CMS Comparison
Decap CMS vs Keystatic
Compare Decap CMS and Keystatic side-by-side. Explore setup, editing experience, non-technical usability, collaboration, Git workflow, and pricing.
Decap CMS
Git-Based CMSDecap CMS (formerly Netlify CMS) is a free, open-source, Git-based CMS independently maintained in the EU. It acts as a React-based wrapper around the Git workflow, storing content directly in your repository alongside your code. Originally created by Netlify and rebranded in February 2023, Decap CMS is designed for developers and content editors working with static site generators.
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Keystatic
Git-Based CMSKeystatic is a free, open-source, Git-based CMS built by Thinkmill. It stores content as Markdown, Markdoc, MDX, JSON, or YAML files directly in your Git repository. The admin UI is bundled inside your application and reads from and writes to those files with no separate CMS server or database. Keystatic is code-first and TypeScript-native.
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| Feature | Decap CMS | Keystatic |
|---|---|---|
| CMS type | Git-Based (open-source, MIT-licensed) | Git-Based (open-source, MIT-licensed) |
| SSG support | Hugo, Next.js, Gatsby, Jekyll, 11ty, Astro, Remix, SvelteKit + any SSG that stores content in Git | Astro, Next.js, Remix (first-party integrations). SvelteKit via community setup. Hugo, Jekyll, and 11ty not officially supported. |
| Pricing entry point | Free forever (core CMS). Decap Turbo paid extension starts at $37/mo (Starter) or $112/mo (Team). | Free forever (core CMS). Keystatic Cloud Pro starts at $10/mo per team (3 users included, $5/mo per additional user). |
| Free plan | ✅ Yes — Core CMS is free forever, no user or project limits. | ✅ Yes — Core CMS is free forever with no cap. Keystatic Cloud Free allows up to 3 users per team. |
| Free trial (without credit card) | ✅ Not needed — the core CMS is permanently free. | ✅ Not needed — the core CMS is permanently free. Keystatic Cloud Free gives full access for up to 3 users. |
| Content security | ✅ Yes — Highly secured. No database; content stored as static files in your own Git repository. | ✅ Yes — Highly secured. No database, no CMS server. Content stored as static files in your own Git repository. |
| Native language support | ⚠️ Yes but — Admin UI defaults to English. Other locales must be manually registered via the decap-cms-locales package. No built-in switcher. | ❌ No — Admin UI is English only. No native language switcher, and i18n for content requires manual workarounds. |
| Mobile friendly | ❌ No — Not natively optimized for mobile. A community CSS workaround exists. | ⚠️ Yes but — Mobile-first editing is listed as a feature, but multiple user reports note the interface isn’t fully optimized and can be complex on smaller screens. |
Setup & Configuration
| Feature | Decap CMS | Keystatic |
|---|---|---|
| Non-technical setup | ❌ No — A developer must add index.html and config.yml to the project and configure authentication before the CMS is usable. | ❌ No — A developer must install the package, create a keystatic.config.ts file, and configure storage mode and authentication first. |
| Starter templates | ⚠️ Yes but — Official starters exist for Hugo, Next.js, Gatsby, and Jekyll. No large curated template library. | ⚠️ Yes but — Official CLI starters exist for Astro and Next.js. A small number of community starters, no large library. |
| Edit schema modifier | ❌ No — Schema is defined entirely in a YAML config.yml file. No visual schema editor. | ❌ No — Schema is defined entirely in code via keystatic.config.ts (TypeScript). No visual schema editor. |
Editing Experience
| Feature | Decap CMS | Keystatic |
|---|---|---|
| Editor | Rich text (Plate-based, replaces deprecated markdown widget) + Markdown + Code. 16 built-in widgets and custom widgets. | Rich text (WYSIWYG) + Markdoc + MDX + JSON/YAML. Auto-generated from your TypeScript schema. |
| Live preview system | ⚠️ Yes but — Customizable React-based preview templates. Requires developer setup. | ⚠️ Yes but — Real-time previews via Next.js Draft Mode integration. Requires developer setup and is tied to the Next.js integration. |
| AI assistant integration | ❌ No — No built-in AI assistant in either the free CMS or Decap Turbo. | ❌ No — No built-in AI assistant or content generation tool in the core CMS or Keystatic Cloud. |
| Collaborative editing | ❌ No — No simultaneous editing. Decap Turbo Team adds a presence indicator only, not concurrent editing. | ⚠️ Yes but — Multi-player editing is an experimental feature on Keystatic Cloud Pro. The core CMS has none, and simultaneous saves to the same file create unresolved Git merge conflicts. |
| iFrame embed preview | ❌ No — Not documented or available out of the box. | ❌ No — Not a built-in or documented feature. |
| Shortcode support | ✅ Yes — Custom editor components and widgets serve as shortcodes, configured by developers. | ✅ Yes — Content components (custom blocks) are supported within Markdoc and MDX fields. |
| SEO tools | ⚠️ Yes but — Slug and file path config only. No built-in SEO analysis, SERP preview, or content scoring. | ⚠️ Yes but — Slug generation via the slug field type. No built-in SEO analysis, SERP preview, or scoring. |
| Dark mode | ❌ No — No native dark mode. A community-contributed CSS override exists but isn’t official. | ❌ No — No dark mode documented for the Keystatic admin UI. |
Non-Technical User Experience
| Feature | Decap CMS | Keystatic |
|---|---|---|
| Designed for non-technicals | ⚠️ Yes but — Editors can use it once set up, but setup, schema changes, and auth configuration always require a developer. | ⚠️ Yes but — Editors can use the visual admin UI once set up, but Keystatic is developer-first: all schema config and setup require a developer. |
