Mela vs Ratals CMS
Mela
usemela.comRatals CMS
ratals.comSide by side
| Figure | Mela | Ratals CMS |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $33/mo | $79/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | — |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 3 | 4 |
| Spec score · Agency Website Builders | 8.8 (#5) | 8.1 (#18) |
| Forms | Each site includes native forms and a submissions inbox. | The built-in Forms Builder supports unlimited forms, reusable fields, product and quote requests, and embedding through short codes. |
| Integrations | Mela's pricing page lists Brevo, Mailchimp, and Resend form integrations as $9/mo add-ons. | Core CMS features are built in without plugins, third-party services, or additional licenses; email uses SMTP with SPF, DKIM, and DMARC support. |
| Security | Mela lists tenant isolation, encryption of form-submission payloads at rest, scoped personnel access, and audit logging of privileged actions among its safeguards. | Built-in protections include restricted application-file access, SQL injection protection, XSS protection, Content Security Policy enforcement, session validation, CSRF protection, and traffic monitoring. |
| Support | Mela lists [email protected] for general inquiries and [email protected] for security inquiries. | Ratals offers technical support through its contact form and lists support hours as Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. |
Plans
Ratals CMS
- Ratals Commerce$79 a month
- Ratals ERP$199 a month
- Ratals AI$299 a month
- Ratals CMSFree
In their own words
Mela
Mela is a multi-site CMS for creating and managing websites from one dashboard. It is aimed at freelance developers, agencies, studios, and small business owners. A site can begin from a blueprint or a blank slate and is live and editable when created. Mela supports visual content modeling and front ends built against a typed, versioned contract.
Every site includes forms with a submissions inbox, cookieless analytics, redirects, SEO controls, media, localization, and role-based access. Optional add-ons include visual page building, an email designer, and an AI site generator. The Email Builder exports email-safe HTML, but it does not send emails or include contact lists, scheduling, or open- and click-tracking. Brevo, Mailchimp, and Resend form integrations are listed as $9/mo add-ons. Developers can use a Next.js theme framework with a versioned theme contract, while the MCP server works with Claude Code, Cursor, or another MCP client for content modeling, site imports, media uploads, and typed frontend scaffolding.
Ratals CMS
Ratals CMS is an open-source content management system for building and managing websites, with web and self-hosted options. Its CMS core uses the Apache 2.0 license, so it can be modified and deployed commercially without licensing fees. Teams can create page sections in the admin area with the Sub-Item builder, and the Forms Builder supports reusable fields, product and quote requests, and short-code embedding. One installation can manage multiple sites with separate settings for domains, caching, HTTPS, hreflang and SMTP. Each URL has controls for titles, descriptions, canonical URLs, robots directives, headings, breadcrumbs, sitemaps, search visibility, authorship and dates. Built-in protections cover restricted application-file access, SQL injection, XSS, content security policy, sessions and CSRF. Updates are available from the admin area, with permissions assignable to individual administrators. Requirements list PHP 8.1+, MySQL 8.0+ and a web server tested on Nginx, Apache and LiteSpeed. The CMS plan has no listed price; Ratals Commerce, which includes CMS, costs $79 a month.