Instatic vs TYPO3
Instatic is an open-source site builder that you host yourself. TYPO3 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 16.
- Instatic Site builder · Open source · 15 of 28 built in
- TYPO3 Traditional · Open source · 20 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Instatic on 30 Sept 2026, TYPO3 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, self-hosted CMS with a visual canvas editor. One Bun server runs the editor, content store and publisher, and publishing writes plain HTML files to disk. | Open-source PHP CMS for multi-site, multilingual websites, with workspaces and granular backend permissions. Self-hosted, often run by agencies. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | Instatic 0.0.20, open source Version 0.0.20, released 13 Sept 2026 | TYPO3 v14 LTS, version 14.3, open source Version 14.3.7, released 8 Sept 2026 |
| Vendor | CoreBunch instatic.com | TYPO3 Association (project); TYPO3 GmbH sells support and extended LTS typo3.org |
| Licence | Open source MIT | Open source GPL-2.0-or-later |
| Hosting | Self-hosting No vendor cloud No managed hosting. You deploy the Docker image to your own server, or use the Railway and Render templates. | Self-hosting No vendor cloud No vendor SaaS. TYPO3 agencies and hosts run managed installations. |
| Built with | TypeScript, Bun, React admin | PHP, Symfony components, Fluid |
| Database | SQLite, PostgreSQL | MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Free and open source, with no paid tiers. You pay only for hosting. | Free to start Free and open source. Commercial support and extended LTS are sold separately. |
| 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. | Not available Tables and fields live in the database and change in the Data workspace. Plugins can create tables through the SDK. 610 | Built in TCA in PHP. The Content Blocks extension adds YAML definitions. 11 |
| Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code. | Built in Custom post types and data tables in the Data workspace. 616 | Plugin or add-on Mask extension builds content elements in the backend. 12 |
| Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them. | Built in Visual Components with typed parameters and named slots, placed and reordered on the canvas. 72 | Built in Content elements on pages, reordered by drag and drop. |
| Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language. | Not available One site-wide language setting. No per-locale fields or entries. 21 | Built in Page and record translations. Guided translation wizard in v14. 2 |
| Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service. | Built in Uploads get a set of WebP sizes, and the publisher writes srcset and sizes from the layout. 81 | Built in Server-side image processing with crop variants. 10 |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Limited The JSON API under /admin/api/cms serves the admin behind a session cookie. No token-based content API outside MCP. 920 | Plugin or add-on EXT:headless outputs pages as JSON. Core has no content API. 13 |
| 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. | Not available No built-in webhooks. A plugin with network access can call a URL from content hooks. 10 | Built in Webhooks system extension, in core since v12. 6 |
| Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no. | Built in Publishing renders every page to static HTML on the server's disk. 11 | Built in Fluid templates. Camino default theme in v14. 2 |
| Editorial workflow | ||
| Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then. | Built in 51 | Built in Via the Workspaces system extension. 5 |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Built in Per page and per post-type entry. 5 | Built in Start and stop dates on pages and content. |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Built in Published versions of pages and entries, restorable into the draft. Added in 0.0.20. 124 | Built in Record history with diff and undo. |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in The canvas renders drafts in the site design. Branch preview links work without an account. 122 | Built in Workspace preview links. 5 |
| Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it. | Built in Editing happens on the rendered page canvas, with a live mode for the full-size page. 214 | Plugin or add-on Visual Editor extension from Friends of TYPO3. TYPO3 plans core support for v15. 3 |
| Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage. | Limited Branch merge requests with a review page and comments. No configurable review stages. 12 | Built in Custom stages in Workspaces. 5 |
| Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release. | Limited Publish ships all draft pages at once. Branches group edits across pages and entries, but entries still publish one by one. 125 | Built in Workspaces publish staged changes together. 5 |
| Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live. | Limited Live co-editing of pages, components and layouts in the Site editor. Content workspace entries save separately. 13144 | Not available |
| Access and governance | ||
| Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set. | Built in The Owner builds roles from a fixed list of capabilities. 1516 | Built in Backend user groups. 9 |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Not available Capabilities apply per table type and edit category, not per field. 16 | Built in Exclude fields per backend group. 9 |
| Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider. | Not available Email and password with optional TOTP two-factor. 15 | Plugin or add-on OpenID Connect extensions such as causal/oidc. 14 |
| Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log. | Built in Append-only log of logins, content changes, role edits and plugin actions. 17 | Built in Log module records backend changes by user. |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Not available One site per installation. 2 | Built in Several site configurations in one installation. |
| Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface. | Built in Plugins add admin pages, editor extensions, dashboard widgets and canvas modules. 10 | Built in Backend modules and custom form elements. |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Not available Plugins install as uploaded zip packages. No official directory. 10 | Built in TYPO3 Extension Repository. 16 |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Built in Forms are built on the canvas and submissions land in a data table. 18 | Built in Form Framework with a backend form editor. 7 |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Not available | Built in Frontend users and the felogin extension. 8 |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Built in Built-in agent in the Site and Content workspaces, with your own Claude, OpenAI, OpenRouter or Ollama key. 19 | Not available Core ships AI integration points only. Third-party extensions such as AI Suite. 417 |
| Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content. | Built in Built in at /_instatic/mcp, with OAuth or scoped personal access tokens. 20 | Not available Third-party only, e.g. hauptsache.net's TYPO3 MCP Server. 15 |
Instatic sources
Checked 30 Sept 2026. Instatic 0.0.20, open source.