| Version rollback | ⚠️ Yes but — Full history via Git. No dedicated version rollback UI inside the CMS. | ⚠️ Yes but — Every save is a Git commit, giving full history. No dedicated non-technical rollback UI. |
| Initial setup by non-dev | ❌ No — A developer must configure config.yml and the authentication backend first. | ❌ No — A developer must install the package, define the TypeScript schema, and configure storage and authentication first. |
Media Management
| Feature | Decap CMS | Keystatic |
|---|---|---|
| Media management | ⚠️ Yes but — Built-in library supports upload, view, and delete via drag-and-drop. External providers (Cloudinary, Uploadcare) via plugins. No file renaming. | ⚠️ Yes but — Images upload and store in the Git repo via the image field. Keystatic Cloud Pro adds managed Cloud Images (storage, optimization, delivery). No folder organization or renaming in the CMS UI. |
| External image URL support | ⚠️ Yes but — Handled via Cloudinary and Uploadcare plugins. No direct inline external URL support. | ⚠️ Yes but — External URLs can be referenced in content fields. Keystatic Cloud Images serves via Cloudflare CDN with transform params; no native S3/Cloudinary plugin outside Cloud Images. |
Collaboration & Teams
| Feature | Decap CMS | Keystatic |
|---|---|---|
| User access | ⚠️ Yes but — Git Gateway (via Netlify Identity) allows non-Git login. On other hosts, a developer must configure external OAuth. | ⚠️ Yes but — Keystatic Cloud allows login without a GitHub account. Without Cloud, editors must authenticate directly via GitHub OAuth. |
| Custom roles | ⚠️ Yes but — A Decap Turbo feature, available on the Team plan ($37/mo) and above. The free core CMS has no centralized role management. | ❌ No — No role-based access control at all, in the core CMS or Keystatic Cloud Free/Pro. All team members can access all projects in a team. |
| Organization management | ⚠️ Yes but — A Decap Turbo feature. The free CMS is per-site with no multi-project dashboard. | ⚠️ Yes but — Keystatic Cloud organizes projects into teams, each connected to a repository. Requires the paid Cloud tier for anything beyond a single project. |
| Branch workflows | ⚠️ Yes but — Editorial Workflow (draft/review/publish via Git branches) is in the free CMS. PRs are created and merged in the Git provider itself. | ⚠️ Yes but — Branch creation and switching happen inside the admin UI via GitHub mode. No built-in PR creation, review, or merge — that’s done directly in GitHub. |
Git & Deployment
| Feature | Decap CMS | Keystatic |
|---|---|---|
| Git providers | GitHub, GitLab, Gitea, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, and Git Gateway (Netlify) — the broadest provider support of the two. | GitHub only via Keystatic Cloud. GitHub and local filesystem in self-hosted mode. No GitLab or Bitbucket. |
| Vendor lock-in | ✅ No — No vendor lock-in. Content lives in your own Git repository. Self-hosted and fully open source. | ✅ No — No vendor lock-in. Content is stored as static files (Markdown, YAML, JSON) in your own GitHub repository. Keystatic Cloud is optional. |
| Deployment | Content commits trigger builds on any connected CI/CD platform — Netlify, Vercel, GitHub Pages, Cloudflare Pages, and more. | Works with any Git-connected CI/CD platform. No built-in one-click deployment. |
Accessibilities
| Feature | Decap CMS | Keystatic |
|---|---|---|
| Global search | ⚠️ Yes but — Search by title, slug, and configured summary fields. Can exhaust API rate limits on large repositories; can be disabled. | ❌ No — Only a per-collection filter by title or slug. No global cross-collection search or keyboard-shortcut search. |
| Edit configs as code | ✅ Yes — Configuration is done entirely via config.yml. | ✅ Yes — All configuration is done in code via keystatic.config.ts. |
| Mermaid diagram preview | ❌ No — Not a built-in or documented feature. | ❌ No — Not a built-in or documented feature. |
Worth Knowing
There's a third option: Sitepins
Both Decap CMS and Keystatic are developer-first: someone has to write a config file and wire up authentication before an editor can log in, and neither has role-based access control worth relying on. Sitepins connects to your repo with zero config, ships a visual editor, AI writing assistant, real-time collaboration, and custom roles out of the box — all on a free forever plan. It is open source as well (AGPL-3.0, on GitHub), so self-hosting stays an option.
Note: If you found any wrong information here, please contact us and we will fix it.
Which one is right for you?
A quick summary to help you choose the right Git-based CMS.
Choose Decap CMS if:
- You need broad Git provider support beyond GitHub — GitLab, Bitbucket, Gitea, or Azure DevOps
- You want role-based access control available as a paid add-on, even a basic one
- Your team needs Hugo, Jekyll, or 11ty support without a community workaround
- You want a built-in (if rate-limited) content search across the whole CMS
- You prefer YAML-based configuration over writing TypeScript
Choose Keystatic if:
- Your team is comfortable defining content schemas in TypeScript and wants type-safe content
- You're building with Astro, Next.js, or Remix and want a first-party, deeply integrated CMS
- You want a cheaper managed-cloud entry point ($10/mo for a 3-user team) if you outgrow self-hosting
- You want images optimized and CDN-delivered without configuring a third-party DAM
- Content should live entirely inside your codebase with zero separate CMS server
Migration Support
Already using another CMS?
Whether you are coming from WordPress, Contentful, Sanity, or any other platform, our team is ready to help you migrate your content, structure, and workflows with zero downtime. Migration support is available for all users on the Team plan or the Lifetime deal. We handle the boring, tedious tasks so you can focus on launching as soon as possible.
Get Started with Sitepins
Get started for free today and discover easy, flexible, and full control over your content.