What is Ponzu used for?

Ponzu is a Go headless CMS and HTTP server framework with an automatic JSON API and built-in HTTPS; the project is marked as abandoned. It is a good fit for learning how a Go-based headless CMS is structured, and content APIs for web and mobile apps.

Is Ponzu open source?

Yes. Ponzu is open source under the BSD-3-Clause licence. Its source code is on GitHub at ponzu-cms/ponzu and is written mainly in Go.

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

Can I self-host Ponzu?

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

What are some alternatives to Ponzu?

Similar open-source tools in the CMS category include Strapi, Payload and Wagtail. SaaS products in the same category include ButterCMS, Contentful and Contza.

Is Ponzu actively maintained?

The most recent commit to Ponzu was on 17 November 2025, and the latest release is v0.11.0, published on 30 September 2019. The project has 5.8k stars on GitHub.

Ponzu: open-source CMS

About Ponzu

Ponzu is an open-source HTTP server framework and CMS written in Go. It generates a JSON HTTP API for your content automatically and provides an administration dashboard for editing it, aimed at developers building web or mobile apps that need a fast content server in a high-concurrency environment.

The project bundles automatic, free TLS using certificates from Let's Encrypt in production (self-signed ones during development), HTTP/2 with Server Push, and command-line code generators for scaffolding content types and editors. It deploys as a single binary plus assets and uses the embedded BoltDB database, so no separate database server is needed. It requires Go 1.8 or newer.

Important: the README now carries a warning that the project is abandoned and suggests Caddy Server for those who mainly need an HTTP server with built-in SSL/TLS. It is released under the BSD-3-Clause license, so it remains available as source, but new deployments should weigh the lack of maintenance.

Key features

Automatic JSON API for content
Automatic HTTPS via Let's Encrypt
HTTP/2 with Server Push
CLI code generators for content types
Extensible admin dashboard
Single binary with embedded BoltDB

Good fit for

→Learning how a Go-based headless CMS is structured
→Content APIs for web and mobile apps

Built with: Go
Tags: headless-cms; golang; json-api; http2; cms; self-hosted; unmaintained

Ponzu: questions and answers

What is Ponzu used for?: Ponzu is a Go headless CMS and HTTP server framework with an automatic JSON API and built-in HTTPS; the project is marked as abandoned. It is a good fit for learning how a Go-based headless CMS is structured, and content APIs for web and mobile apps.
Is Ponzu open source?: Yes. Ponzu is open source under the BSD-3-Clause licence. Its source code is on GitHub at ponzu-cms/ponzu and is written mainly in Go.
Is Ponzu free?: Yes. Ponzu is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
Can I self-host Ponzu?: Yes. Ponzu can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What are some alternatives to Ponzu?: Similar open-source tools in the CMS category include Strapi, Payload and Wagtail. SaaS products in the same category include ButterCMS, Contentful and Contza.
Is Ponzu actively maintained?: The most recent commit to Ponzu was on 17 November 2025, and the latest release is v0.11.0, published on 30 September 2019. The project has 5.8k stars on GitHub.