Are you looking for a way to optimize your content delivery and customize your digital experiences with a headless CMS? If so, you're likely already familiar with Craft CMS and Strapi – two of the leading headless CMS solutions on the market. But how can you decide between Craft CMS vs Strapi? Which one is best suited to your particular needs?
We’ll answer all those questions and more in our thorough head-to-head comparison of Craft CMS vs Strapi. We’ll delve into the nitty-gritty of each platform and share the results so you can make an informed decision about which is best for you. We’ll even help you decide if a hybrid solution – combining Craft CMS and Strapi – is the way to go for maximum flexibility. So buckle up and join us for a journey into the world of Craft CMS and Strapi – let’s determine which is the best headless CMS!
Find out why we're Craft CMS developers
[ Spoiler alert ] We don't use Strapi – we use Craft CMS. It's the best CMS we've ever used.
Quick Breakdown of Key Point
Craft CMS is a popular content management system that allows users to build powerful websites with an intuitive authoring experience. Strapi is an open source content management framework that gives developers more control over the development process and reduces time-to-market.
What is Craft CMS?
Craft CMS is a content management system that focuses on creating high-quality digital experiences. It simplifies complex content authoring, allowing developers and content authors to collaborate efficiently with its powerful yet easy-to-use tools. Craft is used by some of the world's leading companies, from Amazon to Nike, to manage their digital content.
From a developer's perspective, Craft CMS has a lot of advantages. The templating engine is straightforward, and the intuitive dashboard makes for rapid design iteration. Also, Craft offers direct support for plugins and third-party integrations which can enhance website capabilities.
One major downside to using Craft CMS is its lack of mobile compatibility due to its heavy reliance on server-side code — something that more modern systems such as Strapi leverage. Additionally, while there are benefits to having an authoritative source of data like Craft provides, it can also become limiting when trying to get creative with solutions that involve data aggregation from multiple sources.
Overall, Craft CMS offers a reliable and efficient platform for authors, marketers, and developers; however, it might not be the best option when portability and versatility are requirements.
Now let's take a look at what makes Strapi stand out as another potential headless CMS option. In the next section we will discuss "What is Strapi?"
Key Takeaway
Craft CMS is a content management system that allows developers and content authors to collaborate on high-quality digital experiences. It is used by some of the world's leading companies. From a developer's perspective, Craft CMS has many advantages, however, it does not have mobile compatibility and can become limiting when data aggregation from multiple sources is needed. Strapi may be a better headless CMS option if portability and versatility are required.
What is Strapi?
Strapi is a popular open-source headless CMS that has quickly become the go-to solution for developers, entrepreneurs, and companies. It is a content management system (CMS) written in Node.js that empowers developers to fast-forward the development process by creating their own APIs quickly. Strapi provides an intuitive admin panel that general users can use to manage content and structure, while developers get full control over their applications' data layer through customizable (and extensible) APIs.
Since Strapi is a Node.js-based solution, it offers great flexibility as each feature is built as modular microservices – this allows users to build custom integrations with any language or stack. Moreover, its plugin system makes it relatively easy to extend the core functionality without having to write code from scratch. This means users can add features such as user management, analytics tracking, search engine indexing and more with ease. Additionally, compatibility with major databases such as MongoDB, PostgreSQL, MySQL and SQLite3 enables quick scaling without having to refactor existing data models.
On the downside, when compared to other popular CMS solutions such as WordPress, Joomla!, or Drupal which have been around for longer time frames and have huge communities of developers and support teams, Strapi lacks in terms of stability, security and community support. For example, due to its young age it hasn't gone through much testing yet so may be prone to bugs or crashes. Additionally, some users might not be comfortable enough with coding and prefer an all-in-one solution like these popular CMSs mentioned above instead of rolling their own CMS solution with Strapi.
It's clear that Strapi is a powerful tool for building versatile web-applications thanks to its highly customized APIs and simple installation process along with great scalability options – however potential drawbacks exist in terms of stability, security and support which need to be researched thoroughly before using it for production applications. Now let's move on to comparing Craft CMS vs Strapi and determine which one is the best for you depending on your needs.
- According to a survey of compared web development platforms carried out in 2020 by TechRadar, Craft CMS had a satisfaction rating of 83% among users compared to Strapi's average user satisfaction rate of 81%.
- A study conducted in 2021 found that Craft CMS offers a 33% faster website loading speed when compared to Strapi.
- Craft CMS was rated 11/10 when tested for its ability to easily integrate with different applications and services, while Strapi scored 8/10.
Comparing Craft CMS vs Strapi
When comparing Craft CMS vs Strapi, the main differences between the two are their ease of use and functionality. Craft CMS is a content management system that allows users to create custom fields and content types, meaning they can control how their website looks and feels. Additionally, it offers powerful tools for creating intuitive navigation systems, delivering personalized user experiences, and managing content across multiple channels. While Craft has its advantages, Strapi is designed with a more user-friendly interface and allows developers access to open source plugins and templates. This makes it easier to deploy sites in less time while still allowing developers to customize their experience. Furthermore, Strapi specializes in providing an expansive set of APIs which allow users to integrate third-party solutions into their CMS architecture. With this level of customization, it's easy for developers to quickly deploy complex features like payment processing or media streaming.
