october

A Laravel-based CMS for developers who build client websites, with themes, plugins and a back-end panel for editors; licensed under a commercial EULA.

11.2k stars, 2.2k forks PHP On GitHub since November 2013

Visit website View on GitHub How to run it

What is october?

October CMS, founded in 2014 by Alexey Bobkov and Sam Georges, is a content management system and web platform on top of the Laravel PHP framework. Developers install it with Composer, build themes and plugins in familiar Laravel style, and hand clients an admin area for content. The RainLab plugin suite and demo repositories show how to extend it. The back end is available in 35 languages.

Good fit if

  • Your agency already works in Laravel and wants a CMS that feels like the same codebase.
  • You build bespoke sites for clients rather than picking off-the-shelf themes.

Look elsewhere if

  • You need an OSI-licensed PHP CMS: WordPress or Joomla, both GPL.
  • You prefer Python and a structured page model: Wagtail.

Before you adopt it

October is source-available software under an End User License Agreement, not open source by the OSI definition; read the EULA to see what you may run and redistribute before using it for client work. No license file was matched in the repository data. Most recent changes come from a single developer. Setup needs PHP, Composer and optionally a database; there is no official Docker image.

Drafted with AI from the project's README and repository data, then checked against that data on 31 October 2026. Report a correction

october health: is it still maintained?

75 of 100, actively developed

  • Activity
    87 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 1 November 2026.
    24 / 30
  • Contributors
    6 people wrote the 87 commits of the last 90 days; the most active wrote 82% of them.
    11 / 20
  • Releases
    4 releases in the last 12 months; the latest, v4.4.0, on 30 August 2026.
    16 / 20
  • Replies to issues
    Maintainers answered 92% of recent issues, with a median first reply after 20 hours.
    19 / 20
  • Security practices
    OpenSSF Scorecard 4.5 of 10.
    5 / 10

Read from GitHub on 3 November 2026. How the score works

october license: is it open source?

We could not identify the license of october. Check the repository before you build on it.

  1. November 2013First published on GitHub.
  2. TodayUnidentified license.

How to run october 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
35 languages

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

Alternatives to october

  • JoomlaHome of the Joomla! Content Management System 85 health · GPL-2.0 · 5.2k stars
  • UmbracoUmbraco is a free and open source .NET content management system helping you deliver delightful digital… 92 health · MIT · 5.3k stars
  • WagtailA Django content management system focused on flexibility and user experience 86 health · BSD-3-Clause · 20.6k stars
  • WordPressWordPress, Git-ified. This repository is just a mirror of the WordPress subversion repository. Please do not… 63 health · GPL-2.0 · 21.5k stars

All 5 projects in Websites & CMS

Questions about october

Is october open source?

We could not identify its license, so treat it as not open source until you have checked the repository.

Is october still maintained?

Its health score is 75 of 100 (actively developed). It had 87 commits in the last 90 days, the latest on 1 November 2026, and its latest release came out on 30 August 2026.

How do I run october?

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

What are the alternatives to october?

Close alternatives in the Websites & CMS category include Joomla, Umbraco, Wagtail.