The best content management systems, according to hackers
9 content management systems recommended in Hacker News comments over the past year, ranked by how many separate people recommend each one.
- Most recommendedWordPress194 people recommend it
- Least regretWagtail CMS11 recommend, 1 criticize
- Free and lovedEmDash67 people recommend it
All content management systems
- WordPressRecommended for its huge plugin and integration ecosystem, cheap one-click hosting and easy editing for non-technical people, though critics widely cite plugin security holes and maintenance burden.194recommend
- EmDashFree, MIT-licensed CMS with TypeScript plugins and isolated plugin security, pitched as a WordPress successor. Most common caveat: it lacks WordPress's plugin and theme ecosystem.67recommend
- DrupalRecommended for its mature, battle-tested architecture, large community and built-in features that avoid reinventing a CMS; critics cite frequent major-version rewrites and maintenance and security concerns.30recommend
- Wagtail CMSFree open-source content management system built on Django, recommended as a go-to Python CMS and enjoyable for building sites. Critics say it is less capable than Payload or Craft.11recommend
- Sveltia CMSFree git-based CMS for static sites with a mobile-friendly editing interface, which some users prefer over Decap and Pages CMS.7recommend
- ProcessWire CMSPeople recommend ProcessWire for sites that stay stable for years with little maintenance, and for its flexibility and friendly community. No critics appeared in the quotes.7recommend
- Kirby CMSPeople recommend Kirby as a well designed, easy to extend alternative to WordPress that clients find simple to use, though some customer-requested features may be missing.6recommend
- Payload CMSFree, open-source headless CMS people recommend for custom sites; critics say it has fewer plugins than WordPress and ties you to Next.js.5recommend
- SparktypeRecommended as an easy, open, portable publishing platform that respects static site generator conventions. Common caveat: mobile support reportedly doesn't work.5recommend