CMS & Content
Headless CMS
Headless content management systems and content APIs.
Best Headless CMS tools by public signals
These picks are computed from scored public evidence. Use the openness column in the ranking to separate OSI-approved, source-available, open-core, proprietary, and unverified-license tools.
Use Case Rankings
Ordered by ToolVitals score, health, shipping, confidence, and then adoption as a tie-breaker.
| # | Tool | Health | Shipping | Openness | Stars | Score | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Strapi 🚀 Strapi is the leading open-source headless CMS. It’s 100% JavaScript/TypeScript, fully customizable, and developer-first. | 100 | 100 | OSI-approved OSS | 72.7k | 100 | Active |
| 02 | Directus The flexible backend for all your projects 🐰 Turn your DB into a headless CMS, admin panels, or apps with a custom UI, instant APIs, auth & more. | 98 | 95 | License unknown | 36.9k | 98 | Active |
| 03 | Sanity Sanity Studio – Rapidly configure content workspaces powered by structured content | 96 | 98 | OSI-approved OSS | 6.2k | 98 | Active |
| 04 | TinaCMS A fully open-source headless CMS that supports Markdown and Visual Editing | 95 | 100 | OSI-approved OSS | 13.7k | 98 | Active |
| 05 | Statamic The core Laravel CMS Composer package | 93 | 100 | License unknown | 4.9k | 96 | Active |
| 06 | Sulu Modern Symfony based CMS | 93 | 87 | OSI-approved OSS | 1.3k | 93 | Active |
| 07 | Webiny Open-source, self-hosted CMS platform on AWS serverless (Lambda, DynamoDB, S3). TypeScript framework with multi-tenancy, lifecycle hooks, GraphQL API, and AI-assisted development via MCP server. Built for developers at large organizations. | 90 | 90 | OSI-approved OSS | 8k | 93 | Active |
| 08 | Payload Payload is the open-source, fullstack Next.js framework, giving you instant backend superpowers. Get a full TypeScript backend and admin panel instantly. Use Payload as a headless CMS or for building powerful applications. | 90 | 89 | OSI-approved OSS | 43.9k | 92 | Active |
| 09 | Enonic XP Enonic XP is an source-visible Java tool tracked for headless cms signals, maintenance activity, and public release evidence. | 90 | 86 | OSI-approved OSS | 210 | 91 | Active |
| 10 | SonicJS SonicJS - The edge-native headless CMS for Cloudflare Workers. Sub-100ms response times, zero cold starts, TypeScript-first. Built on D1, R2, and Hono. | 84 | 93 | OSI-approved OSS | 1.7k | 91 | Active |
| 11 | Sveltia CMS Git-based headless CMS. Successor to Netlify CMS (now Decap CMS). Modern UX, first-class i18n support, mobile support + 100s of improvements. Framework-agnostic, open source & free. | 83 | 93 | OSI-approved OSS | 2.6k | 91 | Active |
| 12 | DNN Platform Open-source web content management platform. | 85 | 87 | OSI-approved OSS | 1.1k | 89 | Active |
| 13 | Gentics Mesh Gentics Mesh - The open source headless CMS for developers | 84 | 80 | OSI-approved OSS | 594 | 87 | Active |
| 14 | AWCMS Enterprise-grade, multi-tenant, ABAC-secured CMS. | 81 | 83 | OSI-approved OSS | 12 | 86 | Active |
| 15 | pagible Easy, flexible and powerful cloud-native Laravel CMS package powered by AI with JSON:API, GraphQL API, templates, and themes | 79 | 88 | OSI-approved OSS | 571 | 86 | Active |
| 16 | Contentful JavaScript library for Contentful's Delivery API (node & browser) | 90 | 65 | OSI-approved OSS | 1.3k | 85 | Active |
| 17 | Bolt CMS 🧿 Bolt core | 79 | 69 | OSI-approved OSS | 589 | 80 | Active |
| 18 | FireCMS Firebase and Firestore-based CMS and admin panel for managing application content. | 76 | 70 | License unknown | 1.3k | 80 | Active |
| 19 | Atomic Server An open source headless CMS / real-time database. Powerful table editor, full-text search, and SDKs for JS / React / Svelte. | 73 | 76 | OSI-approved OSS | 1.6k | 79 | Warning |
| 20 | ApostropheCMS A full-featured, open-source content management framework built with Node.js that empowers organizations by combining in-context editing and headless architecture in a full-stack JS environment. | 74 | 56 | License unknown | 4.6k | 75 | Warning |
| 21 | Archival Content-first, database-free website builder and CMS. | 71 | 61 | License unknown | 8 | 74 | Warning |
| 22 | Twill Twill is an open source CMS toolkit for Laravel that helps developers rapidly create a custom admin console that is intuitive, powerful and flexible. Chat with us on Discord at https://discord.gg/cnWk7EFv8R. | 74 | 37 | OSI-approved OSS | 4k | 69 | Warning |
| 23 | Concrete CMS for teams | 73 | 42 | OSI-approved OSS | 850 | 69 | Warning |
| 24 | Vrite Open-source developer content platform | 64 | 25 | OSI-approved OSS | 2k | 60 | Warning |
