Pico vs Umbraco

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?
FeaturePicoUmbraco
CategoryContent Management SystemsContent Management Systems
LicenseMITMIT
LanguagePHPC#
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM128 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentbare-metal, docker, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 3,904★ 5,224
First released20122005
ReplacesWordPressSitecore, Kentico

Why pick each one

Choose Pico if…

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Zero configuration to start
Pico details

Choose Umbraco if…

  • Great choice on the .NET stack
  • Polished editor experience
Umbraco details

Frequently asked questions

Is Pico or Umbraco better?

Neither is universally better. Umbraco 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 Umbraco free and open-source?

Yes. Pico is licensed under MIT and Umbraco under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Pico and Umbraco with Docker?

Pico: yes. Umbraco: yes.

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