Self-hosted alternatives to Squarespace
Want websites and blogs without handing your data to Squarespace? These 30 self-hosted apps run on your own server (most are open source; licenses are listed below). Cheapest estimated hosting starts at about $3.5/month.
About Squarespace: Hosted website builder.
| App | Health | Stars | License | Docker | RAM (est.) | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strapi | Active | 73.5k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Ghost | Active | 55.8k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Payload CMS | Active | 45.8k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| WordPress | Active | 21.5k | GPL-2.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Wagtail | Active | 20.6k | BSD-3-Clause | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| october | Active | 11.2k | ⊘ Proprietary | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| KeystoneJS | Active | 10k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| WriteFreely | Active | 5.3k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 512 MB | $3.5/mo |
| Umbraco | Active | 5.3k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| MediaCMS | Active | 5.2k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 4 GB | $20/mo |
| Joomla! | Active | 5.2k | GPL-2.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Apostrophe | Active | 4.7k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Pimcore | Active | 3.9k | GPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| CraftCMS | Active | 3.6k | ⊘ Proprietary | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Squidex | Active | 2.5k | MIT | – | 2 GB | $10/mo |
| Ech0 | Active | 2.1k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Publify | Active | 1.9k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Kirby | Active | 1.5k | ⊘ Proprietary | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| WinterCMS | Active | 1.5k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| eLabFTW | Active | 1.5k | AGPL-3.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Bludit | Active | 1.5k | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| MODX | Active | 1.4k | GPL-2.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Vvveb CMS | Active | 1.3k | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| TYPO3 | Active | 1.2k | GPL-2.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Backdrop CMS | Active | 1.1k | GPL-2.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Automad | Active | 962 | MIT | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Textpattern | Active | 884 | GPL-2.0 | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Concrete 5 CMS | Active | 854 | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Haven | Active | 817 | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Cockpit | Active | 761 | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
The options in detail
1. Strapi
Headless CMS that lets developers build content APIs fast while giving content creators a friendly editing interface.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. Latest release v5.61.0 (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM incl. mysql. How to run it →
2. Ghost
Just a blogging platform.
Active Last commit 2026-11-10. Latest release v6.75.0 (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
3. Payload CMS
Developer-first headless CMS and application framework.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v4.0.0-beta.7 (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM incl. mongodb/postgres. How to run it →
4. WordPress
World's most-used blogging and CMS engine.
Active Last commit 2026-11-10. Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
5. Wagtail
Django content management system focused on flexibility and user experience.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. Latest release v8.1 (2026-11-02). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
6. october
CMS platform based on the Laravel PHP Framework.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v4.4.0 (2026-08-30). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
7. KeystoneJS
CMS and web application platform.
Active Last commit 2026-11-04. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release 2026-11-03 (2026-11-03). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
8. WriteFreely
Writing software for starting a minimalist, federated blog — or an entire community.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. Latest release v0.17.3 (2026-11-09). Needs roughly 512 MB RAM. How to run it →
9. Umbraco
Friendly CMS with an amazing community.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. Latest release release-18.3.1 (2026-11-05). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
10. MediaCMS
Modern, fully featured video and media CMS, written in Python/Django/React, featuring a REST API.
Active Last commit 2026-10-26. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v9.4.0 (2026-10-26). Needs roughly 4 GB RAM. How to run it →
11. Joomla!
Advanced Content Management System (CMS).
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release 6.2.0 (2026-10-13). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
12. Apostrophe
CMS with a focus on extensible in-context editing tools.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release [email protected] (2026-11-11). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
13. Pimcore
Multi-channel experience and engagement management platform.
Active Last commit 2026-11-10. Latest release v2026.3.4 (2026-11-03). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
14. CraftCMS
Content-first CMS that aims to make life enjoyable for developers and content managers alike.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release 5.12.0.1 (2026-11-03). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
15. Squidex
Headless CMS, based on MongoDB, CQRS and Event Sourcing.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. Latest release 7.24.0 (2026-09-28). Needs roughly 2 GB RAM incl. mongodb. How to run it →
16. Ech0
Lightweight federated publishing platform focused on personal idea sharing (documentation in Chinese).
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release v5.9.8 (2026-11-08). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
17. Publify
Simple but full featured web publishing software.
Active Last commit 2026-10-23. Latest release v11.0.1 (2026-10-23). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
18. Kirby
File-based CMS. Easy to setup. Easy to use. Flexible as hell.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release 6.0.0-beta.3 (2026-11-05). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
19. WinterCMS
Speedy and secure content management system built on the Laravel PHP framework.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. Latest release v1.2.15 (2026-11-04). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
20. eLabFTW
Online lab notebook for research labs. Store experiments, use a database to find reagents or protocols, use trusted timestamping to legally timestamp an experiment, export as pdf or zip archive, share with collaborators….
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release 6.1.0-alpha2 (2026-10-21). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
21. Bludit
Build a site or blog in seconds. Bludit uses flat-files (text files in JSON format) to store posts and pages.
Active Last commit 2026-11-08. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release 3.22.0 (2026-05-11). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
22. MODX
Advanced content management and publishing platform. The current version is called 'Revolution'.
Active Last commit 2026-10-28. 6 releases in the past year. Latest release v3.2.4-pl (2026-08-26). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
23. Vvveb CMS
Powerful and easy to use CMS to build websites, blogs or e-commerce stores.
Active Last commit 2026-10-29. 8 releases in the past year. Latest release 1.0.9.0 (2026-10-29). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
24. TYPO3
Powerful and advanced CMS with a large community.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
25. Backdrop CMS
Comprehensive CMS for small to medium sized businesses and non-profits.
Active Last commit 2026-10-15. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release 1.35.2 (2026-10-14). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
26. Automad
Flat-file content management system and template engine.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release 2.0.0-beta.72 (2026-11-09). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
27. Textpattern
Flexible, elegant and easy-to-use CMS.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. Latest release 4.9.2 (2026-11-01). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
28. Concrete 5 CMS
Open source content management system.
Active Last commit 2026-11-07. 10+ releases in the past year. Latest release 9.5.7 (2026-10-20). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
29. Haven
Private blogging system with markdown editing and built in RSS reader.
Active Last commit 2026-10-03. Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
30. Cockpit
Simple content platform to manage any structured content.
Active Last commit 2026-10-13. 8 releases in the past year. Latest release 2.14.1 (2026-08-26). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
Why self-host instead of Squarespace?
- Own your data — it lives on a server you control, with backups you decide on.
- Predictable cost — a small VPS often replaces per-seat pricing for a whole team or family.
- No lock-in — open-source licenses let you keep running the software even if a vendor disappears.
The trade-off: you are responsible for updates, backups and security. Pick an app marked Active (a commit in the last 90 days) and with Docker support for the easiest ride.
Browse related categories
Other alternatives guides
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