ProcessWire vs Wagtail

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted content management systems options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureProcessWireWagtail
CategoryContent Management SystemsContent Management Systems
LicenseMPL-2.0BSD-3-Clause
LanguagePHPPython
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM256 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metal, sourcedocker, bare-metal, source
GitHub stars★ 1,145★ 20,433
First released20102014
ReplacesWordPress, DrupalAdobe Experience Manager, WordPress

Why pick each one

Choose ProcessWire if…

  • Excellent developer API
  • Highly flexible
ProcessWire details

Choose Wagtail if…

  • Excellent editing experience
  • Great for Python developers
Wagtail details

Frequently asked questions

Is ProcessWire or Wagtail better?

Neither is universally better. Wagtail has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are ProcessWire and Wagtail free and open-source?

Yes. ProcessWire is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Wagtail under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run ProcessWire and Wagtail with Docker?

ProcessWire: yes. Wagtail: yes.

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