Complete guide to migrating your Decap CMS website to Jekyll. Leave Decap CMS's smaller team maintaining it than original netlify cms behind and get native github pages integration. Free migration tool included.
You can migrate from Decap CMS to Jekyll for free using LeaveWP. Enter your site URL, choose Jekyll 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.
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. Jekyll eliminates this issue entirely.
Basic admin UI compared to commercial CMS options
With Jekyll, native github pages integration — deploy by pushing to a repo.
Git-based architecture limits content volume scalability
Modern architectures like Jekyll 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 — Jekyll takes a fundamentally different approach.
Ruby-based SSG that powers GitHub Pages. Built with Ruby (Liquid templates), it's developer blogs hosted on github pages with minimal setup.
Native GitHub Pages integration — deploy by pushing to a repo
Mature and battle-tested for blogs and documentation
Large library of themes and plugins
Simple mental model — content in Markdown, layouts in Liquid
Jekyll is open-source and free to use. You own your code and data with no vendor lock-in. Deploy to any host that supports Ruby, or use managed platforms like Vercel and Netlify for zero-config deployments.
Side-by-side comparison based on real platform characteristics
| Metric | Decap CMS | Jekyll |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Performance | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5 | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Flexibility | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Cost | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5/5 |
| Scalability | ⭐⭐ 2/5 | ⭐⭐ 2/5 |
| Ecosystem | ⭐⭐ 2/5 | ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 |
| Language | JavaScript (Git-backed) | Ruby (Liquid templates) |
| 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 Jekyll
What may need manual attention
Custom server-side logic, third-party integrations, and platform-specific plugins will need equivalent solutions in Jekyll. 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 Jekyll as destination and choose content options.
Download your migrated content or preview it in your browser.
Migrating from Decap CMS to Jekyll makes the most sense if you're experiencing smaller team maintaining it than original netlify cms or outgrowing Decap CMS's architecture. Jekyll is best for developer blogs hosted on github pages with minimal setup.
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 Ruby developers on your team.
The migration itself is straightforward with LeaveWP — enter your Decap CMS URL, select Jekyll, and download your content. The more important question is whether Jekyll's architecture fits your team's skills and your project's long-term needs.
Explore more migration paths from Decap CMS or to Jekyll
In-depth guides and tutorials to help with your migration
Learn how to properly export your WordPress site for backup or migration. Covers database exports, media files, theme settings, and everything you need for a complete backup.
12 min readtutorialStep-by-step guide to migrating your WooCommerce store to Shopify. Covers products, customers, orders, SEO, and go-live checklist.
15 min readtutorialEverything you need to know about migrating from WordPress to Next.js. From planning to deployment, this guide covers the entire migration process.
18 min read