Best Self-hosted Content & Publishing tools in 2026

Open-source platform for creating, running and automatically grading programming exercises in Docker sandboxes; integrates with LMS (Moodle, edX).

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CodeGrade+6

A PHP flat-file CMS that stores content in XML files, providing a portable, database-free platform with themes, plugins, media manager, comments and multilingual support.

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WordPress.com+13

Open-source PHP and MySQL CMS focused on developer control, template-driven sites, modular content types, and an intuitive admin/editor experience.

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WordPress.com+12

Serendipity is a PHP-powered weblog engine offering a lightweight blog platform with plugins, themes, media library, comments, and multi-database support.

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WordPress.com+10

File-based PHP blogging engine that requires no database. Provides Smarty-powered themes, a plugin/widget system, comments with spam protection, and easy backups.

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WordPress.com+10

Perl-based wiki engine focused on high-quality publishing, bookbuilding, EPUB/PDF output, Git and flat-file backends, and multi-database support.

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XWiki Cloud+13

A compact, single-file PHP wiki engine offering page history, file uploads, tagging, themes and collaborative editing for small to medium sites.

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Atlassian Confluence+14

Self-hosted PHP project management and issue tracking system with multi-project support, milestones, custom fields, built-in Markdown wiki, and REST API.

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Atlassian Jira+19

Open-source ECM for documents, web content, and team collaboration.

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Alfresco Content Services+9

Open-source repository engine from the Samvera community for building institutional digital repositories with flexible metadata, workflows, and search integration.

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DSPACE Direct+19

Web-based app to organize, upload, and sync movie, TV and collection posters with Plex; supports TMDB/TVDB/Fanart, PWA, scheduled imports, and orphan detection.

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Plex

Web app and API server that publishes Markdown notes as websites and exposes REST APIs for programmatic access, with Obsidian-flavored Markdown and full-text search.

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Ghost(Pro)+12

Self-contained PHP photo publishing app with per-album organization, EXIF data, and optional geolocation maps.

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SmugMug+7

Ackify provides Ed25519-based proof-of-read for documents with immutable audit trails, OAuth2/MagicLink authentication, embeddable widgets and an admin dashboard.

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Docusign+15

A Python Flask RESTful API that exposes Gramps family tree databases for web-based genealogy management, media handling, and integrations.

Smart cleanup for Jellyfin that analyzes playback stats, integrates with Sonarr/Radarr and jellyseerr, and automatically tags or deletes old unwatched media with a web UI...

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Recyclarr Cloud

Islandora is a Drupal module ecosystem for building institutional digital repositories with Fedora and Solr integrations, IIIF support, background processing and modular...

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CONTENTdm+15

Open eClass is a PHP-based Learning Management System (LMS) for creating and administering online courses, assessments, multimedia content and communication tools for ins...

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Canvas LMS+12

Open-source research data management platform for publishing, storing, indexing and sharing datasets with rich metadata, versioning and access controls.

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Zenodo+6

Priviblur is a lightweight, privacy-first alternative frontend and proxy for Tumblr that provides a no-account, JavaScript-free browsing experience with modern design.

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Tumblr

Live Blog is an open-source platform for live, real-time coverage of events with embeddable timelines, media and social content, editor workflows and API support.

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ScribbleLive+1

Oddmuse is a single-file Perl wiki engine that stores pages on the filesystem, offers page versioning, themes and extensions, and runs under CGI or Mojolicious.

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Wikipedia+10

Antville is a high-performance, multi-tenant blog hosting system implemented in server-side JavaScript (Helma). It supports relational databases, RSS, comments, themes an...

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WordPress.com+9

Self-hosted file sharing platform with box-based access controls, S3 or local storage, file previews, ZIP browsing, OCR and optional AI integrations.

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Dropbox+19

Modern, lightweight static wiki and documentation site generator using Markdown and Next.js with TypeScript-configurable navigation and themes.

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GitBook+14

Localess is a translation management tool and headless CMS built with Angular and Firebase, offering AI-assisted translations, schema-driven content, real-time editing, C...

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Crowdin+19

Lightweight Flask app that inspects Jellyfin library artwork, generates HTML galleries and ZIP exports, highlights missing or low-resolution images, and supports embedded...

Generate fast static sites and link homepages from YAML using templates. Offers multiple build configs, an admin UI, and static output for ultra-fast pages.

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Start.me+14

Self-hosted knowledge base web app in PHP/MySQL with Bootstrap UI and TinyMCE editor, offering categories, full-text search, user groups, email password resets and Docker...

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Document360+12

Lightweight PHP wiki engine offering WYSIWYG editing, per-page ACLs, revision control, themes, file uploads, and support for MariaDB/MySQL/SQLite.

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Atlassian Confluence+17