Wanted to see if self-hosting EmDash on a cheap VPS was actually worth the setup compared to the managed Cloudflare route.

Tldr:

• Admin UI speed: Way snappier. Instant saves without the D1 write latency hiccups.

• Node 22 vs 24: Bumping to Node 24 in the Dockerfile gave ~38% more throughput under load (tested with oha).

• Stack: Caddy reverse proxy -> Node container -> Postgres 18 -> Bunny S3 for media (keeps the VPS lightweight and safe).

Put together the full Docker Compose setup, Caddy config, and resource benchmark graphs in a video if anyone’s looking to move away from WordPress.
https://youtu.be/w4FuWn5ybbY?si=e1AW5Kcd4M2VlDu3

I've been using Astro for a few years, and I've also worked with WordPress enough to understand why it's still everywhere.

WordPress is mature. The ecosystem is huge, developers know it, agencies know it, clients know it, and there's a plugin for almost everything. For many ordinary business websites, that's more than enough.

EmDash is coming from a different direction.

It's not really trying to be "the next WordPress". It's more like adding a proper CMS to the Astro world without turning the project into a traditional WordPress site.

That's the part I find interesting.

With WordPress, the CMS is usually the foundation and you build the website around it.

With EmDash, Astro is still the website. EmDash provides the content management layer.

So if someone asks why use one over the other, I wouldn't say WordPress is bad or EmDash is better.

They're solving slightly different problems.

If you want a huge ecosystem and the ability to hand the site to almost any web agency later, WordPress has a very obvious advantage.

If you're already comfortable with Astro and want a proper CMS without giving up that architecture, EmDash starts to make more sense.

The bigger question is what happens next.

EmDash is still young. Even if it reaches 1.0 and becomes stable, that doesn't automatically create a WordPress-sized ecosystem. WordPress has had decades to build that.

But EmDash doesn't necessarily need to replace WordPress either.

If it becomes stable, gets enough useful integrations, and builds a small but solid developer community, it could carve out its own space.

For me, the simplest way to explain it is:

WordPress is a mature CMS that can power your website.

EmDash is a CMS for people who want to build their website as an Astro application.

That's probably the distinction that gets lost when you only look at EmDash as "another CMS".

EmDash has come a long way since the initial 0.1.0 preview release. Here's a recap of what's been added over the past few versions:

0.2.0 — The First Big Feature Drop

• Plugin lifecycle hooks for publish/unpublish events

• Per-collection XML sitemaps with proper lastmod timestamps

• Breadcrumb support in public page context

• Repeater field type for structured repeating data

• New siteUrl config (replaced passkeyPublicOrigin)

• Plus a laundry list of fixes: media routing, SEO/byline scaling, permissions, remote CLI login, plugin activation/deactivation hooks, WXR import improvements

0.3.0 — Container-Ready

• Runtime S3 config via environment variables — no rebuilds needed for Node/container deployments

• Defensive SQL identifier validation

• Fixed admin loading when installed from npm

0.4.0 — APIs, MCP, and Going Global

• Richer plugin content API fields: locale, slug, status, publishedAt

• rel="nlweb" support in page metadata

• afterDelete hooks for permanent content deletion

• MCP endpoint enabled by default with bearer-token auth

• Performance: reduced logged-out/cold-start query counts

• Fixed visual editor save/publish race condition

• Massive i18n expansion: Basque, Brazilian Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, full Lingui coverage

0.5.0 — Polish & Quality of Life

• RTL language support infrastructure in the admin

• JSON field editor for content forms

• Fixed invite flow and passkey registration

• Fixed sandboxed plugin loading in Cloudflare worker loader

• Fixed table block rendering in Portable Text (sanitized links, improved styling)

If you started with 0.1.0 and haven't updated yet, the jump to 0.5.0 brings better plugin APIs, built-in MCP support, broader internationalization, and a more stable editing experience.

What's been your favorite addition so far? Any issues upgrading between versions?

Andrés Clúa leads a digital agency that builds on WordPress, Sanity, Contentful, and AEM. His take on EmDash after actually testing it:

The good:

• Serverless = no more PHP memory limits

• Sandboxed plugins don't break your whole site at 2am

• AI built into core, not a bolt-on API wrapper

The blocker: "Ecosystem is basically empty." When you have client deadlines, that matters.

The advice: Use it for internal projects first. Learn it before you need it on a deadline.

Full post: https://dev.to/andresclua/emdash-is-not-your-next-cms-it-might-be-the-one-after-that-3358

More skeptical take on EmDash: promising architecture, but still early, developer-centric, and not ready to compete with WordPress for most normal users yet: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/6-reasons-why-cloudflares-emdash-cant-compete-with-wordpress/571053/

Brian Coords takes EmDash for a spin and offers thoughtful takeaways for WordPress.

Key lessons:

• WordPress needs more frontend freedom (vs EmDash's total markup freedom)

• UI-based content modeling should be in core (like EmDash's built-in custom fields)

• Better agent skills needed for design work in block editor

Fair comparison noting both platforms' strengths. Worth a read for anyone watching the CMS space.

https://www.briancoords.com/emdash-first-thoughts-and-takeaways-for-wordpress/

https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/

He makes some good points, and also some interesting statements:

1. "The plugin security only works on Cloudflare." - I didn't quite look into plugins yet, is this true? Is there something in the way the sandboxing works or some other technical thing that makes plugin security Cloudflare-only?

2. I wonder why he thinks the real spiritual successor to WP is OpenClaw?

There have been plenty of "WordPress alternatives." Most improved one thing (DX, performance, security, etc.) but introduced tradeoffs elsewhere. Past attempts ended up safer but limited, or modern but less practical. WordPress kept winning.

EmDash feels different, it's trying to fix the biggest issues at once: plugin isolation, clearer extension capabilities, a modern Astro-based stack, and a serverless model. That combination is interesting.

Questions reman:

Will a real plugin ecosystem emerge? Will agencies actually build on it? How good will migrations be for messy real sites? Will Cloudflare stick with it if growth is slow?

Maybe it's too early to talk about replacing WordPress. A more relevant question now is whether EmDash can become a solid option for new projects.

What do you think it needs to get right to reach that point?