Self-hosted alternatives to WordPress
Looking for a lighter, faster or simpler self-hosted CMS or blog engine than WordPress? These 30 apps run on your own server.
About WordPress: The world's most-used open-source blogging and CMS engine, self-hosted on your own server.
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Superdesk | Active | 760 | AGPL-3.0 | ✓ | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| WonderCMS | Active | 746 | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Typemill | Active | 622 | MIT | – | 1 GB | $5/mo |
| Drupal | Active | 608 | GPL-2.0 | – | 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. 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 →
5. 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 →
6. 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 →
7. 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 →
8. 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 →
9. 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 →
10. 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 →
11. 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 →
12. 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 →
13. 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 →
14. 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 →
15. 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 →
16. 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 →
17. 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 →
18. 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 →
19. 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 →
20. 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 →
21. TYPO3
Powerful and advanced CMS with a large community.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
22. 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 →
23. 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 →
24. 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 →
25. 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 →
26. 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 →
27. Superdesk
End-to-end news creation, production, curation, distribution, and publishing platform.
Active Last commit 2026-11-09. Latest release v3.5 (2026-07-14). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
28. WonderCMS
Smallest flat file CMS since 2008.
Active Last commit 2026-11-01. Latest release 3.7.2 (2026-11-01). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
29. Typemill
Author-friendly flat-file-cms with a visual markdown editor based on vue.js.
Active Last commit 2026-11-05. Latest release v2.28.2 (2026-11-05). Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
30. Drupal
Advanced content management platform.
Active Last commit 2026-11-13. Needs roughly 1 GB RAM. How to run it →
Browse related categories
Other alternatives guides
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