Strapi

Open-source self-hosted Node CMS

Free tier + paidCMS & content infrastructurestrapi.io

What it is

Strapi is an MIT-licensed Node.js headless CMS with an auto-generated admin panel, REST and GraphQL APIs, and a plugin system. The self-hosted Community edition is free with unlimited seats; Strapi Cloud starts at $35/mo for 100k API requests and 50GB storage.

Why it earns a slot

The default when you want a conventional admin UI plus full control of the database and hosting. Large plugin ecosystem and a well-trodden migration path off WordPress.

Know before you commit

Editorial extras — review workflows, audit logs, SSO — sit behind Growth or Enterprise. Cloud overages run $1.50 per extra 25k API requests. Native MCP is still in development; today's options are community plugins.

Getting started

npx create-strapi@latest

Field notes

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Pricing snapshot

Community self-hosted free (MIT, unlimited seats). Growth $45/mo (3 seats, +$15/seat). Strapi Cloud $35 / $90 / $450 per mo. Enterprise custom.

Snapshots move fast — verify at checkout, and post a field note if it changed.

Drop into your Lovable chat

Evaluate Strapi (https://strapi.io) for this project, then use it only if it fits what we are already building.
Context: Open-source self-hosted Node CMS. Strapi is an MIT-licensed Node.js headless CMS with an auto-generated admin panel, REST and GraphQL APIs, and a plugin system. The self-hosted Community edition is free with unlimited seats; Strapi Cloud starts at $35/mo for 100k API requests and 50GB storage.
Reviewer notes (general, not written for this codebase): The default when you want a conventional admin UI plus full control of the database and hosting. Large plugin ecosystem and a well-trodden migration path off WordPress.
Watch out for: Editorial extras — review workflows, audit logs, SSO — sit behind Growth or Enterprise. Cloud overages run $1.50 per extra 25k API requests. Native MCP is still in development; today's options are community plugins.
Pricing: Community self-hosted free (MIT, unlimited seats). Growth $45/mo (3 seats, +$15/seat). Strapi Cloud $35 / $90 / $450 per mo. Enterprise custom.
Setup: npx create-strapi@latest
Rules: treat the notes above as background only. Do not assume a theme, style, layout or feature that is not already in this project — inspect the existing code first and ask me before changing visual direction.

/api/public/tools/strapi

Neighbourhood

How Strapi sits against the rest of the atlas — swaps, companions and the tools builders actually save alongside it.

Instead of thisKeystatic MDX Outstatic Payload CMS Velite Airtable as a CMS Builder.io Contentful Directus

Named in the wiringWordPress (headless / WPGraphQL)

Also in CMS & content infrastructure

Airtable as a CMS

airtable.com

Spreadsheet database as a content API

Free tier + paidCMS & content infrastructure

Free: 5 editors, 1,000 records/base, 1GB attachments, 1,000 API calls/mo. Team $20/user/mo annual (50k records). Business $45/user/mo (125k records).

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Builder.io

builder.io

Visual page builder with AI codegen

Free tier + paidCMS & content infrastructure

Free: 5 users, 75 AI credits/mo. Pro around $24/user/mo, Team around $40/user/mo (20 users). Extra agent credits $25 per 500. Enterprise custom.

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Contentful

contentful.com

Enterprise API-first headless CMS

Free tier + paidCMS & content infrastructure

Free: 10 users, 10k records, 100k API calls/mo, 2 locales, 25 content types. Lite $300/mo (20 users, 1M calls, 3 locales). Enterprise custom.

Open dossier

Directus

directus.com

Data platform over any SQL database

Free tier + paidCMS & content infrastructure

Core free (3 seats, free to self-host). Team $499/mo annual or $599/mo monthly (10 SSO seats); managed Cloud +$99/mo. Enterprise custom.

Open dossier