nesta

Nesta is a file-based CMS: no database, no admin panel. You write pages in Markdown or Textile, organize them in folders, and Nesta serves them. It's closer to a static site generator that runs as a Ruby app than a traditional CMS.

MIT license, Ruby. The project peaked years ago and development has effectively stopped. Pages are files on disk, categories are folder structures, and the templating uses Haml or ERB. It supports Markdown with metadata headers for titles, descriptions, and categories.

Fully free. No paid tier, no hosted version. It's a Ruby gem: gem install nesta.

The catch: Nesta is a historical artifact. It was relevant when static site generation was less mature. In 2026, Hugo, Astro, Next.js, and dozens of other tools do everything Nesta does with better performance, larger communities, and active development. Unless you have an existing Nesta site to maintain, there's no reason to start a new project with it. If you need a Ruby-based CMS, look at Middleman or just use Jekyll.