Best open-source alternatives to Wix

Ghost is an open source publishing platform built as a headless Node.js CMS. It is aimed at publishers, creators, and teams that want a professional, modern system for running a website or publication while connecting to other tools through its API. The project offers both a self-hosted route and a managed Ghost(Pro) service. For self-hosting, the README points users to a CLI-based quickstart for local or production installs, along with documentation for hosting, updates, themes, development, and contributing. The README also highlights automatic SSL setup for production installs and access to the Content API for custom integrations.

Wagtail is an open source content management system built on Django. It is aimed at organizations and teams that need a flexible CMS with strong editorial user experience and detailed control for designers and developers. The README highlights that it is used by large organizations and can scale from small deployments to very large sites. The project is installed with Python and Django tooling, typically through pip and a virtual environment, then initialized as a new Django project. It supports a content API for headless use, multi-site and multi-language setups, and search backed by Elasticsearch or PostgreSQL. The README also points users to extensive documentation for getting started, integration into existing Django projects, and release notes.

WordPress is a web publishing platform intended for building and maintaining sites, especially blogs and personal publishing sites. The README presents it as a general-purpose content management system with a strong emphasis on ease of installation and ongoing updates. The project is aimed at users who want to run a website on their own server, provided they have a compatible PHP and MySQL environment. It includes built-in installation and upgrade flows, import tools for migrating from other systems, and a plugin API for extending functionality without modifying core code. The README also points users to official support and documentation resources, reflecting a mature ecosystem around the software.

Joomla! is an open source content management system aimed at people who want to build and manage websites or web-based applications. The README describes it as a simple and powerful server-side application and points to the official site, version history, and changelog for more information. It is intended to run on a PHP-based web server with a supported database such as MySQL, MariaDB, or PostgreSQL. This repository is the source tree for Joomla 5.x rather than a ready-to-install package, so contributors and developers are expected to set up a local environment with Composer, Node.js, and Git before working with it. The project also emphasizes community contribution, documentation, and branching guidance for pull requests.

Umbraco CMS is a free and open source content management system built on .NET. It is aimed at developers and teams that want to create and customize websites and digital experiences while using a flexible, extensible platform. The README emphasizes that Umbraco is designed to be friendly, simpler, and social, and points users to official documentation for setup, tutorials, and production deployment. The project is distributed through .NET templates rather than as a standalone runtime package. Users install the Umbraco templates, create a new project, and run it locally after installing the required .NET Runtime and SDK. The README also highlights a live backoffice preview for the latest UI and directs users to Discord and the community forum for support and feedback.

Microweber is a PHP-based content management system and website builder built on the Laravel framework. It is aimed at users who want to create websites, blogs, and online stores with a visual, drag-and-drop editing experience rather than traditional code-driven site management. The project emphasizes real-time content editing, an admin panel for managing pages, posts, products, and categories, and a modular approach that allows customization through layouts and modules. It is designed for self-hosted deployment on common web stacks and supports several database engines, making it suitable for developers, agencies, and site owners who need a flexible CMS with e-commerce capabilities.

MODX Revolution is an open source content management system and application framework aimed at developers and site builders who want high flexibility in how sites are structured and rendered. The README positions it as a tool for powering everything from corporate websites to personal blogs and mobile APIs, with an emphasis on creative control and extensibility. The project is distributed as PHP software and includes installation, upgrade, and server requirement documentation through the MODX website. It is presented as community-driven software with issue reporting, documentation, forum participation, and code contributions all encouraged. The README also points users to changelog, security, and licensing information, indicating a mature CMS-oriented project rather than a narrowly scoped utility.

A powerful and easy-to-use website building tool (documentation in Chinese).

Webiny is an open-source, serverless content management system aimed at enterprise use cases and designed to run on AWS. The README positions it as a CMS platform rather than a standalone application, with emphasis on a cloud-native architecture. It appears to be intended for organizations that want a customizable CMS with an ecosystem of community extensions. The repository also provides links to documentation, a Slack community for support and discussion, and contribution guidelines for people who want to help develop the project.

Backdrop is a content management system aimed at non-technical users who need a flexible way to manage website content. The README presents it as a full-featured CMS that can power blogs, image galleries, social networks, intranets, and other site types without requiring much technical expertise. It is positioned as an out-of-the-box platform with a focus on ease of use and quick learning for developers. The project is a fork of Drupal, and it emphasizes extensibility through APIs. The README also points readers to the Backdrop Handbook for user guidance and to the API documentation for developers, indicating that it serves both site builders and contributors working on the core system.

