How to Choose a Headless CMS in 2026: Decision Guide

So you've decided to go headless. Now comes the hard part: choosing which headless CMS to use.

This guide helps you navigate the options and pick the right one for your needs.

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Quick Overview

CMS

Type

Best For

Pricing

Sanity

Cloud

Flexibility, real-time

Free tier → Pay as you go

Contentful

Cloud

Enterprise, teams

Free tier → $300/mo+

Strapi

Self-hosted

Full control, open-source

Free (self-host)

Payload

Self-hosted

TypeScript, modern

Free (self-host)

Hygraph

Cloud

GraphQL-first

Free tier → $299/mo+

Decap CMS

Git-based

Simple sites

Free

Prismic

Cloud

Visual editing

Free tier → $100/mo+

Directus

Self-hosted

Database first

Free (self-host)

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Decision Framework

Answer these questions to narrow your options:

1. Hosted or Self-Hosted?

Cloud/Hosted CMS:

• ✅ No server management

• ✅ Automatic updates

• ✅ Built-in scaling

• ❌ Monthly costs at scale

• ❌ Vendor lock-in potential

Self-Hosted CMS:

• ✅ Full control

• ✅ No per-user pricing

• ✅ Own your data completely

• ❌ Server management needed

• ❌ You handle scaling/updates

2. Technical Expertise?

Your Situation

Recommendation

No developers

Contentful, Prismic

Some technical skill

Sanity, Hygraph

Full dev team

Strapi, Payload

Minimal needs

Decap CMS

3. Budget?

Budget

Options

$0/month

Sanity (free tier), Strapi, Payload, Decap

< $100/month

Sanity, Prismic, Hygraph

$100-500/month

Contentful, Hygraph, Prismic

Enterprise

Contentful, Sanity

4. Content Complexity?

Content Type

Best Options

Simple blog

Decap CMS, Sanity

Marketing site

Sanity, Prismic

Multi-language

Sanity, Contentful

Complex schemas

Sanity, Payload

E-commerce

Sanity, Payload

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Top Headless CMS Options Compared

Sanity

The flexible, developer-friendly choice

Sanity provides a customizable studio (content editing interface) that you can tailor to your exact needs.

Strengths

• Customizable Studio: Build exactly the editing experience you need

• GROQ query language: Powerful, flexible queries

• Real-time collaboration: Multiple editors, no conflicts

• Portable Text: Rich text as structured data

• Generous free tier: 100K API requests/month

Weaknesses

• Learning curve: GROQ and studio customization take time

• Studio requires code: Not for non-developers to customize

• Can get expensive: Heavy API usage adds up

Pricing

Tier

Price

Includes

Free

$0/mo

3 users, 100K API requests

Team

$15/user/mo

Unlimited requests, roles

Business

$99/mo base

SSO, support

Best For

Teams who want complete flexibility and have developers to customize the experience.

Example Use Cases

• Marketing sites with custom content types

• E-commerce with complex product data

• Documentation sites

• Multi-brand content hubs

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Contentful

The enterprise-grade standard

Contentful pioneered headless CMS and remains the enterprise choice with robust features and reliability.

Strengths

• Mature platform: 10+ years, battle-tested

• Enterprise features: SSO, roles, workflows, compliance

• Excellent SDKs: Well-documented, many languages

• Visual modeler: Non-developers can create content types

• App marketplace: Extend functionality

Weaknesses

• Expensive: Pricing jumps significantly after free tier

• Content modeling limits: Less flexible than Sanity

• Complex for simple sites: Overkill for blogs

Pricing

Tier

Price

Includes

Free

$0/mo

5 users, 1M API calls

Team

$300/mo

10 users, more calls

Enterprise

Custom

Everything

Note: Pricing is a common complaint. Expect $500+/month for real usage.

Best For

Enterprise teams needing compliance, workflows, and bulletproof reliability.

Example Use Cases

• Enterprise marketing sites

• Multi-region content operations

• Regulated industries (healthcare, finance)

• Sites with many non-technical editors

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Strapi

The open-source self-hosted option

Strapi is free, open-source, and you host it yourself. Full control, no monthly fees.

Strengths

• Open-source: No vendor lock-in

• Self-hosted: Own your data, no per-user fees

• Plugin ecosystem: Extend with community plugins

• REST and GraphQL: Both available

• Good admin UI: Clean, usable interface

Weaknesses

• Self-hosting complexity: You manage servers, scaling, updates

• Plugin quality varies: Some community plugins are rough

• Breaking changes: Major versions can require work

• No real-time by default: Requires additional setup

Pricing

Tier

Price

Notes

Self-hosted

Free

You pay hosting costs

Strapi Cloud

$99/mo+

Managed hosting

Best For

Teams who want full control, have DevOps resources, and want to avoid SaaS fees.

Example Use Cases

• Startups wanting to minimize costs

• Projects requiring data residency

• Internal tools

• Multi-tenant applications

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Payload CMS

Modern, TypeScript-first CMS

Payload is newer but rapidly gaining popularity for its developer experience and flexibility.

Strengths

• TypeScript-native: Excellent type safety

• Code-first: Content types defined in code

• Self-hosted: No per-user pricing

• Block-based pages: Visual page building

• Auth built-in: User authentication included

• Excellent docs: Very well documented

Weaknesses

• Newer platform: Smaller community than Strapi

• Self-hosting required: Need DevOps knowledge

• TypeScript required: Not for non-TS teams

Pricing

Tier

Price

Notes

Self-hosted

Free

You pay hosting

Payload Cloud

Coming

Managed option

Best For

TypeScript developers who want a modern, flexible CMS they fully control.

