Alternatives to Netlify CMS logo

Alternatives to Netlify CMS

WordPress, Contentful, Strapi, GraphCMS, and Forestry are the most popular alternatives and competitors to Netlify CMS.
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What is Netlify CMS and what are its top alternatives?

Netlify CMS is a popular open-source content management system that allows users to create, edit, and publish content on static websites. It integrates seamlessly with static site generators like Jekyll, Hugo, and Gatsby, providing a user-friendly interface for managing content without the need to write code. Key features include a markdown editor, media library, customizable user roles, and version control with Git. However, some limitations include limited support for complex content structures and the need for a connected Git repository for content management.

  1. Strapi: Strapi is a headless CMS that offers flexibility and customization options for content management. Key features include a customizable API, role-based access control, content localization, and a variety of plugins. Pros include a user-friendly interface and a large community, while cons may include a steeper learning curve compared to Netlify CMS.
  2. Contentful: Contentful is a headless CMS that provides a cloud-based content infrastructure for digital teams. Key features include content modeling, localization, webhooks, and CDN delivery. Pros include scalability and flexibility, while cons may include pricing based on usage and complexity for beginners.
  3. Sanity: Sanity is a fully customizable headless CMS that offers real-time collaborative editing, structured content, and an open-source ecosystem. Pros include flexibility, scalability, and customization options, while cons may include a more complex setup compared to Netlify CMS.
  4. Prismic: Prismic is a headless CMS that enables content management with a visual editor, content relationships, webhooks, and multi-language support. Pros include an intuitive user interface and quick setup, while cons may include limited support for complex data relationships.
  5. Directus: Directus is an open-source headless CMS that provides a real-time API for content management. Key features include data modeling, user permissions, media library, and extensibility. Pros include flexibility and control over data, while cons may include a more technical setup process.
  6. GraphCMS: GraphCMS is a headless CMS designed for developers and content creators, offering a GraphQL API, content modeling, webhooks, and asset management. Pros include GraphQL support and a visual content builder, while cons may include pricing based on usage and potential complexity for beginners.
  7. Cockpit: Cockpit is a self-hosted headless CMS that offers a simple and lightweight solution for content management. Key features include a RESTful API, user management, file uploads, and data storage. Pros include a customizable dashboard and easy setup, while cons may include limited advanced features compared to other alternatives.
  8. ButterCMS: ButterCMS is a headless CMS that focuses on providing a blogging platform with SEO features, content scheduling, and a visual editor. Pros include ease of integration with existing websites and a developer-friendly API, while cons may include limitations on customization compared to more advanced CMS options.
  9. Kentico Kontent: Kentico Kontent is a cloud-based headless CMS that offers content modeling, collaboration tools, versioning, and content delivery networks. Pros include scalability and content governance features, while cons may include pricing based on usage and potential complexity for beginners.
  10. Ghost: Ghost is a blogging platform that offers a headless CMS option for content creators with features like a markdown editor, content scheduling, and SEO optimization. Pros include a simple setup process and focus on publishing content, while cons may include limited customization options compared to other headless CMS solutions.

Top Alternatives to Netlify CMS

  • WordPress
    WordPress

    The core software is built by hundreds of community volunteers, and when you’re ready for more there are thousands of plugins and themes available to transform your site into almost anything you can imagine. Over 60 million people have chosen WordPress to power the place on the web they call “home” — we’d love you to join the family. ...

  • Contentful
    Contentful

    With Contentful, you can bring your content anywhere using our APIs, completely customize your content structure all while using your preferred programming languages and frameworks. ...

  • Strapi
    Strapi

    Strapi is100% JavaScript, extensible, and fully customizable. It enables developers to build projects faster by providing a customizable API out of the box and giving them the freedom to use the their favorite tools. ...

  • GraphCMS
    GraphCMS

    GraphCMS is a GraphQL Based Headless Content Management System. It lets you build a hosted GraphQL backend for your applications and gives you all the tools you need to manage your content. ...

