How Kiln compares
Facts checked 2026-10-06. Review owner: the Kiln maintainers (@The-Verscienta). The relationships row was added on 2026-10-18.
These pages compare Kiln with the systems people most often weigh it against. Each page says where the other system is the better choice, as well as where Kiln is.
| Compare | In one line |
|---|---|
| Kiln vs WordPress | The default choice. It has the largest ecosystem by far, built on PHP and plugins. |
| Kiln vs Ghost | A focused, polished platform for publishing, newsletters and paid memberships. |
| Kiln vs Strapi | An open-source headless CMS on Node, with models built in the admin UI and a managed cloud. |
| Kiln vs Payload | A code-first headless CMS in TypeScript that lives inside a Next.js app. |
| Kiln vs Directus | A data platform that sits on top of an SQL database, under a source-available licence. |
Moving over:
- Migrating from WordPress:
mix kiln.import.wordpress - Migrating from Ghost:
mix kiln.import.ghost
Feature grid
The main differences side by side. Each cell links to its source: Kiln's own documentation for Kiln, and the vendor's documentation, pricing page or licence for everything else. All checked 2026-10-06, except the relationships row, checked 2026-10-18. Each product's page has the detail behind a cell.
A dash means the feature is not one these pages compare for that product. It does not mean the product cannot do it.
The short version
Kiln is a self-hosted CMS built on Elixir, Phoenix and Ash. One deployment serves your website and a read/write headless API (JSON:API, GraphQL, MCP). It needs nothing beyond PostgreSQL. Search, outbound email (its own DKIM-signing mail server), background jobs and real-time updates all ship inside it.
What Kiln gives up to get there:
- No managed hosting. You run it, or someone runs it for you.
- No runtime plugin marketplace. Plugins are compile-time code (why).
- No production co-editing yet. Several people can be in one document, with presence and field locks, but they cannot type in the same field at once (details).
- It is young. 1.0.0 shipped on 2026-10-02.
- Fewer people know Elixir than PHP or JavaScript.
If none of those rule it out, the pages above show where Kiln is ahead.
How these pages stay honest
Facts about other products go stale, so the pages follow four rules:
- Every claim about another product links to its source. We prefer the vendor's own docs, pricing page or licence file. A claim we could not trace to a primary source is left out, not paraphrased from a blog.
- Every page shows the date its facts were checked. Prices, licences and version numbers are only as good as that date. If you are reading this long after it, check the linked source.
- Claims about Kiln link to Kiln's own documentation, so you can check them as well.
- A named owner reviews every page at least every 90 days, and whenever a compared product ships a new major version or changes its licence or pricing. The review re-checks every source and updates the date.
Found something wrong or out of date? Open an issue with a link to the source. Corrections that make a competitor look better are just as welcome.