Example Use Cases

• SaaS products needing CMS

• Custom applications

• E-commerce platforms

• Developer portfolios

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Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS)

GraphQL-first content platform

If you love GraphQL, Hygraph builds everything around it.

Strengths

• GraphQL-native: Purpose-built for GraphQL

• Content Federation: Combine multiple sources

• Visual schema editor: Easy content modeling

• Localization: Built-in multi-language

• Good free tier: Generous for small projects

Weaknesses

• GraphQL only: No REST API

• Pricing escalates: Gets expensive at scale

• Smaller ecosystem: Fewer tutorials/resources

Pricing

Tier

Price

Includes

Free

$0/mo

3 users, 1M API calls

Professional

$299/mo

25 users, 5M API calls

Enterprise

Custom

Everything

Best For

Teams already using GraphQL who want deep integration.

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Decap CMS (formerly Netlify CMS)

Git-based simplicity

Decap stores content in your Git repository. No database, no external service.

Strengths

• Free: Completely free, forever

• Git-native: Content is in your repo

• Simple: Minimal setup

• Version control: Full history via Git

• No hosting needed: Runs alongside your site

Weaknesses

• Basic features: No workflow, limited roles

• Not for scale: Struggles with large content volumes

• Text-based: Less visual than alternatives

• Limited asset management: Basic file handling

Pricing

Free, always.

Best For

Simple sites, blogs, documentation where content lives in Git.

Example Use Cases

• Developer blogs

• Documentation sites

• Open-source project sites

• JAMstack marketing pages

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Prismic

Visual editing focused

Prismic emphasizes the editing experience with visual slice-based editing.

Strengths

• Slice Machine: Reusable content components

• Visual editing: Easy for marketers

• Good DX: Nice developer experience

• Preview: Built-in preview support

• Reasonable pricing: More affordable than Contentful

Weaknesses

• Slice-centric: Can feel limiting

• Less flexible: Not as customizable as Sanity

• Smaller community: Fewer resources

Pricing

Tier

Price

Includes

Free

$0/mo

1 user, 100 docs

Small

$7/mo

3 users, 1500 docs

Medium

$100/mo

7 users, 10K docs

Best For

Marketing teams wanting visual editing with developer support.

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Directus

Database-first approach

Directus wraps any SQL database with an admin interface and API.

Strengths

• Any SQL database: Works with existing DBs

• Open-source: Self-host free

• Data ownership: Your database, your control

• Flexible: Not opinionated about structure

• Built-in auth: User management included

Weaknesses

• Database complexity: Need to understand DBs

• Self-hosting burden: You manage it

• Less content-focused: More like a data platform

Pricing

Tier

Price

Notes

Self-hosted

Free

Open-source

Directus Cloud

$99/mo+

Managed

Best For

Teams with existing databases or needing a flexible data platform.

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Comparison Matrix

Feature

Sanity

Contentful

Strapi

Payload

Hygraph

Decap

Self-hosted

Cloud

Cloud

✅

✅

Cloud

✅ (Git)

Free tier

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

Real-time

✅

❌

❌

❌

❌

❌

Visual editing

Custom

✅

✅

✅

✅

Basic

GraphQL

✅

✅

✅

✅

✅

❌

REST API

❌

✅

✅

✅

❌

❌

TypeScript

Good

Good

Okay

✅

Good

❌

Multi-lang

✅

✅

Plugin

✅

✅

❌

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Migration from WordPress

All headless CMS options require:

1. Export WordPress content → Use our free tool

2. Set up headless CMS → Create content types

3. Import content → Migrate data

4. Build frontend → Next.js, Astro, etc.

The CMS you choose doesn't change the migration process—just where content ends up.

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My Recommendations

For Most Teams

Sanity offers the best balance of flexibility, pricing, and developer experience.

For Enterprises

Contentful is the safe choice when compliance, support, and reliability matter most.

For Full Control

Payload (TypeScript) or Strapi (JavaScript) for self-hosted ownership.

For Simple Sites

Decap CMS for blogs and docs where Git-based is sufficient.

For GraphQL Lovers

Hygraph if your stack is GraphQL-centric.

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FAQ

Q: Can I migrate between headless CMS platforms?

Yes, though it takes work. Content exports/imports are possible. The frontend remains unchanged.

Q: Do I need developers for headless CMS?

For setup, yes. For ongoing content editing, no—the editing interfaces are user-friendly.

Q: Which has the best editing experience?

Contentful and Prismic are excellent out-of-box. Sanity is best if you customize it.

Q: What about WordPress as headless?

It works but is heavier than purpose-built headless CMS. See our headless WordPress guide.

Q: How do I deploy a headless setup?

Use platforms like Vercel or Netlify for the frontend. Compare hosting platforms →

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Conclusion

Choose your headless CMS based on:

1. Hosted vs self-hosted preference

2. Budget constraints

3. Team technical ability

4. Content complexity needs

Most teams do well with Sanity (flexibility + good pricing) or Strapi/Payload (full control, self-hosted).

Related guides:

• JAMstack Explained for WordPress Users

• WordPress to Next.js Complete Migration Guide

• Best WordPress Alternatives for 2026

Start your migration to headless →