  • Forestry
    Forestry

    It is a simple Git-based CMS for Jekyll and Hugo sites. Built for devs who hate bloat. It helps developers manage a content-based system into their websites seamlessly and there's also the benefits of collaborating with teams while at it. ...

  • Ghost
    Ghost

    Ghost is a platform dedicated to one thing: Publishing. It's beautifully designed, completely customisable and completely Open Source. Ghost allows you to write and publish your own blog, giving you the tools to make it easy and even fun to do. ...

  • Google AdSense
    Google AdSense

    It is a program run by Google through which website publishers in the Google Network of content sites serve text, images, video, or interactive media advertisements that are targeted to the site content and audience. ...

  • Mailchimp
    Mailchimp

    MailChimp helps you design email newsletters, share them on social networks, integrate with services you already use, and track your results. It's like your own personal publishing platform. ...

Netlify CMS alternatives & related posts

WordPress logo

WordPress

97.6K
2.1K
A semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability.
97.6K
2.1K
PROS OF WORDPRESS
  • 416
    Customizable
  • 367
    Easy to manage
  • 354
    Plugins & themes
  • 259
    Non-tech colleagues can update website content
  • 247
    Really powerful
  • 145
    Rapid website development
  • 78
    Best documentation
  • 51
    Codex
  • 44
    Product feature set
  • 35
    Custom/internal social network
  • 18
    Open source
  • 8
    Great for all types of websites
  • 7
    Huge install and user base
  • 5
    I like it like I like a kick in the groin
  • 5
    It's simple and easy to use by any novice
  • 5
    Perfect example of user collaboration
  • 5
    Open Source Community
  • 5
    Most websites make use of it
  • 5
    Best
  • 4
    API-based CMS
  • 4
    Community
  • 3
    Easy To use
  • 2
    <a href="https://secure.wphackedhel">Easy Beginner</a>
CONS OF WORDPRESS
  • 13
    Hard to keep up-to-date if you customize things
  • 13
    Plugins are of mixed quality
  • 10
    Not best backend UI
  • 2
    Complex Organization
  • 1
    Do not cover all the basics in the core
  • 1
    Great Security

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Dale Ross
Independent Contractor at Self Employed · | 22 upvotes · 1.6M views

I've heard that I have the ability to write well, at times. When it flows, it flows. I decided to start blogging in 2013 on Blogger. I started a company and joined BizPark with the Microsoft Azure allotment. I created a WordPress blog and did a migration at some point. A lot happened in the time after that migration but I stopped coding and changed cities during tumultuous times that taught me many lessons concerning mental health and productivity. I eventually graduated from BizSpark and outgrew the credit allotment. That killed the WordPress blog.

I blogged about writing again on the existing Blogger blog but it didn't feel right. I looked at a few options where I wouldn't have to worry about hosting cost indefinitely and Jekyll stood out with GitHub Pages. The Importer was fairly straightforward for the existing blog posts.

Todo * Set up redirects for all posts on blogger. The URI format is different so a complete redirect wouldn't work. Although, there may be something in Jekyll that could manage the redirects. I did notice the old URLs were stored in the front matter. I'm working on a command-line Ruby gem for the current plan. * I did find some of the lost WordPress posts on archive.org that I downloaded with the waybackmachinedownloader. I think I might write an importer for that. * I still have a few Disqus comment threads to map

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Shared insights
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ElementorElementorWordPressWordPress

hello guys, I need your help. I created a website, I've been using Elementor forever, but yesterday I bought a template after I made the purchase I knew I made a mistake, cause the template was in HTML, can anyone please show me how to put this HTML template in my WordPress so it will be the face of my website, thank you in advance.

