TL;DR
All limits below were checked on each vendor’s own pricing page, as of October 2026.
- Most seats for free: Sanity’s free plan gives 20 seats and 10,000 documents. No other cloud free tier here comes close on seats.
- Most content for free: Prismic’s free plan has unlimited documents and 4 million API calls a month, but only one user.
- No quotas at all: Strapi, Payload and Decap CMS are MIT licensed and free to self-host. Directus is free to self-host for organisations under $5M in annual revenue and fewer than 50 employees. You pay for the server.
- Tight caps: Hygraph’s free plan stops at 1,000 entries and 3 seats. Contentful’s stops at 10,000 records, 25 content types and 100K API calls a month.
- The jump hurts: the next tier after free is $300 a month on Contentful, $199 on Hygraph and $99 on Storyblok (billed monthly). Sanity charges $15 per seat and Prismic $10 a month per repository (billed annually).
Free headless CMS at a glance
“Self-host” means the software is free and you run it on your own server. “Cloud” means the vendor hosts it and the free plan has quotas. Figures are as of October 2026.
| Platform | Free model | Records or documents | API calls per month | Seats | Next paid tier | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strapi | Self-host, MIT (no free cloud plan) | Unlimited | Unlimited (your server) | Unlimited | Cloud Starter $35 per project per month; self-hosted Growth $45 per month | Node.js teams that want a full admin panel |
| Payload | Self-host, MIT | No quota | No quota (your server) | No quota | Enterprise, priced by sales | Next.js apps with typed content |
| Directus | Self-host, free under $5M revenue and 50 staff | No quota in Core | No quota (your server) | See licence terms | Directus Cloud from $99 per month | Teams with an existing SQL database |
| Decap CMS | Open source, MIT, Git-based | Files in your repo | None needed (static build) | Your Git provider’s users | None; stays free | Static marketing sites and docs |
| Sanity | Cloud free plan | 10,000 documents | 250K API plus 1M CDN requests | 20 | Growth, $15 per seat per month | Small teams with many editors |
| Contentful | Cloud free plan | 10,000 records, 25 content types | 100K | 10 users, 2 roles | Lite, $300 per month | Learning and prototypes |
| Prismic | Cloud free plan | Unlimited documents | 4 million | 1 | Starter, $10 per month per repository, billed annually | Solo developers building page-based sites |
| Hygraph | Cloud free plan (Hobby) | 1,000 entries, 20 models | 500,000 | 3 | Growth, $199 per month | GraphQL prototypes |
| Storyblok | Cloud free plan (Starter) | 20,000 stories, 2,000 assets | 100,000 | 1 included, 2 maximum | Growth, $99 per month billed monthly | Visual page building on a small site |
Bandwidth on the cloud plans: Sanity, Prismic, Hygraph and Storyblok include 100 GB a month; Contentful includes 50 GB. The free plans of Contentful, Prismic, Hygraph and Storyblok each allow two locales.
Need a second opinion before you commit to a free tier? We build on all nine and can tell you in a short call which one will still fit in a year. Start with our headless CMS development services or read the Strapi vs Payload breakdown.
Cloud free tiers vs self-hosted: what “free” means
The word “free” covers two different deals. Picking the wrong one is the most common reason teams migrate in their first year. If you are new to the model itself, our guide to what a headless CMS is covers the basics first.
Cloud free tier
The vendor runs the software, the database, the CDN and the backups. You sign up and start modelling content in minutes. In exchange, you accept quotas on records, API calls, seats and locales. The quotas are set so that a real business site outgrows them. That is how the vendors make money. It is a fair deal, as long as you know where the line is before you build.
Two things are easy to miss. First, the free plans we checked do not bill overages. Contentful lists its API calls as “no overages” and Prismic says the same for API calls and bandwidth. That protects your card, but it also means the site can stop serving content when you hit the cap. Second, the next tier is rarely a small step. Contentful goes from $0 to $300 a month. Hygraph goes from $0 to $199.
For a wider look at paid plans, see our comparison of the free tiers of SaaS headless CMS against their paid tiers.