Textpattern CMS is an open-source content management system written in PHP for creating and maintaining websites. It is presented as a flexible, elegant, and fast platform, with a focus on being easy to use. The README positions it as suitable for users who want a traditional web CMS that runs on a standard PHP/MySQL stack. The project provides production releases as downloadable archives and also offers development snapshots from GitHub. Installation and upgrade instructions are referenced in separate documents, and the README points users to system requirements, support forums, and development resources. It also notes a multi-site capability in the archive format guidance, suggesting support for managing more than one site from a single installation.

Concrete CMS is an open source content management system maintained in the project's official development repository. It is intended for people who want to build and manage websites, and the README emphasizes community involvement through a contributor guide and public forums. The repository's README is primarily oriented toward developers and contributors rather than end users. It provides a simple source-based installation path: clone the repository and run Composer to install third-party dependencies. The README also points users to the official documentation site for setup and usage guidance, and notes that this repository covers Concrete CMS 9.0 and later.

Bolt is an open source CMS and content platform designed for building and running modern websites. It is positioned as a starting point for new sites and can operate either as a traditional CMS or as a headless/decoupled backend, making it useful for teams that want flexibility in how content is delivered. The project is built on the PHP Symfony stack and emphasizes extensibility through custom project code, Symfony extensions, and Composer-installed add-ons. The README highlights YAML-based configuration, multilingual support, built-in internationalisation, and an editor available in multiple languages. It also exposes REST and GraphQL APIs out of the box, and includes dummy content to support development or client demonstrations.

TYPO3 is a free and open source PHP-based content management framework aimed at organizations and developers who need a flexible system for building and managing websites. It is positioned as an enterprise-grade CMS that can run on common web servers and operating systems, and it relies on a web server, PHP, a database, and a supported browser for backend access. The project emphasizes extensibility through optional plugins and an open API, allowing users to extend both frontend and backend functionality. The README points to extensive official documentation, installation guidance, release downloads, extensions, community resources, and contribution workflows, indicating a mature ecosystem backed by a community and the TYPO3 Core Development Team.

WonderCMS is a very small flat-file content management system intended for people who want to build and edit websites without the overhead of a traditional CMS. The project emphasizes simplicity, speed, and portability: it runs from a tiny set of files, requires no database setup, and can be moved between hosts by copying the files. It is aimed at site owners and admins who want a lightweight self-hosted website editor with features such as inline content editing, themes and plugins, backups, updates, and basic SEO controls. The README also highlights privacy-oriented behavior, support for common web servers, and a straightforward installation path that works by unzipping and uploading the software to a server.

Webstudio is presented as an open-source visual development platform aimed at developers, designers, and cross-functional teams. It is positioned as a product that lets users build visually while retaining ownership of their data, components, and infrastructure. The README indicates that the project can be used as a hosted service or self-hosted by rolling out one’s own instance. It also points readers to documentation, design resources, contributing guides, community discussions, and project tracking links, suggesting an active ecosystem around both usage and contribution. The license section further shows that the core is open source under AGPL-3.0-or-later, while one optional package is proprietary.

Winter CMS is an open-source content management system for developers, agencies, and other teams that want a flexible web application platform built on Laravel. The README emphasizes fast prototyping, a safe and secure codebase, and a simple development experience, suggesting it is aimed at users who want to build and manage PHP-based sites and applications with a familiar framework foundation. The project is installed through Composer and then initialized with Winter-specific Artisan commands to generate environment configuration, run migrations, and create an administrator account. Its README also points users to official documentation, tutorials, and a Discord community for learning and support. Winter is presented as a community-driven project backed by the Frostbyte Foundation and distributed under the MIT license.

Automad is a flat-file content management system paired with a template engine. It is aimed at people who want to build and manage websites without needing a traditional database-backed CMS, and it can be used both for quick site setups and for theme or template development. The project can be installed through Composer, run in Docker, or deployed manually from a distribution bundle. The README highlights a dashboard workflow where a first user account is created during setup, and it points users to the documentation and community discussion site for getting started, support, and learning more about the system.

Contao is an open source content management system aimed at building professional websites and scalable web applications. The README mainly describes the monorepo that contains Contao bundles and is intended for contributors who want to create pull requests or report issues against the project. For development, the repository is typically used alongside the Contao Managed Edition, which provides a running application environment. The README outlines how to install the managed edition, replace package dependencies with the monorepo version, and run setup, quality checks, functional tests, Node-based asset builds, and end-to-end tests. It is therefore most relevant to developers working on Contao itself rather than end users deploying production sites.

