Complete guide to migrating your Decap CMS website to Astro. Leave Decap CMS's smaller team maintaining it than original netlify cms behind and get ships zero js to the client by default (islands architecture). Free migration tool included.
You can migrate from Decap CMS to Astro for free using LeaveWP. Enter your site URL, choose Astro 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: Astro Documentation
Open-source Git-based CMS (successor to Netlify CMS). JAMstack teams wanting free, open-source Git-based content management, but these limitations push teams toward modern alternatives.
Smaller team maintaining it than original Netlify CMS
This is the most common reason teams migrate away from Decap CMS. Astro eliminates this issue entirely.
Basic admin UI compared to commercial CMS options
With Astro, ships zero js to the client by default (islands architecture).
Git-based architecture limits content volume scalability
Modern architectures like Astro are designed to avoid this from the ground up.
Limited real-time collaboration features
After migrating, you'll no longer need to worry about this — Astro takes a fundamentally different approach.
Content-focused framework that ships zero JavaScript by default. Built with JavaScript/TypeScript (framework-agnostic), it's content-heavy websites that need maximum performance with minimal javascript.
Ships zero JS to the client by default (Islands Architecture)
Use React, Vue, Svelte, or any framework in the same project
Content collections with type-safe Markdown/MDX
Purpose-built for content sites — blogs, docs, marketing pages
Astro 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 | Decap CMS | Astro |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Performance | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Flexibility | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Cost | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Scalability | ⭐⭐ 2/5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 |
| Ecosystem | ⭐⭐ 2/5 | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Language | JavaScript (Git-backed) | JavaScript/TypeScript (framework-agnostic) |
| Pricing | Free | Free (open-source) |
| Open Source | Yes | 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 Decap CMS content maps to Astro
What may need manual attention
Custom server-side logic, third-party integrations, and platform-specific plugins will need equivalent solutions in Astro. The core content (text, images, metadata) transfers cleanly.
Migrate your content in three simple steps
Enter your Decap CMS site URL — LeaveWP connects automatically.
Select Astro as destination and choose content options.
Download your migrated content or preview it in your browser.
Migrating from Decap CMS to Astro makes the most sense if you're experiencing smaller team maintaining it than original netlify cms or outgrowing Decap CMS's architecture. Astro is best for content-heavy websites that need maximum performance with minimal javascript.
You should migrate if: your Decap 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 Decap CMS site benefits from community-maintained successor to netlify cms and you don't have JavaScript/TypeScript developers on your team.
The migration itself is straightforward with LeaveWP — enter your Decap CMS URL, select Astro, and download your content. The more important question is whether Astro's architecture fits your team's skills and your project's long-term needs.
Explore more migration paths from Decap CMS or to Astro
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