26 Best Free Content Management Systems (CMS)

And you thought there are only three. This is my Twelfth post in this series. It is a convenient list, a one stop shop if you like, of the best free self-hosted Content Management Systems available these days.

What is a Content Management System?

A CMS or more specifically a Web Content Management System is a software system that provides Website authoring, collaboration, and administration tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of Web programming languages or markup languages to create and manage Website content with relative ease. A robust WCMS provides the foundation for collaboration, offering users the ability to manage documents and for multiple author editing and participation. Most systems use a database to store page content, metadata, and other information.

Which CMS to choose?

That is up to you, your needs and what programming languages your Web server support. I personally use Joomla and WordPress. But I can´t discount any of the others, that´s why they are listed here for you to choose from. To help you better make an informed decision to narrow your choices, try this CMS Comparison tool, and also try the CMS demos listed here. And most importantly, before you install your CMS software, make sure that your Web server meets the technical requirement.

For this post, I followed three criteria for choosing the best Content Management Systems.

1. Free.
2. In active development: still being updated and maintained (at least since 2010).
3. In my opinion, the best.

Place your cursor over each image and link for a short description. Also try out the CMS software demos before you install. All links are External. Good Luck!

1. PHP based

The following Content Management Systems are mainly written in PHP scripting language. Your Web server must be capable of running PHP among other technical requirements.

1. Joomla
2. SPIP
3. WordPress
4. Drupal
5. CMS Made Simple
6. Typo3
7. Concrete5
8. Textpattern
9. e107
10. SilverStripe
11. GetSimple
12. Symphony
13. sNews
14. Contao
15. Kajona
16. Wolf CMS
17. Pligg

Really Unique CMS Groupware

Tiki is one of the most feature-rich CMS packages. In fact, Tiki is the Open Source Web Application with the most built-in features. Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware, has all the integrated features you need “out-of-the-box”, like:

• Wikis (like Wikipedia)
• Forums (like phpBB)
• Blogs (like WordPress)
• Articles (like Yahoo News)
• Image Gallery (like Flickr)
• Map Server (like Google Maps)
• Link Directory (like DMOZ)
• Multilingual (like Babel Fish)
• Bug Tracker (like Bugzilla)
• RSS Feeds (like Digg)
• Free Open Source software (LGPL)

2. Java based

The following CMS is written in Java programming language.

1. OpenCms

3. ASP.NET based

The following 2 Content Management Systems are based on the ASP.NET framework.

1. DotNetNuke
2. MonoX

4. Python based

Plone CMS is mainly written in Python programming language. There are also other languages used within the project.

1. Plone

5. Ruby based

The following 3 Content Management Systems are written in Ruby programming language as a Ruby on Rails Web application

1. Radiant
2. Refinery
3. BrowserCMS

6. Perl based

Movable Type is mainly written in Perl programming language. PHP scripting language is also used for dynamic publishing.

1. Movable Type

Your Turn to Talk

There are many more free Content Management Systems that did not make the list. Which CMS do you use? Do you have any others you think I should add? or anything else to say?