Pico 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?
Pico
Stupidly simple flat-file CMS
VS
Squidex
Headless CMS, based on MongoDB, CQRS and Event Sourcing
| Feature | Pico | Squidex |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | PHP | C# |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker, source | bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,904 | ★ 2,509 |
| First released | 2012 | 2026 |
| Replaces | 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 Pico or Squidex better?
Pico is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Squidex if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Pico and Squidex free and open-source?
Yes. Pico is licensed under MIT and Squidex under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pico and Squidex with Docker?
Pico: yes. Squidex: check the project docs for container support.