# CMS Made Simple vs OpenWA

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | CMS Made Simple | OpenWA |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 64/100 | 77/100 ✓ |
| Rank in category | #12 of 42 in Content Management | #2 of 19 in API Management |
| GitHub stars | — | 16 363 ✓ |
| Stars, last 30 days | — | +357 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 0 | 3 ✓ |
| Latest release | — | v0.26.0 · 28 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Moderate | Easy ✓ |
| Official Docker image | No | Yes ✓ |
| License | GPL-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | — | Typescript |

## Which one should you pick?

OpenWA scores 77/100 against 64/100 for CMS Made Simple, so it is the safer default.

OpenWA ships more often: 3 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for CMS Made Simple.

If you want the quickest setup, OpenWA is easier to run; CMS Made Simple needs more configuration.

OpenWA is growing faster right now (+357 stars in 30 days).

## Details

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

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