DNN Platform (formerly DotNetNuke) is an MIT-licensed, C# web content management platform for the Microsoft ecosystem, built for teams that need to run commercial websites, social intranets, community portals, or partner extranets on open source software they control.

What it is

DNN Platform is the open source CMS formerly known as DotNetNuke, written in C# and released under the MIT licence. It is supported by the .NET Foundation, and contributors work under that foundation's Code of Conduct, with pull requests reviewed and accepted by an Approvers Group. The project describes itself as the leading open source CMS in the Microsoft ecosystem, and the usage figures behind that claim are substantial: more than 8 million downloads, over 750,000 sites powered worldwide, and a community of more than 1 million members. Releases, forums, blogs, and documentation are hosted at dnncommunity.org, and the repository carries OpenSSF Scorecard and OpenSSF Best Practices badges alongside a Build and Validate CI workflow.

The concrete problem it solves is running many content-rich sites without rebuilding the same plumbing for each one. A single installation provides multi-site capability, DNN sites are described as easy to deploy and update, and they can hold dynamic content of all types. Localization is handled both statically and dynamically, with six languages available out of the box: English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. Where a team needs something the platform does not ship, the DNN Store lists thousands of free and commercial extensions, apps, and skins, which the README presents as the fast and affordable alternative to writing every feature in-house; code quality is monitored with NDepend.

Key capabilities

• Single installation with multi-site capability, so one deployment serves many sites.
• File and folder management alongside static and dynamic localization, with English, Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Spanish shipped out of the box.
• Customized web site templates and themes, plus third-party skins available through the DNN Store.
• Cloud-ready with Microsoft Azure compatibility.
• Hundreds of REST APIs for site and content management.
• A UI with drag-and-drop capability and a rich-text editor for in-place editing, built on modern client-side tooling including CSS 3, HTML 5, jQuery, and React.
• Administration features including security roles, protected content, SEO, scheduler, SSL support, taxonomy, and site log, with extensibility through custom modules.

Who uses it and how

• Organizations running commercial websites, social intranets, community portals, or partner extranets on the Microsoft stack, where the platform supplies content management plus administration in one install.
• Teams that operate several sites and prefer one installation with multi-site capability over a separate deployment per site.
• Azure-oriented hosting environments, since the platform is described as cloud-ready with MS Azure compatibility.
• C# and .NET developers who extend the platform through custom modules, and who can publish or consume add-ons through the DNN Store.
• Contributors following CONTRIBUTING.md and the pull request procedures, with the repository tagged for hacktoberfest and code review handled by the Approvers Group.

Getting started

The README excerpt does not name an install package, Docker image, or compose file, so it provides no direct install or run command. It points instead to the build instructions in .github/BUILD.md, the documentation at docs.dnncommunity.org, and the community site at dnncommunity.org.

How it compares

The facts provide no list of paid products this project replaces, and they name no comparable CMS either, so DNN Platform stands alone in this registry entry. Any head-to-head comparison with other content management systems would have to be drawn from sources outside the supplied facts.

When to use it — and when not to

Choose DNN Platform when the team is already invested in the Microsoft ecosystem, wants a permissively licensed CMS with multi-site support and a large extension marketplace, and is comfortable working in C#. A self-hoster inherits a full ASP.NET web application with 331 open issues and must confirm the infrastructure requirements, such as database and mail configuration, from the documentation, because the README excerpt does not state them. Teams that avoid the Microsoft stack, or that want a fully managed hosted option with no application maintenance, should look elsewhere, and anyone needing a step-by-step install path will find the repository README thin on that point.