| 25 | Squidex Headless CMS and Content Managment Hub | 67 | 12 | OSI-approved OSS | 2.5k | 57 | Warning |
| 26 | MZinga MZinga is a modern, modular Content Management System (CMS) built on top of Payload CMS, designed for high extensibility and seamless integration with MongoDB, Redis, and RabbitMQ. Tailored for SaaS and enterprise environments, MZinga provides a scalable, secure, and developer-friendly platform for managing complex applications and workflows. | 59 | 25 | OSI-approved OSS | 8 | 55 | Warning |
| 27 | FormCMS AI Agent: Open-source headless CMS built with ASP.NET Core (C#) and React, featuring REST APIs, GraphQL, and a GrapesJS page designer. | 49 | 20 | OSI-approved OSS | 266 | 50 | Critical |
| 28 | DoraCMS DoraCMS 是一个基于 EggJS 3.x + Vue 3 + TypeScript 的现代化内容管理系统,采用 pnpm monorepo 架构管理。它不仅仅是一个 CMS 系统,更是一个优秀的企业级应用架构实践。 | 56 | 14 | OSI-approved OSS | 3.5k | 49 | Warning |
| 29 | BCMS ⭐️ BCMS is a Headless CMS for developers & their clients. Works nicely with Gatsby, Next.js & Nuxt. This is an open-source version for self-hosting. | 51 | 7 | OSI-approved OSS | 462 | 48 | Warning |
| 30 | LeadCMS AI-powered CMS and CRM for SaaS teams to build landing pages and manage content. | 41 | 11 | OSI-approved OSS | 36 | 44 | Critical |
| 31 | mave-cms A Flexible, Scalable, and Open-Source Headless CMS Built on MACH Architecture | 43 | 0 | OSI-approved OSS | 7 | 39 | Critical |
| 32 | cms SSCMS 基于 .NET Core,能够以最低的成本、最少的人力投入在最短的时间内架设一个功能齐全、性能优异、规模庞大并易于维护的网站平台。链接是SSCMS推出的全新AI视频开源社区:献丑AI | 36 | 0 | OSI-approved OSS | 3.9k | 38 | Critical |
| 33 | VaahCMS Laravel-based open-source web application development platform with headless CMS. | 30 | 0 | OSI-approved OSS | 575 | 32 | Critical |
| 34 | OpenMark Blog Modern open-source blogging platform with a scalable technology stack. | 28 | 0 | License unknown | 1 | 32 | Critical |
| 35 | Mixcore 🚀 A future-proof enterprise web CMS supporting both headless and decoupled approaches. Build any type of app with customizable APIs on ASP.NET Core/.NET Core. Completely open-source and designed for flexibility. Since 2018. | 28 | 0 | OSI-approved OSS | 887 | 31 | Critical |
| 36 | HashBrown CMS A free and open-source headless CMS. | 28 | 0 | OSI-approved OSS | 158 | 31 | Critical |
| 37 | Burdy Most advanced open-source Headless CMS built in NodeJS and React. Written in Typescript! | 28 | 0 | OSI-approved OSS | 233 | 30 | Critical |
| 38 | bhd-cms bhd - an open source headless CMS inspired by Storyblok. | 19 | 0 | OSI-approved OSS | 1 | 26 | Critical |
Evidence Watch
Tracked tools with useful public signals but no verdict score yet.
Astropress
Privacy-first website builder with built-in admin and portable hosting.
89 confidenceb10cks CMS
Opinionated headless CMS based on Laravel and Vue.
100 confidenceBackdrop CMS
Open source CMS core code repository.
97 confidenceBlogifier
Open-source publishing platform written in ASP.NET and Blazor WebAssembly.
73 confidenceByline CMS
Headless, fast, AI-first CMS.
100 confidenceCairnCMS
Self-hosted headless CMS with REST and GraphQL APIs plus admin app.
100 confidenceCockpit CMS
Add content management functionality to any site - plug & play / headless / api-first CMS
76 confidencecontent
The file-based CMS for your Nuxt application, powered by Markdown and Vue components.
100 confidenceContent Flow
Open-source content management system for developers who want flexibility and control.
68 confidenceContentive
Open-source headless CMS.
78 confidenceContentport
Open-source content platform for technical founders.
73 confidenceCraft CMS
Content management system for bespoke content experiences.
100 confidenceDaptin
Daptin - Backend As A Service - GraphQL/JSON-API Headless CMS
94 confidenceDecap CMS
A Git-based CMS for Static Site Generators
100 confidencedotCMS
Visual headless content management system for enterprises.
100 confidenceHonoHub
A headless CMS framework using Hono + Drizzle + Zod + Vite
88 confidenceKeystone
The superpowered headless CMS for Node.js — built with GraphQL and React
100 confidenceLinkBCMS
Open-source Next.js framework with a type-safe configuration and instant admin panel.
72 confidenceNodify
Developer-first headless CMS with REST and GraphQL APIs.
88 confidenceopenblog
Feature-rich open source blog platform with community features.
81 confidenceOpenDXP
Open source platform for digital experiences connecting PIM, DAM, headless CMS, and composable commerce.
86 confidenceOutstatic
CMS for Markdown stored in GitHub repositories.
100 confidencePages CMS
GitHub-backed CMS for managing content and media in repositories.
90 confidenceSkyCMS
Open-source CMS for developers.
72 confidence