Joomla vs Publii

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted apps from related categories — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureJoomlaPublii
CategoryContent Management SystemsBlogging Platforms
LicenseGPL-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguagePHPHTML
Setup difficultyMediumEasy
Min. RAM512 MB512 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metalbinary, source
GitHub stars★ 5,122★ 7,282
First released20052017
ReplacesWix, SquarespaceWordPress, Squarespace

Why pick each one

Choose Joomla if…

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

Choose Publii if…

  • Very approachable for non-developers
  • Secure static output
Publii details

Frequently asked questions

Is Joomla or Publii better?

Publii is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Joomla if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Joomla and Publii free and open-source?

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

Can I run Joomla and Publii with Docker?

Joomla: yes. Publii: check the project docs for container support.

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