Wagtail
Open-source Python/Django CMS with block-based editing, a page tree, an image library and built-in search.
Content Management
Wagtail is an open-source content management system built on Django, distributed as a Python package you install into your own project and host yourself. There is one edition: the free package under the BSD-3-Clause licence, installed with pip, with no licence fee, no paid tier and no first-party cloud — the project's own services page points to third-party agencies instead. Content is modelled as Django models, one per page type, with block-based StreamField bodies, an image and document library with on-the-fly renditions, search over the database or Elasticsearch, one page tree per language and a read-only JSON API, all in the core package rather than paid add-ons. The trade-off is stated by the documentation itself: this is not a website in a box, you should expect to write code, and deployment follows Django's own conventions on a host you choose.
Key features
- Block-based StreamField editor composes pages from reusable blocks
- Each page type is a Django model with its own fields and panels
- Image library with on-the-fly renditions and focal points
- Built-in search with Editor's Picks, on the database or Elasticsearch
- Read-only JSON API for pages, images and documents
- One page tree per locale, with translation links
- Version control, publishing workflows and content scheduling
Self-hosted editions
- Self-hosted (BSD-3-Clause)Free self-hosted
- LicenceOpen source · BSD-3-ClauseDeploymentSelf-hosted
Limits, notes & source
Self-hosted (BSD-3-Clause)
- Limits
- The complete CMS: editing, page models, images and documents, version control, publishing workflows, scheduling, search and the read-only JSON API, with no seat limit. You supply the Django host, database and static-file serving.
- Notes
- GitHub's licence API reads the repository LICENSE as spdx_id "BSD-3-Clause"; wagtail.org states the project has no licensing fees. No paid edition exists, so no price is recorded.
Pros & cons
Strengths
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- The read-only JSON API and multi-language page trees are core, not paid add-ons. Source
Trade-offs
- Not a website in a box: the docs say you should expect to write code rather than plug modules together. Source
- No first-party cloud: you choose the host and follow Django's deployment steps yourself. Source
- Needs Python and Django skills: the quick install assumes a virtual environment and a project of your own. Source
Wagtail replaces
Products this app is built to take over from, with the vendor's own evidence.
Moving your content across: Documented per product: what you do on the side you are leaving, what this app does with the result, and what does not survive the trip. Every step links to the page that documents it.
- ExportDownload an XML export file from the WordPress admin; the migration kit builds the Wagtail site from that file.Source
- ImportInstall the importer from PyPI and run its management command with the XML path and the parent page id to create posts and pages.Source
- CaveatExpect to configure how WordPress content maps to Wagtail blocks, and to write handlers for any custom shortcodes the old site used.Source
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