WordPress AlternativesOnly apps categorised as CMS Tools

The best CMS alternative to WordPress is Drupal, which is both free and Open Source. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to WordPress and loads of them are CMS Tools so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting CMS Tool alternatives to WordPress are Joomla, Ghost, Grav and Squarespace.

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WordPress alternatives are mainly CMS Tools, but if you're looking for Blog Publishing Tools or Website Builders you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Open Source, .NET Framework, Free, Self-Hosted, Website Builder, Linux and Self-Hosted + Open Source. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to WordPress.
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Alternatives list

  1. Drupal icon

    Drupal

     491 likes
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    Drupal is a free and open source CMS that has been created “by developers for developers”, and is therefore slightly more complicated to learn than a solution like Wix or WordPress. It's intended for an audience with technical skills, which is why it is perhaps less popular. This drawback can also be an advantage: thanks to the great flexibility of Drupal, it is possible to obtain much more advanced results thanks to more in-depth functionality. And like WordPress, it can also be extended with thousands of themes and modules.

    206 Drupal alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    Drupal screenshot 1
     
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    94
    Comments about Drupal as an Alternative to WordPress
    Top Positive Comment
    Guest
    1

    Wordpress is a good framework for absolute beginners, Drupal for more advanced users, imo

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Top Negative Comment
    xu3e
    -1

    Some times ago Drupal started using Symphony Framework which is a great for some. Not for many. I am not sure why but anytime i tried Drupal on localhost or my VPS, it was very slow comparing to wordpress. Slower than WORDPRES?! No hell! I really do not see any advantages. But in a past, i had a big feelings for Drupal. Not anymore.

    Rakshit Panchal
    Positive
    0

    Drupal and WordPress are both popular content management systems (CMS), but they serve different needs.

    WordPress is known for its ease of use and is ideal for beginners and small to medium-sized sites. It has a large library of themes and plugins, making customization straightforward.

    Drupal, on the other hand, is more complex but offers greater flexibility and scalability. It’s well-suited for large, complex websites with extensive data and custom functionality.

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    3 of 8 comments
    WordPress Icon
    Drupal icon

    • Most users think Drupal is a great WordPress alternative.

    • Drupal is the most popular Self-Hosted alternative to WordPress.

    • Drupal is the most popular Open Source & free alternative to WordPress.

    • Drupal is Free and Open SourceWordPress is Freemium and Open Source
  2. Joomla icon

    Joomla

     350 likes
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    Joomla is another free and open source popular CMS. It's a powerful, versatile, and flexible platform with a large community of users and developers. It is known to be more accessible than Drupal, but more complex than WordPress. Like the other two, it can be extended with themes and extensions. Joomla still requires some technical skills and is primarily intended for developers.

    201 Joomla alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    Home Dashboard
     
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    3
    58
    Comments about Joomla as an Alternative to WordPress
    Guest
    Positive
    0

    All in one installation with extensions I need improve the security. No problem of compatibility of extensions when I update.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    0

    Joomla is the only CMS that allows you to make a simple website to a complex website with an optimal learning curve.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Negative
    -12

    Joomla is a CMS, Wordpress was more concepted for blogging - even if it's a CMS similar Sw today...

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    WordPress Icon
    Joomla icon

    • Most users think Joomla is a great WordPress alternative.

    • Joomla is Free and Open SourceWordPress is Freemium and Open Source
  4. Ghost icon

    Ghost

     249 likes
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    Launched in 2013, Ghost is a modern blogging platform that you can self-host or pay for a hosted version (a bit like WordPress). But unlike the three CMS mentioned above, it's not based on PHP but on NodeJS, which can be a good thing for JavaScript developers. Ghost has a very sleek interface and offers useful tools like subscriptions, memberships, analytics, and integrations to easily grow your audience. You can also download beautiful themes from their marketplace to speed up the process of launching your website.

