4,500
A CMS that doesn't make you choose between developer control and a great editing experience.
ApostropheCMS is an open source, full-stack JavaScript CMS built for teams that care as much about the experience of managing content as they do about the experience they're building. Developers control the architecture, components, and design system. Editors create content directly on the page with true in-context editing.
Why should developers and editors have to compromise?
ApostropheCMS is built on the belief that developers shouldn't have to sacrifice architectural control to give editors an experience they actually enjoy. That's why it starts with a complete, production-ready CMS foundation while giving developers the flexibility to shape it around their product and teams' needs instead of building content management from scratch.
Developers stay in control
ApostropheCMS gives developers a complete, production-ready CMS that's built on Node.js, extends through a modular architecture, and works as a full-stack JavaScript CMS or with Astro. Structured content, flexible APIs, and an extensible module system let teams customize the platform without rebuilding CMS fundamentals.
Editors work naturally
In ApostropheCMS, editors create content directly on the page with true in-context editing, flexible layouts, and configurable rich text and styles. Built-in workflow, permissions, localization, SEO tools, and developer-defined design guardrails help teams publish confidently without sacrificing consistency.
Edit the actual page, not a representation of it.
Most CMSs call split-screen previews or page builders "visual editing." ApostropheCMS provides true in-context editing. Editors work directly on the page they're creating instead of switching between forms, side panels, and preview windows. Because the content lives where it's being edited, creating pages feels more like using the website than administering it.
A platform that adapts to your project
The same editing experience powers very different kinds of projects because developers stay in control of how it's implemented.
Marketing websites
Fast websites, strong SEO foundations, localization, and an editing experience marketing teams genuinely enjoy.
Modern JavaScript websites
Pair ApostropheCMS with Astro or build directly with Apostrophe. Keep your preferred architecture without sacrificing the editing experience.
Customer-facing applications
When your customers manage content, the editing experience becomes part of your product. Give them an experience they'll actually enjoy using while your developers stay in control of components, permissions, and business logic.
Managed site delivery
Need to deliver hundreds of customer websites from one application? Assembly extends ApostropheCMS with multitenant infrastructure, centralized management, and tools built for SaaS companies delivering websites to their own customers.
Real organizations. Real products.
From global manufacturers to modern SaaS platforms, organizations use ApostropheCMS to deliver content experiences that balance developer flexibility with an editing experience people actually enjoy using.
Enterprise websites built on a platform teams can trust
Michelin uses ApostropheCMS to support modern web experiences with a platform that gives developers flexibility while providing editors with an intuitive publishing experience.
Customer-managed websites at enterprise scale
iCIMS powers customer-managed career sites with ApostropheCMS, giving organizations control over their own content while managing a large-scale platform from a single application.
A first-class editing experience for Astro static sites
Color paired Astro's static architecture with ApostropheCMS's true in-context editing, giving marketers an exceptional editing experience without sacrificing the performance and flexibility of static builds.
Creative freedom within a defined design system
Alt Studios used ApostropheCMS to help Toyota Racing editors create engaging content while maintaining a consistent brand experience through reusable components and developer-defined guardrails.
Apostrophe's feature-rich core offering is exceptionally well-maintained, providing a stable foundation for iCIMS' needs. The platform's architecture made it simple to build upon and customize, accelerating development and deployment processes.
Matteo Hernandez
Senior Product Manager
16 +
Years in active open source development
1,500 +
Active community members across platforms
3,500 +
Weekly npm downloads
Content Creation & Management
- Open Source
Editing Tools
ApostropheCMS lets editors create and update content directly on the page with true in-context editing instead of disconnected forms and preview windows.
- Open Source
Editorial Workflow
Editorial workflow tools help teams review, approve, and publish content with confidence while supporting collaborative editing.
- Open Source
Localization
ApostropheCMS's built-in localization tools and optional extensions let teams manage multilingual content, AI-assisted translations, and human review workflows in the CMS.
- Open Source
Media Management
Organize, optimize, and deliver assets at scale. Focal point control, alt text management, and a clean asset library that stays manageable as your content grows.
- Open Source
SEO Tools
Built-in SEO tools help editors manage metadata, structured data, canonical URLs, robots directives, and AI crawler settings without third-party plugins. A paid extension adds AI-powered recommendations for Pro and Assembly users.
- Open Source
Design Tools
Developers easily configure reusable design systems that allow editors to customize layouts and styles without breaking brand consistency.
Developer Experience
Full featured and ready to extend from day one.
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Official Astro Integration
Experience true in-context visual editing for Astro. Developers build with their framework of choice. Editors work directly on the page. And the whole team benefits from the performance and stability that Astro static builds deliver.
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Javascript Developer Experience
Modern Node.js architecture, RESTful APIs, and a module system with a consistent mental model from core to custom. Get started in minutes. Extend the system on day one.
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Open Source Core
ApostropheCMS includes visual editing, localization, editorial workflow, SSO, SEO tools, media management, and more in its MIT-licensed Community Edition, so teams can build sophisticated content experiences without starting from scratch.
