Kirby alternative

Hatamoto vs Kirby

Kirby stores every page as a text file in a folder and builds its admin from blueprints you write. Developers get full control, and they also write the SEO, forms and sitemap themselves. Hatamoto has those built in. Kirby is ahead on languages, roles and content you can edit as plain files.

Install Hatamoto See the full comparison

Hatamoto ahead: 15 Built-in SEO, forms, analytics, AI agents and updates
Kirby ahead: 13 Flat files, languages, roles, sign-in and editor flexibility
About the same: 9 Page cache, REST API, drafts and blocks

Line by line

The full comparison

37 lines in nine groups. Open a group to see each line. "Ahead" means better out of the box for a typical business website.

Hatamoto aheadKirby aheadAbout the same

Platform and hostingHatamoto 2Kirby 3Even 2

Platform and hosting: Hatamoto vs Kirby
Line	Hatamoto	Kirby	Ahead
What you run	One Go binary and a Postgres database	PHP 8.2 or later on Apache, nginx or Caddy	Even
Database	Postgres	None. Each page is a folder of text files	Kirby
Licence	Apache-2.0, open source	Proprietary. The code is public, and every live site needs a paid licence	Hatamoto
Price	Free	€99 per site for small clients, €349 otherwise, with three years of updates	Hatamoto
Hosting	A VPS or container host	Most shared PHP hosting that can run WordPress	Kirby
More than one language	No, one language per site	Built in, with right-to-left support	Kirby
Several sites from one install	No, one install per site	No, one licence and one install per site	Even

Editing and contentHatamoto 1Kirby 3Even 3

Editing and content: Hatamoto vs Kirby
Line	Hatamoto	Kirby	Ahead
Admin built from your model	Admin forms come from content types you set up in the admin	The Panel is drawn from YAML blueprints you write, so editors see only the fields they need	Kirby
Adding a content type	In the admin, no code	A blueprint file and a PHP template	Hatamoto
Blocks and layouts	Section-based page builder	Blocks and layout fields in core	Even
Preview	Live preview in the page builder	Preview of unsaved changes, with a link you can share	Even
Drafts and revisions	Drafts, scheduling and revision history	Drafts and unlisted pages. Content history lives in Git if you commit it	Even
Roles and permissions	Owner and editor	Custom roles with fine-grained permissions	Kirby
Edit content without the admin	No, edits go through the admin, API or CLI	Yes, open the text file in any editor	Kirby

SEO and AI searchHatamoto 5

SEO and AI search: Hatamoto vs Kirby
Line	Hatamoto	Kirby	Ahead
SEO titles and descriptions	Built in	Written into your templates, or a plugin	Hatamoto
Sitemaps	Built in	A cookbook recipe you code yourself	Hatamoto
Schema markup (JSON-LD)	Built in for every content type	A plugin, or your own templates	Hatamoto
Redirects and 404 log	Built in	The Retour plugin, or routes in code	Hatamoto
llms.txt and AI crawler controls	Built in	Not in core	Hatamoto

AI agents and developer toolsHatamoto 1Kirby 1Even 1

AI agents and developer tools: Hatamoto vs Kirby
Line	Hatamoto	Kirby	Ahead
MCP server	Built in	Third-party plugins	Hatamoto
REST API	Built in, with scoped keys	Built in, and every request must be authenticated	Even
Query language	Not included	KQL, an official plugin	Kirby

SpeedKirby 1Even 1

Speed: Hatamoto vs Kirby
Line	Hatamoto	Kirby	Ahead
Page caching	Built in and on by default, cleared on every edit	Built in, off until you switch it on	Even
Cache storage	In memory	Files, APCu, Memcached or Redis	Kirby

Site featuresHatamoto 3Even 1

Site features: Hatamoto vs Kirby
Line	Hatamoto	Kirby	Ahead
Forms	Built in, with spam protection and CSV export	Hand-coded from a cookbook recipe, or a paid plugin	Hatamoto
Visitor analytics	Built in, no cookies	Not in core	Hatamoto
Webhooks	Built in and signed	You write hooks in PHP	Hatamoto
Menus	Built in	Built from your page tree in templates	Even

Plugins and themesHatamoto 1Kirby 1Even 1

Plugins and themes: Hatamoto vs Kirby
Line	Hatamoto	Kirby	Ahead
Plugin safety	Every plugin runs in a WebAssembly sandbox	Plugins are PHP with full access to the site	Hatamoto
Plugin directory	A small signed first-party set	An official directory of free and paid plugins	Kirby
Themes and starter kits	Installable themes with a page builder	Starter kits, then your own templates	Even

Security and dataHatamoto 1Kirby 2

Security and data: Hatamoto vs Kirby
Line	Hatamoto	Kirby	Ahead
Staff sign-in	Password, rate limits and a private admin address	Two-factor sign-in, with passkeys coming in Kirby 6	Kirby
Updates	Signed and automatic, with release channels and rollback	Replace the kirby folder or run Composer, then deploy	Hatamoto
Backups	One command exports content, media and settings	Copy the content folder	Kirby

