--- title: "Frequently asked questions" description: "Éclair CMS FAQ: pricing, license, hosting, database, SEO, security, updates, AI assistant… Clear answers to the questions people ask most often." url: "https://eclaircms.org/en/faq" lang: "en" author: "Thierry Gustin" published: "2026-10-30" updated: "2026-10-30" --- # Frequently asked questions > **Key takeaways** — This Éclair CMS FAQ answers the most common questions: Éclair is free (MIT license), runs without a database on any hosting with PHP 8.1 or later, includes SEO, GEO and security without plugins, updates by replacing two folders, and offers an optional AI assistant that uses your own API key. This Éclair CMS FAQ gathers the answers to the questions people ask before installing Éclair, and then day to day. They’re grouped by topic: click a question to show its answer. For detailed procedures, the [documentation](https://eclaircms.org/en/documentation) takes over. ## Éclair in a nutshell ### What is Éclair CMS? A content management system written in PHP, free and open source, that runs **without a database**. It includes caching, SEO, GEO (visibility in AI answers), security and an optional AI assistant, in a 402 KB archive. It installs in 3 minutes on shared hosting. ### Is Éclair free? Yes, completely. Éclair is distributed under the **MIT license**: you can use it, modify it and redistribute it, including for commercial use or client sites, as long as you keep the copyright notice. Only the optional AI assistant has a cost: that of your own API key. ### What kinds of sites is Éclair made for? Business websites, blogs, freelancer portfolios and sales pages: for freelancers, craftspeople, nonprofits and small businesses. It isn’t designed for online stores, member areas or forums. ### Who develops Éclair? [Thierry Gustin](https://eclaircms.org/en/about), an SEO consultant since 2014, based in Madrid. The code is public on [GitHub](https://github.com/Jacckisback/eclair-cms) and open to bug reports and contributions. ### What languages is Éclair available in? The admin is available in 7 languages (French, English, Spanish, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese and Chinese) and the public site in 6 languages (French, Spanish, English, German, Italian and Portuguese). ## Hosting and installation ### What kind of hosting do I need for Éclair? Hosting with **PHP 8.1 or later** (8.3 recommended) and Apache or LiteSpeed, which almost every shared host offers: o2switch, OVH, Hostinger, IONOS, PlanetHoster… Nginx works too with the provided configuration. See [the installation guide](https://eclaircms.org/en/installation). ### Do I need a MySQL database? No. Your content, settings and accounts are stored in protected files in the `data` folder. There’s no database to create, no credentials to enter and no database to back up. ### How long does installation take? About 3 minutes: upload the folder to your hosting, open your site’s URL and answer the wizard’s 4 questions. With o2switch, allow 15 minutes, including adding the domain and the HTTPS certificate ([o2switch guide](https://eclaircms.org/en/installation/o2switch)). ### Can I install Éclair in a subfolder or on a subdomain? Yes. Éclair automatically detects the folder it’s installed in: `example.com/site/` or `blog.example.com` work with no configuration. ### Can I try Éclair without hosting? Yes, on your computer with XAMPP, MAMP, Laragon or PHP’s built-in server: [install Éclair locally](https://eclaircms.org/en/installation/local). ## Content, design and SEO ### How many pages can an Éclair site have? Éclair doesn’t impose a limit, but it’s designed for sites with anywhere from a few pages to a few hundred pieces of content: business websites, blogs and portfolios. For a catalog of thousands of product pages, a CMS with a database will be a better fit. ### Is Éclair good for Google SEO? Yes. It generates a sitemap, JSON-LD structured data, canonical and Open Graph tags, creates automatic 301 redirects, notifies Bing through IndexNow and scores every piece of content live in the editor. Details in [the SEO documentation](https://eclaircms.org/en/documentation/seo). ### Can I add Google Analytics? Not without modifying the theme: Éclair doesn’t include any third-party analytics tool, and its security policy (CSP) blocks external scripts. That’s what allows it to set no cookies at all, and therefore show no cookie banner. To track your visibility, Google Search Console works without any script; your host often provides visitor statistics too. ### Can I change the site’s design? Yes: main color, fonts, logo, icon and dark mode are set in Settings › Appearance. To go further, you can edit the theme’s PHP templates and CSS, as this site does ([developer page](https://eclaircms.org/en/documentation/developers)). ### Does Éclair handle several languages on the same site? Yes. Each piece of content has its own language and you link its translations: Éclair adds the `hreflang` tags and a “Read in…” link to the other versions. ## Security, backups and updates ### Is Éclair secure? It’s designed for a hostile environment: no database (so no SQL injection), Argon2id password hashing, brute-force protection, two-factor authentication, sanitized content and a strict Content-Security-Policy. An offensive security review found 17 vulnerabilities, all fixed before release. See [Éclair’s security](https://eclaircms.org/en/documentation/security). ### How do I back up my site? In the admin, go to Security › Download a backup: you get a ZIP archive of your content (`data`) and your images (`media`). Without the zip extension, copy these two folders via FTP. ### How do I update Éclair? After making a backup, replace the `app` and `assets` folders, along with `index.php` and `.htaccess`, with the ones from the new version, then clear the cache. Your content and images are never touched. See [the full procedure](https://eclaircms.org/en/documentation/updates). ### I forgot my password: what should I do? Another administrator can reset it from Users. Otherwise, use FTP to create a `data/reset.php` file containing your email and a new password, then log in with them within 24 hours. The exact steps are in [troubleshooting](https://eclaircms.org/en/documentation/troubleshooting#forgot-password). ## AI assistant ### Do I need a subscription for the AI assistant? No. The assistant uses your own API key from Anthropic (Claude) or OpenAI (ChatGPT): you pay the provider for what you actually use, with no middleman. A full post costs about $0.24 with Claude Opus 5.5 and less than $0.01 with Claude Haiku 5.5. ### Can the assistant publish for me? No. It prepares drafts, suggests changes and creates images, but it can’t publish, delete, or touch the settings, menus or accounts. Publishing always takes a human click. ### Is the assistant required? No, it stays off until you enter an API key. Éclair works perfectly without it. 5-minute setup: [the AI assistant](https://eclaircms.org/en/documentation/ai-assistant). ## Your question isn’t in the Éclair CMS FAQ? Write to me from [the contact page](https://eclaircms.org/en/contact): I answer personally, and questions that come up often get added to this Éclair CMS FAQ. You can also start a discussion or report a bug on [GitHub](https://github.com/Jacckisback/eclair-cms/issues). ## Where can you find step-by-step help? - [The installation guide](https://eclaircms.org/en/installation), with a screenshot of every step. - [The documentation](https://eclaircms.org/en/documentation): editor, SEO, GEO, security, updates, troubleshooting. - [The Éclair vs WordPress comparison](https://eclaircms.org/en/eclair-vs-wordpress), to find out whether Éclair suits your project.