- Instatic homepage
- Instatic repository on GitHub
- Instatic 0.0.20 release
- Instatic changelog
- Instatic docs: Content storage
- Instatic docs: Data workspace
- Instatic docs: Visual Components
- Instatic docs: Media
- Instatic docs: Server
- Instatic docs: Plugin system
- Instatic docs: Publisher
- Instatic docs: Site branches
- Instatic docs: Site shell and real-time co-editing
- Instatic docs: Content workspace
- Instatic docs: Auth and access
- Instatic docs: Capabilities
- Instatic docs: Audit log
- Instatic docs: CMS-native forms
- Instatic docs: AI agent
- Instatic docs: MCP connectors
- Instatic docs: Editor
TYPO3 sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. TYPO3 v14 LTS, version 14.3, open source.
- get.typo3.org: latest TYPO3 14 release
- TYPO3 Releases v14 LTS (press release)
- Changing the Playing Field: Visual Editing in TYPO3 v14
- TYPO3 v14: Building a System for Community-Driven AI Integrations
- TYPO3 Workspaces documentation
- TYPO3 Webhooks documentation
- TYPO3 Form documentation
- TYPO3 Frontend Login documentation
- Access control options (TYPO3 Explained)
- Crop variants for images (TYPO3 Explained)
- TYPO3 Content Blocks documentation
- Mask extension (TER)
- EXT:headless documentation
- OpenID Connect integration for TYPO3
- hauptsacheNet/typo3-mcp-server on GitHub
- How to find extensions (Getting Started)
- AI Suite extension (TER)
Considering more platforms? Compare Instatic and TYPO3 with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Instatic and TYPO3 get a different status on 16 of the 28 features and the same status on 12. Instatic has 15 built in on its baseline edition, TYPO3 has 20. 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 Instatic, a different answer on TYPO3 4
- Content model in the UI Instatic: Built in. TYPO3: Plugin or add-on.
- Visual editing Instatic: Built in. TYPO3: Plugin or add-on.
- AI writing assistant Instatic: Built in. TYPO3: Not available.
- Official MCP server Instatic: Built in. TYPO3: Not available.
Built in on TYPO3, a different answer on Instatic 9
- Content model in code Instatic: Not available. TYPO3: Built in.
- Localization Instatic: Not available. TYPO3: Built in.
- Webhooks Instatic: Not available. TYPO3: Built in.
- Approval workflows Instatic: Limited. TYPO3: Built in.
- Content releases Instatic: Limited. TYPO3: Built in.
- Field-level permissions Instatic: Not available. TYPO3: Built in.
- Multiple sites Instatic: Not available. TYPO3: Built in.
- Plugin marketplace Instatic: Not available. TYPO3: Built in.
- Site member accounts Instatic: Not available. TYPO3: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 3
- REST API Instatic: Limited. TYPO3: Plugin or add-on.
- Real-time co-editing Instatic: Limited. TYPO3: Not available.
- Single sign-on Instatic: Not available. TYPO3: Plugin or add-on.
More comparisons
Instatic against other platforms
- Adobe Experience Manager vs Instatic
- Contentful vs Instatic
- Contentstack vs Instatic
- CoreMedia Content Cloud vs Instatic
- Craft CMS vs Instatic
- DatoCMS vs Instatic
- Decap CMS vs Instatic
- Directus vs Instatic
- Drupal vs Instatic
- EmDash vs Instatic
- FirstSpirit vs Instatic
- Framer vs Instatic
- Ghost vs Instatic
- HubSpot CMS vs Instatic
- Hygraph vs Instatic
- Instatic vs Joomla
- Instatic vs Keystone
- Instatic vs Kirby
- Instatic vs Liferay DXP
- Instatic vs Optimizely CMS
- Instatic vs Payload
- Instatic vs Prismic
- Instatic vs Progress Sitefinity
- Instatic vs Sanity
- Instatic vs Sitecore
- Instatic vs Squarespace
- Instatic vs Statamic
- Instatic vs Storyblok
- Instatic vs Strapi
- Instatic vs Umbraco
- Instatic vs Wagtail
- Instatic vs Webflow
- Instatic vs Wix
- Instatic vs WordPress
- Instatic vs Xperience by Kentico
TYPO3 against other platforms
- Adobe Experience Manager vs TYPO3
- Contentful vs TYPO3
- Contentstack vs TYPO3
- CoreMedia Content Cloud vs TYPO3
- Craft CMS vs TYPO3
- DatoCMS vs TYPO3
- Decap CMS vs TYPO3
- Directus vs TYPO3
- Drupal vs TYPO3
- EmDash vs TYPO3
- FirstSpirit vs TYPO3
- Framer vs TYPO3
- Ghost vs TYPO3
- HubSpot CMS vs TYPO3
- Hygraph vs TYPO3
- Joomla vs TYPO3
- Keystone vs TYPO3
- Kirby vs TYPO3
- Liferay DXP vs TYPO3
- Optimizely CMS vs TYPO3
- TYPO3 vs Payload
- Prismic vs TYPO3
- Progress Sitefinity vs TYPO3
- Sanity vs TYPO3
- Sitecore vs TYPO3
- Squarespace vs TYPO3
- Statamic vs TYPO3
- Storyblok vs TYPO3
- Strapi vs TYPO3
- TYPO3 vs Umbraco
- TYPO3 vs Wagtail
- TYPO3 vs Webflow
- TYPO3 vs Wix
- TYPO3 vs WordPress
- Xperience by Kentico vs TYPO3
Open the CMS comparison tool to put up to six platforms in one table.
We're booking content platform
engagements for 2026.
Twenty-five minutes to walk through the work and decide if we're the right team for it. Scoping and a fixed price come after.