Superdesk is a free, open-source newsroom CMS by Sourcefabric for multi-channel news publishing. See features, licensing, pros, cons, and FAQs.
Category
CMS
Pricing
open-source (free self-hosted; paid implementation and hosting services available), from Free (self-hosted)
Verified
Not yet
Last updated
July 19, 2026
Founded
2016
Headquarters
Prague, Czech Republic
APIOpen SourceFreemiumSelf-Hosted
What Is Superdesk
Superdesk is an open-source, headless content management system built specifically for newsrooms. It is developed by Sourcefabric, a Czech nonprofit that builds open-source software for independent journalism, and had its first public release in spring 2016.
The platform is designed to handle the entire news production lifecycle, from sourcing and creating content to editorial planning, production, and distribution across multiple channels, all from a single system.
Key Features
Superdesk follows a create-once-publish-everywhere approach, letting newsrooms produce content once and distribute it across web, print, mobile, and social channels without duplicating work. It ingests content from wire services, RSS, social media, and SMS into a unified workflow.
It includes planning and desk assignment tools for scheduling coverage, flexible templates for automating recurring publishing tasks, and an API-centric, modular architecture that integrates with legacy systems and third-party applications.
Pricing
Superdesk itself is free and open source under the AGPLv3 license, and can be self-hosted through manual installation or Docker at no licensing cost. Organizations that prefer a managed deployment can engage Sourcefabric directly for paid implementation, hosting, and support services, which are priced individually per engagement.
Key Features
Create-once-publish-everywhere workflow — Produce content once and distribute it across web, print, mobile, and social channels without duplicating work.
Multi-source content ingestion — Aggregates incoming content from wire services, RSS feeds, social media, and SMS into one workflow.
Unified multimedia content management — Manages text, images, video, audio, metadata, and author rights within a single system.
Editorial planning and desk assignment — Tools for scheduling coverage and assigning stories to specific editorial desks.
API-centric, headless architecture — A modular design that integrates with legacy newsroom systems and third-party applications.
Docker-based self-hosted deployment — Can be installed manually or via Docker for organizations that want to run it on their own infrastructure.
Scales from small to national-scale newsrooms — Supports deployments ranging from five users publishing to one site up to 500 users publishing across 30-plus sites.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Completely free and open source under the AGPLv3 license
Purpose-built for professional newsroom editorial workflows
Highly scalable, used by both small publishers and national news agencies
API-centric design integrates with legacy and third-party systems
Backed by an established nonprofit focused specifically on journalism software
Cons
Requires technical resources to self-host and maintain
No official low-cost cloud tier; managed hosting is a custom-priced service
Steeper learning curve for non-technical newsroom staff
Smaller community and ecosystem than mainstream commercial CMS platforms
Documentation and support are more limited outside of paid engagements with Sourcefabric