KeystoneJS vs Wagtail: What are the differences?

1. Architecture: KeystoneJS is a headless CMS that provides a flexible GraphQL API for content management, while Wagtail is a full-stack CMS that integrates seamlessly with Django. KeystoneJS focuses on decoupling the front end from the back end, allowing developers to build custom front ends using any technology. In contrast, Wagtail is tightly integrated with Django's templating system, offering a more monolithic approach to web development.

2. Content Modeling: KeystoneJS allows developers to define content models using its intuitive Admin UI or programmatically. It provides support for nested schemas and relationships between content types. On the other hand, Wagtail offers a hierarchical page model where content types are structured as pages with a parent-child hierarchy. This approach simplifies content organization and navigation within the CMS.

3. User Interface: KeystoneJS provides a modern and customizable Admin UI powered by React components, allowing developers to tailor the interface to specific project requirements. Wagtail, on the other hand, offers a more traditional Django Admin UI with additional features specifically designed for managing rich media and structured content.

4. Extensibility: In terms of extensibility, KeystoneJS allows developers to create custom plugins and extend its functionality easily using its powerful API. Wagtail also offers a robust system for creating custom page types, snippets, and plugins, but its extensibility is mainly focused on enhancing content management capabilities within the Django framework.

5. Community Support: KeystoneJS has a vibrant community of developers contributing plugins, tutorials, and support on platforms like GitHub and Stack Overflow. Wagtail, being built on top of Django, leverages the existing Django community for support and resources, making it easier to find solutions to common development challenges.

6. Hosting and Deployment: KeystoneJS can be deployed on various hosting platforms, including cloud services like Heroku, AWS, and DigitalOcean. Wagtail, being tightly integrated with Django, is typically deployed alongside Django applications on servers compatible with Django's deployment requirements, providing a more consistent hosting and deployment experience.

In Summary, KeystoneJS and Wagtail differ in their architecture, content modeling approach, user interface design, extensibility options, community support, and hosting/deployment capabilities.