Instatic vs Umbraco
Instatic is an open-source site builder that you host yourself. Umbraco is an open-source traditional CMS that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. 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
- Umbraco Traditional · Open source · 18 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Instatic on 30 Sept 2026, Umbraco 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 .NET CMS that renders sites with Razor or serves content headless. Self-hosted or run on Umbraco Cloud. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | Instatic 0.0.20, open source Version 0.0.20, released 13 Sept 2026 | Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release. Version 17.7.0, released 17 Sept 2026 |
| Vendor | CoreBunch instatic.com | Umbraco A/S umbraco.com |
| Licence | Open source MIT | Open source MIT |
| 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 Vendor cloud Forms and Deploy are paid add-ons when self-hosted. Umbraco Cloud includes both. |
| Built with | TypeScript, Bun, React admin | C#, ASP.NET Core on .NET 10, TypeScript backoffice |
| Database | SQLite, PostgreSQL | SQL Server, 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 to self-host. Umbraco Cloud Starter €45, Standard €280, Professional €730 per month. Enterprise on request. |
| 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 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Deploy saves document types as .uda files in Git. Paid on-premises, included on Umbraco Cloud. 45 |
| 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 | Built in Document types are built in the backoffice. |
| 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 Block List and Block Grid editors. 6 |
| 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 Culture variants per property. |
| 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 ImageSharp crops and resizes images from query string parameters. 9 |
| 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 | Built in Content Delivery API. 7 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Not available | Not available No official GraphQL. Community package Nikcio.UHeadless adds one. 20 |
| 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 8 |
| 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 Razor templates. |
| 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 |
| 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 10 |
| 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 Rollback compares and restores earlier versions. 11 |
| 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 |
| 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 | Not available |
| 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 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Workflow add-on. Its free version is capped at five approval groups. Full use is paid. 1221 |
| 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 | Plugin or add-on Release Sets in a licensed Umbraco Workflow. 13 |
| 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 User groups with granular permissions. |
| 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 | Limited Per-property read and write limits per user group, enforced in the UI only. 14 |
| 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 | Built in OpenID Connect providers such as Entra ID, configured in code. 15 |
| 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 | Limited Audit trail per item plus a log viewer. No installation-wide audit screen in core. 16 |
| 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 root nodes, each with its own domains. |
| 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 Backoffice extensions. |
| 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 Umbraco Marketplace. |
| 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 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Forms, paid licence. Included on Umbraco Cloud. 217 |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Not available | Built in Members, separate from backoffice users. |
| 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 | Plugin or add-on Free Umbraco.AI packages add prompts and an editor copilot. 18 |
| 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 | Built in Umbraco CMS Developer MCP server. 19 |
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
Umbraco sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release..
- Umbraco releases
- Umbraco pricing
- Umbraco 18 release
- Umbraco Deploy licensing
- Umbraco Cloud: UDA files
- Umbraco docs: Block Grid
- Umbraco docs: Content Delivery API
- Umbraco docs: Webhooks
- Umbraco docs: Image Cropper
- Umbraco docs: Scheduled Publishing
- Umbraco docs: Rollback to a previous version
- Umbraco Workflow
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Release Sets
- Umbraco docs: Property Level UI Permissions
- Umbraco docs: External Login Providers
- Umbraco docs: Log Viewer
- Umbraco Forms licensing
- Umbraco.AI on GitHub
- Umbraco MCP on GitHub
- Nikcio.UHeadless on Umbraco Marketplace
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Licensing
Considering more platforms? Compare Instatic and Umbraco with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Instatic and Umbraco 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, Umbraco 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.
- Vendor cloud
- Instatic has no vendor-run cloud. Umbraco has a vendor-run cloud.
Built in on Instatic, a different answer on Umbraco 4
- Visual editing Instatic: Built in. Umbraco: Not available.
- Audit log Instatic: Built in. Umbraco: Limited.
- Form builder Instatic: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- AI writing assistant Instatic: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
Built in on Umbraco, a different answer on Instatic 7
- Localization Instatic: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- REST API Instatic: Limited. Umbraco: Built in.
- Webhooks Instatic: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Single sign-on Instatic: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Multiple sites Instatic: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Plugin marketplace Instatic: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Site member accounts Instatic: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 5
- Content model in code Instatic: Not available. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Approval workflows Instatic: Limited. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Content releases Instatic: Limited. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Real-time co-editing Instatic: Limited. Umbraco: Not available.
- Field-level permissions Instatic: Not available. Umbraco: Limited.
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Umbraco against other platforms
- Adobe Experience Manager vs Umbraco
- Contentful vs Umbraco
- Contentstack vs Umbraco
- CoreMedia Content Cloud vs Umbraco
- Craft CMS vs Umbraco
- DatoCMS vs Umbraco
- Decap CMS vs Umbraco
- Directus vs Umbraco
- Drupal vs Umbraco
- EmDash vs Umbraco
- FirstSpirit vs Umbraco
- Framer vs Umbraco
- Ghost vs Umbraco
- HubSpot CMS vs Umbraco
- Hygraph vs Umbraco
- Joomla vs Umbraco
- Keystone vs Umbraco
- Kirby vs Umbraco
- Liferay DXP vs Umbraco
- Optimizely CMS vs Umbraco
- Umbraco vs Payload
- Prismic vs Umbraco
- Progress Sitefinity vs Umbraco
- Sanity vs Umbraco
- Sitecore vs Umbraco
- Squarespace vs Umbraco
- Statamic vs Umbraco
- Storyblok vs Umbraco
- Strapi vs Umbraco
- TYPO3 vs Umbraco
- Umbraco vs Wagtail
- Umbraco vs Webflow
- Umbraco vs Wix
- Umbraco vs WordPress
- Xperience by Kentico vs Umbraco
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