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Joomla! vs CMS Made Simple: catalog facts
Joomla!	CMS Made Simple
Free Free and open source under the GPL-2.0 or later license.	Free Free and open source under the GPL-2.0 licence, funded by donations.
Self-hosted	Web, Self-hosted
Built-in multilingual support Multi-user permission levels	Themes built from plain HTML and CSS with Smarty Modular with third-party modules and tags
Requires a PHP and database server Administration can feel complex for small sites	Requires PHP hosting and some setup Smarty templating is a learning step for new designers
Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License: GPL-2.0	License: GPL-2.0
No account 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.