License & Deployment Mix: 16 tools – 13 OSS, 3 commercial, 9 SaaS. (OSS and SaaS counts can overlap when an open-source tool also offers a hosted edition.)
This directory covers content management systems – the platforms that author, store, and publish web content, from traditional page-based CMSs to headless content APIs and static-site generators.
What a CMS Covers
The category spans three broad models:
- Traditional / monolithic CMS – authoring, templating, and delivery in one application, with themes and plugin ecosystems for sites and blogs
- Headless CMS – content stored and served over an API, with the front end built separately; content-as-a-service, self-hosted or SaaS
- Static-site generators (SSG) – content in files (Markdown) compiled to static HTML for fast, low-attack-surface hosting
Common concerns across all three include structured content modeling, editorial workflow and roles, media handling, multi-language support, versioning, and API access for integration. The category is open-source-heavy, with several tools offering a vendor-hosted edition alongside self-hosting, plus a few SaaS-only and commerce-oriented platforms.
The information on these pages was researched by a combination of human review and large language models. To suggest an addition or correction, please contact us. Prepared by Rhodium Systems Inc., author of the ResorsIT platform — a unified IT operations management platform for IT teams and MSPs that integrates a curated suite of open-source, commercial, and SaaS applications into a single system with shared identity, single sign-on, access control, and a common audit trail. Use this catalogue only as a starting point for your own research, and review any tool carefully against your own requirements before relying on it. Catalogue data version 2026.197.
Comparison
Tools are grouped by category:
- Traditional CMS (Open Source): WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, TYPO3, Plone
- Modern / Headless CMS (Open Source): Ghost, Strapi, Directus, Wagtail
- Static Site Generators: Hugo, Jekyll, Eleventy
- Commercial SaaS CMS: Contentful, Sanity, Prismic, Shopify
1. SSO / OIDC Comparison
| Tool | OIDC | SAML | LDAP | Authentik |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | Plugin (OpenID Connect Generic) | Plugin (miniOrange) | Plugin | Supported via plugin |
| Drupal | Module (OpenID Connect) | Module (SAML Auth) | Module (LDAP) | Supported via module |
| Joomla | Plugin (miniOrange) | Plugin | Plugin (LDAP) | Limited plugin support |
| TYPO3 | Extension | Extension | Built-in LDAP | Extension required |
| Plone | Add-on (pas.plugins.oidc) | Add-on | Built-in LDAP | Supported via add-on |
| Ghost | Staff SSO (limited) | No | No | Partial (custom integration) |
| Strapi | Plugin (@strapi/plugin-sso) | Enterprise | No | Supported (Enterprise) |
| Directus | Built-in OIDC | Built-in SAML | Built-in LDAP | Native support |
| Wagtail | Django allauth / mozilla-django-oidc | Django SAML2 | Django LDAP | Supported via Django libs |
| Hugo | N/A (static) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Jekyll | N/A (static) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Eleventy | N/A (static) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Contentful | SSO (Enterprise) | SAML (Enterprise) | No | SAML via Enterprise plan |
| Sanity | Google / GitHub SSO | SAML (Enterprise) | No | SAML via Enterprise plan |
| Prismic | Google SSO | SAML (Enterprise) | No | SAML via Enterprise plan |
| Shopify | Shopify Identity | SAML (Plus) | No | SAML via Shopify Plus |
Notes: Static site generators have no runtime authentication. SSO applies only to editorial / admin interfaces, not public-facing content. Directus provides the best native OIDC support among open-source options.
