EmDash vs Kirby
EmDash is an open-source traditional CMS that you host yourself. Kirby is a closed-source traditional CMS that you host yourself. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 10.
- EmDash Traditional · Open source · 14 of 28 built in
- Kirby Traditional · Closed source · 11 of 28 built in
Sources checked: EmDash on 29 Sept 2026, Kirby on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.
WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.
Feature comparison
Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available
| Platform | |  |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| What it is | Open-source CMS from Cloudflare that runs inside an Astro site, with the admin and pages in one app on Cloudflare Workers or Node.js. | File-based PHP CMS with a configurable editing Panel. Content lives in text files on your own server, under a paid per-site licence. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | EmDash 1.0, open source Version 1.0.1, released 28 Sept 2026 | Kirby 5. Kirby 6 is in alpha. Version 5.6.0, released 16 Sept 2026 |
| Vendor | Cloudflare emdashcms.com | Content Folder GmbH & Co. KG getkirby.com |
| Licence | Open source MIT | Closed source Proprietary, source available |
| Hosting | Self-hosting No vendor cloud No managed hosting. You deploy to your own Cloudflare account or Node.js server. | Self-hosting No vendor cloud |
| Built with | TypeScript, Astro | PHP, Vue for the Panel |
| Database | SQLite, Cloudflare D1, PostgreSQL, libSQL | Flat files, no database required |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Free and open source. You pay only for hosting. | No free option Basic €99 per site if revenue is under €1M. Enterprise €349 per site. Both include 3 years of updates. |
| Content modelling | ||
| Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited. | Limited Seed files set up new sites. A live site's model changes through the admin, API or CLI. 20 | Built in Blueprints are YAML files in site/blueprints. 5 |
| Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code. | Built in Admin role only. 220 | Not available You edit blueprints as files. The Panel has no schema editor. 5 |
| Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them. | Built in Blocks field with versioned block types. 5 | Built in Blocks and Layout fields. 6 |
| Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language. | Built in Each translation is a separate entry with its own status. 6 | Built in Multi-language content is built in. 7 |
| Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service. | Built in Uses Astro's image endpoint for sizes and formats. Crop and focal point in the editor. 78 | Built in Thumbs with resize, crop and format conversion. 8 |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Built in 9 | Built in Authenticated REST API. The official KQL plugin serves headless queries. 910 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Not available | Not available |
| Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published. | Plugin or add-on Official webhook-notifier plugin. 18 | Not available PHP hooks only. No webhook settings. |
| Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no. | Built in The Astro site renders the pages. 2 | Built in PHP templates and snippets. |
| Editorial workflow | ||
| Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then. | Built in 10 | Built in Page drafts. Kirby 5 stores unsaved changes apart from the live version. 4 |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Built in 10 | Not available |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Built in On revision-enabled collections. 10 | Not available Kirby 5 keeps the live version and one set of changes. No revision history. 4 |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in Signed preview links. 11 | Built in Preview view renders unsaved changes, with shareable links. 4 |
| Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it. | Built in Signed-in editors get visual editing on the rendered page. 11 | Not available Preview view compares versions. No click-to-edit. 4 |
| Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage. | Not available Contributors cannot publish. No configurable review stages. 1210 | Not available Fixed page statuses: draft, unlisted, listed. 11 |
| Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release. | Not available | Not available |
| Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live. | Not available | Not available Content locking stops two editors changing one page at once. 320 |
| Access and governance | ||
| Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set. | Not available Five fixed roles from Subscriber to Admin. 12 | Built in Roles are user blueprints with permissions. 12 |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Not available 12 | Not available Only by loading different blueprints per role in custom code. 13 |
| Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider. | Limited Microsoft Entra sign-in built in. Other IdPs through Cloudflare Access. No native SAML. 12 | Not available No first-party SSO. Community OAuth plugins exist. |
| Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log. | Plugin or add-on Official audit-log plugin. 19 | Not available |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Not available | Not available One site per installation. |
| Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface. | Built in Plugins add admin pages and dashboard widgets. 13 | Built in Panel plugins add fields, sections, views and areas. 15 |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Built in Plugin registry, launched with 1.0. 143 | Built in Official plugin directory at plugins.getkirby.com. 16 |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Plugin or add-on Official forms plugin. 17 | Plugin or add-on Paid DreamForm plugin by tobimori. 17 |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Limited Subscriber role reads member-only content. Members share the editors' user system. 12 | Limited Frontend login is built in. Sign-up needs custom code. 14 |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Not available | Not available No first-party AI. Kirby Copilot is a paid third-party plugin. 18 |
| Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content. | Built in Built in and on by default. 15 | Not available Third-party Kirby MCP plugin by Bruno Meilick. 19 |
EmDash sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. EmDash 1.0, open source.
