Textpattern
Textpattern is a free, open-source content management system for building websites in a self-hosted environment.
What Textpattern is
Textpattern is a free, open-source content management system for building websites in a self-hosted environment. It is intended for web designers, developers, publishers, bloggers, and corporate or personal blog authors. A tag-based template language controls how dynamic content is retrieved and displayed, and can be combined with HTML and CSS. Publishing features include browser-based image and file organization, content categorization, comments, web feeds, visitor logs, and password-protected articles. Textile formatting is built in, while Markdown is available through a plugin. Community plugins extend the CMS, and developers can write plugins in PHP. Textpattern supports multilingual content, SEO tools, editorial workflows, a media library, and custom content types, but the listed capabilities do not include custom user roles. It runs on Apache or Nginx with PHP and MySQL; current vendor-supported versions are recommended. MariaDB is not officially supported, although version 4.9.1 fixes a reported MariaDB 11.8 issue. Support comes through documentation and a community forum. Version 4.9.1 is distributed as ZIP, TAR.GZ, and TAR.XZ archives.
Good
- Free, open-source CMS
- Tag-based templates with HTML and CSS
- Multilingual content and SEO tools
- Community plugins extend functionality
- Editorial workflows and media library
Watch out
- No custom user roles
- MariaDB not officially supported
- Requires Apache or Nginx, PHP, and MySQL
- Self-hosted maintenance is required
Who it suits
Textpattern suits self-hosting web designers, developers, publishers, bloggers, and authors who need structured publishing and multilingual content. It also fits users comfortable managing a PHP and MySQL server.
Verdict
Textpattern offers a broad publishing toolkit for self-hosted websites, including templates, media handling, editorial workflows, and language support. Its lack of custom user roles and MariaDB support may matter when planning a team or server setup.
Plans and prices
From Textpattern's own pricing page, checked 10 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Textpattern CMS | Free | Free, open-source CMS · GPLv2 |
The facts
Each one read from Textpattern's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Audience
- The project describes Textpattern as suited to web designers, developers, publishers, bloggers, and corporate or personal blog authors.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Compatibility limit
- MariaDB is not officially supported at present, although the 4.9.1 release fixes a reported issue for MariaDB 11.8 users.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Custom content types
- Yeschecked 22 Sep 2026
- Custom user roles
- Nochecked 22 Sep 2026
- Editorial workflows
- Yeschecked 22 Sep 2026
- Extensibility
- Textpattern can be extended with community plugins, and developers can create plugins in PHP.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Formatting
- Textile formatting is built in, while Markdown is available through a plugin.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- The official plugin directory lists integrations as a plugin category and shows 45 plugins in total.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Media library
- Yeschecked 22 Sep 2026
- Multilingual content
- Yeschecked 22 Sep 2026
- Product
- Textpattern is a free, open-source content management system for building websites.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Project model
- Textpattern says it is run as a voluntary project by a small team and accepts donations to support the project.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Publishing
- The CMS supports browser-based image and file organization, content categorization, comments, web feeds, visitor logs, and password-protected articles.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Release format
- Textpattern 4.9.1 is available as ZIP, TAR.GZ, and TAR.XZ archives, with the latter two including extra multisite support files and symbolic links.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Security
- The 4.9.1 release addresses two reported security issues, including authenticated stored XSS and an article-management access-control regression.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Self-hosting requirements
- Textpattern runs on an Apache or Nginx web server with PHP and MySQL; the project recommends current vendor-supported versions.checked 10 Oct 2026
- SEO tools
- Yeschecked 22 Sep 2026
- Support
- Support is provided through user documentation and a community forum where core developers regularly answer questions.checked 10 Oct 2026
- Templates
- Its built-in tag-based template language controls how dynamic content is retrieved and displayed, and can be combined with HTML and CSS.checked 10 Oct 2026
Money
- Free plan
- Yeschecked 22 Sep 2026
Where it runs
- Platform type
- self_hostedchecked 22 Sep 2026
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