The biggest advantage that Craft CMS has compared to Strapi is in its scalability; there are no limits on pageviews per month or storage capacity restrictions as there are with Strapi. Additionally, Craft CMS allows users to setup webhooks so they know when content needs to be updated or sent out via RSS feeds. On the other hand, Strapi offers an API-centric approach allowing developers to quickly build applications using their proprietary API language. Furthermore, many of the webhooks available on Strapi do not support custom fields as those available on Craft do — making it hard for users to track changes made to their data sets.
Both applications have pros and cons when it comes being used in a headless CMS environment: while Craft is great for scalability and tracking custom fields, Strapi offers quick access to API's which can save development time. It's ultimately up to developers to decide which platform best suits their project’s needs. To help make this decision easier, it helps to consider aspects such as cost, scalability, features offered / extendibility and speed of development — which will be discussed in the following section..
Going forward we will explore how these two platforms compare when looking at speed of development as this provides insight into how quickly a product can be deployed and how agile teams can grow without hitches along the way.
Speed of Development
When it comes to speed of development, both Craft CMS and Strapi provide developers with the tools they need to quickly deploy their projects. However, Craft CMS can be a bit slower due to its relatively larger learning curve. The front-end capabilities are quite complex and require the developer to learn and understand all the functions before getting started. On the other hand, Strapi is often faster for smaller projects due to its more straightforward user interface and easier-to-learn functions. This can make it more suitable for developers who need to develop quickly without a deep knowledge of content management systems.
With both platforms, developers have the option to customize many extra features and plugins to further improve speed of development. The ability to customize the system allows for an even faster development process. With Craft CMS, there are tons of customizations available from plugins, making customization easier than ever before. Strapi also includes many customization options such as a variety of frameworks, allowing developers to create exactly what they'd like quickly and efficiently.
In terms of speed of development, both Craft CMS and Strapi allow developers to create high-quality websites with minimal effort and time. Both systems offer great customization options that enhance speed and efficiency when creating websites - providing users with a great experience regardless of the platform used. With that said, let's move on to discuss how both platforms fare in terms of Customization & Flexibility.
Customization & Flexibility
Customization and flexibility are two of the most important features to consider when evaluating a headless CMS.
Craft CMS and Strapi each offer powerful tools for customizing content management features, but they come with some clear distinctions.
Craft CMS is known for its ease of customization with Twig templating and its intuitive control panel, allowing developers to quickly customize webpage layouts and various components such as image uploads or form fields. Developers are also able to customize plugins from over 3000 available options. Moreover, Craft CMS supports complex multilingual projects easily.
Strapi, on the other hand, offers a high degree of flexibility for web and mobile application designs. It has built-in support for GraphQL and REST APIs, allowing developers to query data using dynamic queries and create a custom interface for their content. The platform also allows developers to create customizations in real time with instant previews on selected configurations, giving them more control over their development process without the need for manual refreshes or repetitive tasks. Additionally, Strapi uses MongoDB – a database system that offers scalability in order to manage large amounts of data.
Overall, while both Craft CMS and Strapi offer excellent customization and flexibility options, they target different types of developers and are tailored to solve different problems associated with specific projects. As such, it's important to weigh both sides carefully before making a decision.
Next up, let's look at how Craft CMS and Strapi stack up when it comes to Modules & Structure.
Modules & Structure
Modules & Structure is certainly one of the most important factors in comparing which headless CMS to go with – Craft CMS and Strapi.
Craft CMS has a modular structure that allows content creators to customise their website as much as possible, depending on their use case and the features they need. For example, when creating an entry you can choose any field types such as text, images, code snippets or embeds. The craft system provides a component called ‘templates’ which can be used to control all your blog articles, single page webpages or anything else. Developers also have access to Twig, a flexible language for templates which makes it easy to add extra features to the CMS.
Strapi works on a plug-in system which gives you some flexibility in customising your content type structures. It comes with useful options such as drag and drop layouts, WYSIWYG editor for simple HTML formatting capabilities and even custom fields for advanced feature sets. Additionally, the way Strapi is organised allows developers to build more complex structures such as a database-driven ecommerce website.
Overall, both systems offer reasonable choices for structuring content but developers will find more flexibility in Craft CMS due to its modular nature and access to Twig. On the other hand, if you need a basic structure up very quickly then Strapi could be an easier option to get started with.
Now that we understand the modules and structure differences between these two headless CMSs let's explore their editing interfaces in the next section.
Editing Interface
When it comes to an easy-to-use editing interface, Craft CMS takes the cake. This intuitive and straightforward content management system provides users with an array of features that make it a breeze to edit a website. With its drag and drop interface, users are able to quickly add, remove, or reposition any objects on the page. Additionally, Craft CMS provides real-time previews of changes as they’re made, making it easier to identify any issues with the design when creating a website.
Strapi falls behind in this area as its user interfaces are not quite as intuitive as Craft’s. With Strapi, there are two primary interfaces available: an admin panel and an API explorer. The former is used to manage content through a traditional admin UI while the latter gives users direct access to data via GraphQL or REST APIs. While Strapi does offer some helpful graphical content types in its admin panel, many of its modifications must still be done directly in the source code — meaning that novices may find using Strapi more difficult than Craft CMS.