Governance
A CMS decision you won't have to defend.
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Permissions
ApostropheCMS's open source edition comes with collaborators, editors, and admins baked in, and Advanced Permission makes more granular roles and document-based permissions possible.
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Hosting
ApostropheCMS lets you deploy your way: Self-host with your existing infrastructure or choose managed hosting for secure deployments, automatic updates, backups, and monitoring.
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Security
ApostropheCMS combines secure-by-design platform features with transparent security practices, documented processes, and open source review to help teams build with confidence.
| Features | ApostropheCMS | API-Only Headless | WordPress |
|---|---|---|---|
| Features | |||
| Visual Editing | ✓ In-context | — Not included for API-Only Headless | ✓ Limited |
| Developer Freedom | ✓ Full control | ~ API-dependent | ✗ PHP constraints |
| Modern Architecture | Included for ApostropheCMS | Included for API-Only Headless | ✗ Monolithic |
| Open Source | Included for ApostropheCMS | ~ Varies | Included for WordPress |
| Multisite / Multitenant Scalability | Included for ApostropheCMS | — Not included for API-Only Headless | Included for WordPress |
| Frontend Framework Flexibility | Included for ApostropheCMS | Included for API-Only Headless | — Not included for WordPress |
| Content Localization | Included for ApostropheCMS | ~ Extension required | ~ Plugin required |
| Extensibility | Included for ApostropheCMS | ~ API extensions | Included for WordPress |
Ready to continue exploring ApostropheCMS?
For developers
Build your first ApostropheCMS project
Install ApostropheCMS, explore the architecture, and build a working project in minutes.
For technical leaders
See how it fits your architecture
Talk through your use case with our team and see how ApostropheCMS supports your product, workflows, and technical requirements.
Frequently asked questions
ApostropheCMS is an open source CMS built on Node.js, designed for teams managing complex content operations — from large editorial teams to multisite deployments to SaaS platforms. It combines a structured content modeling system, a REST API for headless delivery, and in-context visual editing on the rendered page.
Yes. ApostropheCMS Community Edition is open source and available on GitHub, with 4,500+ stars and over nine years of active development. The core platform is free to use and self-host and it is sufficient to power many websites. Our Pro and Assembly offerings are ready when you need more. ApostropheCMS also offers managed hosting for teams that want infrastructure handled for them, and we host many sites built entirely with Community Edition.
In-context editing means editors work directly on the rendered page — the same view visitors see — rather than in a separate panel, sidebar, or iframe. In ApostropheCMS, editing metadata is passed only to authenticated users; logged-out visitors receive clean responses with no editing overhead. The result is an editing experience that reflects actual content layout without switching contexts.
ApostropheCMS exposes a REST API for headless content delivery, but it isn't limited to headless-only. Teams can use it as a traditional CMS with server-side templating (Nunjucks or JSX), as a pure headless backend powering a separate frontend, or with Astro for a hybrid approach that combines headless delivery with in-context visual editing.
Yes — Astro is ApostropheCMS's primary frontend integration and is listed in Astro's official CMS documentation. Astro is what makes frontend framework choice practical: rather than locking you into one framework, it lets you build with Vue, Svelte, Solid, or others while ApostropheCMS handles content modeling, editing, and delivery.
Yes. ApostropheCMS is built for content operations at scale — iCIMS uses it to manage hundreds of career sites in 40+ languages, and Michelin runs 350+ sites across 36 languages on the platform. The REST API supports any frontend or application layer, and the Assembly module handles programmatic site provisioning for platform-level deployments.
Yes, through the Assembly module. Assembly lets you provision and manage isolated tenant workspaces programmatically — each tenant gets its own content environment while sharing a single ApostropheCMS installation. Each tenant site receives a logically independent separate database or schema, accounts included, baking in proper isolation from the start.
Yes. ApostropheCMS runs on Node.js and can be deployed on any infrastructure that supports it. ApostropheCMS also offers managed hosting with "just git push" convenience, a hosting CLI for easy devops, and automatic provisioning of new sites in multitenant projects.
ApostropheCMS supports MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and SQLite. MongoDB has been with us since the project first arrived on Node.js. PostgreSQL and SQLite are also fully supported and available now. SQLite is especially convenient for local development without running a database server.
A few things in combination that are rarely found together: in-context visual editing on the actual rendered page, a structured content modeling system that works for both traditional and headless delivery, frontend framework freedom through Astro, and a multisite/multitenant architecture (Assembly) for platform-scale deployments — all built on an open source foundation with nine-plus years of production use.
"Visual editing" describes a range of approaches — some CMSs show a preview in an iframe alongside an editing panel; others render a separate preview that updates as you type. In-context editing in ApostropheCMS means the cursor is on the actual rendered page, not a representation of it. There's no separate panel and no iframe. Editing controls appear directly on the live layout, so what editors see while editing is identical to what visitors see — same styles, same spacing, same component behavior.