2. API Comparison
| Tool | REST API | GraphQL | Webhooks | Headless Mode |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | Built-in (WP REST API) | Plugin (WPGraphQL) | Plugin | Plugin (headless themes) |
| Drupal | Built-in (JSON:API) | Module (GraphQL) | Module (Webhooks) | Built-in (decoupled) |
| Joomla | Built-in (Web Services) | No | No | Limited |
| TYPO3 | Extension | Extension | Extension | Extension (headless) |
| Plone | Built-in (plone.restapi) | Experimental | Built-in | Volto (React frontend) |
| Ghost | Built-in (Content + Admin) | No | Built-in | Native headless |
| Strapi | Built-in | Built-in | Built-in | Native headless |
| Directus | Built-in | Built-in | Built-in (Flows) | Native headless |
| Wagtail | Built-in (Wagtail API) | Plugin (Strawberry) | django-webhook | Hybrid (API + templates) |
| Hugo | N/A | N/A | N/A | Outputs static HTML |
| Jekyll | N/A | N/A | N/A | Outputs static HTML |
| Eleventy | N/A | N/A | N/A | Outputs static HTML |
| Contentful | Built-in (CDA + CMA) | Built-in | Built-in | Native headless |
| Sanity | Built-in (GROQ + REST) | GraphQL | Built-in | Native headless |
| Prismic | Built-in | Built-in (GraphQL) | Built-in | Native headless |
| Shopify | Built-in (Admin + Storefront) | Built-in (Storefront) | Built-in | Storefront API |
3. Content Management Features
| Tool | Content Model | Editor | Media Mgmt | Multi-site | i18n | Workflows |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | Posts/pages/CPT | Block (Gutenberg) | Built-in media library | Plugin (multisite) | Plugin (WPML/Polylang) | Plugin |
| Drupal | Entity types + fields | CKEditor 5 | Built-in media library | Built-in (multi-site) | Built-in | Built-in (Content Moderation) |
| Joomla | Articles + categories | TinyMCE | Built-in media manager | Limited | Built-in | Basic (publish states) |
| TYPO3 | Pages + content elements | Rich text editor | FAL (File Abstraction) | Built-in (site tree) | Built-in | Built-in (workspaces) |
| Plone | Dexterity content types | TinyMCE / Volto blocks | Built-in | Multi-site via config | Built-in (LinguaPlone) | Built-in (DCWorkflow) |
| Ghost | Posts + pages | Koenig (Markdown+cards) | Built-in | Multi-site (separate) | Community | Built-in (draft/review) |
| Strapi | Content Types Builder | Rich text / Custom | Built-in media library | Plugin | Plugin (i18n) | Draft / Published |
| Directus | Any SQL schema | WYSIWYG / Markdown | Built-in file manager | Single DB multi-tenant | Built-in (Translations) | Built-in (Flows) |
| Wagtail | Page models (StreamField) | StreamField blocks | Built-in (images/docs) | Built-in (site model) | Built-in (wagtail-localize) | Built-in (moderation) |
| Hugo | Markdown + front matter | External editor | Static assets | Config-based | Built-in (i18n) | N/A (file-based) |
| Jekyll | Markdown + front matter | External editor | Static assets | Config-based | Plugin (polyglot) | N/A (file-based) |
| Eleventy | Any template + data | External editor | Static assets | Config-based | Plugin / manual | N/A (file-based) |
| Contentful | Content types (structured) | Rich text / fields | Asset management | Spaces + environments | Built-in (locales) | Built-in (workflows) |
| Sanity | Schema (code-defined) | Portable Text editor | Asset pipeline | Datasets | Built-in (translations) | Plugin (workflow) |
| Prismic | Custom types + Slices | Slice Machine editor | Media library | Repositories | Built-in (locales) | Built-in (releases) |
| Shopify | Products/pages/blogs | Rich text editor | File manager | Multi-store (Plus) | Built-in (Markets) | Draft orders / pages |
4. Theming & Frontend
| Tool | Theme Engine | Templating | Headless Mode | Static Export | Frontend Frameworks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | PHP themes | PHP templates | Plugin (Faust.js) | Plugin (Simply Static) | React (Faust.js), Next.js |
| Drupal | Twig themes | Twig (Symfony) | Built-in (decoupled) | Module | React, Next.js, Nuxt |
| Joomla | PHP templates | PHP / Blade | Limited | No | Limited |
| TYPO3 | Fluid templates | Fluid (XML-based) | Extension (headless) | No | React, Vue (via headless) |
| Plone | Classic / Volto | TAL / React (Volto) | Volto (default) | No | React (Volto) |
| Ghost | Handlebars themes | Handlebars | Native headless | No | Next.js, Gatsby, Nuxt |
| Strapi | N/A (headless only) | N/A | Native | N/A | Any frontend framework |
| Directus | N/A (headless only) | N/A | Native | N/A | Any frontend framework |
| Wagtail | Django templates | Django / Jinja2 | API mode | django-bakery | React, Vue, Next.js |
