Strapi
CMSA headless CMS written in JavaScript/TypeScript that you self-host, with a configurable admin panel and REST and GraphQL APIs.
Open-source alternative to:
What the free edition leaves out
The free edition is genuinely usable, but some team or enterprise features need a paid plan. “Not confirmed” means the official pages we read did not say, so we do not guess.
| Feature | Free edition | Details | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSO / SAML | Paid | Docs say SSO needs the Enterprise plan, or the SSO add-on on the Growth plan. The pricing page shows the add-on at $150/month plus $50/month per seat. Whether SAML specifically is supported was not checked. | Source ↗ |
| Role-based access control | Free | Docs list RBAC and custom admin roles as a free feature, active by default, with Author, Editor and Super Admin roles built in. | Source ↗ |
| Audit logs | Paid | Docs say audit logs require an Enterprise plan. | Source ↗ |
| Multi-user / teams | Free | Multiple admin users with roles are part of the free RBAC feature. The pricing page says the Growth plan includes 3 seats; whether the self-hosted Community edition caps seats was not confirmed. | Source ↗ |
| Backups and restore | Not confirmed | The pricing page lists Data Import/Export/Transfer in its feature table but does not describe backups. | Source ↗ |
| API access | Free | The pricing page lists REST and GraphQL API on the free Community plan. | Source ↗ |
| Support SLA | Paid | Community plan has community support only. Basic support is on Growth and Standard support on Enterprise; Premium support is an add-on. No SLA terms were found on the pricing page. | Source ↗ |
Best for
Teams that want a self-hosted headless CMS on a SQL database with a ready-made admin panel and role-based access.
Why choose it over Contentful
The Community Edition is MIT licensed and free to self-host. It includes REST and GraphQL APIs and role-based access control with custom admin roles, so you do not pay per seat or per API call to the project.
Where it falls short
Audit logs and review workflows need the Enterprise plan, and SSO needs Enterprise or a paid add-on on Growth. The repository is not purely MIT: files under ee/ directories use a separate commercial license, and the MIT grant applies only if you have no account on Strapi's cloud offering. SQL databases only; MongoDB is not supported. Feature-by-feature comparison with Contentful or other hosted CMSs has not been done.
Open-source alternative to
- Contentful — Replacement use, not an official claim: Strapi is a self-hosted headless CMS, so it can stand in for a hosted headless CMS such as Contentful.
Category
CMSTopics
Tech stack
TypeScript
JavaScriptLanguages as reported by GitHub for the repository.
