Webhook Could Be The Next Big CMS

Dave Snider, the designer behind GiantBomb, ComicVine, and Tested, is Kickstarting his new content management system: Webhook. Webhook aims to have easier setup and deployment from the Big 3 (Drupal, WordPress, and Joomla), but without sacrificing the level of customization.

Implementation seems straightforward enough; download the template, make your edits, set up user accounts, and deploy! No LAMP setup, no config files, no databases… Where’s the catch? Snider says “You don’t need any hosting…there’s no hosting to worry about.” What that really means is that Webhook will actually be the sole method of hosting for now. According to the Kickstarter page’s details “Hosting is built into Webhook. Depending upon the reward you choose you’ll receive at least one-month of hosting for your site. Continuing to use Webhook past this period is completely voluntary and will incur a monthly subscription fee of $20 a month. This price will only be available to Kickstarter backers and last for as long as you host your site with Webhook.” While, a subscriber could just pull the .html files from their Webhook project and host it on another server instance, they’d lose most of the functionality that makes the CMS interesting (like the Google-Docs-style live group editing). As such, users need to objectify the price of convenience.

Webhook seems like it’ll be a great resource for those looking to expand beyond Tumblr and Blogger, but who may not quite be ready for their project to require a completely custom site and a professional web developer. The $20 subscription isn’t very far above what renting your own low-end VPS and a domain name would cost, but there are definitely cheaper routes if you know your way around hosting. However, if you’re looking for a quick and easy CMS, Webhook is absolutely worth looking into.