Open Source WordPress AlternativesBlog Publishing & CMS Tools like WordPress

The best open source alternative to WordPress is Ghost. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to WordPress and loads of them is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to WordPress are Drupal, Joomla, Hugo and Jekyll.

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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, Free, Website Builder, Linux, Self-Hosted + Open Source and Self-Hosted. 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. Ghost icon

    Ghost

     263 likes

    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.

    291 Ghost alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Cloudron
    • Node.JS
    • US flagUnited States
    Ghost screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
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    1
  2. Drupal icon

    Drupal

     496 likes

    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.

    214 Drupal alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    • US flagUnited States
    Drupal screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
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    8
  4. Joomla icon

    Joomla

     354 likes

    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.

    215 Joomla alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    • US flagUnited States
    Home Dashboard
    Good alternative?
     
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    3
  5. Hugo icon

    Hugo

     95 likes

    Hugo is a general-purpose website framework for generating static web pages. Hugo flexibly works with many formats and is ideal for blogs, docs, portfolios and much more.

    118 Hugo alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
    • Global
    Hugo screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  6. Jekyll icon

    Jekyll

     128 likes

    Jekyll is a static site generator (SSG) created in 2008 by Tom Preston-Werner, the founder of GitHub. It's coded in Ruby and requires NodeJS. It's very different from WordPress on many points. For starters, it's a static site generator, which means it takes your text and generates static HTML pages for your site (with no database).

    Like Grav, it's pretty fast and simple to use, but it requires a bit more technical knowledge as you don't have access to an admin dashboard to manage your website. One advantage, though, is that you can use the free hosting provided by GitHub Pages with Jekyll.

    141 Jekyll alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Self-Hosted
    • US flagUnited States
    Jekyll screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  8. Frappe Builder icon

    Frappe Builder

     17 likes

    Frappe Builder is an open-source low-code website builder built on the Frappe Framework, designed for simplicity, speed, and flexibility. Craft beautiful websites effortlessly with an intuitive visual builder.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Linux
    • Docker
    • IN flagIndia
    Frappe Builder screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  9. Grav icon

    Grav

     139 likes

    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.

    197 Grav alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Cloudron
    • US flagUnited States
    The dashboard
    Good alternative?
     
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    6
  10. EmDash CMS icon

    EmDash CMS

     14 likes

    Full-stack TypeScript CMS built on Astro and Cloudflare featuring extensible architecture, sandboxed plugins in Worker isolates, WordPress migration, visual schema builder, role-based access, rich text editing, AI integration, media management, and open source deployment.

    58 EmDash CMS alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Typescript
    • US flagUnited States
    EmDash CMS screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  11. ProcessWire icon

    ProcessWire

     166 likes

    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…).

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    • US flagUnited States
    ProcessWire screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  12. WriteFreely icon

    WriteFreely

     48 likes

    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.

    55 WriteFreely alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • Online
    • US flagUnited States
    WriteFreely screenshot 1
    Good alternative?
     
  13. Automad icon

    Automad

     17 likes

    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.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • PHP
    • CH flagSwitzerland
    Dashboard
    Good alternative?
     
  14. Strapi icon

    Strapi

     39 likes

    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...

    88 Strapi alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Freemium
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Self-Hosted
    • FR flagFrance
    • European Union flagEU
    Content types builder
    Good alternative?
     
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12 of 65 WordPress alternatives