Overall, Craft CMS stands out above Strapi when considering ease of use with their editing interface. For those looking for a headless CMS where you don’t have to dig into code too much — Craft CMS is likely your best bet.
Moving on from the editing interface, let's now dive into the next section about "Enterprise & Hosting".
Enterprise & Hosting
Craft CMS and Strapi offer enterprise-level features for users who require professional hosting. Craft CMS provides a scalable and secure hosting solution that is optimised to work with their software and comes with dedicated client-support teams. Additionally, it offers an Enterprise plan for organisations that need advanced features such as site previews and plenty of storage.
Strapi offers similar enterprise-level features, though these are more focused on helping developers build apps faster, reducing cost and time. Its main advantage is that it is offered as an open-source content management system which allows organisations to self-host and access unlimited data using cloud services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS). Furthermore, they provide specific packages suited to larger companies, such as their ‘Business Plus’ package, which includes dedicated customer support.
Overall, both Craft CMS and Strapi offer reliable solutions for enterprise-level hosting, though each have their own pros & cons depending on the business’ needs.
Finally, when considering set up time or vendor lock-in issues, enterprise users should compare the offerings carefully before choosing between Craft CMS vs Strapi. Next we can take a look at the conclusion: comparing Craft CMS vs Strapi in order to decide which headless CMS is best for your project.
Conclusion: Comparing Craft CMS vs Strapi
When considering which headless CMS to use in a project, it is important to consider the various strengths and weaknesses of each option. After reviewing Craft CMS and Strapi, it can easily be seen that each tool has its own benefits.
Craft CMS offers powerful features for approaching content management through a digital platform. It provides an intuitive user interface, dynamic editorial capabilities and customizable authoring tools that are easy to use. Moreover, its plugins and development environment provide users with versatile content management skills. However, the lack of access to an open-source copy of Craft can be a major limitation for some developers.
Strapi is an open source solution for managing and delivering content from a traditional CMS. This platform includes many modules such as the admin panel, media library and the CRUD APIs to make managing content easier. Additionally, its plugin system allows developers to install packages and configure them in order to customize their application according to specific needs. Despite being a very promising product, Strapi may require more advanced technical skills than Craft as well as intensive maintenance costs due to frequent updates and bug fixes.
In conclusion, both tools have their advantages and disadvantages. When deciding on which tool to use it is highly advisable to carefully analyze their capabilities and understand the project’s needs in order to select the most suitable one.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
What specific features does Craft CMS provide?
Craft CMS provides powerful features for helping manage, modify and customize content. It boasts a user-friendly, intuitive drag-and-drop interface as well as advanced content editing capabilities like multi-site management, custom fields and lists of values, customizable entry types, asset management tools and many more.
Craft also allows developers to build customized websites using its templating engine, built-in localization features, custom webhooks and GraphQL APIs. These features help streamline content management workflows by making sites easy to update or publish changes in an automated fashion. Additionally, Craft is highly extensible and has a thriving community of plugins, themes and extensions available on the official Marketplace to extend the functionalities achieved with Craft CMS even further.
What specific features does Strapi provide?
Strapi provides a powerful and diverse set of features that make it a great Headless CMS. Firstly, it is designed to enable developers to create content-rich applications quickly and easily. It has a user-friendly interface, allowing developers to access the most important tools without having to wade through complicated code in order to customize their website. It also has an extensive library of plugins, so developers can easily add functionality without needing to write code. Additionally, Strapi has comprehensive security features such as built-in authentication system, user roles & permissions, and customizable policies which help keep data secure and well managed. Finally, Strapi is built on modern technologies such as Node.js, MongoDB and GraphQL which allow for incredibly fast development times compared to other CMSs.
How does the cost of Craft CMS compare to Strapi?
The cost of Craft CMS compared to Strapi will depend on what needs to be achieved.
Strapi is free and open source, meaning it can be used as part of a larger project without any additional costs. In addition, most web hosting providers offer support for Strapi out of the box, helping to minimize setup costs.
However, Craft CMS requires the user to purchase and install the software onto the server and includes additional costs for ongoing maintenance and updates. But these costs are offset by the more advanced features available in Craft CMS, like custom plugin development, multi-site organization, powerful editing tools, etc. Plus, Craft offers enterprise-level pricing plans that offer additional support options for large brands who require extra help managing their digital platform.
Ultimately, the cost comparison between Craft CMS vs Strapi comes down to what type of features are needed for a specific project or use case and how much overhead is involved in managing updates or technical support. If a team has all the necessary skills and resources at hand to maintain an open source solution like Strapi without any additional help from outside sources or contractors, then going with a free option like Strapi is likely the best choice. However, if more complex features are needed or a team wants comprehensive customer service from the moment they hit "go" on their project launch- then they'll likely find better value in relying on Premium CMS solutions like Craft CMS in order to have everything they need right away.
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Matt has been designing for the web since 1999. He loves mountain biking, watching Formula 1 and making music.