No. 116of 165 ·Content Management Systems

Alchemy CMS

Web · Self-hosted · API

Freedom report

Two barsScore 5.5

Free tierA free tier is on its own pricing page
Runs widely1 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

Alchemy CMS is ranked #116 of 165 in content management systems on Freedom251. It runs on API, Self-hosted, Web. There is a free plan.

Alchemy CMS plans and pricing

All plans

Open Source Free Free for any project · Self-host anywhere · Community support · BSD-3 licensed alchemy-cms.com · 11 Oct 2026

Cloud tba coming 2026 Fully managed hosting · Automated updates · Daily backups & monitoring · Managed hosting & CDN · Multiple environments · First level support alchemy-cms.com · 11 Oct 2026

Compared on content management systems

Free plan: Yes
Platform type: self_hosted
Editorial workflows: Yes
Custom user roles: Yes
Multilingual content: Yes
SEO tools: Yes
Media library: Yes
Custom content types: Yes

Best Alchemy CMS alternatives

See all 20

Two bars Drupal Free tier No. 1Free8.1 One bar Webflow CMS Free tier No. 2$15/mo8.0 Two bars Plone Free tier No. 3Free8.0 One bar HubSpot Content Hub Free tier No. 4$7/mo7.9 One bar Joomla Free tier No. 5Free7.9 One bar TYPO3 CMS Free tier No. 6€266.67/mo7.9

The record

Product: AlchemyCMS is an open source content management framework built as a Ruby on Rails engine.
Content model: It composes pages from reusable semantic content components while separating content from markup and styling.
Core modules: Its core modules cover pages, languages, sites, users, tags, and a picture and attachment library.
Image processing: Alchemy uses ImageMagick and Dragonfly to render images on the fly, with cropping controls in its picture library.
Caching: Alchemy supports Rails Russian Doll caching for rendered page elements and sends cache headers for browsers, proxies, and CDNs.
Authentication: Alchemy does not ship its own authentication; users can integrate an existing system or use the Devise-based alchemy-devise extension.
E-commerce integration: The official alchemy-solidus extension integrates Solidus products, variants, and taxons into Alchemy pages and shares admin navigation and sessions.
Headless API: The official alchemy-json_api extension provides a JSON:API-compliant API for consuming Alchemy content from frontend frameworks.
Other integrations: Listed extensions include PostgreSQL full-text search, Amazon S3 and Cloudinary storage or image delivery, and Sentry, Bugsnag, and AppSignal error reporting.
Authorization: Alchemy provides member, author, editor, and admin roles and uses CanCanCan for authorization.
Privacy and update checks: The default update check can share the Alchemy, Rails, and Ruby versions and origin host with maintainers; the documentation also offers RubyGems-only and disabled options.
Support: The self-hosted edition lists community support, while the planned Cloud service lists first-level support.
Intended users: Alchemy describes itself as a framework for ambitious projects and teams that need full control, with content authors working inside structures defined by editors or developers.
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Content Management Systems in 2026#116 of 165

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Sources

guides.alchemy-cms.com/about· checked 11 Oct 2026
guides.alchemy-cms.com· checked 11 Oct 2026
alchemy-cms.com/about· checked 11 Oct 2026
guides.alchemy-cms.com/how_to_add_custom_authentication· checked 11 Oct 2026
guides.alchemy-cms.com/extensions· checked 11 Oct 2026
guides.alchemy-cms.com/configuration· checked 11 Oct 2026
alchemy-cms.com· checked 11 Oct 2026