Complete guide to migrating your Craft CMS website to Gatsby. Leave Craft CMS's smaller ecosystem behind and get rich plugin ecosystem for data sources (cms, apis, databases). Free migration tool included.
You can migrate from Craft CMS to Gatsby for free using LeaveWP. Enter your site URL, choose Gatsby as the destination, and download your content — posts, pages, and media — in minutes. No API keys, passwords, or CLI tools required. Difficulty: Medium. Estimated time: 20-40 minutes.
Official docs: Gatsby Documentation
Developer-focused PHP CMS with elegant content modeling. Agencies building bespoke sites with complex content requirements, but these limitations push teams toward modern alternatives.
Smaller ecosystem — fewer plugins than WordPress or Drupal
This is the most common reason teams migrate away from Craft CMS. Gatsby eliminates this issue entirely.
License costs for multi-user projects
With Gatsby, rich plugin ecosystem for data sources (cms, apis, databases).
Requires PHP/MySQL hosting infrastructure
Modern architectures like Gatsby are designed to avoid this from the ground up.
Fewer community resources and tutorials available
After migrating, you'll no longer need to worry about this — Gatsby takes a fundamentally different approach.
React-based SSG with GraphQL data layer. Built with JavaScript/TypeScript (React), it's content-rich sites pulling data from multiple sources via graphql.
Rich plugin ecosystem for data sources (CMS, APIs, databases)
Unified GraphQL data layer pulls from any source
Excellent image optimization with gatsby-plugin-image
Pre-renders pages for fast initial load and good SEO
Gatsby is open-source and free to use. You own your code and data with no vendor lock-in. Deploy to any host that supports JavaScript/TypeScript, or use managed platforms like Vercel and Netlify for zero-config deployments.
Side-by-side comparison based on real platform characteristics
| Metric | Craft CMS | Gatsby |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Performance | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Flexibility | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Cost | ⭐⭐ 2/5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Scalability | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Ecosystem | ⭐⭐ 2/5 | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Language | PHP (Yii framework) | JavaScript/TypeScript (React) |
| Pricing | Free solo / $35+/mo for teams | Free (open-source) |
| Open Source | No | Yes |
Ratings are based on publicly available data, documentation, and community consensus as of 2026. Individual experience may vary.
A detailed breakdown of how your Craft CMS content maps to Gatsby
What may need manual attention
Custom server-side logic, third-party integrations, and platform-specific plugins will need equivalent solutions in Gatsby. The core content (text, images, metadata) transfers cleanly.
Migrate your content in three simple steps
Enter your Craft CMS site URL — LeaveWP connects automatically.
Select Gatsby as destination and choose content options.
Download your migrated content or preview it in your browser.
Migrating from Craft CMS to Gatsby makes the most sense if you're experiencing smaller ecosystem — fewer plugins than wordpress or drupal or outgrowing Craft CMS's architecture. Gatsby is best for content-rich sites pulling data from multiple sources via graphql.
You should migrate if: your Craft CMS site is slow, your hosting costs are climbing, you need developer flexibility, or you want to adopt a modern JAMstack architecture.
You might want to stay if: your Craft CMS site benefits from excellent content modeling — build any structure without plugins and you don't have JavaScript/TypeScript developers on your team.
The migration itself is straightforward with LeaveWP — enter your Craft CMS URL, select Gatsby, and download your content. The more important question is whether Gatsby's architecture fits your team's skills and your project's long-term needs.
Explore more migration paths from Craft CMS or to Gatsby
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