Our most popular free website apps

Our most popular free website apps. Subtitle reads: Powerful tools, zero setup

There are over 80 one-click apps you can install on our Reseller Hosting and Managed Cloud Servers.

These are all open source and completely free to use.

Here’s the rundown of the most installed software here at 20i, updated for 2025.

Content management systems (CMS)

With 40%+ market share of all websites on the internet, the #1 install here won’t come as a surprise:

Most installed content management systems on 20i web hosting: WordPress, Joomla! and Drupal.

All time: 

  1. WordPress
  2. Joomla! (FOSS Awards winner)
  3. Drupal
  4. MediaWiki
  5. ConcreteCMS

Last 90 days: 

  1. WordPress
  2. Joomla!
  3. Drupal
  4. CMS Made Simple
  5. TYPO3

The big 3 remain the same over time, but CMS Made Simple and TYPO3 are gaining traction and are on course to overtake MediaWiki and Concrete5.

Ecommerce

Free, open-source ecommerce software has supported hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs in bringing their ideas to market.

Here’s the ecommerce software that’s most popular with our customers:

Most installed ecommerce software: PrestaShop, Magento and Opencart.

All time:

  1. PrestaShop
  2. Magento
  3. OpenCart (FOSS Awards winner)
  4. AbanteCart
  5. Zen Cart

Last 90 days:

  1. OpenCart 
  2. PrestaShop
  3. AbanteCart
  4. Magento
  5. AgoraCart

OpenCart powers ahead into the top spot, followed closely by PrestaShop, with AbanteCart not far behind.

Galleries

These software packages are great for image-heavy websites and asset management. The ranking is the same on both all-time and for the last 90 days: 

Most installed gallery software: Piwigo, Zen Photo and Coppermine.

All time & last 90 days:

  1. Piwigo
  2. Zenphoto
  3. Coppermine

Forums and message boards

Forums were the dominant online social platforms in the early 2000s, providing a place for communities to gather and share hobbies, interests and knowledge.

Many niche forums are still thriving, and 40% of the forums in the top 1 million websites are built using FOSS. Here’s what’s most popular with our customers:

Most installed forum software: phpBB, Flarum and Simple Machines Forum.

All time:

  1. phpBB 
  2. Flarum (FOSS Awards winner) 
  3. Simple Machines Forum 
  4. MyBB 
  5. Vanilla Forums

Last 90 days:

  1. phpBB 
  2. MyBB
  3. Flarum
  4. Simple Machines Forum
  5. Vanilla Forums

MyBB’s rising popularity sees it leapfrogging ahead of Flarum and Simple Machines Forum, but not quite enough to dethrone phpBB.

Social networks

Like the above, these tools make it possible for anyone to create and managing communities.

Most installed social network software: BuddyPress, Dolphin and Elgg

All time:

  1. BuddyPress 
  2. Dolphin
  3. Elgg
  4. UNA
  5. GNU social

Last 90 days:

  1. UNA
  2. BuddyPress
  3. Elgg
  4. GNU Social

Support for Dolphin ended in 2023, and it was replaced by UNA which sits at the top of the popularity list for the past 90 days.

Business & project management

The popularity and position of these free, open-source business tools haven’t changed over time.

What has changed is that each package has become more useful and feature-rich thanks to the efforts of the developers and the community.

Most installed business & project management tools: InvoiveNinja, Feng Office and InvoicePlane.

All time & last 90 days:

  1. InvoiceNinja  
  2. Feng Office
  3. InvoicePlane
  4. Kanboard
  5. LimeSurvey

Customer relationship management (CRM)

CRMs are an essential part of successful sales teams. Here’s the software our customers rely on to seal their deals:

Most installed CRM software: SuiteCRM, Dolibarr and Vtiger.

All time:

  1. SuiteCRM
  2. Dolibarr (FOSS Awards winner)
  3. Vtiger
  4. SugarCRM*

Last 90 days:

  1. SuiteCRM
  2. Dolibarr
  3. Vtiger

*Since SugarCRM is no longer free or open-source we’re not able to offer it as a one-click-install.

Help desk/support/live chat

Need to create some kind of customer support or live chat solution? Here’s our most-installed help desk software.

Popular help software: osTicket, Trouble Ticket Express and phpFreeChat.

All time:

  1. osTicket
  2. Trouble Ticket Express
  3. phpFreeChat
  4. FreeScout
  5. HelpCenter Live

Last 90 days:

  1. osTicket
  2. FreeScout
  3. Trouble Ticket Express
  4. phpMyFAQ

osTicket maintains its lead, with FreeScout moving up the ranks and gaining a greater foothold.

Marketing

The focus of the software in this broad category varies significantly enough that they aren’t necessarily in direct competition, but it’s interesting to see which digital marketing tools our customers choose to deploy:

Most installed marketing software: PHPMailer, Matomo and phpList.
  1. PHPMailer 
  2. Matomo (FOSS Awards winner)
  3. phpList
  4. Open Web Analytics
  5. SendPortal

In the battle of the imaginatively-titled PHP-things, ‘Mailer’ moved ahead of ‘List’ in the last quarter.

  1. PHPMailer
  2. Mautic (FOSS Awards winner)
  3. Matomo
  4. Sendportal
  5. Open Web Analytics

PHPMailer is the reigning champion, fending off Matomo and the rising Mautic for the top spot.

Agency Web Hosting
Previous Article

Keep your search engine ranking after a site redesign

Next Article

10 Conversion Rate Optimisation Principles That Web Developers Need To Know

View Comments (4)
  1. Kirsty Anderson

    How about including Plone CMS. That is an excellent and VERY SECURE CMS – https://plone.org/

    Also, have you, or will you, be doing a simliar article of what Operating Systems you provide for your VPS’s ?
    It really is about time you offered Debian 9 now.

  2. Interested in creating online instruction packages or eLearning and assessment?

    XERTE is an open source php install that is widely used in HE organisations.

    You can export standalone runtime packages or host them on the server

    https://www.xerte.org.uk/index.php/en/

    Originally written by university of Nottingham, now maintained by a wider community

    Easy to use, makes great interactive learning packages

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *