Pico vs Tina CMS
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?
| Feature | Pico | Tina CMS |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Content Management Systems | Content Management Systems |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, docker, source | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 3,904 | ★ 13,714 |
| First released | 2012 | 2021 |
| Replaces | WordPress | Contentful, Sanity |
Why pick each one
Choose Tina CMS if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 13.7k GitHub stars
- Written in TypeScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Pico or Tina CMS better?
Neither is universally better. Tina CMS has the larger community, while Pico is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Pico and Tina CMS free and open-source?
Yes. Pico is licensed under MIT and Tina CMS under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pico and Tina CMS with Docker?
Pico: yes. Tina CMS: yes.