Wagtail is a free, open-source Django CMS with flexible StreamField content blocks. See features, history, and use cases for 2026.
Wagtail is an open-source content management system built on top of Django, the popular Python web framework. It was created by the UK digital agency Torchbox, which began developing it in 2013 and publicly released it as an open-source project in February 2014, originally as part of a website rebuild for the Royal College of Art.
Wagtail reached its first stable 1.0 release in July 2015 and has since grown into one of the most widely used Python-based CMS platforms, with a large community of contributors and adoption by organizations ranging from government agencies and universities to media companies and nonprofits.
Because Wagtail is a code-first CMS, it is aimed primarily at development teams that want full control over templates, data models, and integrations, rather than non-technical users looking for a plugin-and-click experience.
Wagtail's flagship feature is StreamField, which stores page content as structured JSON blocks rather than free-form HTML, allowing editors to mix and reorder content types like rich text, images, quotes, and custom components while preserving clean, structured data for reuse elsewhere.
The admin interface includes a modern rich text editor, image and document management, page revision history and moderation workflows, multi-site and multi-language support, and a full REST API for headless or hybrid front-end implementations.
Wagtail itself is entirely free and open source under the BSD license, with no licensing fees for the software.
Organizations typically pay only for hosting, Django/Python development time, and optional paid support or custom development from Torchbox or other agencies in the Wagtail ecosystem.
Yes, Wagtail is free and open source under the BSD license, with no cost for the software itself.
Wagtail was created by Torchbox, a UK-based digital agency, first released as open source in February 2014.
StreamField is Wagtail's flexible content architecture that stores page content as structured, reorderable JSON blocks instead of rigid custom fields or raw HTML.
Yes, Wagtail is built on Django and requires Python/Django development knowledge to install, customize, and maintain.
Wagtail reached its first stable 1.0 release on July 16, 2015.
Wagtail is maintained by an open-source core team and community of contributors, with continued sponsorship from Torchbox.
Yes, Wagtail includes a built-in REST API that supports headless and hybrid front-end implementations.
Wagtail is used by government agencies, universities, nonprofits, and companies including Google and NASA, among others.