Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the questions we hear most about choosing, licensing and running KingCMS X1.
Who is KingCMS X1 for?
It suits small and midsize businesses that want one system for their website, shop, members and inventory, especially teams that do export business and need Chinese, English and Spanish, and want their data on their own server. It also suits people who are willing to maintain their own server and can edit templates. The current version is still beta, so try the demo or a local install first.
When is KingCMS X1 not a good fit?
Be careful if you do not want to touch a server and expect to sign up and start using it: X1 needs your own host, plus a site root, URL rewriting and a task that runs every minute. Large organizations that need fine-grained roles, or businesses that depend on MySQL or PostgreSQL, should check whether it fits before choosing.
What is the difference between the free edition and a commercial license?
A commercial license is not a different program. The free edition can be downloaded, deployed and used commercially, but the front-end footer must keep the “Powered by KingCMS” link. The commercial license is about removing that link; the website does not list any program feature differences between the two.
Can I use the free edition commercially?
Yes, including for a company website, as long as you keep the “Powered by KingCMS” link in the front-end footer. A commercial license is for own use by the same economic entity only; building sites for other companies requires a batch license.
Can I remove the “Powered by KingCMS” link?
Yes, after buying a commercial license. Once the license is verified, the front-end link is removed. The KingCMS mark in the top-left of the admin must stay whether or not you buy a license.
How is the license scope defined?
A license is registered by root domain and covers www and all subdomains under it. It is valid long-term and cannot be moved to another domain. Building sites for other companies requires a batch license, and after changing domains you need a license for the new domain.
What payment methods are supported?
You can pay for a commercial license with Alipay or WeChat Pay by scanning a code; the license is issued automatically after payment. The shop also supports Stripe, PayPal, Mercado Pago, Khipu, bank transfer and member balance; for online channels you open your own merchant account and enter the details in the admin.
How do multilingual sites work?
One admin can run Chinese, English, Spanish and other languages at the same time. Visitors switch in the header, the URL stays the same, and the site remembers their choice. Articles, sections, pages and products can each have translations; fields without a translation fall back to Chinese, so pages are never blank.
Does the AI feature cost extra?
The X1 software itself does not charge extra for AI features. The AI assistant and translation call an external AI service, so you need your own API key and the provider bills you by usage; you can also connect a local Ollama so data stays on your server.
What are the runtime requirements?
PHP 8.4 or later and SQLite 3, with nginx or Apache. The site root must point to public/ and the data/ directory must be writable. The database is created automatically on the first visit, with no step-by-step installer.
Will an upgrade lose data?
A normal upgrade will not. Online upgrades back up the code and database first and roll back automatically on failure, and the database, uploads and cache in data/ are kept. If you have edited theme files, back up the database and app.key yourself before upgrading.
How is it different from WordPress and similar options?
X1 is a PHP and SQLite site system, so its database is a single file under data/ and moving means copying the program directory and data/. Website, shop, members and inventory share one admin. Plugin and theme ecosystems differ, so compare data ownership, total cost, built-in features and moving effort before choosing.