Joomla vs Sulu

Joomla8.6Visit Sulu6.7Visit

Higher score Joomla #6 in Content Management Systems 8.6/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 6 of 6 features Visit Joomla

vs

Sulu #22 in Content Management Systems 6.7/10 Open source ✓ 6 of 6 features Visit Sulu

• Joomla fits best

  General-purpose open-source website management

• Sulu fits best

  Multisite and multilingual organizations

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Side by side

Feature	Joomla 8.6/10 Visit ↗	Sulu 6.7/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.6	6.7
Ranking	#6 in Content Management Systems	#22 in Content Management Systems
Best for	General-purpose open-source website management	Multisite and multilingual organizations
Pricing model	Free	Free
Starting price	Free plan	Open source
Free plan	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Community, Docs	Email, Community, Docs
Compliance	2FA	GDPR, 2FA
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Joomla 6/6 · Sulu 6/6
Editorial workflows	✓	✓
Custom user roles	✓	✓
Multilingual content	✓	✓
SEO tools	✓	✓
Media library	✓	✓
Custom content types	✓	✓
Specs
Platform type	Hybrid	Self_hosted
Our review
Pros	Free, open-source platform with self-hosted deployment Built-in multilingual content, workflows, SEO, and versioning Granular permissions, custom fields, templates, extensions, and APIs	Multisite and multilingual content management with localization controls Editorial workflows cover revision, approval, publishing, and archiving Fine-grained permissions, reusable blocks, SEO, media, and headless delivery
Cons	You manage hosting for a self-hosted installation Hosting and third-party extensions may add separate costs Fewer verified integrations than category leaders	Self-hosted operation requires deployment and infrastructure ownership Its feature depth may exceed the needs of a simple single-site CMS PHP and Symfony expertise is relevant for implementation and customization
Our verdict	Joomla is a free, open-source content management system for publishing web content on a user's own hosting. It is suited to corporate sites, portals, intranets, publications, government and nonprofit websites, online reservations, and… Read the review →	Sulu is an open-source content management system for PHP and Symfony developers building complex websites, web applications, and content-driven platforms. It supports multisite webspace management, multilingual content, structured page… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Joomla — where it wins

  • Free, open-source platform with self-hosted deployment
  • Built-in multilingual content, workflows, SEO, and versioning
  • Granular permissions, custom fields, templates, extensions, and APIs

  Where it doesn't

  • You manage hosting for a self-hosted installation
  • Hosting and third-party extensions may add separate costs
  • Fewer verified integrations than category leaders

• Sulu — where it wins

  • Multisite and multilingual content management with localization controls
  • Editorial workflows cover revision, approval, publishing, and archiving
  • Fine-grained permissions, reusable blocks, SEO, media, and headless delivery

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted operation requires deployment and infrastructure ownership
  • Its feature depth may exceed the needs of a simple single-site CMS
  • PHP and Symfony expertise is relevant for implementation and customization

• Joomla8.6/10 · Free plan

  A capable, free CMS for multilingual publishing, workflows, permissions, and structured content.

  Visit JoomlaFull verdict →
• Sulu6.7/10 · Open source

  A flexible open-source CMS for organizations managing multilingual, multisite content.

  Visit SuluFull verdict →