Open source, self-hosted
Strapi, Payload and Directus are software you install. There is no record cap and no API quota. The limit is the server you rent. You also own the work the vendor would otherwise do: updates, security patches, database backups, uptime monitoring and scaling.
Decap CMS sits in its own category. It is a single-page app that edits Markdown or JSON files in your Git repository. There is no database and no API server. The site rebuilds when an editor saves. That makes it the only option here that is free to run as well as free to license, as long as a static host is enough. We cover it with other Git-backed tools in our list of Git-based headless CMS platforms.
Licence notes
Strapi, Payload and Decap CMS are MIT licensed, which allows commercial use with no fee. Directus is different. It uses its own Monospace Sustainable Core License, and its pricing page says self-hosting is free for organisations under $5M in annual revenue and fewer than 50 employees. Above that line you need a paid licence, even on your own server. Check this before you pick Directus for a growing company. For a deeper comparison of licences and communities, read our guide to the top open-source headless CMS platforms.
The 9 platforms, one by one
Each entry gives the free limit, who it fits, where it breaks and when we would pick it. We have no partner deal with any of these vendors.
1. Strapi
Free limit: the self-hosted Community edition is free forever. Strapi’s own pricing page lists unlimited CMS users, unlimited roles, unlimited content types and unlimited usage, entries and API calls included. Strapi Cloud has no free plan as of October 2026; it starts at $35 per project per month, and that Starter plan sleeps when idle.
Who it fits: Node.js teams that want a full admin panel, REST and GraphQL APIs, and a large plugin ecosystem without writing the admin themselves.
Where it breaks: SSO is not in the free edition. On the self-hosted Growth plan ($45 a month with 3 users) it is an add-on at $150 a month. Major version upgrades take planning.
When we pick it: a content team needs a familiar admin UI on day one and the company wants to own its hosting. See our Strapi development page, or compare it with the cloud options in Strapi vs Sanity and Strapi vs Contentful.
2. Payload
Free limit: Payload is open source and MIT licensed, and its getting-started page lists self-hosting as free. It installs into a Next.js app, so the CMS and the front end can ship as one deployment. There are no quotas because it is your code on your server. Paid options are Enterprise features and support, priced through sales.
Who it fits: developers building a Next.js app who want content models defined in TypeScript, with access control and hooks in the same codebase.
Where it breaks: editors get a clean admin, but anything beyond the defaults is a developer task. A team without a developer on hand will struggle to change the content model.
When we pick it: the product is a Next.js app and the content is part of the application, not a separate marketing site. We used it for a Payload build for a B2B SaaS marketing site for a European mid-market B2B SaaS. More on our Payload CMS page.
3. Directus
Free limit: Core costs $0 a month and self-hosting is available on every tier. The free licence applies to organisations under $5M in annual revenue and fewer than 50 employees. Directus Cloud, the hosted option, starts at $99 a month; there is no free cloud plan.
Who it fits: teams that already have a SQL database and want an admin panel and API on top of it, without migrating the data into a new schema.
Where it breaks: the licence threshold. A startup that grows past $5M in revenue or 50 people has to start paying.
When we pick it: the data model already exists in Postgres or MySQL and the client is well under the threshold. See our Directus services and Strapi vs Directus.
4. Decap CMS
Decap CMS was called Netlify CMS until it was renamed in 2023. It is the same project under a new name and new maintainers.
Free limit: none. The project’s site says it is free and will remain free for everyone, and it is MIT licensed. Content lives as files in your own Git repository.
Who it fits: static sites built with Hugo, Eleventy, Astro or Next.js static export, where a handful of editors update pages and blog posts.
Where it breaks: no API for apps, no real-time preview across many pages and no relational content at scale. Every save is a commit and a rebuild, so a site with thousands of entries gets slow to build.
When we pick it: a marketing or docs site with a small team and a tight budget. See our Decap CMS development page.
5. Sanity
Free limit: 20 seats, 10,000 documents, 2 public datasets, 250,000 API requests and 1 million API CDN requests a month, 100 GB of bandwidth and 100 GB of asset storage. Sanity’s FAQ says no extra seats can be added on the free plan.
Who it fits: small companies with several editors and structured content, where a hosted backend matters more than owning the server.
