Keystone vs Piranha CMS
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?
Keystone
Headless CMS framework with a powerful GraphQL API
VS
Piranha CMS
Lightweight, cross-platform CMS for ASP.NET Core
| Feature | Keystone | Piranha CMS |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | TypeScript | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 9,938 | ★ 2,188 |
| First released | 2013 | 2011 |
| Replaces | Contentful, Strapi | WordPress, Umbraco |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Keystone or Piranha CMS better?
Neither is universally better. Keystone has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Keystone and Piranha CMS free and open-source?
Yes. Keystone is licensed under MIT and Piranha CMS under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Keystone and Piranha CMS with Docker?
Keystone: yes. Piranha CMS: yes.