WonderCMS — Self-Hosted, Open-Source
WonderCMS is the smallest flat file CMS since 2008.
License: MIT. Website: https://www.wondercms.com. Source: https://github.com/WonderCMS/wondercms.
Features
- Track free and transparent - WonderCMS doesn't track users or store any personal cookies, there is only one session state cookie.
- Your WonderCMS installation is completely detached from WonderCMS servers. One click updates are pushed through GitHub.
- Supports HTTPS out of the box.
- Check how to further improve security).
- All CSS and JS libraries include SubResource Integrity (SRI) tags. This prevents any changes to the libraries being loaded. If any changes are made, the libraries won't load for your and your visitors protection.
- WonderCMS encourages you to change your default login URL. Consider your custom login URL as your private username.
- Choosing a good login URL can prevent brute force attacks.
- Your login page will always return a 404 header response. Search engines do not (and should not) cache your login URL.
- The admin password is hashed using PHP's password_hash and password_verify.
- Choosing a strong password will prevent malicious actors from gaining any further admin access (if they would have guessed your login URL).
Installation
See official install docs: https://www.wondercms.com/latest
Why self-host WonderCMS
Self-hosting gives you three things SaaS can’t: data ownership (the files live on disks you control), cost predictability (a one-time setup vs. recurring per-seat fees that grow with your household or team), and longevity (open-source means the app keeps working even if the maintainers move on, since you can pin a working version). The trade-off is that you take on the operational work of running a server, applying updates, and handling backups.
What hardware do you need
Most self-hosted apps run comfortably on modest hardware — a Raspberry Pi 4, a mini PC, a NAS with Docker support, or a small VPS is usually enough for personal or family use. CPU and RAM requirements scale with how many simultaneous users or how much data you push through WonderCMS. Storage requirements depend on the kind of data you keep; check the README for guidance on data retention.
Last verified: 2026-04-22