Head to head

Stop guessing which one. Put them side by side.

Up to 4 tools, same rows for each: what it is, what it really costs, the trap, and how to wire it up. The URL carries your picks — send it to anyone.

MDXKeystaticOutstatic

Field	MDXmdxjs.com	Keystatickeystatic.com	Outstaticoutstatic.com
What it is	MDX is a format that lets you write JSX inside Markdown, so an article can embed live React components — charts, interactive figures, embeds — between paragraphs of prose. It compiles to a React component and is supported by Vite, Next.js and Astro.	Keystatic from Thinkmill is an MIT-licensed CMS that makes Markdown, MDX, JSON and YAML in your repository editable through a React admin UI. There is no database. It runs against the local filesystem in development and against GitHub in production.	Outstatic is an open-source static CMS for Next.js that mounts a writing dashboard inside your own app and commits Markdown or MDX directly to your GitHub repository. Content lives in the repo — there is no database and no external service to pay for.
Category	CMS & content infrastructure	CMS & content infrastructure	CMS & content infrastructure
Cost tier	free	free	free
Pricing	Free, MIT-licensed open format.	Free and MIT-licensed with no seat limits. Keystatic Cloud is an optional free add-on for GitHub auth and image handling.	Free and open source (MIT). Deploys inside your Next.js app; no hosted service, seats or API quotas.
Why builders pick it	The reason a technical publication can ship an interactive explainer inside an ordinary article. Every file-based tool here — Tina, Keystatic, Outstatic, Velite — speaks it natively.	Zero cost and zero vendor lock-in — the schema is a TypeScript file and content stays as plain files you can grep and diff. Ships integrations for Next.js, Astro and Remix.	The lowest-cost way to give a writer a real editor on a Next.js blog: no subscription, no seat count, no API limit. Sets up in minutes on Vercel.
Watch out for	MDX is a compiler, not a CMS: no editor, no media library, no workflow, no roles. Non-technical writers will not author raw MDX, so pair it with an editing layer.	Smaller community and slower release cadence than Tina or Payload. No official MCP server, no built-in scheduling, and no multi-stage editorial workflow or approval chain.	Next.js only, and tied to GitHub for both auth and storage. Small maintainer team and a modest feature set — no scheduling, no roles, no localization. Not a fit beyond a couple of writers.
How to wire it up	npm i @mdx-js/rollup	npm create @keystatic@latest	npx create-outstatic-app@latest
Editor's pick	No	No	No

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# Tool comparison — MDX vs Keystatic vs Outstatic

Source: Kbaise, a directory of tools that work with Lovable projects.
Pick one and tell me why before writing any integration code.

## MDX (mdx)
- URL: https://mdxjs.com
- Category: CMS & content infrastructure
- Cost: free — Free, MIT-licensed open format.
- What it is: MDX is a format that lets you write JSX inside Markdown, so an article can embed live React components — charts, interactive figures, embeds — between paragraphs of prose. It compiles to a React component and is supported by Vite, Next.js and Astro.
- Why builders pick it: The reason a technical publication can ship an interactive explainer inside an ordinary article. Every file-based tool here — Tina, Keystatic, Outstatic, Velite — speaks it natively.
- Trap: MDX is a compiler, not a CMS: no editor, no media library, no workflow, no roles. Non-technical writers will not author raw MDX, so pair it with an editing layer.
- Wiring: npm i @mdx-js/rollup
- Full dossier: /api/public/tools/mdx

## Keystatic (keystatic)
- URL: https://keystatic.com
- Category: CMS & content infrastructure
- Cost: free — Free and MIT-licensed with no seat limits. Keystatic Cloud is an optional free add-on for GitHub auth and image handling.
- What it is: Keystatic from Thinkmill is an MIT-licensed CMS that makes Markdown, MDX, JSON and YAML in your repository editable through a React admin UI. There is no database. It runs against the local filesystem in development and against GitHub in production.
- Why builders pick it: Zero cost and zero vendor lock-in — the schema is a TypeScript file and content stays as plain files you can grep and diff. Ships integrations for Next.js, Astro and Remix.
- Trap: Smaller community and slower release cadence than Tina or Payload. No official MCP server, no built-in scheduling, and no multi-stage editorial workflow or approval chain.
- Wiring: npm create @keystatic@latest
- Full dossier: /api/public/tools/keystatic

## Outstatic (outstatic)
- URL: https://outstatic.com
- Category: CMS & content infrastructure
- Cost: free — Free and open source (MIT). Deploys inside your Next.js app; no hosted service, seats or API quotas.
- What it is: Outstatic is an open-source static CMS for Next.js that mounts a writing dashboard inside your own app and commits Markdown or MDX directly to your GitHub repository. Content lives in the repo — there is no database and no external service to pay for.
- Why builders pick it: The lowest-cost way to give a writer a real editor on a Next.js blog: no subscription, no seat count, no API limit. Sets up in minutes on Vercel.
- Trap: Next.js only, and tied to GitHub for both auth and storage. Small maintainer team and a modest feature set — no scheduling, no roles, no localization. Not a fit beyond a couple of writers.
- Wiring: npx create-outstatic-app@latest
- Full dossier: /api/public/tools/outstatic

## Rules
1. Prefer the free tier when no budget was stated, and say what the ceiling is.
2. Read the full dossier before integrating.
3. Fetch /api/public/models before writing any AI model ID.

Agents can fetch the same thing: GET /api/public/compare?slugs=mdx,keystatic,outstatic