| Hugo | Go template themes | Go templates | N/A (static output) | Native (SSG) | N/A |
| Jekyll | Gem-based themes | Liquid | N/A (static output) | Native (SSG) | N/A |
| Eleventy | Starter projects | Nunjucks/Liquid/etc. | N/A (static output) | Native (SSG) | N/A |
| Contentful | N/A (headless SaaS) | N/A | Native | Via SSG | Any frontend framework |
| Sanity | N/A (headless SaaS) | N/A | Native | Via SSG | Any frontend framework |
| Prismic | N/A (headless SaaS) | Slice Machine | Native | Via SSG | Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit |
| Shopify | Liquid themes | Liquid | Storefront API | No | Hydrogen (React), Next.js |
5. Plugin / Extension Ecosystem
| Tool | Marketplace Size | Custom Dev | Community |
|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 60,000+ plugins | PHP hooks/filters | Massive (largest CMS) |
| Drupal | 50,000+ modules | Module API | Large enterprise community |
| Joomla | 5,000+ extensions | Plugin API | Medium, declining |
| TYPO3 | 2,000+ extensions | Extension framework | Strong in DACH region |
| Plone | 500+ add-ons | Python/Zope | Small, specialized |
| Ghost | 50+ integrations | API + webhooks | Growing |
| Strapi | 200+ plugins | Plugin SDK | Large, growing fast |
| Directus | 100+ extensions | Extension SDK | Medium, growing |
| Wagtail | 300+ packages | Django apps | Medium, developer-focused |
| Hugo | 400+ themes | Go modules | Large SSG community |
| Jekyll | 500+ plugins | Ruby gems | Large, mature |
| Eleventy | 100+ plugins | Node.js modules | Growing, active |
| Contentful | 200+ apps | App Framework | Large enterprise |
| Sanity | 500+ plugins | Plugin API | Active developer community |
| Prismic | 50+ integrations | Slice Machine | Medium |
| Shopify | 10,000+ apps | App Bridge | Massive e-commerce |
6. Deployment and Licensing
| Tool | License | Self-Hosted | Docker | Cloud / SaaS | Min Resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | GPL-2.0 | Yes | Official image | WordPress.com | 512 MB RAM |
| Drupal | GPL-2.0 | Yes | Official image | Acquia, Pantheon | 512 MB RAM |
| Joomla | GPL-2.0 | Yes | Official image | Cloudways | 512 MB RAM |
| TYPO3 | GPL-2.0 | Yes | Community image | TYPO3 Cloud | 1 GB RAM |
| Plone | GPL-2.0 | Yes | Official image | No major SaaS | 1 GB RAM |
| Ghost | MIT | Yes | Official image | Ghost(Pro) | 1 GB RAM |
| Strapi | MIT | Yes | Community image | Strapi Cloud | 1 GB RAM |
| Directus | GPL-3.0 | Yes | Official image | Directus Cloud | 512 MB RAM |
| Wagtail | BSD-3-Clause | Yes | Custom | No major SaaS | 512 MB RAM |
| Hugo | Apache-2.0 | N/A (build tool) | Available | Netlify, Vercel | 50 MB RAM |
| Jekyll | MIT | N/A (build tool) | Available | GitHub Pages | 256 MB RAM |
| Eleventy | MIT | N/A (build tool) | Available | Netlify, Vercel | 256 MB RAM |
| Contentful | Proprietary | No | N/A | SaaS only | N/A |
| Sanity | Proprietary | No (Studio is OSS) | N/A | SaaS only | N/A |
| Prismic | Proprietary | No | N/A | SaaS only | N/A |
| Shopify | Proprietary | No | N/A | SaaS only | N/A |
7. Monitoring Integration
| Tool | Telegraf | Fluent Bit | Grafana | App Metrics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress | PHP-FPM input | Apache/Nginx logs | Community dashboards | Plugin (Query Monitor) |
| Drupal | PHP-FPM input | Apache/Nginx logs | Community dashboards | Module (Monitoring) |
| Joomla | PHP-FPM input | Apache/Nginx logs | Manual setup | Limited |
| TYPO3 | PHP-FPM input | Apache/Nginx logs | Manual setup | Extension (monitoring) |
| Plone | Custom script | Zope/WSGI logs | Manual setup | Built-in (munin) |
| Ghost | Node.js input | JSON structured logs | Community dashboard | Sentry integration |
| Strapi | Node.js input | JSON structured logs | Community dashboard | Plugin (Sentry) |
| Directus | Node.js input | JSON structured logs | Built-in extension | Extension (metrics) |
| Wagtail | Python (WSGI) input | Gunicorn/uWSGI logs | Manual setup | django-prometheus |
| Hugo | N/A (static) | CDN/server logs | N/A | N/A |
| Jekyll | N/A (static) | CDN/server logs | N/A | N/A |
| Eleventy | N/A (static) | CDN/server logs | N/A | N/A |
| Contentful | N/A (SaaS) | N/A | N/A | Built-in analytics |
| Sanity | N/A (SaaS) | N/A | N/A | Built-in analytics |
| Prismic | N/A (SaaS) | N/A | N/A | Built-in analytics |
| Shopify | N/A (SaaS) | N/A | N/A | Built-in analytics |
Notes: Static site generators and SaaS platforms do not expose runtime metrics. Monitoring for SSGs focuses on the web server (Nginx/Caddy) serving the static files. SaaS platforms provide their own analytics dashboards.
