django CMS
django CMS is an open-source, BSD-licensed enterprise content management system built on the Django/Python framework, governed by the django CMS Association non-profit in Zürich. It serves digital agencies, Django developers, enterprise marketers, and universities via self-serve distribution, tiered membership funding, and a certified partner network.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2009
- HeadquartersZürich, Switzerland
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What django CMS does
django CMS is an open-source enterprise content management system built on the Django web framework in Python and distributed under a BSD license. Its core product provides page management, a flexible placeholder and plugin system, front-end and inline editing, robust internationalization (i18n) and multi-site support, content versioning through djangocms-versioning, editorial workflows via djangocms-moderation, and — since the May 2025 release of django CMS 5.0 (LTS) — full headless-ready capabilities via the djangocms-rest API for React, Vue, or Svelte frontends. Additional technical milestones include a TreeNode-to-Page model merge that reduces database joins, ~100ms improvement in edit/structure-mode server response, and removal of all inline JavaScript to enable strict Content Security Policy enforcement.
The project was created in 2009 by Patrick Lauber at Divio AG in Zürich, Switzerland. In July 2020, Divio transferred stewardship to the django CMS Association (dCA), a non-profit association in Zürich governed with founding members Divio, What, and Eliga Services. The dCA does not sell software licenses; revenue is generated through tiered membership fees (Platinum $15,000/year, Gold $3,000/year, Silver $1,500/year, Bronze $500/year), individual GitHub Sponsors contributions starting around $24/year, and donation flows. Commercial delivery of implementation, hosting, and support is handled by an external Experts & Partners network rather than by the association itself, which has a 1–10 employee headcount band. Distribution is self-serve through GitHub, Docker, and Divio Cloud, with a 60-minute DIY demo for evaluation.
The platform is positioned for digital agencies, Python/Django developers, enterprise marketing teams, and higher-education institutions, citing customers such as NASA, PBS, L'Oréal, National Geographic Education, AAMC, Parrot, and Ubuntu. Marketing relies on community channels — Discord, StackOverflow, GitHub, blog, YouTube, LinkedIn, Mastodon, and newsletter — rather than paid acquisition, in line with the open-source GTM motion.
django CMS firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- django CMS
- Legal name
- django CMS Association
- Website
- https://django-cms.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2009
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- django CMS is an open-source, BSD-licensed enterprise content management system built on the Django/Python framework, governed by the django CMS Association non-profit in Zürich. It serves digital agencies, Django developers, enterprise marketers, and universities via self-serve distribution, tiered membership funding, and a certified partner network.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
django CMS industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Open Source Content Management Software
- NAICS
- Software Publishers (5132)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Blogging & CMS Content Platforms (BPAMAJAG)
Keywords
Where django CMS is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Zürich
- HQ country
- Switzerland
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
django CMS business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Open Source Software Distribution: django CMS is free and open source under BSD license with no license costs. Revenue is generated through community donations, membership fees, and professional services from partner organizations rather than software licensing.
- Association Membership Fees: The django CMS Association (dCA) generates revenue through tiered membership programs: Platinum ($15,000 p.a.), Gold ($3,000 p.a.), Silver ($1,500 p.a.), Bronze ($500 p.a.), and individual GitHub Sponsors contributions ($24 p.a. example).
- Professional Services (via Partners): Professional service providers offer django CMS implementation, consulting, hosting, and support services. Contact with service providers is available through the Experts & Partners page.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Free Open Source Software |
| Subscription | Annual | Platinum Membership - For organizations benefiting big time from django CMS |
| Subscription | Annual | Gold Membership - For organizations benefiting significantly |
| Subscription | Annual | Silver Membership - For organizations benefiting quite a bit |
| Subscription | Annual | Bronze Membership - For organizations benefiting just a little |
| Subscription | Annual | Individual Support - GitHub Sponsors |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
django CMS product offering
Product offeringCore offering
django CMS is an open-source enterprise content management system built on the Django web framework and released under a BSD license. It provides page management, multi-language and multi-site support, a flexible placeholder and plugin system, front-end editing, content versioning, editorial workflows, and headless CMS capabilities exposed via the djangocms-rest API. The project is governed and funded by the django CMS Association (dCA), a non-profit organization that sells tiered organizational memberships and accepts individual GitHub Sponsors contributions to sustain long-term development.
Product overview
django CMS is a single unified open-source content management system built on the Django web framework. The core product provides enterprise-grade CMS functionality including page management, content versioning via djangocms-versioning, editorial workflows through djangocms-moderation, and headless CMS capabilities via djangocms-rest. The django CMS Association (dCA), a non-profit organization based in Zurich, Switzerland, governs and funds the long-term development of the project. The platform is open-source and free under BSD license, with optional membership tiers (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze) for organizations wishing to support and influence the project's direction.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- django CMS Open-source enterprise content management system built on the Django web framework, designed for projects requiring flexibility, long-term stability, and close integration with custom Django applications. Serves enterprise marketers, digital agencies, developers, and educational institutions with features including robust internationalization, front-end editing, a flexible placeholder and plugin system, multi-site support, content versioning, editorial workflows, and headless CMS capabilities.
