SHSelfHostIndex

Bolt vs Statamic

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?
BO Bolt Lightweight and simple CMS built on Symfony VS Statamic Laravel-powered flat-file CMS for custom sites
FeatureBoltStatamic
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setupUnder-an-hour setup
Health score80 · Excellent89 · Excellent
CategoryContent Management SystemsContent Management Systems
LicenseMITMIT
LanguagePHPPHP
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, source, dockerdocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 590★ 4,897
First released20122012
ReplacesWordPress, ContentfulWordPress, Contentful

What are Bolt and Statamic?

Bolt

Bolt is an open-source content management tool built on the Symfony framework that strives to be straightforward for editors and flexible for developers. Content types are defined in YAML and rendered with Twig templates.

  • YAML content types
  • Twig templating
  • Symfony foundation
  • Clean editor UI

Statamic

Statamic is a content management system built on Laravel that can run flat-file or database-backed. It offers a friendly control panel and a developer-focused workflow for building custom websites.

  • Flat-file or database storage
  • Built on Laravel
  • Git-friendly content
  • Polished control panel

Read the full Statamic guide →

Bolt vs Statamic: key differences

Both projects are written in PHP. Statamic has the considerably larger community, at 4,897 GitHub stars versus 590.

Why pick each one

Choose Bolt if…

  • Released under the MIT license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Written in PHP
  • Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Bolt details

Choose Statamic if…

  • Great for Laravel developers
  • Easy version control of content

Watch out for

  • Solo and Pro licenses can be paid
  • Best suited to developers
Statamic details

Frequently asked questions

Is Bolt or Statamic better?

Neither is universally better. Statamic has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Bolt and Statamic free and open-source?

Yes. Bolt is licensed under MIT and Statamic under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Bolt and Statamic with Docker?

Bolt: yes. Statamic: yes.

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