Wagtail CMS
Hacker ApprovedRanked 4 of 9 content management systems by recommenders
Free 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.
Free 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.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 92%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 11 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Go-to Python CMS built on Django
“I strongly recommend Wagtail, it came after the initially most popular django-cms”
Comment from 28 Jan 2026 in “Notes on Starting to Use Django” “Django and Wagtail are among the silent heros of "getting stuff done"”
Comment from 27 Aug 2026 in “CMS with AI, Not AI CMS: Wagtail 8.0's New API” “Pretty much the go to Python-based CMS to use these days.”
Comment from 2 Apr 2026 in “EmDash – a spiritual successor to WordPress that solves plugin security” Enjoyable to build sites with
“it was a delight building my site with it”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “Publish (On Your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere” “Wagtail is great for what it's good at.”
Comment from 30 Jan 2026 in “Notes on Starting to Use Django”
Other content management systems people recommend
The four most recommended other content management systems, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 194 | 326 | 37% | 12 | 15 yrs25 owners | — |
| EmDash | 67 | 91 | 42% | 7 | — | — |
| Drupal | 30 | 48 | 38% | 9 | 6 yrs3 owners | — |
| Wagtail CMSThis page | 11 | 1 | 92% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Sveltia CMS | 7 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | — |
What people said
13 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Django and Wagtail are among the silent heros of "getting stuff done"”
“excited to do stuff with this”
“has been a cheatcode for service development fir me”
“the agent, without giving it internet access, doesn't always know how to develop for Wagtail”
“Going from 1,700 dependencies to 65 total with Django + Wagtail + HTMX.”
“Pretty much the go to Python-based CMS to use these days.”
“Using neither is much better.”
“though Wagtail can get close and HTMX”
“Wagtail is great for what it's good at.”
“Wagtail is an antipattern.”
“I strongly recommend Wagtail, it came after the initially most popular django-cms”
“it was a delight building my site with it”
“It is not as capable as something like Wagtail, Payload, or Craft.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.