Bolt vs Tina CMS
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted content management systems options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Bolt | Tina CMS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 80 · Excellent | 94 · Excellent |
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source, docker | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 590 | ★ 13,803 |
| First released | 2012 | 2021 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Contentful | Contentful, Sanity |
What are Bolt and Tina CMS?
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
Tina CMS
Tina CMS is an open-source, Git-backed content management system that adds visual editing to web projects. Its self-hosted backend stores content in your repository and provides a live, in-context editing experience.
- Git-backed content
- Visual in-context editing
- GraphQL content API
- Markdown and JSON support
Bolt vs Tina CMS: key differences
Bolt is written in PHP, while Tina CMS is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — MIT for Bolt versus Apache-2.0 for Tina CMS. Bolt is the more established project (first released 2012), while Tina CMS arrived in 2021. Tina CMS has the considerably larger community, at 13,803 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
Choose Tina CMS if…
- Content lives in Git
- Visual editing for editors
- Works with static site frameworks
Watch out for
- React-focused
- Self-hosting setup effort
Frequently asked questions
Is Bolt or Tina CMS better?
Neither is universally better. Tina CMS has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Bolt and Tina CMS free and open-source?
Yes. Bolt is licensed under MIT and Tina CMS under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Bolt and Tina CMS with Docker?
Bolt: yes. Tina CMS: yes.