# EmDash 67 Hacker News commenters recommended EmDash and 91 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Free, 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. ## Why people recommend it - Open source and free, MIT-licensed (4 comments): "A "good" standard, free CMS with theming and plugin support without the issues of Wordpress is _welcome_." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47605025)) "We connect to remote servers via SSH, are provider-agnostic, and open-source." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47145425)) "Hard to sell it as anything but an upgrade if you care about open source." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47612768)) - Plugin isolation and security model (4 comments): "This is a fundamentally better plugin architecture that WP, and if you can't see it, then it's your understanding of security that's not right." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47610083)) "I'm convinced that this project has got 2 things absolutely spot on. TypeScript and Worker plugins." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47606147)) "Cool idea, especially the plugin security angle, but WordPress's real strength is its ecosystem." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47606177)) - Not tied to one hosting provider (3 comments): "it already doesn't require CF, and they're explicitly working on extending plugin sandboxing to work on other platforms" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47694435)) "We connect to remote servers via SSH, are provider-agnostic, and open-source." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47145425)) "Not as simple as wp, but not tied to one hosting provider." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49640000)) - TypeScript plugins make development easier (2 comments): "I'm convinced that this project has got 2 things absolutely spot on. TypeScript and Worker plugins." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47606147)) "EmDash plugins are just TS modules, which has got to make things easier" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47605699)) ## What people warn about - Lacks plugin and theme ecosystem (4 comments): "Without a theme marketplace and possibly a plugin marketplace, this is just another open source CMS" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47624022)) "This is great, but if the plugin ecosystem isn't compatible will it take off?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47604045)) "unless they get a good ecosystem of free plugins I don't see it going far" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47619344)) - Not truly WordPress-compatible (4 comments): "it seems it might be a half decent headless CMS, if the bit of WordPress you want is its interface" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47606416)) "I think calling it a 'spiritual successor to WordPress' is just to gain some marketing points." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47603493)) "You cannot say you’re the spiritual successor to WordPress, if your software doesn’t support running plugins out of the box on arbitrary installs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47609681)) - Plugin sandboxing tied to Cloudflare (4 comments): "the headline feature, plugin isolation via Dynamic Workers, only works on Cloudflare's runtime" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47603999)) "The sandboxing requires CF workers though, as it depends on V8 isolates." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49643681)) "Cloudflare's new business model is to find popular OSS projects, create a vibe coded alternative that only runs on Cloudflare's infrastructure." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47604420)) - Vibe-coded, AI-built concerns (4 comments): "The indications are that this instance of AI assisted programming is bad because of the launch post, the name, and the history" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47612878)) "how is anyone supposed to believe cloudflare to build a reliable cms after its reputation with the outages and mass layoffs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47644448)) "Ridiculous choice considering the associations with AI, slop, and even the general crowded namespace" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47603410)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Wagtail CMS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wagtail.md): 11 recommend - [ProcessWire CMS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/processwire.md): 7 recommend - [Kirby CMS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kirby-cms.md): 6 recommend - [Payload CMS](https://hackerapproved.com/p/payload.md): 5 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "EmDash", https://hackerapproved.com/p/emdash/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).