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Updated last week

Looking for a self-hosted WordPress alternative with visual editor + CMS + commerce

yyannick
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Hi everyone,

I'm running a web development agency and I'm looking for a modern solution that allows me to build and manage websites for clients—similar to WordPress in flexibility, but with a better developer and user experience.

Here's what I'm looking for:
  1. Visual Page Builder (Live Editor):
A visual editor that lets non-technical users (clients, marketers) update their site visually—similar to Gutenberg, Webflow, or Builder.io. Ideally with:

Live editing (WYSIWYG)
Drag & drop blocks (that I can define as a developer)
Custom components or sections I create
Inline editing or visual preview

  1. CMS Features:
Collections, custom fields, relationships, media handling
Role-based access (e.g. Admin, Editor, Client)
Headless or API-accessible if needed

  1. Commerce Integration:
Shopify integration, or built-in commerce (products, carts, checkout, orders)
Optional: Snipcart or other headless ecom options

  1. Self-Hosting:
Ideally, I want to self-host everything: frontend, CMS, and editor
If not fully self-hostable, then at least the live editor should update the production site directly (no manual exporting)

  1. Developer Experience:
I want to define all components in code (React/HTML/CSS/JS is fine)
Clients should only be able to use pre-built blocks
The system should be extensible and scalable for multiple clients

  1. Multi-Tenant or Agency-Friendly:
Ability to host/manage multiple projects or clients
White-labeling or at least client-specific environments/spaces


My Question:
Is there a tool (or stack) that offers:

A live visual editor (WYSIWYG)
CMS + Commerce integration
Self-hosting (or at least live publishing directly to my site)
Support for developer-defined components and user roles

I think all of this can be realised if i could selfhost the builder under builder.mywebsite.com and than if i plubsih it is published to mywebsite.com. Or is this to complex and their is a easier software stack i should use?

Thanks a lot for any insights or suggestions!
O
y
21 comments
OOleg Isonen
Hi, quick feedback:

  1. Visual Builder
Do you mean design process or just content editing of static pages. These are very different things. Webstudio is mainly for visually building things, but there is also content mode for the client.
OOleg Isonen
  1. Webstudio has no CMS.
Our strategy is to integrate with 3rd party CMSs for flexibility and scaling.
OOleg Isonen
  1. Not there yet, you can use a buy button etc as a widget. E.g. shopify has one and probably many others. Plan is to make a full headless ability to work with different shoping backends.
OOleg Isonen
  1. Builder can be self-hosted/run locally for development purposes, for building the builder, we don't recommend to do that in prod yet, even though you can.
We have a decoupled architecture, sites it produces are standalone apps you can selfhost anywhere and use cli to sync them after changes

https://docs.webstudio.is/university/self-hosting
OOleg Isonen
  1. Not there yet.
OOleg Isonen
  1. Not sure what you mea exactly.
Providing them a white-labeled builder?
OOleg Isonen
Self-hosting (or at least live publishing directly to my site)

This is someething we are planing on adding: you provide the url that will be called from the builder upon publish, and there you can setup a sync/build and publish on your own site hosting without having to host the builder.
OOleg Isonen
I think all of this can be realised if i could selfhost the builder under builder.mywebsite.com

Some of it can, some of it - not easy.
yyannick
Thank you for your quick response!

I just want to give my clients an content editor where they can move sections put components together and change texts without breaking the design i think your contentmode could be a perfect fit. I don't mind that Webstudio has no CMS but to have the possibility to use one is important, same goes for the commerce. I know the commerce features are still in progress but they are at least on their way.

What I need is that when changes get made in the content mode and i host the page myself they get synced so i don't always have to export and deploy the changes manually but u mentioned something like this is on it's way, so i guess maybe I just have to wait, till all these features can be used.
OOleg Isonen
Custom publish url feature is technically a day of work for us (or less), we were just busy with other things.
OOleg Isonen
May I ask why you prefer to self-host? Curious to see the reasons.
yyannick
Some of my clients prefer or are required to host in specific countries due to compliance reasons. But beyond that, I just really need flexibility – whether it's choosing the right CMS, integrating Shopify or WooCommerce, or deciding where to host. In the end, I want a system where I don’t have to build a completely different setup for every new client, but instead something that lets me easily adapt and integrate whatever is needed.
OOleg Isonen
That's what webstudio cloud does
OOleg Isonen
You can intergrate any CMS directly in the cloud, its agnostic
OOleg Isonen
Compliance is also fine, we don't store any user data nor do we track anything on the user's site
OOleg Isonen
I have a feeling these things might be misunderstood
OOleg Isonen
This is not like in wordpress where hosting cms and the site and the database is all one giant thing that needs compliance. In webstudio: Builder is separate, site hosting is separate.
OOleg Isonen
In fact we are even using different clouds for builder and sites. Completely decoupled
OOleg Isonen
When you have a CMS or database and oyu have personal data in there - that's where you need to look into compliance.
OOleg Isonen
Sites published by webstudio are essentially what you want the world to access, there should be no need for compliance there.
yyannick
Thanks for the detailed explanation — I really appreciate the transparency and the architectural clarity behind how Webstudio handles hosting and compliance. It definitely makes sense, especially with the separation between builder, CMS, and deployment layers.

For me, the preference for self-hosting isn't driven by cost or even strict compliance in most cases — it's more about long-term control and flexibility. I’ve found that when I host things myself:

I have full visibility into what’s running, where, and how it’s configured

I can quickly adapt or debug without relying on third-party infrastructure decisions

I’m able to build very specific integrations or workflows that wouldn’t be feasible otherwise

I realize that this isn’t always the most efficient route, but there’s a certain peace of mind that comes with owning the entire stack — even if I rarely need to go that deep. It’s like the difference between using a great apartment vs. owning the land it’s on – both can be amazing, but the relationship to it changes.

That said, I’m definitely open to hybrid models as long as the core remains flexible. Just wanted to give a bit more context on where I'm coming from.
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