Contentful
Enterprise-grade headless CMS with a rich content model, localization, and a large ecosystem
Guides · How to Choose
How to Choose a CMS Tool
Choosing the right cms tool depends on your project type, team experience, and long-term requirements. The options below cover the full range from beginner-friendly to enterprise-grade.
Key questions to ask
- ? Open source vs managed — who handles security patches and uptime?
- ? Pricing model — does it stay affordable as you scale?
- ? Learning curve — does your team already know this technology?
- ? Community and ecosystem — are there answers on Stack Overflow and maintained libraries?
Compare 5 cms options
| Tool | Pricing | Learning Curve | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contentful | Freemium — 20 users free, paid from $300/mo | Enterprise content teams, multi-locale content, marketing sites with complex content models | |
 Ghost | Free self-hosted / Ghost Pro from $9/mo | Blogs, newsletters, content-first sites, membership and subscription publishing | |
| Payload CMS | Free / Open Source (self-hosted); Payload Cloud paid | TypeScript-first teams wanting a CMS that feels like part of the codebase | |
 Sanity | Freemium - free plan available, paid from $15/mo | Teams wanting a fully customisable CMS with real-time collaboration and a great developer API | |
 Strapi | Free / Open Source (self-hosted), cloud from $29/mo | Teams wanting a self-hosted, fully customisable headless CMS with auto-generated APIs |
All CMS tools
Ghost
Open-source publishing platform for blogs, newsletters, and membership sites
Payload CMS
TypeScript-first headless CMS with code-first config, supporting PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and SQLite
Sanity
Headless CMS with a real-time structured content platform and a fully customisable editing studio
Strapi
Open-source headless CMS that auto-generates a REST and GraphQL API from your content types