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CMS Made Simple vs Backdrop CMS: catalog facts
CMS Made Simple	Backdrop CMS
Free Free and open source under the GPL-2.0 licence, funded by donations.	Free Free and open source under the GPL-2.0 licence.
Web, Self-hosted	Web, Self-hosted
Themes built from plain HTML and CSS with Smarty Modular with third-party modules and tags	Built-in upgrade path from Drupal 7 Add-ons install from inside the site
Requires PHP hosting and some setup Smarty templating is a learning step for new designers	Requires PHP and MySQL hosting Add-on selection is narrower than larger CMS ecosystems
Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-2.0	License: GPL-2.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.