What is Backdrop CMS used for?

Backdrop CMS is a full-featured PHP content management system for blogs, galleries, intranets and more, designed to work out of the box with extensible APIs. It is a good fit for building blogs and intranet sites, creating image galleries, and running a community website on your own hosting.

Is Backdrop CMS open source?

Yes. Backdrop CMS is open source under the GPL-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at backdrop/backdrop and is written mainly in PHP.

Is Backdrop CMS free?

Yes. Backdrop CMS is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

Can I self-host Backdrop CMS?

Yes. Backdrop CMS can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What are some alternatives to Backdrop CMS?

Similar open-source tools in the CMS category include Textpattern, Joomla and Drupal. SaaS products in the same category include Adobe Experience Manager, Contentful and Sitecore.

Is Backdrop CMS actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Backdrop CMS was on 25 September 2026, and the latest release is 1.35.1, published on 24 September 2026. The project has 1k stars on GitHub.

Backdrop CMS: open-source CMS

About Backdrop CMS

Backdrop is a content management system that lets non-technical users manage many kinds of content. It can be used to build blogs, image galleries, social networks, intranets and other websites, and its stated aims are a CMS that works out of the box, code that can be learned quickly and extensible APIs.

The README lists requirements of PHP 7.1 or higher, though it recommends a currently supported PHP version, MySQL 5.5 or higher with PDO, and an Apache or Nginx web server, with about 50 MB of disk space recommended. Installation involves creating a database and running the web installer. Bugs and feature requests go to a separate GitHub issue tracker, and security problems are reported privately to the Backdrop Security Team.

Backdrop is written in PHP, licensed under GPL-2.0 and installed on your own hosting, with contributed modules and themes available from its community. It suits site owners, small organizations and developers who want a self-hosted CMS with a straightforward structure and a clear security process.

Key features

Out-of-the-box content management
Web-based installer
Extensible APIs
Contributed modules and themes
Apache or Nginx with MySQL
Private security reporting process

Good fit for

→Building blogs and intranet sites
→Creating image galleries
→Running a community website on your own hosting

Built with: PHP
Tags: cms; php; content-management; backdrop; self-hosted; mysql; websites; modules

Backdrop CMS: questions and answers

What is Backdrop CMS used for?: Backdrop CMS is a full-featured PHP content management system for blogs, galleries, intranets and more, designed to work out of the box with extensible APIs. It is a good fit for building blogs and intranet sites, creating image galleries, and running a community website on your own hosting.
Is Backdrop CMS open source?: Yes. Backdrop CMS is open source under the GPL-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at backdrop/backdrop and is written mainly in PHP.
Is Backdrop CMS free?: Yes. Backdrop CMS is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Backdrop CMS?: Yes. Backdrop CMS can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What are some alternatives to Backdrop CMS?: Similar open-source tools in the CMS category include Textpattern, Joomla and Drupal. SaaS products in the same category include Adobe Experience Manager, Contentful and Sitecore.
Is Backdrop CMS actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Backdrop CMS was on 25 September 2026, and the latest release is 1.35.1, published on 24 September 2026. The project has 1k stars on GitHub.