    271 Ghost alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free Personal
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Cloudron
    • Node.JS
    Ghost screenshot 1
     
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    1
    51
    Comments about Ghost as an Alternative to WordPress
    xu3e
    Negative
    -1

    Needs NodeJS, which means more powerful hosting or VPS that cost more than ordinary hosting. There is also less plugins and support. It is just a basic blog platform. Faster? Yeah. More secure? Yeah. Membership included? Yeah. But you have to pay more than on wordpress. And good luck with looking for an enthusiastic developers working for a smile. Wordpress is still the best platform. For a blogging i would choose anything but ghost.

    WordPress Icon
    Ghost icon

    • Most users think Ghost is a great WordPress alternative.

    • Ghost is the most popular Web-based alternative to WordPress.

    • Ghost is Free Personal and Open SourceWordPress is Freemium and Open Source
    • Ghost is Privacy focusedWordPress is not according to our users
  5. Ad
    Screenshot
    Squarespace icon
    Squarespace

    Squarespace is a versatile CMS, suitable for bloggers, e-commerce, companies wanting to present their activity, musicians, photographers… The platform has few themes, but they are all of high quality. The administration interface...

    https://www.squarespace.com
    Learn More
  6. Grav icon

    Grav

     135 likes
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    Grav is a powerful and easy to use open source CMS written in PHP and based on the Symfony web application framework. Compared to other content management systems, it is a fast, simple and flexible file-based platform. This means that Grav doesn't use a database like MySQL or MongoDB, but stores all the information in YAML files. This also means that the learning curve is pretty straightforward, there are less security risks, and the websites are usually pretty fast. There's also a marketplace with themes and plugins, but don't expect to see as many as for WordPress, Joomla or Drupal.

    183 Grav alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Cloudron
    The dashboard
     
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    6
    41
    Comments about Grav as an Alternative to WordPress
    Top Positive Comment
    Guest
    6

    It's not a messy pile of spaghetti code. It uses modern tools like Composer and Twig.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    therojam
    Positive
    0

    Grav is easy to deploy by just extracting the downloaded archive. It got an terminal client where to install plugins/extensions like an administrative backend or other themes. It has spotless file structure.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    2

    The features you want, without the bloat you don't

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
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    3 of 6 comments
    WordPress Icon
    Grav icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Grav is a great WordPress alternative.

    • Grav is Free and Open SourceWordPress is Freemium and Open Source
  7. Squarespace icon

    Squarespace

     84 likes
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    Squarespace is a versatile CMS, suitable for bloggers, e-commerce, companies wanting to present their activity, musicians, photographers… The platform has few themes, but they are all of high quality. The administration interface is clear and well-thought-out - which has not always been the case. Several statistical data are also provided: page views, RSS feed subscriptions, most popular pages… Squarespace is proprietary and doesn't offer any option to self-host it, so you'll have to pay between $12 and $54 per month to get started.

    329 Squarespace alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Subscription
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Android
    • iPhone
    • Android Tablet
    • iPad
    • Software as a Service (SaaS)
    Squarespace screenshot 1
     
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    3
    37
    Comments about Squarespace as an Alternative to WordPress
    Guest
    Negative
    3

    Squarespace is a SaaS platform; WordPress can be self-hosted

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Ola Johansson
    Positive
    0

    It's a great tool to buil simple websites. Therefore a great alternative.

    DJbutit
    Negative
    -7

    It is a website builder it is not a blog

    WordPress Icon
    Squarespace icon

    • Most users think Squarespace is a great WordPress alternative.

    • Squarespace is the most popular iPhone, iPad & SaaS alternative to WordPress.

    • Squarespace is the most popular commercial alternative to WordPress.

    • Squarespace is Paid and ProprietaryWordPress is Freemium and Open Source
  8. ProcessWire icon

    ProcessWire

     164 likes
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    ProcessWire is a free and open source content management framework (CMF) and content management system (CMS). The backend is clean and structured for easy handling. This tool gives you all the freedom you need to design your website. It is not as well known as the giant WordPress or its competitors Joomla and Drupal, but this lightweight software stands out from the competition with certain advantages (ease of use, security, stable API, page templates…).

