Self-hosted alternatives to Squarespace
A monthly subscription for a brochure site that hasn't changed in two years.
Below are 10 open-source projects that cover the same ground, each scored 0–100 on how actively it is actually maintained — commit volume, release cadence and recent trend. 10 of the 10 are currently rated healthy or better. Ordering reflects that score, not sponsorship.
| Project | Health | Activity (11 mo) | Stars | Licence | Last release |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghost Just a blogging platform. | Thriving · 98 | 55k | MIT | 22 Sept 2026 | |
| Strapi Headless CMS that lets developers build content APIs fast while giving content creators a friendly editing int | Thriving · 94 | 73k | MIT | 24 Sept 2026 | |
| Payload CMS Developer-first headless CMS and application framework. | Thriving · 91 | 45k | MIT | 24 Sept 2026 | |
| Wagtail Django content management system focused on flexibility and user experience. | Thriving · 91 | 21k | BSD-3-Clause | 25 Aug 2026 | |
| Umbraco The friendly CMS. Free and open source with an amazing community. | Thriving · 84 | 5.3k | MIT | 17 Sept 2026 | |
| WordPress World's most-used blogging and CMS engine. | Healthy · 81 | 21k | GPL-2.0 | — | |
| Pimcore Multi-channel experience and engagement management platform. | Healthy · 81 | 3.9k | GPL-3.0 | 22 Sept 2026 | |
| CraftCMS Content-first CMS that aims to make life enjoyable for developers and content managers alike. | Healthy · 79 | 3.6k | ⊘ Proprietary | 18 Sept 2026 | |
| eLabFTW Online lab notebook for research labs. Store experiments, use a database to find reagents or protocols, use tr | Healthy · 78 | 1.4k | AGPL-3.0 | 24 Sept 2026 | |
| Kirby File-based CMS. Easy to setup. Easy to use. Flexible as hell. | Healthy · 77 | 1.5k | ⊘ Proprietary | 16 Sept 2026 |
How these were picked
Every project listed here is open source and can run entirely on hardware you control. We start from the categories that match Squarespace's job — Content Management Systems (CMS) — then rank by health score so that a popular-but-abandoned project never appears above a smaller one that is actively shipping. The scoring method is documented in full.
The scores are recomputed from repository data on every rebuild, so this page reflects the state of these projects as of 1 Oct 2026 — not the day it was written.
Ghost
Just a blogging platform.
Best fit: It suits individuals or teams who want a focused, self-hosted space dedicated specifically to publishing a blog without the wider scope of a general content management system.
Worth knowing: You will need to manage your own server updates, backups, and security hardening, as with any self-hosted publishing tool.
Strapi
Headless CMS that lets developers build content APIs fast while giving content creators a friendly editing interface.
Best fit: It suits developers who want to quickly set up a structured API-driven content backend using JavaScript and TypeScript without writing boilerplate code.
Worth knowing: Content management frameworks of this type often introduce significant database complexity and can be resource-heavy compared to flat-file or purely static alternatives.
Payload CMS
Developer-first headless CMS and application framework.
Best fit: Developers who want a code-driven approach to content modelling and need a flexible backend framework alongside standard CMS capabilities.
Worth knowing: Because it relies heavily on programmatic configuration and code-based schemas, it requires software development expertise to set up and maintain rather than offering a purely no-code administration panel.
Wagtail
Django content management system focused on flexibility and user experience.
Best fit: It is a suitable choice for developers already working within the Python and Django ecosystem who require a customisable content management workflow.
Worth knowing: You will need to maintain a Python runtime environment and handle schema migrations as the application updates, which requires familiarity with Django's administrative tooling.
Umbraco
The friendly CMS. Free and open source with an amazing community.
Best fit: Teams with existing .NET expertise who need a customisable, developer-friendly content management system for corporate websites or web applications.
Worth knowing: It requires familiarity with the .NET ecosystem to configure and extend effectively, which might present a steeper learning curve if your infrastructure is centered around other runtimes.