Git-Based CMS Comparison

Choosing a CMS for your static site? Here's how the top Git-based options compare.

Keystatic

Best for: Type-safe content modeling, local-first development, Next.js integration.

• ✅ Full TypeScript inference from schema
• ✅ Local file storage for development
• ✅ GitHub/GitLab storage for production
• ✅ Custom React components for fields
• ✅ Visual editing in development
• ❌ No real-time collaboration
• ❌ No production visual editing

TinaCMS

Best for: Visual editing experience, non-technical editors.

• ✅ Best-in-class visual editing
• ✅ Sidebar editing on live site
• ✅ Git-backed content
• ✅ Custom blocks and fields
• ⚠️ Requires Tina Cloud (free tier: 3 users)
• ❌ Self-hosting backend is complex

Decap CMS

Best for: Zero-configuration, simple sites, completely free.

• ✅ Completely free, no backend
• ✅ Runs in browser, commits via GitHub API
• ✅ Simple YAML configuration
• ✅ Works with any static site generator
• ❌ No TypeScript types
• ❌ No visual editing
• ❌ Limited field types

Recommendation

| Use Case | Recommended | |----------|-------------| | TypeScript project, want type safety | Keystatic | | Client needs visual editing on live site | TinaCMS | | Simple blog, zero budget, no TypeScript | Decap CMS | | Building a template for clients | Keystatic |

For my client work, I choose Keystatic - it gives me type-safe schemas that agents can understand, zero monthly cost, and a great local development experience.