Short answer, October 2026:
- Marketing team that edits pages itself: Storyblok or Prismic.
- Developer-led product team: Sanity or Hygraph; for full code ownership, Payload or Strapi on your own cloud.
- Enterprise governance and SLAs: Contentful, Contentstack or Kontent.ai.
- Small team on a budget: ButterCMS, or the free tier of any platform in the table below.
This page compares 11 cloud-based headless CMS platforms. It covers hosting model, CDN delivery, uptime SLA, starting price and team fit. For a comparison built around subscription plans, see our separate guide to SaaS headless CMS pricing tiers. Here the question is narrower: who runs the infrastructure, and what do you get when they do.
What “cloud-based” means for a headless CMS
A cloud-based headless CMS is one where the vendor hosts everything: the editing interface, the database, the content API and the CDN that serves images and JSON to your site. You get an API endpoint and a login. You never patch a server, restore a backup or scale a database.
That differs from a self-hosted headless CMS such as Strapi or Payload. There you deploy the CMS yourself on AWS, Google Cloud or a platform like Vercel, and you own uptime. Both can run “in the cloud”. The difference is who carries the pager.
Three things come with the cloud model and are worth checking on every pricing page:
- Hosted API with rate limits. Every plan caps API calls per month. Free plans usually stop serving when you hit the cap; paid plans bill overage or ask you to upgrade.
- CDN delivery. Assets and cached responses go through the vendor’s CDN, with a monthly bandwidth quota.
- SLA. Uptime guarantees are almost always an Enterprise feature. Storyblok is an exception, with a 97% SLA from its Growth plan up.
If you are still deciding whether headless fits at all, start with our headless CMS development services overview.
Comparison table: 11 cloud headless CMS platforms
Pricing as of October 2026, taken from each vendor’s own pricing page. Prices are in USD per month unless stated. Vendors change plans often, so check the pricing page before you sign.
| Platform | Hosting model | Starting paid price | Free tier | API | Visual editing | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contentful | Vendor SaaS; dedicated and multi-region infrastructure on Enterprise | Lite, $300/month | Yes: 10 users, 100K API calls, 50 GB CDN per month | REST, GraphQL | Live preview; Studio on Enterprise | Enterprise content operations |
| Sanity | Vendor-hosted content lake; Studio can be deployed by Sanity or by you | Growth, $15 per seat/month | Yes: 20 seats, 10k documents, 250k API requests, 100 GB | GROQ, GraphQL | Yes, Presentation tool | Developer-led product teams |
| Storyblok | Vendor SaaS with regional data centres | Growth, $99/month billed monthly | Yes: 1 seat (up to 2), 100,000 API requests, 100 GB | REST; GraphQL on Premium and Elite | Yes, visual editor on all plans | Marketing teams that build pages |
| Prismic | Vendor SaaS | Starter, $10/month per repository, billed annually | Yes: 1 user, 4M API calls, 100 GB, 2 locales | REST, GraphQL | Yes, slice-based page builder | Marketing sites with a small editor team |
| Hygraph | Vendor SaaS on shared clusters in EU, US and APAC; dedicated cluster on Enterprise | Growth, from $199/month | Yes: 3 seats, 1,000 entries, 500,000 API calls, 100 GB asset traffic | GraphQL, content federation | Live preview | GraphQL teams that pull data from several APIs |
| Contentstack | Vendor SaaS | Build, $29/month | Yes: 3 users, 1K entries, 100K API calls, 100 GB | REST, GraphQL | Live preview, Visual Builder | Governance and compliance at scale |
| Kontent.ai | Vendor SaaS | Custom quote; estimate form on pricing page | None listed | REST, GraphQL | Yes, Web Spotlight | Regulated enterprises with strict workflows |
| ButterCMS | Vendor SaaS | Basic, $71/month | Yes: 50K API calls, 100 GB, 5 pages, 50 blog posts | REST | Page and component editor with preview | Small teams adding a blog and landing pages |
| Bloomreach Content | Vendor SaaS inside the Bloomreach suite | Custom quote; no public rate card | None listed | REST delivery APIs | Yes, Experience Manager | Commerce brands already on Bloomreach |
| Payload Cloud | Managed hosting by the Payload team | New deployments paused after Payload joined Figma | Not open to new projects | REST, GraphQL, Local API | Live preview | Existing Payload Cloud customers only |
| Strapi Cloud | Managed hosting of open-source Strapi | Starter, $35/month per project | None listed | REST, GraphQL plugin | Content preview | Teams that want Strapi without running servers |
Contentful
Contentful has been around longer than anything else here, and it shows up on most enterprise shortlists. Content lives in “spaces”, each with its own content types, environments and records quota. The free plan includes one Starter Space with 10,000 records and 25 content types.
- Best for: organisations with several brands or regions that need roles, environments and a 99.99% uptime SLA (Enterprise only).
- Not for: small teams. The jump from Free to Lite is $300 a month, and the Lite plan still includes 3 locales and 3 roles.
- Pricing starts at: $300/month (Lite) as of October 2026. Enterprise is a custom quote.
Our Contentful development services page covers builds and migrations. For a self-hosted comparison, read Strapi vs Contentful.
