Orchard Core 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?
Orchard Core
Modular, multi-tenant CMS built on ASP.NET Core
VS
Squidex
Headless CMS, based on MongoDB, CQRS and Event Sourcing
| Feature | Orchard Core | Squidex |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | BSD-3-Clause | MIT |
| Language | C# | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 8,148 | ★ 2,509 |
| First released | 2018 | 2026 |
| Replaces | Sitecore, WordPress | — |
Why pick each one
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 Orchard Core or Squidex better?
Neither is universally better. Orchard Core has the larger community, while Squidex is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Orchard Core and Squidex free and open-source?
Yes. Orchard Core is licensed under BSD-3-Clause and Squidex under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Orchard Core and Squidex with Docker?
Orchard Core: yes. Squidex: check the project docs for container support.