- emdash on the npm registry
- EmDash homepage
- EmDash 1.0: an open source CMS for Astro
- EmDash repository on GitHub
- EmDash docs: Blocks
- EmDash docs: Internationalization
- EmDash docs: Configuration reference
- EmDash docs: Media Library
- EmDash docs: REST API
- EmDash docs: Content lifecycle
- EmDash docs: Preview mode
- EmDash docs: Authentication
- EmDash docs: Plugins overview
- EmDash docs: Plugin registry
- EmDash docs: AI tools and MCP server
- EmDash docs: Database options
- @emdash-cms/plugin-forms on the npm registry
- @emdash-cms/plugin-webhook-notifier on the npm registry
- @emdash-cms/plugin-audit-log on the npm registry
- EmDash docs: Evolving a deployed site
Kirby sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Kirby 5. Kirby 6 is in alpha..
- Kirby pricing
- Kirby releases
- Kirby 5 release overview
- Kirby 5: Preview your changes
- Kirby docs: Blueprints
- Kirby docs: Blocks field
- Kirby docs: Languages
- Kirby docs: $file->thumb()
- Kirby docs: REST API
- Kirby Query Language (KQL) plugin
- Kirby docs: Publishing workflow
- Kirby docs: Permissions
- Kirby cookbook: Extending permissions
- Kirby docs: Frontend login
- Kirby docs: Plugin extensions
- Kirby plugin directory
- DreamForm plugin
- Kirby Copilot plugin
- Kirby MCP plugin by Bruno Meilick
- Kirby docs: Content options (locking)
Considering more platforms? Compare EmDash and Kirby with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
EmDash and Kirby get a different status on 10 of the 28 features and the same status on 18. EmDash has 14 built in on its baseline edition, Kirby has 11. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
- Licence
- EmDash is open source (MIT). Kirby is closed source (Proprietary, source available).
- Free option
- EmDash has a free option. Kirby has no free option.
Built in on EmDash, a different answer on Kirby 5
- Content model in the UI EmDash: Built in. Kirby: Not available.
- Scheduled publishing EmDash: Built in. Kirby: Not available.
- Version history EmDash: Built in. Kirby: Not available.
- Visual editing EmDash: Built in. Kirby: Not available.
- Official MCP server EmDash: Built in. Kirby: Not available.
Built in on Kirby, a different answer on EmDash 2
- Content model in code EmDash: Limited. Kirby: Built in.
- Custom roles EmDash: Not available. Kirby: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 3
- Webhooks EmDash: Plugin or add-on. Kirby: Not available.
- Single sign-on EmDash: Limited. Kirby: Not available.
- Audit log EmDash: Plugin or add-on. Kirby: Not available.
More comparisons
EmDash against other platforms
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- EmDash vs Instatic
- EmDash vs Joomla
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Kirby against other platforms
- Adobe Experience Manager vs Kirby
- Contentful vs Kirby
- Contentstack vs Kirby
- CoreMedia Content Cloud vs Kirby
- Craft CMS vs Kirby
- DatoCMS vs Kirby
- Decap CMS vs Kirby
- Directus vs Kirby
- Drupal vs Kirby
- FirstSpirit vs Kirby
- Framer vs Kirby
- Ghost vs Kirby
- HubSpot CMS vs Kirby
- Hygraph vs Kirby
- Instatic vs Kirby
- Joomla vs Kirby
- Keystone vs Kirby
- Kirby vs Liferay DXP
- Kirby vs Optimizely CMS
- Kirby vs Payload
- Kirby vs Prismic
- Kirby vs Progress Sitefinity
- Kirby vs Sanity
- Kirby vs Sitecore
- Kirby vs Squarespace
- Kirby vs Statamic
- Kirby vs Storyblok
- Kirby vs Strapi
- Kirby vs TYPO3
- Kirby vs Umbraco
- Kirby vs Wagtail
- Kirby vs Webflow
- Kirby vs Wix
- Kirby vs WordPress
- Xperience by Kentico vs Kirby
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