Pick a replacement by where you want the content to live and who'll do the modelling. Open source frameworks give developers full control and self-hosting. Managed platforms take hosting off your plate and suit content teams who want editors working straight away. A visual builder fits marketers who want to edit pages without a developer every time.
Developers feel a CMS first, and editors feel it every day after that. Storyblok's own homepage describes a content management system for developer and marketing teams, and its page title promises a headless CMS with a visual editor. If you're moving away from it, these eight cover open source, managed and visual approaches, in no particular order.
Eight headless CMS options, A to Z
Listed alphabetically, not ranked. Each line reflects the vendor's own description of its product.
Builder.io
Best for: Mixed teams of engineers, designers, product managers and marketers who want one shared source of truth, which the vendor describes as working in code without handoffs.
Cosmic
Best for: Content teams wanting a managed headless CMS with AI workflows built in; the vendor names a hosted MCP server and a free option.
Directus
Best for: Developers who want a no-code editing interface over a database they already run, with REST and GraphQL APIs, per the vendor; it can be self-hosted.
Ghost
Best for: Writers and independent publishers who want an open source publishing platform with email newsletters and subscriptions built in, as the vendor describes it.
Hygraph
Best for: Multi-brand organisations modelling and governing structured content for sites, apps and AI agents; that's the audience the vendor names.
Kontent.ai
Best for: Content operations teams that care about control and lower risk; the vendor's pitch is a CMS built for speed, control and future content needs.
Payload
Best for: Developers building in TypeScript and React who want an open source headless CMS that doubles as an application framework, per the vendor.
Strapi
Best for: JavaScript and TypeScript teams that want an open source headless CMS serving content to any device, which is how the vendor describes it.
Hosting and approach side by side
| Tool | Approach | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Builder.io | Visual development platform | Marketers and engineers working from one codebase |
| Cosmic | Managed headless CMS | Content teams that want hosting handled |
| Directus | Self-hostable backend and CMS | An editing interface over an existing database |
| Ghost | Open source publishing platform | Publishers who want newsletters built in |
| Hygraph | Headless CMS for many brands | Structured content across several brands |
| Kontent.ai | Managed CMS | Content operations that need control |
| Payload | Open source CMS and framework | TypeScript and React developers |
| Strapi | Open source headless CMS | JavaScript teams managing their own content stack |
Three questions that decide a CMS move
Feature lists in this category blur together quickly. What separates these tools is how content models are built, how editors work day to day, and where the content is hosted. Get clear answers to those three and the shortlist writes itself. It's also worth asking how each one handles localisation and preview, since those two often decide how happy editors are a month after launch.
How are content models built?
Strapi and Payload are open source and code-first, so developers define content types in JavaScript or TypeScript and keep them in version control. Directus works the other way round: it puts a no-code interface and REST and GraphQL APIs over a database you already have. Code-first suits teams that want models reviewed like any other code; database-first suits teams with existing data to expose.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
How will editors work?
If your marketers loved editing pages visually, this is where a move can hurt. Builder.io pitches one shared codebase for engineers, designers and marketers, which keeps visual editing in the picture. Ghost takes a different route: it's a publishing platform with newsletters and subscriptions built in, so it suits writers more than app teams.
Where is the content hosted?
Self-hosting gives you control and more upkeep. Managed platforms do the opposite. Cosmic describes a managed headless CMS with a hosted MCP server for AI agents, Hygraph aims at multi-brand organisations governing structured content, and Kontent.ai pitches speed and control for content operations. Ask each one where your data is stored and how you'd export it.
Advice for teams leaving a visual-editor CMS
Rebuild one real page type, start to finish, before you migrate anything else. Pick something your editors touch weekly, like a blog post or a landing page, and have an editor build it without help. If they need a developer for small changes, that's time you'll lose every week.
Think about AI too. Several of these now talk about agents reading and writing content, which is useful, but you'll want to decide who and what can access your content. This piece on how to stop AI bots scraping your website content is a good starting point, and if the CMS is for a new site, read about building a content creation website for your business first.
Questions to put to your developers
- Do we want to host this ourselves, and who looks after updates and backups if we do?
- Can our current content models be recreated, or will we redesign them?
- How will existing content be exported and imported, including images and links?
- Which front-end framework are we using, and is it well supported by the new CMS?
- How will editors preview changes before they go live?
Do you make a headless CMS? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
Want your tool on this list? Featured spots and reviews here are paid partnerships. Here's how to partner with me.
Frequently asked questions
What is a headless CMS?
It's a content system that stores and manages content but doesn't control how it's displayed. Your website or app pulls the content through an API and renders it however you like.
Is an open source CMS free to run?
The software may be free to use, but you still need hosting, updates, backups and developer time. Some open source projects also sell a managed cloud version.
Can marketers edit a headless CMS without a developer?
Yes, once developers have set up the content models and previews. How easy it feels varies a lot, so let an editor test it before you decide.
How hard is it to migrate away from Storyblok?
It depends on how many content types and entries you have. Plan for exporting content, recreating models and checking every page type before you switch over.
Do I need a headless CMS for a small business website?
Usually not. A traditional website builder or WordPress is simpler for most small sites. Headless makes sense when the same content feeds several sites or apps.