Quantifiable outcome
- Plugin updates nearly twice as fast in django CMS 5
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use django CMS
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
django CMS technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature7 records
django CMS partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Divio AGcoreDivio AG of Zürich, Switzerland created django CMS in 2009 and led its development for several years. In July 2020, Divio handed over to the newly founded django CMS Association while remaining a founding member. Divio continues to host the django CMS project website.
- What (what.digital)coreFounding member of the django CMS Association (dCA) alongside Divio AG and Eliga Services. Contributes to governance and strategic direction of the project.
- Eliga ServicescoreFounding member of the django CMS Association (dCA) alongside Divio AG and What. Contributes to governance and strategic direction of the project.
- Experts & Partners (Tech Partners)minorCertified service providers listed on the django CMS Experts & Partners page offering implementation, consulting, hosting, and support services. Contributing service providers are eligible for listing their services.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
django CMS competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Strapi: Strapi is an open-source headless CMS built on Node.js. It directly competes with django CMS 5.0's new headless-ready capabilities, targeting developers building API-first content platforms.
- Drupal: Drupal is a long-running open-source PHP CMS aimed at enterprise and government use cases. It competes directly with django CMS for large organizations needing complex content modeling and multi-language support.
- Plone: Plone is an enterprise-grade open-source CMS built on Python (Zope). It is one of the few other Python-based CMS projects at scale and overlaps with django CMS in enterprise, government, and multi-language deployments.
- WordPress: WordPress is the dominant open-source CMS (GPL-licensed, self-hosted, free core with paid hosting/plugins). It competes with django CMS for the same broad pool of open-source CMS adopters, though built on PHP.
- Joomla: Joomla is an open-source PHP CMS with a long history and similar mid-market positioning to django CMS. It competes for the same pool of self-hosted CMS adopters.
- Wagtail: Wagtail is an open-source CMS built on Django by Torchbox, the closest direct peer to django CMS. Both target Python/Django developers building content-driven sites with similar plugin architectures and editorial workflows.
Emerging players
- Ghost: Ghost is an open-source publishing platform focused on content creators and newsletters. It overlaps with django CMS in content publishing use cases but targets a different (creator-led) audience.
- Sanity: Sanity is a commercial headless CMS with structured content and a customizable studio. It targets the same developer/enterprise headless CMS segment that django CMS 5.0 is now pursuing.
Broad incumbents
- Adobe Experience Manager: Adobe Experience Manager is a large enterprise CMS/DXP sold as part of the Adobe Experience Cloud. It is a broad incumbent competing with django CMS for large enterprise content deployments.
- Contentful: Contentful is a venture-backed commercial headless CMS platform. It competes with django CMS 5.0's headless capabilities among enterprise buyers but operates a fully managed SaaS model.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
django CMS social profiles
Digital presencedjango CMS financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
django CMS leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
django CMS funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
django CMS M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about django CMS
What does django CMS do?
django CMS is an open-source enterprise content management system built on the Django web framework and released under a BSD license. It provides page management, multi-language and multi-site support, a flexible placeholder and plugin system, front-end editing, content versioning, editorial workflows, and headless CMS capabilities exposed via the djangocms-rest API. The project is governed and funded by the django CMS Association (dCA), a non-profit organization that sells tiered organizational memberships and accepts individual GitHub Sponsors contributions to sustain long-term development.
Is django CMS a public or private company?
django CMS is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was django CMS founded?
django CMS was founded in 2009. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is django CMS based?
django CMS is headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, in the Europe region.
How does django CMS make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Open Source Software Distribution is the primary driver. The others are association Membership Fees and professional Services (via Partners).
Who are django CMS's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Strapi, Drupal, Plone, WordPress, Joomla and Wagtail. Emerging players are Ghost and Sanity. Broad incumbents are Adobe Experience Manager and Contentful.
Does django CMS have an API?
Yes. django CMS 5.0 is fully headless-ready. By removing django CMS' URL pattern and exposing content via an API like djangocms-rest, content can be served via frontend frameworks such as React, Vue, or Svelte. Hybrid setups are also supported for maximum flexibility. The djangocms-rest package (fsbraun/djangocms-rest) enables REST API content exposure for headless CMS usage. Developer documentation is at docs.django-cms.org/en/latest/how_to/21-headless.html.
What industry is django CMS in?
django CMS's product category is Open Source Content Management Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMAJAG, Blogging & CMS Content Platforms. Its NAICS code is 5132 and its SIC code is 7372.