Sanity
Sanity stores content in a hosted “content lake” and gives you an open-source editing app, Sanity Studio, that you configure in code. Queries use GROQ or GraphQL. Pricing is per seat, which keeps small teams cheap.
- Best for: product teams with a developer who wants to shape the editing interface and the content model in TypeScript.
- Not for: teams that want a ready-made editor with no code. Studio is configured in code, so every change to the editor needs a developer.
- Pricing starts at: $15 per seat/month (Growth) as of October 2026. The free plan includes 20 seats and 10k documents. The Enterprise plan adds an uptime SLA.
See Sanity development services and Strapi vs Sanity.
Storyblok
Storyblok pairs a headless API with a visual editor where marketers drag components onto a live preview of the page. The visual editor is on every plan, including the free one.
- Best for: marketing teams that publish landing pages weekly and do not want to wait for a developer.
- Not for: GraphQL-first teams on a budget. The GraphQL delivery API is listed only on the Premium and Elite plans.
- Pricing starts at: $99/month billed monthly (Growth, 5 seats, 1,000,000 API requests) as of October 2026. Growth Plus is $349/month. Growth carries a 97% uptime SLA, Premium 99.9% and Elite 99.99%.
More on our Storyblok development services page.
Prismic
Prismic is built around “slices”, reusable page sections that developers define and editors arrange. It suits marketing sites more than complex product data.
- Best for: marketing sites where a few editors assemble pages from a fixed set of sections.
- Not for: apps with deep relational content or many locales on a small plan. The free plan has 1 user and 2 locales.
- Pricing starts at: $10/month per repository, billed annually (Starter), as of October 2026. Small is $25, Medium $150 and Platinum $675. The free plan includes 4 million API calls a month, the largest free API quota in this list.
See Prismic development services.
Kontent.ai
Kontent.ai targets enterprises that need approval workflows, audit trails and governance across many content types. It offers REST and GraphQL delivery and Web Spotlight for in-context editing.
- Best for: regulated industries where every change needs a reviewer and a record.
- Not for: startups. There is no published price and no free tier on the pricing page.
- Pricing starts at: custom quote. As of October 2026 the pricing page asks for seats, content types and content items, then returns an estimate. All plans include 24/7 in-app chat support.
Our Kontent.ai services page covers implementation.
Contentstack
Contentstack sells mainly to enterprises and leads with governance and compliance features. It now also publishes self-service plans below Enterprise.
- Best for: large organisations that need workflows, roles and compliance reviews, and want to start on a paid self-service plan first.
- Not for: teams that need an SLA on a small budget. The 99.5% uptime SLA is listed only on Enterprise.
- Pricing starts at: $29/month (Build) as of October 2026. Growth is $299/month. The free plan includes 3 users, 1K entries and 100K API calls.
See Contentstack development services.
Hygraph (GraphQL-first)
Hygraph, formerly GraphCMS, is GraphQL-first. Its main feature beyond the CMS is content federation: it can pull data from other APIs, such as a product catalogue, into one GraphQL schema.
- Best for: teams already on GraphQL that want one endpoint for CMS content and data from other services.
- Not for: teams that prefer REST. GraphQL is the only delivery API.
- Pricing starts at: from $199/month (Growth, 10 seats, 10,000 entries, 1,000,000 API calls) as of October 2026. The free Hobby plan has 3 seats and 1,000 entries. Enterprise offers an uptime SLA of up to 99.95%.
See Hygraph development services.
ButterCMS
ButterCMS is a simple hosted CMS with a built-in blog engine. It is quick to set up and focused on pages, posts and collections, not complex content models.
- Best for: small teams adding a blog and marketing pages to an existing app.
- Not for: large content models. The free plan allows 5 pages and 50 blog posts.
- Pricing starts at: $71/month (Basic, 100K API calls, 250 GB bandwidth) as of October 2026. Advanced is $224 and Professional $359. Yearly billing saves 10%.
See ButterCMS development services.
Bloomreach
Bloomreach Content is the CMS part of a suite that also covers commerce search and marketing automation. It makes most sense when you already use the rest of the suite.
- Best for: commerce brands that want content, search and personalisation from one vendor.
- Not for: content-only projects. You pay for a commerce platform.
- Pricing starts at: custom quote. As of October 2026 the pricing page states there is no public rate card.
See Bloomreach development services.
Payload Cloud
Payload is an open-source, TypeScript headless CMS that runs inside a Next.js app. Payload Cloud was its managed hosting. After Payload joined Figma, the Payload website states that deployment of new Cloud projects is paused. Existing projects keep running.
- Best for: existing Payload Cloud customers, who can stay put for now.
- Not for: new projects as of October 2026. Host Payload yourself on any platform that runs Next.js instead.
- Pricing starts at: not available to new customers.
We build on Payload in production. Our Payload development services page explains how we host it, and you can hire a Payload developer for an existing project.
Strapi Cloud
Strapi Cloud is managed hosting for open-source Strapi. You keep the Strapi codebase and admin panel; Strapi runs the servers, database and asset storage.
- Best for: teams that chose Strapi and do not want to run servers.
