.
Senja
0.0MKT AUTO
Senja is closing the loop from collecting proof to producing the asset.
◆ Current state
The dated window covers the merge of classic forms into forms 2.0, native Slack notifications, and an MCP server that connects Senja directly to an assistant. The undated rows fill in both ends of the story: a 2025 run that added AI sizzle reels, case studies from single testimonials, editable testimonial images and reusable video clips, and a 2026 run concentrated almost entirely on invites — performance tracking, editable follow-ups, quick invite, and Stripe events triggering the ask.
◆ Where it's heading
Senja is building a pipeline rather than a widget. Collection is being automated and measured, the library is being turned into finished formats — reels, case studies, clips — and the MCP server exposes the whole thing to an assistant that can query it. The 2026 releases suggest the constraint they are working on now is volume at the top of the funnel, since every downstream format is only as good as the proof coming in.
◆ Prediction
With invites instrumented, the next obvious step is acting on the numbers — timing or targeting invites automatically off the tracking data, rather than adding more places to send them from.
Alternatives to Craft CMS and Senja
Other Mkt Auto products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Craft CMS or Senja.
Joomla
Two security releases ship the same day, and 6.2 finally clears alpha
Buttondown
Buttondown ships almost daily, and most of it is someone else's bug report closed.
Flodesk
Flodesk just moved its analytics out of the dashboard and into Claude and ChatGPT.
Formidable Forms
Formidable widens MCP compatibility and locks down signature files
Mailtrap
Mailtrap is assembling a full email operations platform, one category step at a time
See all Craft CMS alternatives → · See all Senja alternatives →
Recent activity from Craft CMS and Senja
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 15h agoCraft CMSAlpha 17 retires plugin settingsHtml and adds Inertia slideouts
- 13d agoCraft CMSAlpha 16 fixes double-required migrations and a widget gap
- 13d agoCraft CMS5.10.13.2 fixes a SQL error on empty Categories fields
- 14d agoCraft CMS5.10.13.1 restores rendering of sanitized SVGs
- 14d agoCraft CMSCraft 6 swaps its image pipeline to intervention/image and libvips
- 27d agoCraft CMSCraft 6 alpha 14 breaks plugin providers and lifecycle hooks ⚡
- 1mo agoSenjaThree upgrades to your invite game. We would've stopped at one, but we were on a roll.
- 2mo agoSenjaAutomate testimonial invites with Stripe, and let your customers decline [if they dare]
- 3mo agoSenjaNew on Senja: invite performance tracking, edit follow ups, quick invite 💃
- 3mo agoSenjaClassic forms are now merged with forms 2.0
- 4mo agoSenjaLIVE: Ask Claude anything with Senja MCP ⚡
- 4mo agoSenjaLIVE: Native Slack notification is up and running
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Craft CMS and Senja?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Craft CMS is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Craft CMS better than Senja?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Craft CMS is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 6.3 vs 0.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Mkt Auto products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Craft CMS?
Top Craft CMS alternatives in Mkt Auto are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Craft CMS alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/craft-cms for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Senja?
Top Senja alternatives in Mkt Auto are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Senja alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/senja for the full list with editorial commentary on each.