Where it breaks: the 10,000 document cap, and the two free datasets are public only. Growth costs $15 per seat per month, so the bill scales with your team.
When we pick it: many editors, moderate content volume and a team that wants a customisable editing studio. See our Sanity development page.
6. Contentful
Free limit: 10 users, 2 roles (Admin and Editor), 2 locales, 100,000 API calls a month with no overages, 50 GB of CDN bandwidth, one Starter Space with 10,000 records, 25 content types and 2 environments.
Who it fits: learning the platform, prototypes and teams evaluating Contentful before an enterprise contract.
Where it breaks: the 25 content type cap and 100K API calls arrive fast on a real site. The next plan, Lite, is $300 a month. Plan for that jump before launch, not after the cap.
When we pick it: the client already has a Contentful contract or plans enterprise scale. See our Contentful services page.
7. Prismic
Free limit: 1 user, unlimited documents, unlimited custom types, 2 locales, 4 million API calls a month and 100 GB of CDN bandwidth, both with no overages.
Who it fits: a solo developer or freelancer building page-based marketing sites with reusable slices.
Where it breaks: one user. The moment a client’s marketing team needs its own logins, you are on a paid plan. Starter is $10 a month per repository, billed annually.
When we pick it: one developer owns the content, or the site is a portfolio of small client builds. See our Prismic development page and Strapi vs Prismic.
8. Hygraph
Free limit: the Hobby plan gives 3 seats, 2 standard roles, 1,000 entries, 20 models, 10 components, 2 locales, 500,000 API calls a month, 100 GB of asset traffic, 1 environment and 5 webhooks.
Who it fits: developers testing a GraphQL-first CMS or content federation on a side project.
Where it breaks: 1,000 entries is the smallest cap in this list. A blog with a few years of posts, authors and tags can reach it. Growth costs $199 a month.
When we pick it: GraphQL is a hard requirement and the budget covers Growth after launch. See our Hygraph services page.
9. Storyblok
Free limit: the Starter plan includes 1 seat (2 maximum), 20,000 stories, 2,000 assets, 2 locales, 100,000 API requests a month and 100 GB of traffic.
Who it fits: a small site where one or two people want a visual editor that shows the page as they build it.
Where it breaks: two seats and 2,000 assets. Image-heavy sites hit the asset cap first. Growth costs $99 a month billed monthly, or $90.75 a month billed annually.
When we pick it: marketers want visual page building and the budget covers Growth once the team grows. See our Storyblok services page and Strapi vs Storyblok.
A note on Ghost: it is MIT licensed and can serve content through its Content API, so some lists include it. It is a publishing platform first, and its hosted Ghost(Pro) has no free plan (Starter is $18 a month billed yearly, with 1 staff user and 1,000 members). We left it out of the table for that reason.
What free actually costs
Is a headless CMS free? The licence often is. Running it is not. Here is the self-hosted route at list prices we checked in October 2026.
Server
A self-hosted Strapi, Payload or Directus instance needs a Node.js server. On Hetzner’s Regular Performance cloud line in its EU locations, prices start at:
- CPX02, 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 20 GB NVMe: 6.49 euros a month
- CPX12, 1 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, 40 GB NVMe: 11.99 euros a month
- CPX22, 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB NVMe: 19.99 euros a month
All include 20 TB of traffic and exclude VAT. US locations use a different line: CPX11 with 2 vCPU and 2 GB RAM costs 17.99 euros a month. For a production CMS with a build step, we size from 2 GB of RAM up; 1 GB is tight for a Node.js admin build.
Database
You can run Postgres on the same server at no extra cost. That is fine for a small site, but backups and upgrades are then your job. A managed database takes that off your plate. On DigitalOcean, the smallest managed PostgreSQL plan costs $15.15 a month for 1 vCPU, 1 GiB RAM and 10 GiB to 30 GiB of storage, with storage billed at $0.215 per GiB.
Media storage is a third line. Uploads can sit on the server disk at first, then move to S3-compatible object storage as the library grows.