- Not for: teams that need a free hosted tier. The pricing page lists none.
- Pricing starts at: $35/month per project (Starter, 100,000 API requests, 50 GB storage) as of October 2026. Pro is $90 and Business $450. Only Business lists a 99.9% uptime SLA.
See Strapi development services and Strapi vs Payload.
How to pick by team type
Marketing team with a visual editor
Pick Storyblok or Prismic. Both let editors build pages from components without a developer for each change. Storyblok is stronger when editors need a true drag-and-drop preview. Prismic is cheaper at the low end. Need help with either? Hire a Storyblok developer or hire a Prismic developer.
Developer-led product team
Pick Sanity or Hygraph, or Payload if you want the CMS in your own codebase and database. Sanity suits teams that want to code the editor. Hygraph suits teams that want one GraphQL endpoint across several data sources. For a European mid-market B2B SaaS, we built a Payload CMS marketing site that cut time to publish by roughly two thirds. To bring in help, hire a Sanity developer.
Enterprise governance
Pick Contentful, Contentstack or Kontent.ai. All three publish roles, workflows and Enterprise SLAs. Expect a custom quote and a security review. For a US-based enterprise multi-brand retail group, we built an omnichannel headless CMS on Payload instead, feeding storefronts, apps and in-store screens from one API. That cut publish time by about 65%. If Contentful is already on your shortlist, you can hire a Contentful developer.
Small team on a budget
Start on a free tier. Prismic, Sanity, Contentful, Storyblok, Hygraph and Contentstack all have one. ButterCMS is the cheapest paid plan built around a blog. Our list of cloud headless CMS with a free tier compares the limits side by side.
What cloud headless CMS costs at scale
List prices only tell you where a plan starts. Seats, entries and API calls decide where you end up. Here are three scenarios using the published limits as of October 2026.
5 editors, about 10,000 entries. Most platforms still fit a self-service plan:
- Sanity Growth at 5 seats costs $75 a month, with 25k documents included.
- Storyblok Growth includes 5 seats for $99 a month billed monthly.
- Hygraph Growth costs $199 a month for 10 seats and 10,000 entries. That leaves you at its entry limit on day one.
- Contentful Lite costs $300 a month and covers 20 users. Its included Starter Space holds 10,000 records.
25 editors, about 100,000 entries. Almost every vendor moves you to a custom quote here. Sanity Growth tops out at 50 seats but includes 25k documents. Storyblok Growth Plus includes 15 seats. Hygraph Growth includes 10 seats. Contentful Lite includes 20 users. Strapi Cloud is the exception: the Pro plan at $90 a month lists unlimited database entries and 1,000,000 API requests. You still pay to build and maintain the Strapi app.
Enterprise. Price depends on seats, locales, environments, API volume, support level and the SLA. Published SLA ceilings as of October 2026: Contentful up to 99.99%, Storyblok Elite 99.99%, Hygraph up to 99.95%, Strapi Cloud Business 99.9%, Contentstack Enterprise 99.5%. Sanity, Prismic and ButterCMS list an SLA on Enterprise without a public figure.
Two caveats. First, free plans usually stop at the quota; Contentful and Prismic both state “no overages” on free bandwidth. Second, usage-based overage on paid plans can matter more than the base price for high-traffic sites, so ask for the overage rate in writing.
Cloud vs self-hosted: when to choose each
Choose a cloud headless CMS when:
- nobody on the team wants to run servers, databases or backups;
- you need a vendor SLA in a contract;
- your content model is standard enough that the vendor’s limits fit.
Choose a self-hosted headless CMS such as Strapi or Payload when:
- data must stay in your own database or region;
- per-seat pricing becomes the largest line item as the team grows;
- you need custom logic close to the content, such as access rules or integrations.
The cost of self-hosting is engineering time, not licences. With Payload Cloud paused for new projects, “self-hosted” now often means Payload on your own cloud account, or Strapi on Strapi Cloud as a middle path. Our list of open-source headless CMS platforms covers the self-hosted side.
Moving off WordPress? You can migrate from WordPress to a cloud headless CMS or to a self-hosted one; the content model work is the same. For a US-based Series-B fintech, we ran a WordPress to headless CMS replatform onto Payload and Next.js that cut publish time by about two thirds.
How we evaluated
We did not rank by popularity or review scores. For each platform we checked:
- Hosting model: who runs the database, API and CDN, and whether dedicated or regional infrastructure exists.
- Pricing: the starting paid plan and free tier, read from the vendor’s own pricing page in October 2026. Where a vendor publishes no price, we say so.
- API: REST, GraphQL or a query language, and plan restrictions on each.
- Editing: whether non-developers can build pages visually.
- SLA: whether an uptime figure is published, and on which plan.
We are not a partner or reseller of any vendor in this list. Our published case studies are Payload builds. For the hosted platforms we compared plan limits and documentation, which is the same check we run before recommending a CMS on a client project.
Need help choosing or building?
If you have a shortlist and want a second opinion on cost at your scale, send us your content model, monthly traffic and number of editors. We will tell you which plan you would actually end up on. To staff a build, hire headless CMS developers from our team, or contact us with your requirements.
