October CMS vs Squidex
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?
October CMS
Laravel-based CMS focused on simplicity for developers
VS
Squidex
Headless CMS, based on MongoDB, CQRS and Event Sourcing
| Feature | October CMS | Squidex |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | PHP | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,140 | ★ 2,509 |
| First released | 2014 | 2026 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Wix | — |
Why pick each one
Choose October CMS if…
- Great for Laravel developers
- Simple, transparent architecture
Choose Squidex if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (2.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in C#
- Lightweight — runs in 512 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is October CMS or Squidex 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 October CMS and Squidex free and open-source?
Yes. October CMS is licensed under MIT and Squidex under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run October CMS and Squidex with Docker?
October CMS: yes. Squidex: check the project docs for container support.