October CMS vs Winter 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 | October CMS | Winter CMS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 84 · Excellent |
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | PHP | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,147 | ★ 1,520 |
| First released | 2014 | 2021 |
| Replaces | WordPress, Wix | WordPress |
What are October CMS and Winter CMS?
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
Winter CMS
Winter CMS is a free, open-source content management system based on the Laravel framework, created as a community-driven fork of October CMS. It offers a clean backend, a plugin marketplace, and developer-friendly tooling.
- Laravel foundation
- Plugin marketplace
- Clean admin backend
- Developer tooling
October CMS vs Winter CMS: key differences
Both projects are written in PHP. October CMS is the more established project (first released 2014), while Winter CMS arrived in 2021. October CMS has the considerably larger community, at 11,147 GitHub stars versus 1,520.
Why pick each one
Choose October CMS if…
- Great for Laravel developers
- Simple, transparent architecture
Watch out for
- Some plugins are paid
- Less suited to non-developers
Choose Winter CMS if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in PHP
Watch out for
- Requires PHP knowledge
- Smaller plugin catalog
Frequently asked questions
Is October CMS or Winter 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 October CMS and Winter CMS free and open-source?
Yes. October CMS is licensed under MIT and Winter CMS under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run October CMS and Winter CMS with Docker?
October CMS: yes. Winter CMS: yes.