    105 ProcessWire alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    ProcessWire screenshot 1
     
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    18
  10. October icon

    October

     19 likes
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    October is a self-hosted CMS platform based on the Laravel PHP Framework. Thousands of digital studios and freelancers all over the world love October for its simplicity, flexibility and modern design. Their clients are happy, because October saves them both time and money.

    Cost / License

    • Subscription
    • Proprietary

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Laravel
    • PHP
    October screenshot 1
     
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    4
    18
    Comments about October as an Alternative to WordPress
    Guest
    Positive
    0

    Both friendly for developer and user

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    bradybarten
    Positive
    1

    Laravel based. Its essentially a CMF on top of Laravel

    Jesse Boyer
    Positive
    1

    Balance between Client and Developer, beautiful and built on Laravel. Easy to extend, it destroys wordpress.

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    3 of 4 comments
    WordPress Icon
    October icon

    • Almost everyone thinks October is a great WordPress alternative.

    • October is Paid and ProprietaryWordPress is Freemium and Open Source
  11. WriteFreely icon

    WriteFreely

     49 likes
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    WriteFreely is an open-source, minimalist, federated, self-hosted blogging platform. It was built for and by Write.as and can be used to power a similar community or just a single blog.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    WriteFreely screenshot 1
     
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    6
  12. Strapi icon

    Strapi

     39 likes
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    Strapi enables developers to build projects faster by providing a customizable API out of the box and giving them the freedom to use their favorite tools. Content teams use Strapi to autonomously manage all types of content and distribute it from one CMS to any channel be it...

    78 Strapi alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium (Subscription)
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    Content types builder
     
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    1
    11
    Comments about Strapi as an Alternative to WordPress
    Guest
    Positive
    1

    It has a great UI and allows to manage content easily and quickly and deliver it anywhere

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    WordPress Icon
    Strapi icon

    • Almost everyone thinks Strapi is a great WordPress alternative.

    • Strapi is Freemium and Open SourceWordPress is also Freemium and Open Source
    • Strapi is LightweightWordPress is not according to our users
  13. ClassicPress icon

    ClassicPress

     11 likes
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    ClassicPress is a community-led open source content management system and a fork of WordPress that preserves the TinyMCE classic editor as the default option, which means there is no Gutenberg (block) editor.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    ClassicPress admin dashboard
     
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    2
    7
    Comments about ClassicPress as an Alternative to WordPress
    laurabrown
    Positive
    0

    A fork of WordPress. Easy to change from WordPress, move files and use almost all the same plugins and themes. No new software to learn.

    Guest
    Positive
    0

    A good WordPress alternative for Developers

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    WordPress Icon
    ClassicPress icon

    • Almost everyone thinks ClassicPress is a great WordPress alternative.

    • ClassicPress is Free and Open SourceWordPress is Freemium and Open Source
    • ClassicPress is LightweightWordPress is not according to our users
  14. Automad icon

    Automad

     15 likes
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    Automad is a file-based flat CMS and template engine. It is designed to be fully portable without any dependencies on databases or fixed locations and doesn't require any complicated setup process. All data gets stored in a human readable form.

    84 Automad alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    Dashboard
     
  15. Textpattern icon

    Textpattern

     51 likes
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    Textpattern is an elegant content management system that is free, open source software with privacy and separation of content/design at its foundation.

    77 Textpattern alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    Textpattern screenshot 1
     
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    1
    Comments about Textpattern as an Alternative to WordPress
    Dozy P
    Positive
    0

    Textpattern was established over 20 years ago and stays true to its mission of offering a truly free, lightweight, easy to use CMS to website owners who value reliability, flexibility and simplicity. Active forum and development by real people too!

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    WordPress Icon
    Textpattern icon
    • Textpattern is Free and Open SourceWordPress is Freemium and Open Source
    • Textpattern is Lightweight and Privacy focusedWordPress is not according to our users
12 of 56 WordPress alternatives