Anchor CMS vs Wagtail
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?
Anchor CMS
Lightweight blogging-focused CMS
VS
Wagtail
Developer-friendly Django CMS with a great editor experience
| Feature | Anchor CMS | Wagtail |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | GPL-3.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | PHP | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,298 | ★ 20,433 |
| First released | 2012 | 2014 |
| Replaces | WordPress | Adobe Experience Manager, WordPress |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Anchor CMS or Wagtail better?
Neither is universally better. Wagtail 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 Wagtail free and open-source?
Yes. Anchor CMS is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Wagtail under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Anchor CMS and Wagtail with Docker?
Anchor CMS: yes. Wagtail: yes.