# CMS Made Simple vs Joomla!

> Two self-hosted [Content Management projects](https://selfhost.directory/content-management), compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | CMS Made Simple | Joomla! |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 64/100 | 74/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #12 of 42 in Content Management | #5 of 42 in Content Management |
| GitHub stars | — | 5 157 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | — | +14 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 0 | 12 ✓ |
| Latest release | — | 6.2.0 · 12 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Moderate ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | No |
| License | GPL-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Main language | — | PHP |

## Which one should you pick?

Joomla! scores 74/100 against 64/100 for CMS Made Simple, so it is the safer default.

Joomla! ships more often: 12 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for CMS Made Simple.

Joomla! is growing faster right now (+14 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [CMS Made Simple](https://selfhost.directory/project/cms-made-simple) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/cms-made-simple.md)
- [Joomla!](https://selfhost.directory/project/joomla) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/joomla.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/cms-made-simple-vs-joomla