Raytha vs Piranha CMS: two lightweight open source .NET CMSs

Piranha CMS and Raytha are both lightweight, MIT-licensed CMSs for .NET, but they are shaped differently. Piranha is a library you add to your own ASP.NET Core project, with content types defined in C# and pages rendered by your Razor views. Raytha is a complete application: content types, Liquid templates, members, SAML/JWT single sign-on and a REST API are configured in the admin, and you deploy it as one container with PostgreSQL.

Last reviewed October 2026 against Raytha 2.0.1 and Piranha CMS 12.2.

Raytha vs Piranha at a glance

What Piranha does well

Piranha is a clean, developer-friendly CMS library. Because it lives inside your application, you keep full control of routing, authentication and rendering, and content types are plain C# classes that sit in source control and code review. It supports four databases through Entity Framework Core and has a tidy block editor for authors. If you already have an ASP.NET Core app and want to add managed content to it, Piranha is a good fit.

On project activity: Piranha 12.0 shipped in March 2025, and 12.1 and 12.2 in July 2026 were security releases. Check the GitHub repository for the current roadmap before starting a large project.

Where Raytha is different

Raytha is the other model: a CMS you run, not one you compile into your app.

• No code to start. Create content types, fields, list views and templates in the admin. Changes are live without a build.
• Templates in the database. Liquid templates and themes are edited in the browser with revision history, or pulled and pushed as files with the CLI.
• Members and SSO built in. Public users, user groups, emailed one-time codes and SAML or JWT single sign-on, without writing auth code.
• A full REST API. Every content type is available to other apps over REST with API keys, plus webhooks and Raytha Functions for custom endpoints.
• Operations included. A Docker image, health checks, audit logs, role-based permissions, and storage on disk, Azure Blob or S3.

When to choose Piranha

• You want to embed a CMS in an existing ASP.NET Core application.
• You want content types as C# classes in source control.
• You prefer Razor and want your own authentication and routing.
• You need SQL Server, MySQL or SQLite.

When to choose Raytha

• You want a standalone CMS that editors and developers can configure without a build.
• You need public members, user groups and SSO out of the box.
• You want a ready-made REST API for other apps or a front-end framework.
• You are on PostgreSQL and want a single container to deploy.

Before you switch

Raytha is not embeddable as a library; you extend it through templates, Raytha Functions, webhooks and its REST API, or by changing its open source code. It supports PostgreSQL only and has no built-in multilingual content.

FAQ

Is Piranha CMS still maintained?

Piranha's latest releases, 12.1 and 12.2 in July 2026, fixed security issues. The previous feature release was 12.0 in March 2025. Check its GitHub repository for current plans.

What is the difference between Piranha and Raytha?

Piranha is a CMS library you add to your own ASP.NET Core app and configure in C#. Raytha is a standalone CMS application you configure in the admin and deploy as a container.

Are both free?

Yes. Both are open source under the MIT license.

Which databases do they support?

Piranha supports SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL and SQLite through EF Core. Raytha 2.0 supports PostgreSQL only.

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Try Raytha

Raytha is free and MIT-licensed. Deploy it in a few minutes with the Railway template or Docker, following the quickstart. The platform overview lists what is in the box, and the source and release notes are on GitHub.