Tools
16 tools.
Contentful
Contentful is the leading commercial headless CMS platform, providing a cloud-native content infrastructure for digital teams.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none
Directus
Directus is an open-source headless CMS that takes a database-first approach. Unlike Strapi, which creates its own schema, Directus wraps any existing SQL database with a real-time REST and GraphQL API, an intuitive admin panel, and an even…
License: GPL-3.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, docker, saas · SSO: none
Drupal
Drupal is an enterprise-grade open-source CMS known for its powerful content modeling capabilities, flexible architecture, and strong security track record.
License: GPL-2.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, docker, saas · SSO: none
Eleventy (11ty)
Eleventy (11ty) is a flexible, zero-config static site generator built on Node.js, supporting 11 template languages and a file-based content model with no client-side framework required.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: cli · Deploy: native, package · SSO: none
Ghost
Ghost is a modern, open-source publishing platform designed for professional publishers, bloggers, and newsletter creators.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, docker, saas · SSO: none
Hugo
Hugo is the fastest static site generator available, capable of building thousands of pages in seconds.
License: Apache-2.0 (OSS) · Kind: cli · Deploy: native, package · SSO: none
Jekyll
Jekyll is a static site generator that transforms Markdown, Liquid templates, and HTML/CSS into static websites.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: cli · Deploy: native, package · SSO: none
Joomla
Joomla is an open-source PHP content management system positioned between WordPress and Drupal, known for strong built-in access control and multi-language support, with a web services API and extension ecosystem.
License: GPL-2.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, docker · SSO: none
Plone
Plone is a Python-based open-source CMS built on the Zope application server. It is recognized for its strong security track record, making it a preferred choice for government agencies, universities, research institutions, and organization…
License: GPL-2.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, docker · SSO: none
Prismic
Prismic is a headless CMS platform focused on component-based content management through its Slice Machine tool.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none
Sanity
Sanity is a headless CMS built around real-time collaboration and structured content, pairing a hosted content lake with the open-source, self-hostable Sanity Studio, GROQ queries, and Portable Text.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, saas · SSO: none
Shopify
Shopify is the leading e-commerce platform, powering millions of online stores ranging from small businesses to enterprise brands.
License: Proprietary (proprietary) · Kind: web · Deploy: saas · SSO: none
Strapi
Strapi is the leading open-source headless CMS, designed as an API-first content management platform.
License: MIT (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, docker, saas · SSO: none
TYPO3
TYPO3 is an enterprise-grade open-source CMS with a particularly strong presence in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (the DACH region).
License: GPL-2.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, docker · SSO: none
Wagtail
Wagtail is a modern, developer-friendly CMS built on the Django web framework. Created by Torchbox in 2014, it combines Django’s robust backend with a polished content management interface.
License: BSD-3-Clause (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, docker · SSO: none
WordPress
WordPress is the most widely used content management system in the world, powering approximately 40% of all websites on the internet.
License: GPL-2.0-only (OSS) · Kind: web · Deploy: native, docker, saas · SSO: none
