Mura CMS was one of the most capable ColdFusion-based platforms ever built. In 2020 Blueriver re-licensed it as closed-source commercial software, leaving open-source users without a supported path forward. The community fork Masa CMS is still CFML, a language with a shrinking developer pool and expensive hosting requirements.
A Capable CMS Built on a Dying Language
Released in 2008 by Blue River Interactive Group in Portland, Oregon, Mura CMS was genuinely impressive for its time: a ColdFusion-powered CMS with real content tree management, an inline editing experience, flexible display objects, built-in forms, and a plugin architecture that attracted an enterprise user base. Universities, government agencies, and mid-size companies running existing ColdFusion infrastructure adopted it as a natural fit.
The platform was held back by the language it ran on. ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) never achieved mainstream adoption. While PHP grew into the dominant server-side scripting language for web development, CFML remained a specialized skill found in a small community of enterprise developers. Adobe ColdFusion, the primary commercial engine, carries licensing costs of several thousand dollars per production server. The open-source alternative, Lucee, removes the licensing cost but still requires finding a developer who knows the language, and that pool has contracted steadily for a decade.
Then in 2020, Blueriver made a strategic pivot. Mura CMS version 10 was re-licensed as closed-source commercial software. Organizations running the open-source version 7.x branch stopped receiving official updates from the original developers. A community group forked the last open-source release and launched Masa CMS, which is actively maintained at version 7.x. But Masa CMS is still CFML. The language problem did not go away with the fork. It moved sideways.
The Practical Cost of Running Mura or Masa
For organizations that adopted Mura CMS when their infrastructure was already running Adobe ColdFusion, the platform made economic sense. The CFML expertise was already on staff, the hosting was already in place, and Mura CMS added CMS functionality without requiring a technology change. But those conditions rarely survive unchanged for fifteen years.
ColdFusion development talent has become harder and more expensive to hire. Adobe ColdFusion licenses are not cheap for production environments. Organizations that have moved their infrastructure to cloud or Linux hosting now require a separate Windows server (or a specialized cloud configuration) to run CFML. And when something goes wrong with a Mura CMS or Masa CMS installation, the universe of people who can help is small.
Most of them found design limitations when working in MURA, so more “rip and replace” MURA projects include a new design. Rarely do clients ask to keep their MURA design when migrating to WordPress.
Seota Digital Marketing, Migrating From Mura CMS to WordPress, 2023
The security picture adds urgency. In early 2023, a CVSS 9.8 critical authentication bypass vulnerability (CVE-2022-47002) was disclosed for Mura CMS 7.x and Masa CMS versions up to 7.4-beta. An unauthenticated attacker could log in as any site member or system user by exploiting a flaw in the “remember me” logic. A CVSS score of 9.8 out of 10 is not a minor issue. It is the kind of vulnerability that gets exploited actively in the weeks following disclosure, and organizations running unpatched versions of either platform are exposed.
Mura CMS Features and Their WordPress Equivalents
Every piece of functionality in Mura CMS is built on CFML templates and the platform’s content object model. None of it ports to WordPress directly. Each feature must be mapped to a WordPress plugin, custom theme element, or core capability. The table below covers the most commonly used Mura CMS features and their WordPress equivalents, including the community and discussion features that matter most for organizations with active member communities.
| Mura CMS Feature | What It Does | WordPress Equivalent | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Content Items (Pages) | Standard web pages with body, meta, and layout fields | WordPress Pages (built in) | Built in |
| Content Items (Folders/Blogs) | Folder content type for aggregating news and blog posts | WordPress Posts + Blog Archives | Built in |
| Display Objects | Reusable UI modules dropped into page layouts (nav, gallery, calendar, login) | Gutenberg Blocks + WordPress Widgets | Built in |
| Components | Pre-formatted reusable content templates for editors | WP Reusable Blocks / Patterns + ACF Options | Free + Pro |
| Content Feed / Collections | Dynamic content aggregation by category, tag, or type | WP Custom Queries + Related Posts plugins | Free tiers |
| Forms Manager | Form building with submissions stored and downloadable | Gravity Forms / WPForms / Fluent Forms | Free tiers |
| Comments (display object) | Threaded discussion on content items | WordPress native comments (built in) | Built in |
| Community discussions | Extended community interaction and forum features (custom) | wpForo 360° AI (full forum with AI features) | Free + Pro |
| File Manager | Centralized file upload and organization | WordPress Media Library (built in) | Built in |
| Users + Groups | Member registration, profile fields, and group-based access | WordPress User Roles + MemberPress | Free core |
| Categories + Tags | Hierarchical content classification and tagging | WordPress Categories + Tags + custom taxonomies | Built in |
| Calendar (content type) | Event content with calendar display | The Events Calendar (700k+ installs) | Free core |
| Gallery (content type) | Image gallery content items | WordPress Media Gallery / Gutenberg Gallery Block | Built in |
| Plugins (CFML-based) | CFML extensions adding custom functionality | WordPress plugins (55,000+ in repository) | Free tiers |
| Layout Templates (.cfm) | ColdFusion template files controlling page design | Custom WordPress PHP theme | Custom dev |
For organizations that want to add a proper community forum to their new WordPress site, gConverter implements wpForo 360° AI as part of the migration. Whether the original Mura CMS site used the built-in Comments display object, a custom community plugin, or no forum at all, wpForo 360° AI delivers member ranks, category subscriptions, real-time notifications, and AI-powered moderation that Mura CMS never provided natively.
