OSI-licensed open source
PHP still powers a large share of the web's content management systems, and the open-source options range from blogging engines to enterprise platforms and file-based CMSs with no database. Choosing among them mostly comes down to editorial needs, developer ergonomics and how much structure your content has.
Each CMS below is OSI-licensed, with its licence read from the project repository this run. Proprietary or source-available PHP CMSs are not included. The list is aimed at developers and technical founders choosing a CMS for client sites, products or content-heavy platforms.
Tools, licences and pricing checked against vendor and repository pages on November 7, 2026.
| Tool | Best for | Pricing | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | Blogs, marketing sites and content publishing with a huge plugin ecosystem | Free, open source | GPL-2.0-or-later |
| Drupal | Complex content models, multilingual and enterprise sites | Free, open source | GPL-2.0 |
| Joomla | Mid-size sites that need built-in multilingual and user management | Free, open source | GPL-2.0-or-later |
| TYPO3 | Enterprise and multilingual multi-site setups | Free, open source | GPL-2.0 |
| Concrete CMS | Editors who want to edit pages in place | Free, open source | MIT |
| Grav | Fast, developer-friendly sites without a database | Free, open source | MIT |
| ProcessWire | Developers building custom content structures with a clean API | Free, open source | MPL-2.0 |
| Backdrop CMS | Small organizations wanting a Drupal-style CMS with lower complexity | Free, open source | GPL-2.0-or-later |
| Winter CMS | Laravel developers who want a CMS on a familiar stack | Free, open source | MIT |
Best for: Blogs, marketing sites and content publishing with a huge plugin ecosystem · Free, open source
WordPress is the most widely used PHP CMS, released under GPL version 2 or later. The GitHub repository mirrors its SVN codebase.
Best for: Complex content models, multilingual and enterprise sites · Free, open source
Drupal is a PHP CMS developed on Drupal.org, with the GitHub repository acting as a mirror of core. Core is licensed under GPL version 2.
Best for: Mid-size sites that need built-in multilingual and user management · Free, open source
Joomla is a free, open-source CMS for building websites and online applications, running on PHP with MySQL, MariaDB or PostgreSQL.
Best for: Enterprise and multilingual multi-site setups · Free, open source
TYPO3 is an enterprise content management system whose core repository is a read-only mirror of its Gerrit repository.
Best for: Editors who want to edit pages in place · Free, open source
Concrete CMS is an open-source CMS with in-context editing, developed in the concretecms/concretecms repository under the MIT licence.
Best for: Fast, developer-friendly sites without a database · Free, open source
Grav is a modern flat-file CMS powered by PHP, Markdown, Twig and Symfony, with no database required.
Best for: Developers building custom content structures with a clean API · Free, open source
ProcessWire is an open-source CMS and framework with a strong API. Core files are MPL-2.0 and default site profiles are MIT.
Best for: Small organizations wanting a Drupal-style CMS with lower complexity · Free, open source
Backdrop CMS is a PHP CMS derived from Drupal, aimed at simpler, small-to-medium sites. Its repository states GPL v2 or higher.
Best for: Laravel developers who want a CMS on a familiar stack · Free, open source
Winter CMS is a free, open-source, self-hosted CMS platform based on the Laravel PHP framework.
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| If you need… | Start with |
|---|---|
| Biggest ecosystem and easiest editing | WordPress |
| Complex structured content or enterprise | Drupal, TYPO3 |
| No database, Markdown content | Grav |
| Laravel-based CMS | Winter CMS |
| Custom content API for developers | ProcessWire |
| Edit pages in place | Concrete CMS |
Quick answers to common questions
WordPress by a wide margin, but popularity is not the only criterion; Drupal and TYPO3 suit more structured, enterprise-style projects.
Grav is a flat-file CMS that stores content as Markdown files.
They publish source code under their own licences and are not listed here because we only include OSI-licensed projects.
Apply core and extension updates promptly, minimize plugins, and follow each project's security release channel.
List it on TechLogHub and we'll review it for this guide.
