A content management system helps users create and modify websites and create, manage, and modify online content – all without coding.
Here is a list of open source content management systems. Many have large developer communities and thousands of themes and extensions. The basic systems are free, but most offer premium add-ons and paid plans for hosting services.
WordPress
WordPress.org
WordPress was launched in 2003 as a blogging platform. Today, it is a mature PHP and MySQL-based CMS that powers about 40% of all websites worldwide, from hobby blogs to the largest news portals. Over 70,000 free plugins and themes help customize WordPress installations, including robust e-commerce features, galleries, mailing lists, forums, analytics, security, and more.
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Gravity
Gravity
Grav is a CMS that focuses on speed, simplicity, and flexibility. Grav is written in PHP, built on the Symfony framework, and uses Twig for template creation. It has a package management system to easily install and update plugins, themes, and the platform itself. It offers a straightforward method of content creation with a minimal learning curve. Create blogs, websites, landing pages, portfolios, eCommerce sites, and more.
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Drupal
Drupal
Drupal is a free and open source content management system and framework. It comes with standard features such as easy content creation, reliable performance and security. Its modularity is advanced and highly scalable, with around 40,000 modules to extend site functionality and 2,500 themes to change site appearance. Users can easily create a site, online store, social network, blog, wiki or anything else. The Drupal community has more than 1 million members. Many government agencies in the US, UK and France as well as media companies such as NBC and BBC use the Drupal platform.
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Typo3
Typo3
Typo3 is a free, open-source PHP-based CMS. It offers comprehensive support for marketers, from content planning and modeling to intelligent workflows, digital asset management, search engine optimization, and more. Create and publish content to multiple sites, in multiple languages, and across all digital channels, while maintaining control with role-based access. Create information-rich digital experiences that work well at any scale.
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Joomla
Joomla
Joomla is a free and open source CMS that is mobile and search engine friendly, multilingual, flexible and has more than 5,000 extensions. It can be used for small business websites, e-commerce, online reservations, corporate websites, online publications, government and non-profit websites. Joomla is based on a model-view-controller web application framework for building online applications, integrated e-commerce systems, data reporting tools, inventory control systems, communication tools and more.
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Umbraco
Umbraco
Umbraco is a flexible CMS built on the .NET framework. With an intuitive interface optimized for content creation and management, editors can complete daily tasks, preview and publish content, plan campaigns, and more. Create and manage content in multiple languages for different channels and reuse content when needed – blog posts, data for a mobile app, or advertising campaigns. Umbraco offers over 300 extensions and plugins, as well as a support community of more than 220,000 members.
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Concrete CMS
Concrete CMS
Concrete CMS is an open source CMS for content creators, designers and developers. The modular and extensible platform makes it easy to build and run a website. Concrete CMS offers contextual editing, a WYSIWYG content editor, modular blocks, a form builder, built-in reporting, a built-in commenting system, collaborative and controlled access, advanced security and thousands of themes and add-ons to extend functionality.
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SilverStripe CMS
SilverStripe CMS
SilverStripe CMS is a user-friendly CMS with a front-end template engine, a customizable framework and an extensive list of modules to extend functionality. Create custom fields, page types, data structures and logic. Launch campaign pages directly from the CMS without the time-consuming development process. SilverStripe CMS has over 2,500 modules and 50,000 live sites.
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Craft CMS
Craft CMS
Craft CMS is a flexible, easy-to-use CMS for building customized digital experiences. Craft offers different building blocks, each suited to different types of content. Choose the features and functionality you need and update content with Craft’s built-in management features. Create and manage an eCommerce store, customize the checkout flow, run promotions, set shipping rules, and more. Templates in Craft are provided by Twig, the template system from the developers of Symfony. The Solo plan is free for self-hosted websites.
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Contao
Contao
Contao is an open source CMS and framework for building scalable web applications. The Contao Manager, a graphical interface for Composer, allows users to install and manage the framework and extensions directly in your browser. Contao offers multiple backend languages and advanced editing capabilities, a permission system, multiple page types and sites in a tree, a flexible form generator, advanced search options, built-in modules, extensions and more. Contao uses password hashing algorithms and supports user accounts with two-factor authentication.
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OpenCart
OpenCart
OpenCart is an open source CMS for eCommerce. Stick with the modern, responsive default design or choose from thousands of third-party ones. OpenCart has a mobile-friendly admin area with product, order and customer management, sales reports and marketing tools, and an active support community. There are over 14,000 extensions available for download for OpenCart.
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Background CMS
Background CMS
Backdrop CMS is an open source and easy-to-use CMS for small to medium-sized businesses, nonprofits, or organizations that need a comprehensive website for free or at a low cost. Use Backdrop CMS for anything from a personal blog site to a complex eCommerce platform with multiple features. Backdrop is easily extendable with modules, themes, and layouts. Backdrop CMS was created by forking Drupal 7 and maintains code with a proven track record.