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Contentful logo

Contentful

825
70
Contentful is a cloud-based API-first content platform
825
70
PROS OF CONTENTFUL
  • 30
    API-based cms
  • 17
    Much better than WordPress
  • 11
    Simple and customizable
  • 5
    Images API
  • 3
    Free for small projects
  • 1
    Extensible dashboard UI
  • 1
    Super simple to integrate
  • 1
    Managed Service
  • 1
    Tag Manager like UI
CONS OF CONTENTFUL
  • 5
    No spell check
  • 5
    No repeater Field
  • 4
    No free plan
  • 3
    Slow dashboard
  • 2
    Enterprise targeted
  • 2
    Pricey
  • 2
    Limited content types
  • 1
    Not scalable
  • 1
    No GraphQL API

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Hi, I went through a comprehensive analysis - of headless/api content management systems - essentially to store content "bits" and publish them where needed (website, 3rd party sites, social media, etc.). I had considered many other solutions but ultimately chose Directus. I believe that was a good choice.

I had strongly considered Contentful, Strapi, Sanity, and hygraph. Hygraph came in #2 and contentful #3.

Ultimately I liked directus for:

(1) time in business

(2) open source

(3) integration with n8n and Pipedream

(4) pricing

(5) extensibility

Thoughts? Was this a good choice? We have many WordPress sites we're not (at least now) looking to replace with Directus, but instead to push to.

I'd love some feedback.

See more
Shared insights
on
ContentfulContentfulFirebaseFirebase

Hi. I am gonna build a simple app for a company to ease their work. The company is sending out pdf files to their users' email. The data is a health analysis with a lot of different health values. The app should be an MVP, where users can watch their data instead of opening a pdf file. The company should be able to fill in the data in either Firebase or Contentful database. Is Contentful or Firebase best for this solution? What is your opinion?

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Strapi logo

Strapi

698
278
The leading open-source Headless-CMS
698
278
PROS OF STRAPI
  • 58
    Free
  • 40
    Open source
  • 28
    Self-hostable
  • 27
    Rapid development
  • 25
    API-based cms
  • 21
    Headless
  • 18
    Real-time
  • 16
    Easy setup
  • 13
    Large community
  • 13
    JSON
  • 6
    GraphQL
  • 4
    Social Auth
  • 4
    Internationalization
  • 2
    Components
  • 2
    Media Library
  • 1
    Raspberry pi
CONS OF STRAPI
  • 9
    Can be limiting
  • 8
    Internationalisation
  • 6
    A bit buggy
  • 5
    DB Migrations not seemless

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Hi Stackers, We are planning to build a product information portal that also provides useful articles and blogs. Application Frontend is going to be built on Next.js with Authentication and Product Database helped by Firebase. But for the Blog / Article we are debating between WordPress/GraphQL plug-in or Strapi.

Please share your thoughts.

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Hi, I went through a comprehensive analysis - of headless/api content management systems - essentially to store content "bits" and publish them where needed (website, 3rd party sites, social media, etc.). I had considered many other solutions but ultimately chose Directus. I believe that was a good choice.

I had strongly considered Contentful, Strapi, Sanity, and hygraph. Hygraph came in #2 and contentful #3.

Ultimately I liked directus for:

(1) time in business

(2) open source

(3) integration with n8n and Pipedream

(4) pricing

(5) extensibility

Thoughts? Was this a good choice? We have many WordPress sites we're not (at least now) looking to replace with Directus, but instead to push to.

I'd love some feedback.

See more
GraphCMS logo

GraphCMS

57
11
GraphQL Headless Content Management System
57
11
PROS OF GRAPHCMS
  • 5
    GraphQL
  • 2
    Speeds up time to market Easily create & consume conten
  • 1
    API first
  • 1
    Much better than REST
  • 1
    Reliable and scales
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    Cool dev community
CONS OF GRAPHCMS
    Be the first to leave a con

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    Forestry logo

    Forestry

    96
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        Jan Vlnas
        Senior Software Engineer at Mews · | 5 upvotes · 54.9K views

        Depends on what options and technologies you have available, and how do you deploy your website.

        There are CMSs which update existing static pages through FTP: You provide access credentials, mark editable parts of your HTML in a markup, and then edit the content through the hosted CMS. I know two systems which work like that: Cushy CMS and Surreal CMS.

        If the source of your site is versioned through Git (and hosted on GitHub), you have other options, like Netlify CMS, Spinal CMS, Siteleaf, Forestry, or CloudCannon. Some of these also need you to use static site generator (like 11ty, Jekyll, or Hugo).

