Best Self-hosted Headless CMS tools in 2026

Open-source headless CMS for building customizable content APIs with an admin UI, supporting REST/GraphQL and multiple databases.

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Strapi Cloud+16

Payload is an open-source, TypeScript-first headless CMS for Next.js with an extensible admin UI, auth, drafts, access control, and APIs for building fullstack apps.

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Payload CMS Cloud+16

Directus turns any SQL database into a headless CMS with an admin app, role-based access control, and instant REST and GraphQL APIs for custom applications.

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Directus Cloud+19

Open source, GraphQL-native headless ecommerce platform with a composable API for products, checkout, payments, and multichannel order management.

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Saleor Cloud+6

Wagtail is an open-source CMS built on Django and Python, offering an editor-friendly admin UI, flexible content modeling with StreamField, and optional headless APIs.

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Adobe Experience Manager+19

Open-source eCommerce platform for B2C and B2B with a modular architecture, headless APIs, and support for multi-store, multi-currency, and extensibility via extensions.

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Shopify+10

Modular, API-first ecommerce platform (Magento 2) for building customizable B2C and B2B storefronts with extensibility and rich commerce features.

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Adobe Commerce (Magento Commerce)+6

KeystoneJS is an open-source headless CMS and application framework for Node.js that uses TypeScript, Prisma, GraphQL and React to provide customizable schemas, an Admin...

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KeystoneJS Cloud+19

Headless, API-first commerce platform built with TypeScript, NestJS and GraphQL; plugin-based, multi-database support and customizable admin UI.

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Vendure Cloud+12

Open-source full-stack CMS built with Node.js and MongoDB, featuring in-context visual editing and headless APIs for building modern websites and content apps.

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Contentful+19

Pimcore is an open core data and experience management platform combining PIM/MDM, DAM, CMS/DXP, CDP and digital commerce with extensible APIs and modeling tools.

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Acquia DAM (Widen)+19

Open-source Laravel e-commerce platform providing headless commerce capabilities, extensible models, and an admin hub for managing products, orders, and storefronts.

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Shopify+6

MIT-licensed core of Shopware 6: an API-first, Symfony-based commerce platform with Vue storefront, visual page builder, extensibility and multi-channel support.

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Shopify+8

Squidex is an open-source headless CMS and content hub with REST and GraphQL APIs, workflows, versioning, and integrations for delivering content to any app or site.

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Contentful+19

Open source headless CMS and real-time graph database with schema tooling, full-text search, tables, documents, files, and SDKs for web apps.

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Contentful+12

Enterprise-grade PHP CMS with multisite, multilingual and headless capabilities, extensible via Composer and an extensive extension ecosystem.

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Adobe Experience Manager+19

Open-source publishing platform enabling multi-user blogs, status updates, and media on your own site.

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WordPress.com+9

A PHP-based CMS with a visual page builder, multi-site, localization, ecommerce, and GraphQL/REST APIs.

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Vvveb CMS Cloud+19

Automad is a fast, lightweight flat-file CMS with an admin dashboard, block editor, in-page editing, theme/package support, and an optional headless JSON API.

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WordPress.com+19

Open-source digital newsroom platform for news creation, curation, workflow, and multi-channel distribution, built around an API-centric headless CMS.

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Arc XP+13

Cockpit is an API-first, self-hostable headless CMS for managing structured content, assets, and localization with REST and GraphQL APIs.

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Contentful+16

Open-source, Markdown-based flat-file CMS for documentation, knowledge bases, manuals and eBook generation with plugins, themes and AI-assisted editing.

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Typemill Cloud+13

Express middleware that generates REST collection APIs from JSON Schema with a Django-like admin UI; supports MongoDB, PostgreSQL or JSON-file storage.

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Directus Cloud+10

Symfony-based polymorphic CMS using a node system, Twig theming, Doctrine ORM and API-first support for building headless or traditional sites.

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Contentful+18

CoreShop is an e-commerce bundle for Pimcore that provides product catalog, cart/checkout, promotions, multi-site and PIM/MDM integration for B2B and B2C storefronts.

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Shopify+6

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

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

Plone is an enterprise CMS built on Python and Zope, offering structured content, workflows, permissions, and optional headless APIs for secure websites and intranets.

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Adobe Experience Manager+19

Open-source PHP content management system and MVC framework with admin UI, ORM, REST/GraphQL APIs, asset management and an extensible module ecosystem.

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WordPress.com+19