Vvveb is an open-source CMS designed for building websites, blogs, and ecommerce stores with an emphasis on ease of use and extensibility. It combines a traditional content management workflow with a visual page builder, letting users assemble pages through drag-and-drop editing while also managing content, media, themes, and plugins from the admin area. The project is aimed at site builders, developers, and operators who want a self-hosted platform with support for multi-site deployments, localization, role-based access, and ecommerce capabilities. It also offers headless usage through GraphQL and REST APIs, built-in SEO and security features, and backup/import-export tools to simplify deployment and migration.

PluXml is a flat-file content management system aimed at people who want to build lightweight websites without setting up a database. It is positioned as an easy-to-use CMS with a backoffice for managing content and site settings, and it emphasizes simplicity in deployment and maintenance. The project supports multiple users with permission levels, content types such as articles and pages, comments, media handling, themes, and plugins. It is designed to run on a PHP-based web stack with common extensions and a standard HTTP server such as Apache or Nginx, making it suitable for small sites and users who want a minimal server-side setup.

BigTree CMS is a web content management system intended for organizations that need to build and maintain websites with a structured admin interface. The README indicates it is a mature project with a public LGPL license and an active changelog covering CMS capabilities such as page editing, media handling, redirects, and site integrity checks. The project appears aimed at developers and site editors working in PHP/MySQL environments. It supports modern PHP versions, uses MySQL as its database backend, and includes features like inline editing, matrix/callout content fields, multi-site handling, and an experimental GraphQL API. The README also mentions cloud-related integrations such as AWS and Instagram Basic Display API support, suggesting it can connect to external services when needed.

W-CMS is a lightweight content management system aimed at artists and experimental projects. It presents itself as a flexible tool for designing websites in an unconventional way, blending the feel of a drive, a wiki, and a personal blog. The project emphasizes fast page creation, low overhead, and broad freedom in how pages are structured and linked. The system is designed for self-hosted deployment on a standard PHP web stack and uses a flat-file storage model instead of a database server. It supports multiple users, LDAP authentication, media management, map generation from page coordinates, and a URL-based command interface. W-CMS also highlights support for common web standards such as Markdown, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and it can operate fully without JavaScript in the browser.

CouchCMS is a lightweight open-source content management system aimed at designers and front-end developers who want to convert static HTML/CSS templates into editable websites. The README emphasizes that no PHP knowledge is required: users add special XHTML tags to their templates, and CouchCMS handles the CMS behavior behind the scenes. The project is positioned for building common site types such as blogs, portfolios, galleries, events, and forms. It includes features for editable regions, cloned pages, comments, search, RSS feeds, and PayPal integration, along with SEO-friendly URLs and site-offline/custom error pages. The README also points users to tutorial and documentation resources, suggesting it is intended for hands-on website building rather than a general-purpose application platform.

Faster and easier management of website contents, scalable for small businesses to large corporations.

October is a content management system and web platform aimed at developers who want a simpler approach to building websites. Its README emphasizes reducing complexity in the development workflow and positions the project as a return to basic, practical website building. The project is installed from source using Composer, with an additional Artisan command for database-backed setup. It is built on Laravel and is supported by documentation, tutorials, example repositories, and community channels, making it suitable for developers who want a self-hosted CMS with a broader ecosystem around it. The README also states that October CMS is source-available under an end user license agreement.

Craft CMS is a self-hosted content management system designed for teams and developers who want to build custom digital experiences rather than adapt to a rigid content structure. It emphasizes a user-friendly control panel, flexible content modeling, and a templating workflow centered on Twig, making it suitable for websites, headless backends, and bespoke commerce experiences. The project also includes a built-in plugin marketplace and an extension framework for customization, along with an auto-generated GraphQL API for headless use cases. The README points users to official docs, tutorials, and installation guidance, and notes that the application runs as a PHP service that connects to MySQL or PostgreSQL for content storage.

Kirby is a content management system aimed at developers and editors who want a flexible, custom-built editing experience. The README emphasizes that users can combine different content types such as forms, galleries, articles, and spreadsheets to create an interface tailored to a specific project. The repository shown here is only Kirby’s core application folder, not the recommended starting point for a new installation. The README points users to separate starter repositories, along with the official documentation, online demo, support channels, and contribution resources. It also makes clear that Kirby is not free software and that use is tied to purchasing a license after evaluation.