Joomla vs Wagtail
Joomla 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 12.
- Joomla Traditional · Open source · 12 of 28 built in
- Wagtail Traditional · Open source · 18 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Joomla 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 PHP CMS built around articles, custom fields, core multilingual support and group-based access control. Self-hosted. | 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. | Joomla 6.1, open source. Joomla 5.4 is still maintained. Version 6.1.3, released 18 Aug 2026 | Wagtail 8, open source Version 8.0, released 25 Aug 2026 |
| Vendor | Open Source Matters, Inc. (Joomla project) joomla.org | Wagtail core team (created by Torchbox) wagtail.org |
| Licence | Open source GPL-2.0-or-later | Open source BSD-3-Clause |
| Hosting | Self-hosting No vendor cloud The project's launch.joomla.org offers free hosted sites through a hosting partner. | Self-hosting No vendor cloud The Wagtail project runs no managed hosting. Deploy it like any Django app. |
| Built with | PHP | Python, Django |
| Database | MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL | PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Free and open source. Hosting and commercial extensions cost extra. | 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. | Not available Fields live in the database. A new content type means writing a component. | 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. | Limited Custom fields on articles, contacts, users and categories. No new content types. 5 | Not available Developers define content types in Python only. |
| Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them. | Limited Modules placed in template positions. No page-level block editor in core. 4 | 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 Per-item language with multilingual associations. 7 | 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. | Limited Manual crop and resize in Media. No generated sizes or URL transforms. 9 | 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 Web Services API with token authentication. 10 | 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. | Not available None in core. Only small third-party extensions. 19 | 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 Template system, with Cassiopeia as the default. | Built in |
| Editorial workflow | ||
| Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then. | Limited Unpublished items only. Saving a published article updates it live. 8 | Built in |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Built in Start and finish publishing dates. 8 | 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 Compare and restore. Includes custom field values since 6.0. 34 | 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. | Limited Backend Preview shows the last saved version of an article. 8 | 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. | Limited Front-end editing opens the article or module form on the site. 4 | 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. | Built in Workflows component, off by default. Visual workflow editor since 6.1. 112 | 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 Joomla checks out and locks an item while someone edits it. | 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. | Built in User groups, access levels and ACL. 4 | 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. | Built in Per-field Edit Custom Field Value permission. 6 | 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. | Plugin or add-on SAML or OIDC extensions from the JED. Core authenticates against LDAP only. 1314 | 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. | Built in User Actions Log. 12 | 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 One site per install. Third-party multisite extensions only. 15 | 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 Components, modules, plugins and custom field types. | Built in Hooks, viewsets and custom panels. |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Built in Joomla Extensions Directory, the JED. 14 | Built in Wagtail packages directory on wagtail.org. 17 |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Limited Contact forms accept custom fields. Core emails submissions and does not store them. 20 | 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. | Built in Front-end registration and login. 4 | 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 No first-party AI. Third-party extensions such as 4AI. 18 | 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. | Not available Third-party only, e.g. Onepoint's MCP Server for Joomla. 16 | Limited Experimental wagtail-mcp package, announced September 2026. 16 |
Joomla sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Joomla 6.1, open source. Joomla 5.4 is still maintained..
- Joomla Downloads: latest release
- Joomla 6.1 is here
- What's new in Joomla 6.0?
- Joomla Core Features
- Fields (user manual)
- Help5.x: Fields: Edit (permissions)
- Multilingual Associations
- Article: Preview
- Media: Image Crop Resize Rotate
- Web Services (programmers documentation)
- Workflows (user manual)
- User Actions Log
- LDAP authentication
- Joomla Extensions Directory
- JED: Multiple Sites category
- MCP Server for Joomla (JED)
- Free Hosting (user manual)
- 4AI (JED)
- Content Sharing - Webhooks (JED)
- Adding Custom Fields to the Joomla Contact Form
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 Joomla and Wagtail with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Joomla and Wagtail get a different status on 12 of the 28 features and the same status on 16. Joomla has 12 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 Joomla, a different answer on Wagtail 1
- Site member accounts Joomla: Built in. Wagtail: Limited.
Built in on Wagtail, a different answer on Joomla 7
- Content model in code Joomla: Not available. Wagtail: Built in.
- Reusable blocks Joomla: Limited. Wagtail: Built in.
- Image transformations Joomla: Limited. Wagtail: Built in.
- Drafts Joomla: Limited. Wagtail: Built in.
- Preview Joomla: Limited. Wagtail: Built in.
- Multiple sites Joomla: Not available. Wagtail: Built in.
- Form builder Joomla: Limited. Wagtail: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 4
- Content model in the UI Joomla: Limited. Wagtail: Not available.
- GraphQL API Joomla: Not available. Wagtail: Plugin or add-on.
- AI writing assistant Joomla: Not available. Wagtail: Plugin or add-on.
- Official MCP server Joomla: Not available. Wagtail: Limited.
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