What a Proper Mura CMS Migration Involves
Mura CMS stores its content in MySQL or SQL Server (both are supported) using a ColdFusion ORM-driven schema. The core content table, form submissions, user accounts, and file manager records each require specific knowledge to read correctly. A proper migration reads the source database directly and handles every content layer explicitly.
Content items and the content tree
All content in Mura CMS is stored in the tcontent table, which holds every page, folder, blog post, link, file reference, gallery, calendar item, and form. The tree hierarchy is defined by the parentid and orderno columns. A proper migration reads every content item by type, maps the body, summary, and metadata fields to their WordPress equivalents, and reconstructs the site hierarchy as WordPress page parents and post archives. Folder content types become blog category archives. Page content types become WordPress pages. The original URL structure defined by the urltitle field in tcontent is either replicated in WordPress permalinks or implemented as 301 redirects.
Class extensions and custom fields
Mura CMS supports Class Extensions, which add custom fields to any content type. These field definitions and their values are stored in tables prefixed with tclassextend. A proper migration reads every class extension definition, maps the custom fields to ACF Pro fields in WordPress, and imports all stored values. No custom field data is silently dropped.
Form submissions
Form definitions are stored in tforms and all submission data in tformdata. Every form submission including all field values is exported and archived. Depending on the volume and business value of the submissions, gConverter can deliver these as a structured CSV export, a Gravity Forms entry import, or a custom post type archive accessible in the WordPress admin.
Users and groups
Mura CMS users are stored in tusers with group memberships in tgroup and tgroupmembers. All registered users are imported to WordPress with role mapping. User profile field data is imported as WordPress user meta. Passwords use different hashing between the two systems, so users receive a secure reset link on first login.
File Manager and media
Mura CMS File Manager entries are tracked in tfiles with physical files stored in the site’s assets directory. All files are imported to the WordPress Media Library preserving filenames, folder paths, and titles. All content that referenced these files is updated to point to the new WordPress media URLs.
Layout templates to WordPress theme
Mura CMS uses ColdFusion template files (`.cfm`) for page layout and display. These cannot be ported to WordPress. A proper migration delivers a custom WordPress theme that replicates the visual output of the original Mura CMS site: every layout, every display region, every content type view, and every component. The result is visually identical to the original site with no dependency on CFML, Adobe ColdFusion, or Lucee.
What Bad Mura CMS Migrations Look Like
- Class extension field data dropped. Custom fields stored in
tclassextendtables are not handled by generic tools. Content arrives in WordPress with body and title but no custom field values. All structured data your team spent years entering disappears. - Content tree structure lost. The
tcontenthierarchy defining the URL structure and site organization requires explicit mapping. Generic tools create default WordPress slugs with no connection to the original URLs and implement no redirects. All inbound links and search rankings break. - Form submissions abandoned. The
tformdatatable is not handled by any standard WordPress importer. Years of contact and inquiry records disappear without notice. - File Manager not migrated. Files tracked in
tfilesrequire a direct export from the assets directory and re-import to the WordPress Media Library. Generic tools skip this step. Content that linked to those files gets broken URLs after launch. - ColdFusion templates copy-pasted. Some providers copy the raw HTML output of each page into a generic WordPress theme. The result breaks immediately when content is edited, lacks template hierarchy, and is permanently unmaintainable.
Your Data and Who You Trust With It
A Mura CMS database holds the personal data of every registered member: email addresses, hashed passwords, and profile field values. The tformdata table holds every form submission your site collected. For European organizations, this data is subject to GDPR and requires a Data Processing Agreement before any migration provider accesses it. gConverter signs a DPA before any credentials are shared, stores all access details in AES-256 encrypted vaults, transfers data over TLS 1.3, and permanently deletes all client data within 30 days of delivery. Read the full GDPR documentation →
What Clients Say
Went FAR above and beyond to help us work through this project. We are thrilled with the final result and they were professional, great to work with, and responsive every step of the way. Would highly recommend.
Anna P., Wilmington NC – Customer Lobby, January 2026
Very few conversion issues on the first pass, and they cleaned it right. Very Impressive.
Stacy C., Katy TX – Customer Lobby, November 2025
The Bottom Line
Mura CMS is well-engineered software. The content tree model, the class extension system, and the display object architecture were genuinely thoughtful design decisions. But those decisions were made in CFML, and the talent required to maintain, customize, and extend a CFML application has been contracting for years. Blueriver’s 2020 pivot to a closed-source commercial product removed the open-source version from the official roadmap, and the Masa CMS community fork, while actively maintained, still runs on the same CFML stack.
WordPress is where the talent is abundant, the plugin ecosystem covers every use case, and a content team can work without scheduling CFML developer time for routine tasks. Every Mura CMS content item, every custom field value, every form submission, and every user account can be migrated cleanly to WordPress.