Lightweight open source PHP CMS with a tag-based template language
Textpattern is a free, open source PHP CMS with a lean core and a tag-based template language. You control all HTML and CSS. It has Textile built in, an admin in over 50 languages, and hundreds of plugins.
Textpattern grew out of Dean Allen's personal site software. The first public gamma release came on 24 February 2004, after alpha and beta releases from 2001. It is open source under the GNU GPL v2 and runs on PHP and MySQL on your own hosting.
Templates use a tag-based language that gives complete control over markup. Textile is built in and Markdown is available through a plugin. The admin interface is available in over 50 languages. The latest release read was 4.9.1 in February 2026, which fixed security issues. The project is run by volunteers.
Strengths
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What each plan costs and what the bill is counted by: seats, sites, usage or a one-off license. The bottom of each card shows what you pay on top.
Free
No licence fee. The project is funded by donations, patrons and GitHub Sponsors.
Writers, designers and developers who want a small, self-hosted CMS
Costs extra
You bring your own PHP and MySQL hosting. Paid plugins and developer time cost extra.
Prices checked See current prices on the vendor's site
Free, included in the cheapest plan, on a higher plan, or enterprise only. Open a feature to compare it across every platform.
