Why Tank?
We believe technology should support great ideas, not restrict them.
After years of designing and developing websites, we understood that no two businesses operate in exactly the same way. So why should they all be expected to work within the same system? TANK was created to challenge that thinking. It combines a proven CMS foundation with functionality, design systems and integrations tailored to each business. Rather than forcing your brand and processes into a predefined template, we build the digital experience around what you actually need. The result is a website that looks and works the way your business deserves, supported by a platform your team can confidently manage.
Your business was never built to fit a template
A powerful, custom-built content management platform designed around your business, your brand and the people behind it. No unnecessary limitations. No compromising your vision to fit someone else's system. Just the freedom to create, manage and grow your digital presence your way.
One platform. Endless possibilities.
Your business is unique. Your brand is valuable. And your website should reflect both. Tank is built for businesses that take their brand seriously, recognise the value of investing in their digital presence and refuse to be limited by the technology behind it.
Confidence behind the scenes
From automated media scaling and asset management, mobile optimisation, SEO and page speed. Tank has got your back so you can focus on your content.
Security trusted by Industry Leaders
Tank CMS undergoes a comprehensive security review by an independent security company every year and ensures we stay abreast of the latest risks and developments in the industry.
Tank is more than a CMS
Tank does more than just manage content. There are a number of ‘add-ons’ that help your business, from our Email Builder, User Roles, Form builder, and Multisite functionality, to custom CRMs or even LMSs.
Your Brand, Managed.
Tank uses your design systems, typography, colours, layouts and brand controls. It allows you to customise your pages while maintain strict control over your brand.
Balancing flexibility and control
Tank allows you to choose different levels of control for each component, enabling a tailored balance between flexibility and consistency. You can decide.
Move at the speed of your business.
Building pages is fast and easy with Tanks powerful page builder. Add and reorder new components in seconds, customise content and auto-populate content for speed and ease.
Live Preview on any device
Tanks live preview allows you to preview and edit your layouts before committing to ensure your content works for all devices.
Know who's in the CMS
See who's already editing a page to avoid conflicting content edits. No more saved over pages.
Built on Tank
Compare Tank
| Summary | Tank | Wordpress | Drupal |
Ease of use | Easy | Easy | Complex |
Beginner Friendly | Yes | Yes | No |
Required technical knowledge | Little to none | Some | High |
Scalability | Sites of all sizes | Small to large | Sites of all sizes |
Design/brand consistency | On brand always | Limited | Possible |
Security | Highly secure | Needs updates | Vigilance required |
Initial cost | Moderate | Low | Expensive |
Long-term cost | Low | Low | Moderate |
Delivery speed | Fast to market | Fast | Depends on complexity |
Ongoing developer support | Low requirement | Reliant on plugins | Reliant on developers |
Long-term content flexibility | Highly flexible | Reliant on developers | Costly updates |
FAQ
Is Tank an open source CMS?
No, Tank is our custom built CMS and is not available to the open source community. Tank is developed on top of an open-source PHP framework (CakePHP).
Is Tank a custom CMS? I’m worried about wasting time on developing functionality that already exists in other CMSs
Tank is a secure, tried and tested custom CMS. However, new websites are not completely built from scratch. There is a core base install which exists for all Tank websites that has been thoroughly tested and refined for over 15 years. Each client’s install then has custom functionality added to suit their business. These are often customisations that were created for previous clients that can be re-utilised, and as such have already been refined and tested. In some very specific cases the function is completely custom to the client and is built to purpose. In Tank you only have the functions you need, not every single feature that you may never use, making it slimline and more usable for your team.
Can Tank manage user roles, content versioning and approvals?
Yes, user access is controlled with roles. Roles contain granular permissions for different CMS resources.
Can we move the website to another developer?
Yes, there are no IP restrictions for another developer to develop for Tank. Organisations working with Tank can't on-sell.
As Tank is not a standard CMS there would be a learning curve for a new developer to begin working with it, however this is true of any website. The code base and front-end of all websites are set up by a specific developer and so would still be un-familiar to a new one.
Our client Cleanaway completed the development of their website internally and continued to work on Tank without our assistance.
Tank doesn’t have SEO plugins. How will you support our SEO strategy/visibility?
Out-of-the-box Tank has more SEO in-built features than most CMSs. Schema integration, sitemap integration, meta fields, canonical URLs, rich data, OpenGraph social media integration, automatic image compression and mobile-optimised performance. For real-time SEO feedback we can integrate with the Seobility API to bring more targeted SEO features directly into Tank.
Our production team are not technical. How will they work with Tank?
Tank’s page builder (Cockpit) will look familiar to anyone who has used Wordpress or similar CMSs, using industry standard features and semantics. However, where Tank excels is in the way it empowers users to customise layouts and page content without any developer intervention. All pages use customisable sections rather than templates, meaning pages can adapt to suit the content rather then being restricted to the same layout on every page. Styling presets and section templates (a collection of frequently used sections) then help streamline the creation of new pages. New page layouts can be designed by the CMS user, but always remain on brand thanks to the underlying design system.
How do you deal with third-party integrations?
Tank can integrate seamlessly with any third-party platform. We have previous experience integrating with most industry standard CRMs (Tessitura, Hubspot, Salesforce etc), recruitment platforms (Pageup etc), shops (Shopify etc) and social platforms. The level to which the platform is integrated is determined in the scoping phase.