Anchor CMS vs Joomla

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted content management systems options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureAnchor CMSJoomla
CategoryContent Management SystemsContent Management Systems
LicenseGPL-3.0GPL-2.0
LanguagePHPPHP
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, docker, sourcedocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 3,298★ 5,122
First released20122005
ReplacesWordPressWix, Squarespace

Why pick each one

Choose Anchor CMS if…

  • Very lightweight
  • Easy installation
Anchor CMS details

Choose Joomla if…

  • Good middle ground in flexibility
  • Multilingual without extra plugins
Joomla details

Frequently asked questions

Is Anchor CMS or Joomla better?

Neither is universally better. Joomla has the larger community, while Anchor CMS is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Anchor CMS and Joomla free and open-source?

Yes. Anchor CMS is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Joomla under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Anchor CMS and Joomla with Docker?

Anchor CMS: yes. Joomla: yes.

Related comparisons