DonkeyCMS vs Bludit

Bludit and DonkeyCMS are close relatives: both are small, both run on PHP, and both install by uploading a folder. The family argument is about two things: where your posts are kept, and where the design comes from.

Checked on 11 October 2026 against Bludit’s own website. How we checked

The short answer

Choose Bludit if you want an open source website or blog with no database at all, free at its core, and you are happy to pick a theme and add plugins.

Choose DonkeyCMS if the website is your own, already online or being built your way, and the blog has to look like it, with backups and updates looked after for you.

DonkeyCMS and Bludit, side by side

DonkeyCMS compared with Bludit, fact by fact
The basics
	DonkeyCMS	Bludit
What it is	A blog for a website built some other way	A flat-file CMS for a website or blog
Design	Your site’s own header, menu and footer	A Bludit theme
Price	Free for one site, paid plans from €6 a month	Free core. Bludit PRO through a Patreon membership, $2 a month
License	Commercial	Open source (MIT)
Hosting	PHP 8.1 or newer and MySQL	PHP 8.0 or newer, no database
Where posts are kept	A MySQL database	Files in JSON format
Installing it	Upload it, then an installer in your browser	Upload it, then an installer in your browser
Making it yours
Themes	None needed	Free and paid themes (paid ones from $13 to $55 when we looked)
Adding features	Built in, nothing to install. No plugins	Through plugins, free and paid (paid ones from $1.50 to $19 when we looked)
Editor	Rich text, with a Markdown mode	Markdown or WYSIWYG
Content	Blog posts, categories and tags	Pages, static pages, categories and tags
Your own name on the admin	With Business white-label licenses (5 or more)	White Labeling, in Bludit PRO ($2 a month); the $10 tier covers use for clients
Looking after it
Backups	Built in on every plan, Free included, on a schedule	Through a plugin: the official Backup Manager is paid, a free one exists
Updates	One click, backed up first, undone if it fails	By hand: back up, download, replace the files
Search engines	Sitemap, structured data and RSS built in	“Built-in SEO tools”
Scheduled posts	Yes	Yes
Comments	Built in, on Pro and up	Through plugins, free ones available
Moving in from WordPress	Built in, on Pro and up	Through a free plugin

Where Bludit wins

No database

Bludit keeps everything in files, so there is no database to create, name or forget the password of. DonkeyCMS needs MySQL. Most hosting has it, but it is one more thing.

An open source core that costs nothing

Bludit itself is free under the MIT license, and the code is open. DonkeyCMS is not open source. Several of Bludit’s extras are paid, though.

It can be the whole website

Bludit builds a small site with static pages as well as a blog. DonkeyCMS only does the blog; the rest of the website is yours to build, any way you like.

Themes and plugins to choose from

There is a directory of each, some free and some paid. DonkeyCMS has neither, on purpose.

Where DonkeyCMS wins

No theme to pick or build

DonkeyCMS copies the header, menu and footer of your own website, existing or new. The blog matches the site on day one, without anybody learning a theme system.

Backups are in the box, and free

Every plan, Free included, backs up posts, settings, team and images, by hand or on a schedule. In Bludit, backups come from a plugin: the official Backup Manager is paid, and a free community one exists.

One price, everything included

A plan is the whole product. Nothing is sold feature by feature, and there is no shopping round the plugin and theme directories to finish the job.

Updates look after themselves

One click. DonkeyCMS backs up first and puts everything back by itself if the update fails. Bludit’s own guide has you back up, download the new version and replace the files.

Built for a team

Seats for colleagues from Pro, custom roles and a review step before publishing on Business. A database is happy with several people writing at once.

The search and AI groundwork is done

Sitemap, Article and FAQ structured data, share pictures in the right shape and RSS, on every plan.

More is already inside

FAQ blocks that search engines and AI tools can read, pictures made lighter automatically, a report of which AI tools and search engines visit your blog (Pro and up), and a team board with plans and tasks (Business). All part of the product, none of it an add-on.

Who should choose which

Choose Bludit if…

You want no database, full stop.
Open source matters to you, and a free core is enough.
You need a small website and a blog from the same tool.
You enjoy choosing a theme and a few plugins.

Choose DonkeyCMS if…

You have a website, or are building one your own way, and want the blog to look exactly like it.
You want backups and safe updates without adding anything.
Several people will write, and some should not touch the settings.
You build sites for clients and hand the blog over to them.
You are moving from WordPress and want your posts to come along (Pro and up).

Try DonkeyCMS free One site, no card, no time limit.

DonkeyCMS vs Bludit: questions, answered

Still deciding? Ask us. We will tell you if Bludit is the better fit.

Two things. Bludit keeps your content in files and needs no database; DonkeyCMS uses MySQL. And Bludit gets its design from a theme, while DonkeyCMS reuses the header, menu and footer of the website you built or are building.

Neither is better; they suit different sizes. Files are simple and there is nothing to set up. A database earns its keep as a blog grows: more posts, scheduled publishing, comments and several people writing at once. If your hosting has MySQL, and nearly all hosting does, you will not notice it is there.

Both are free to start. Bludit’s core is free and open source; its PRO plugins (white labeling, version history, backups, a gallery) come with the $2-a-month Patreon membership (the $1 tier has no downloads; $10 adds use for clients), and its directories also hold paid plugins and themes. DonkeyCMS has a free plan for one site with no time limit, backups included, and paid plans from €6 a month.

It is close to a draw: both are uploaded to your hosting and finished in a browser. DonkeyCMS asks for your database details on the way; Bludit has no database to ask about.

How we checked

Everything this page says about Bludit was read on Bludit’s own website on 11 October 2026. Words in quotation marks are theirs. What it says about DonkeyCMS matches our full feature list.

Software changes faster than web pages do. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.

Bludit belongs to its owner. DonkeyCMS is not affiliated with Bludit.