Maintenance hours
This is the cost most “free CMS” articles skip. Someone has to apply security patches, upgrade major versions, check backups and restart things at 2 a.m. Our developer rates run $50 to $150 per hour depending on seniority. Every hour a month you spend on upkeep adds that amount to the bill. For a small site, the hours, not the server, are the largest cost of self-hosting.
Worked example: 30,000 entries
A catalogue, a directory or a content site with 30,000 entries rules out most cloud free tiers on count alone:
- Hygraph free: 1,000 entries. Out.
- Sanity free: 10,000 documents. Out.
- Contentful free: 10,000 records. Out.
- Storyblok free: 20,000 stories. Out.
- Prismic free: unlimited documents. Fits, but one user only.
So for a team with 30,000 entries, the real choice is a paid cloud plan or self-hosting. Self-hosted Strapi or Payload on a Hetzner CPX22 (19.99 euros a month) with Postgres on the same box costs about 20 euros a month plus your maintenance hours. Add $15.15 a month if you want the database managed. Compare that with Contentful Lite at $300 a month or Hygraph Growth at $199, and check whether those tiers’ own caps fit your volume before you assume they do.
Worked example: a three-editor marketing site
A company site with 200 pages, a blog and three editors:
- Sanity free fits: 20 seats and 10,000 documents.
- Contentful free fits on seats (10 users) and records, if the model stays under 25 content types.
- Hygraph free fits on seats (exactly 3), but watch the 1,000 entry cap as the blog grows.
- Prismic free does not fit: one user.
- Storyblok free does not fit: two seats at most.
- Decap CMS fits at zero running cost if the site is static and the editors can log in through your Git provider.
Here the cloud free tier is the cheaper deal. You avoid maintenance hours entirely, and the caps are far away.
How to choose by project type
Marketing site with non-technical editors
Pick a cloud free tier with enough seats: Sanity first, Contentful second. Editors get a hosted admin with no server for you to watch. If the site is static and the budget is zero, Decap CMS gives editors a simple form-based UI over Git.
Next.js app
Pick Payload. The CMS lives in the same repository and deployment as the app, content types are TypeScript, and there are no quotas. Strapi is the alternative if you want the CMS as a separate service with its own admin. Our Strapi vs Payload page covers the trade-offs.
30,000 or more entries
Self-host Strapi, Payload or Directus. As the worked example shows, every cloud free tier except Prismic caps below this, and Prismic’s single seat rarely suits a team. Budget for a 4 GB server, backups and a few hours a month.
Solo developer on a budget
Prismic’s free plan is generous for one person: unlimited documents and 4 million API calls. If you prefer to own the stack, Payload or Strapi on a 2 GB server costs about 12 euros a month. For a static personal site, Decap CMS costs nothing.
When free stops being free: signals to migrate
Plan the exit before you hit the wall. These are the signals we watch for on client projects:
- Record count above 70 percent of the cap. Content grows faster than teams expect, and an import or a translation pass can double it overnight.
- Seat requests from new editors. On Prismic and Storyblok, the second or third editor is the trigger. On Sanity, it is the 21st.
- API calls near the monthly quota. Free plans that do not bill overages stop serving. Add caching or a static build before you upgrade.
- A third locale. The free plans of Contentful, Prismic, Hygraph and Storyblok stop at two locales.
- Compliance needs. SSO, audit logs, custom roles and uptime SLAs sit on paid tiers across these vendors. If security review asks for them, the free tier is over.
- Licence thresholds. For Directus, crossing $5M in revenue or 50 employees.
When one of these shows up, compare the next tier’s price against a move to self-hosting. Our checklist for when to move off a free tier covers content export, redirects and the editor switch.
Work with Alpina
We build on every platform in this list and have no vendor to sell, so we can tell you when a free tier is enough, when self-hosting is cheaper, and when the $300 plan is the right call.
What we do on free CMS projects:
- Pick the platform against your content volume, team size and locales, with the numbers from this page.
- Set up self-hosted Strapi or Payload with backups, monitoring and an upgrade path.
- Migrate content when a free tier runs out.
If you want people on the build, you can hire a Payload developer, hire a Strapi developer, hire a Sanity developer or hire a Contentful developer. For a mixed stack, see our headless CMS developers. To compare all platforms side by side, go to our headless CMS development services hub.