        If you have some server-side scripting support available (typically PHP) you can also consider some flat-file based, server-side systems, like Kirby CMS or Lektor, which are usually simpler to retrofit into an existing template than “traditional” CMSs (WordPress, Drupal).

        Finally, you could also use a desktop-based static site generator which provides a user-friendly GUI, and then locally generates and uploads the website. For example Publii, YouDoCMS, Agit CMS.

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        Ghost logo

        Ghost

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        Just a blogging platform
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        PROS OF GHOST
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          Beautiful
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          Fast
        • 29
          Quick/simple post styling
        • 20
          Live Post Preview
        • 20
          Open source
        • 19
          Non-profit
        • 16
          Seamless writing
        • 6
          Node.js
        • 5
          Fast and Performatic
        • 5
          Javascript
        • 4
          Simplest
        • 3
          Wonderful UI
        • 3
          Handlebars
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          Full Control
        • 2
          Magic
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          Clean
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          Self-hostable
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          Google AdSense logo

          Google AdSense

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          A program that allows bloggers and website owners to make money by displaying Google ads
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            CONS OF GOOGLE ADSENSE
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            which of the ads platform pays better? What about PurpleAds?

            Google AdSense has refused to post ads on my site.

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            Really can not decide which one to add. Google AdSense email say that they are ready to show ads... Taboola is on review.

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            Mailchimp logo

            Mailchimp

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            Easy email newsletters
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            PROS OF MAILCHIMP
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              Mailing list
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              Robust e-mail creation
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              Integrates with a lot of external services
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              Custom templates
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              Free tier
            • 49
              Great api
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              Great UI
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              A/B Testing Subject Lines
            • 30
              Broad feature set
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              Subscriber Analytics
            • 9
              Great interface. The standard for email marketing
            • 8
              Great documentation
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              Mandrill integration
            • 7
              Segmentation
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              Best deliverability; helps you be the good guy
            • 5
              Facebook Integration
            • 5
              Autoresponders
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              Customization
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              RSS-to-email
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              Co-branding
            • 3
              Embedded signup forms
            • 2
              Automation
            • 1
              Great logo
            • 1
              Groups
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              Landing pages
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              Super expensive
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              Poor API
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              Charged based on subscribers as opposed to emails sent

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            Cloud and DevOps Consultant at mkdev · | 12 upvotes · 694.9K views

            As a small startup we are very conscious about picking up the tools we use to run the project. After suffering with a mess of using at the same time Trello , Slack , Telegram and what not, we arrived at a small set of tools that cover all our current needs. For product management, file sharing, team communication etc we chose Basecamp and couldn't be more happy about it. For Customer Support and Sales Intercom works amazingly well. We are using MailChimp for email marketing since over 4 years and it still covers all our needs. Then on payment side combination of Stripe and Octobat helps us to process all the payments and generate compliant invoices. On techie side we use Rollbar and GitLab (for both code and CI). For corporate email we picked G Suite. That all costs us in total around 300$ a month, which is quite okay.

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            Spenser Coke
            Product Engineer at Loanlink.de · | 9 upvotes · 297.8K views

            When starting a new company and building a new product w/ limited engineering we chose to optimize for expertise and rapid development, landing on Rails API, w/ AngularJS on the front.

            The reality is that we're building a CRUD app, so we considered going w/ vanilla Rails MVC to optimize velocity early on (it may not be sexy, but it gets the job done). Instead, we opted to split the codebase to allow for a richer front-end experience, focus on skill specificity when hiring, and give us the flexibility to be consumed by multiple clients in the future.

            We also considered .NET core or Node.js for the API layer, and React on the front-end, but our experiences dealing with mature Node APIs and the rapid-fire changes that comes with state management in React-land put us off, given our level of experience with those tools.

            We're using GitHub and Trello to track issues and projects, and a plethora of other tools to help the operational team, like Zapier, MailChimp, Google Drive with some basic Vue.js & HTML5 apps for smaller internal-facing web projects.

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