October CMS alternatives: 5 apps ranked by verified data

Facts checked Oct 25, 2026AppBreakup editorialHow we rank

Common reasons people leave October CMS: paid licence; no longer open source, and smaller and older plugin ecosystem. We ranked 5 alternatives by how directly each one replaces October CMS, then by reviews, real visits and how recently each app's facts were checked against its own website. Statamic currently ranks first.

Quick comparison

#	App	Pricing	Open source	Platforms	Verified facts	Score
1	WordPress	Open source	Yes	Self-hosted, Web, iOS +1	4 of 4	59.6

1. WordPressTop pick
Best for: Anyone who wants the largest ecosystem of themes, plugins, hosts and developers
Open sourceSelf-hostableSelf-hosted, Web, iOS, Android
59.6
score / 100
Why switch from October CMS
Free and open source with a far bigger plugin market.
Pros
Huge plugin and theme ecosystem for almost any feature
Cheap hosting and easy-to-find developers everywhere
Block editor lets non-developers build and edit pages
Cons
Plugin-heavy sites get slow and hard to maintain
Frequent target for attacks, so updates can't be ignored
Quality of third-party plugins varies widely
Visit WordPress Details and reviews
How this score is calculated
Editorial fit ×0.377
Reviews ×0.363
Clicks (90 days) ×0.150
Freshness ×0.1585
Votes ×0.150
0 counted reviews, 0 up and 0 down votes. Full formula
Is WordPress a good October CMS alternative?
Verified facts
4 of 4 verified
License
GPL
Checked Oct 25, 2026wordpress.org(opens source in a new tab)
Stack
PHP with MariaDB/MySQL
Checked Oct 25, 2026wordpress.org(opens source in a new tab)
Server requirements
PHP 8.3+, MySQL 8.0 or MariaDB 10.11+ recommended
Checked Oct 25, 2026wordpress.org(opens source in a new tab)
Open source
Yes
Checked Oct 25, 2026wordpress.org(opens source in a new tab)

The best October CMS alternative for…

The highest-ranked app in this list for each need.

Best October CMS alternative for most people

Statamic

Laravel-based CMS with a free Core edition and flat-file storage.

Best October CMS alternative for a free option

WordPress

Free and open source with a far bigger plugin market.

Best October CMS alternative for a free plan you can upgrade

Craft CMS

PHP CMS with richer content modelling and a bigger plugin store.

Best October CMS alternative for open source

Payload

Free open-source code-first CMS if you're moving to TypeScript.

Best October CMS alternative for self-hosting

ProcessWire

Free open-source PHP CMS with a flexible field system.

Best October CMS alternative for iPhone and Android

WordPress

Free and open source with a far bigger plugin market.

Best October CMS alternative for working in the browser

Statamic

Laravel-based CMS with a free Core edition and flat-file storage.

October CMS alternatives: common questions

What is the best alternative to October CMS?

Statamic ranks first right now. Laravel-based CMS with a free Core edition and flat-file storage. Craft CMS and WordPress follow it in our ranking.

Is there a free alternative to October CMS?

Yes. Statamic (free plan + paid), Craft CMS (free plan + paid), WordPress (open source) and Payload (open source) have a free option. Check each app's verified facts for current plan limits.

Is there an open-source alternative to October CMS?

Yes: WordPress, Payload and ProcessWire. WordPress, Payload and ProcessWire can also be self-hosted.

Why do people switch from October CMS?

The complaints we hear most: paid licence; no longer open source; smaller and older plugin ecosystem; less known outside the Laravel community.

How is this list ranked?

Every app is scored with the same published formula: how directly it replaces October CMS, reviews (weighted by verification), visits from AppBreakup, how recently its facts were checked against its own website, and reader votes.