Mezzanine vs October 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 | Mezzanine | October CMS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 66 · Good | 93 · Excellent |
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | BSD-2-Clause | MIT |
| Language | Python | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,816 | ★ 11,147 |
| First released | 2010 | 2014 |
| Replaces | WordPress | WordPress, Wix |
What are Mezzanine and October CMS?
Mezzanine
Mezzanine is an open-source content management platform built on Django that provides a simple yet flexible CMS out of the box. It includes a blog engine, in-line editing, and rich content tools.
- Built-in blog engine
- In-line content editing
- Hierarchical page tree
- Django integration
October CMS
October CMS is a self-hosted content management system built on the Laravel framework, designed to make web development simple again. It uses flat-file templating with a clean backend for content editors.
- Built on Laravel
- Flat-file twig-style templating
- Plugin marketplace
- Clean developer experience
Mezzanine vs October CMS: key differences
Mezzanine is written in Python, while October CMS is built with PHP. Licensing differs — BSD-2-Clause for Mezzanine versus MIT for October CMS. Mezzanine is the more established project (first released 2010), while October CMS arrived in 2014. October CMS has the considerably larger community, at 11,147 GitHub stars versus 4,816.
Why pick each one
Choose Mezzanine if…
- Quick to get a Django site running
- Includes blogging out of the box
Watch out for
- Development has slowed
- Smaller community now
Choose October CMS if…
- Great for Laravel developers
- Simple, transparent architecture
Watch out for
- Some plugins are paid
- Less suited to non-developers
Frequently asked questions
Is Mezzanine or October CMS better?
Neither is universally better. October CMS has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Mezzanine and October CMS free and open-source?
Yes. Mezzanine is licensed under BSD-2-Clause and October CMS under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mezzanine and October CMS with Docker?
Mezzanine: yes. October CMS: yes.