Kirby

A PHP CMS with a customizable editing panel, used by developers to build tailored websites; commercial licenses are needed for live sites.

1.5k stars, 195 forks PHP On GitHub since October 2017

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

Kirby at a glance

Open sourceYes, MITNo paid parts in the repository
Health79 of 100Actively developed
Self-hostingFrom sourceSteps in the README
Interface40 languagesIncluding English, German and French
Issue repliesWithin ~1 hourMedian first reply; 68% of recent issues answered

What is Kirby?

Kirby lets developers assemble the editing interface their clients need from forms, galleries, articles, tables and other fields, then build the site around that content. This repository contains only the core application folder; new projects start from the Starterkit or Plainkit repositories. Documentation includes a guide, reference and cookbook, and an online demo is available. The panel is localized into 40 languages.

Good fit if

  • You build client sites and want an editing panel shaped exactly to each project.
  • You want editors to see only the fields that matter for their site.

Look elsewhere if

Before you adopt it

The repository data reports an MIT license, yet the README states that Kirby is not free software: you may try it locally or on a test server, but you must buy a license once you use it for a real project. Check the license terms on the official site before deploying. A small team of three maintains it.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 5 November 2026. Report a correction

How to run Kirby yourself

Docker
No Docker files in the repository
Compose file
None in the repository
Setup effort
Not rated: no compose file to judge from
Kubernetes
No Helm chart in the repository
Desktop and mobile
No app builds in GitHub releases
Interface languages
40 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish
Show all 40

Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hindi, Hungarian, Inuktitut, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Norwegian Bokmål, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

Install instructions: getkirby.com or the README on GitHub.

Kirby health: is it still maintained?

79 of 100, actively developed

Release rhythmEvery ~9 daysLatest: 5.6.3, 5 November 2026
Issue repliesWithin ~1 hourMedian first reply; 68% of recent issues answered
Bus factorMedium riskThe most active of 4 authors wrote 73% of recent commits
  • Activity
    261 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 5 November 2026.
    29 / 30
  • Contributors
    4 people wrote the latest 100 commits; the most active wrote 73% of them.
    9 / 20
  • Releases
    11+ releases in the last 12 months; the latest, 5.6.3, on 5 November 2026.
    18 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 68% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 1 hour.
    17 / 20
  • Security practices
    OpenSSF Scorecard 6.4 of 10.
    6 / 10

Read from GitHub on 7 November 2026. How the score works

Kirby security practices

OpenSSF Scorecard checks how a project is developed and released: reviews, protected branches, pinned dependencies, signed releases. It does not audit the code itself.

OpenSSF Scorecard6.4 of 10How the project is built and released
Security policyYesExplains how to report a vulnerability
Signed releasesNoDownloads cannot be checked against a signature

What each check found

  • Binary files10 / 10No compiled binaries checked into the repository
  • Maintained10 / 10Steady commits and issue activity in the last 90 days
  • Security policy10 / 10Explains how to report a vulnerability
  • Code review9 / 10Some changes are merged without review
  • License file9 / 10A license file is present, but not where tools look for it
  • Static analysis6 / 10Code is scanned for bugs on some changes
  • Best-practices badge0 / 10No OpenSSF Best Practices badge
  • Fuzzing0 / 10No fuzz testing found
  • Signed releases0 / 10Releases are not signed

From the OpenSSF Scorecard of 26 October 2026. Checks that do not apply to Kirby are left out.

Kirby license: is it open source?

Kirby uses MIT, an open-source license approved by the OSI.

  1. October 2017First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayMIT.

Kirby for developers

Written in

  • PHP 77%
  • Vue 14%
  • TypeScript 5%
  • JavaScript 3%
  • CSS <1%
  • Other <1%

Getting involved

Contributing guideYesCONTRIBUTING.mdOpen issues111On GitHub
Authors, 90 days4Of the latest 100 commits
Donationsown pageListed on GitHub

Language shares are GitHub’s count of the code in the repository.

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Questions about Kirby

Is Kirby open source?

Yes. Kirby is published under MIT, an OSI-approved open-source license.

Is Kirby still maintained?

Its health score is 79 of 100 (actively developed). It had 261 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 5 November 2026, and its latest release came out on 5 November 2026.

How do I run Kirby?

The repository has no Docker files or app builds, so you build it from source. The README on GitHub has the steps.

What is Kirby written in?

Kirby is written mainly in PHP (77% of the code), with Vue (14%), by GitHub’s count of the repository.

What languages is Kirby available in?

The repository has interface translations for 40 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Polish and Russian.

What are the alternatives to Kirby?

Close alternatives in the Websites & CMS category include CraftCMS, Pimcore, Joomla.