Track record and communityHatamoto 1Kirby 2

Track record and community: Hatamoto vs Kirby
Line	Hatamoto	Kirby	Ahead
Maturity	Pre-1.0, runs hatamoto.dev	Since 2012, now on version 5 with 6 in beta	Kirby
Community	Small and growing	A loyal forum and Discord community	Kirby
Importing from WordPress	Built in, with a URL audit	Community importers	Hatamoto

Compared against Kirby 5.6 with core features, plugins named where needed on 28 October 2026. Sources: Kirby on GitHub, licence, Kirby pricing, content guide, sitemap recipe, contact form recipe, Kirby 6. Found something out of date? Open an issue.

01
Kirby is a developer's toolkit

You write the blueprints, templates, meta tags and sitemap, and Kirby gives you a clean admin over the result. It suits developers who want to own every line of the site.
How Hatamoto themes work
02
Hatamoto is ready on day one

SEO tags, JSON-LD, sitemaps, redirects, forms and analytics work from the first install. You set up content types in the admin, with no code.
Install Hatamoto
03
Forms without writing a controller

Kirby's official contact form is a cookbook recipe in PHP. Hatamoto stores form entries, filters spam and exports them to CSV.
Forms
04
Agents connect out of the box

Hatamoto's MCP server, llms.txt and AI crawler reports are built in. Kirby relies on third-party plugins for MCP.
Hatamoto's MCP server
05
No licence to activate

Kirby needs a paid licence for each live site, and that licence covers three years of updates. Hatamoto is Apache-2.0 and updates itself from signed releases.
How updates work
06
Kirby wins on languages and plain files

Built-in multi-language, custom roles and content you can edit in a text editor are real strengths. Hatamoto has one language and two roles.
What Hatamoto leaves out

Being straight with you

When Kirby is the better choice

Choose Kirby if any of these describe your project.

You want no database, so every page is a file you can read and commit to Git.
Your host is shared PHP hosting and a VPS is not an option.
You want to design the admin screen for each client from blueprints.
Your site is in more than one language, including right-to-left.
You need custom roles for different editors.
You prefer to write every meta tag and template yourself.

Moving from Kirby

Your content is already in folders

Each Kirby page is a text file next to its images, so a script can walk the content folder. Hatamoto does not have a Kirby importer yet.

1
Install Hatamoto
Run it with Docker or the single binary, next to a Postgres database. Getting started
2
Mirror your blueprints
Create a Hatamoto content type for each Kirby page blueprint, with matching fields. Content types
3
Walk the content folder
Have a script or an AI agent read each text file, convert the block JSON to HTML, and create the page and its images through MCP or the CLI. Connect an AI agent
4
Keep the URLs
Kirby URLs follow the folder tree. Match them with Hatamoto URL patterns or add redirects, then switch the domain. URL patterns

Questions people ask

Written by the Hatamoto team, from Kirby's licence, pricing and documentation as of October 2026.

Is Kirby free?

No. Kirby says plainly that it is not free software. You can develop locally for free, and every public site needs a licence: €99 for clients under €1 million in revenue or funding, or €349 otherwise. Each licence includes three years of updates.

Is Hatamoto a Kirby alternative?

Yes, if you want SEO, forms, redirects and AI agent support without writing them yourself. Kirby is the better choice if you want a flat-file site, several languages or full control over every template.

Does Kirby have SEO features?

Kirby gives you full control of the markup, and the SEO work is yours to do. Sitemaps are a cookbook recipe, and meta tags, JSON-LD and redirects come from your templates or plugins. Hatamoto includes them in the core.

Can Kirby run without a database?

Yes, that is Kirby's defining feature. Every page is a folder with a text file and its media, so you can back up by copying the folder and keep content in Git. Hatamoto stores content in Postgres.

Does Kirby work with AI agents?

Through third-party plugins, such as Kirby MCP and Copilot. Neither the Kirby 5 nor the Kirby 6 release notes mention AI or MCP in the core. Hatamoto's MCP server is built in.

How do I move a Kirby site to Hatamoto?

Create matching content types, then have a script or an AI agent walk your content folder and create each page through Hatamoto's MCP server or CLI. Kirby blocks are stored as JSON, so convert them to HTML on the way.

Hatamoto vs WordPress

The plugin stack most business sites run on, against one binary with SEO, caching and forms built in.
Read the comparison

Hatamoto vs Kirby

37 lines compared

The full comparison

Six differences between Kirby and Hatamoto

Kirby is a developer's toolkit

Hatamoto is ready on day one

Forms without writing a controller

Agents connect out of the box

No licence to activate

Kirby wins on languages and plain files

When Kirby is the better choice

Your content is already in folders

Install Hatamoto

Mirror your blueprints

Walk the content folder

Keep the URLs

Questions people ask

Other comparisons

Hatamoto vs WordPress