Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET), the leading connectivity cloud company, has announced the early developer preview of EmDash, a new open source content management system (CMS) designed to make it easier and safer for organisations to build and manage websites.Â
A CMS is the software that powers a website’s content, allowing users to create, edit and publish pages without needing to code from scratch. WordPress is the most widely used example, powering more than 40% of websites globally.Â
EmDash is designed as a modern alternative, built using current technologies and a cloud-first approach to better meet the needs of today’s organisations. It is free, open source, and can be deployed on Cloudflare’s global network or on existing infrastructure.Â
One of the key drivers behind EmDash is improving website security. Traditional platforms like WordPress rely heavily on third-party plugins to add functionality, but these plugins can often access the entire website, making them a common source of cyber vulnerabilities.
EmDash addresses this by isolating each plugin in its own secure environment with clearly defined permissions. This means that even if a plugin is compromised, it cannot affect the rest of the website, significantly reducing overall risk.
The platform also reflects how the web is evolving. EmDash includes built-in support for new web monetisation models, allowing publishers to charge for access to content on a pay-per-use basis — including by automated tools and AI agents — without relying solely on subscriptions.
Built with modern web frameworks, EmDash is designed to deliver faster performance, lower infrastructure overheads, and greater flexibility for developers and organisations. Cloudflare has also introduced tools to help organisations migrate existing WordPress sites to the new platform.
EmDash is available now in early developer beta. For more information and to read the full blog, visit: https://blog.cloudflare.com/emdash-wordpress/
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Nabilah Husain: nabilah.husain@hotwireglobal.com
