EmDash vs Wagtail
EmDash is an open-source traditional CMS that you host yourself. Wagtail is an open-source traditional CMS that you host yourself. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 14.
- EmDash Traditional · Open source · 14 of 28 built in
- Wagtail Traditional · Open source · 18 of 28 built in
Sources checked: EmDash on 29 Sept 2026, Wagtail 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. | Open-source CMS built on Django. Content types are Python models, and you host it yourself on any Python stack. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | EmDash 1.0, open source Version 1.0.1, released 28 Sept 2026 | Wagtail 8, open source Version 8.0, released 25 Aug 2026 |
| Vendor | Cloudflare emdashcms.com | Wagtail core team (created by Torchbox) wagtail.org |
| Licence | Open source MIT | Open source BSD-3-Clause |
| 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 The Wagtail project runs no managed hosting. Deploy it like any Django app. |
| Built with | TypeScript, Astro | Python, Django |
| Database | SQLite, Cloudflare D1, PostgreSQL, libSQL | PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Free and open source. You pay only for hosting. | Free to start Free and open source. No licence fee. |
| 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 Page and snippet types are Django models. 2 |
| 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 Developers define content types in Python only. |
| 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 StreamField blocks. 2 |
| 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 Core i18n with simple_translation. The wagtail-localize package adds a translation workflow. 3 |
| 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 Renditions with resize, crop and format filters. 4 |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Built in 9 | Built in Read-only v2 API. Writable v3 API in preview since 8.0. 51 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Not available | Plugin or add-on wagtail-grapple, maintained by Torchbox. 6 |
| 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 Django signals such as page_published. No webhook settings. 18 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Built in 10 | Built in Go-live and expiry dates. 7 |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Built in On revision-enabled collections. 10 | Built in Editors can compare and revert revisions. 11 |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in Signed preview links. 11 | Built in 20 |
| 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 | Limited Preview panel beside the edit form. No click-to-edit on the page. 20 |
| 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 | Built in Moderation workflows with tasks assigned to groups. 8 |
| 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 Concurrent editing notifications warn editors. No live co-editing. 12 |
| 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 Groups with page, collection and model permissions. 9 |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Not available 12 | Built in Set in code with the permission argument on panels. 10 |
| 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 | Plugin or add-on django-allauth supports SAML and OpenID Connect. 19 |
| 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 | Built in Site-wide history report of logged actions. 11 |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Not available | Built in Several sites in one installation with shared users. 9 |
| 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 Hooks, viewsets and custom panels. |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Built in Plugin registry, launched with 1.0. 143 | Built in Wagtail packages directory on wagtail.org. 17 |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Plugin or add-on Official forms plugin. 17 | Built in wagtail.contrib.forms form builder. 13 |
| 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 Login for private pages is built in. Public sign-up needs a package such as django-allauth. 14 |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Not available | Plugin or add-on Wagtail AI, an officially supported package. 15 |
| 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 | Limited Experimental wagtail-mcp package, announced September 2026. 16 |
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
Wagtail sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Wagtail 8, open source.
- Wagtail 8.0 release notes
- How to use StreamField for mixed content
- Wagtail docs: Internationalization
- Wagtail docs: Images
- Wagtail API v2 usage guide
- wagtail-grapple on GitHub
- Wagtail guide: Scheduled publishing
- Wagtail guide: Configure workflows for moderation
- Wagtail docs: Permissions
- Wagtail docs: Panels reference
- Wagtail docs: Audit log
- Wagtail 6.2: content metrics and concurrent editing
- Wagtail docs: Form builder
- Wagtail docs: Private pages
- Wagtail AI
- Experiments with MCP in Wagtail
- Wagtail docs: Packages
- Wagtail docs: Signals
- django-allauth: SAML provider
- Wagtail 4.0 release notes: live preview panel
Considering more platforms? Compare EmDash and Wagtail with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
EmDash and Wagtail get a different status on 14 of the 28 features and the same status on 14. EmDash has 14 built in on its baseline edition, Wagtail has 18. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
Built in on EmDash, a different answer on Wagtail 3
- Content model in the UI EmDash: Built in. Wagtail: Not available.
- Visual editing EmDash: Built in. Wagtail: Limited.
- Official MCP server EmDash: Built in. Wagtail: Limited.
Built in on Wagtail, a different answer on EmDash 7
- Content model in code EmDash: Limited. Wagtail: Built in.
- Approval workflows EmDash: Not available. Wagtail: Built in.
- Custom roles EmDash: Not available. Wagtail: Built in.
- Field-level permissions EmDash: Not available. Wagtail: Built in.
- Audit log EmDash: Plugin or add-on. Wagtail: Built in.
- Multiple sites EmDash: Not available. Wagtail: Built in.
- Form builder EmDash: Plugin or add-on. Wagtail: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 4
- GraphQL API EmDash: Not available. Wagtail: Plugin or add-on.
- Webhooks EmDash: Plugin or add-on. Wagtail: Not available.
- Single sign-on EmDash: Limited. Wagtail: Plugin or add-on.
- AI writing assistant EmDash: Not available. Wagtail: Plugin or add-on.
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Wagtail against other platforms
- Adobe Experience Manager vs Wagtail
- Contentful vs Wagtail
- Contentstack vs Wagtail
- CoreMedia Content Cloud vs Wagtail
- Craft CMS vs Wagtail
- DatoCMS vs Wagtail
- Decap CMS vs Wagtail
- Directus vs Wagtail
- Drupal vs Wagtail
- FirstSpirit vs Wagtail
- Framer vs Wagtail
- Ghost vs Wagtail
- HubSpot CMS vs Wagtail
- Hygraph vs Wagtail
- Instatic vs Wagtail
- Joomla vs Wagtail
- Keystone vs Wagtail
- Kirby vs Wagtail
- Liferay DXP vs Wagtail
- Optimizely CMS vs Wagtail
- Wagtail vs Payload
- Prismic vs Wagtail
- Progress Sitefinity vs Wagtail
- Sanity vs Wagtail
- Sitecore vs Wagtail
- Squarespace vs Wagtail
- Statamic vs Wagtail
- Storyblok vs Wagtail
- Strapi vs Wagtail
- TYPO3 vs Wagtail
- Umbraco vs Wagtail
- Wagtail vs Webflow
- Wagtail vs Wix
- Wagtail vs WordPress
- Xperience by Kentico vs Wagtail
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