Markdown files in Git vs Strapi
Both are alternatives to Contentful. Here's how they stack up — verified facts, no spin.
Also searched as Strapi vs Markdown files in Git — same comparison, one verdict.
Markdown files in Git
For developer-owned content, the CMS may be the thing to remove.
Worth asking before choosing any of the above: does non-technical staff actually edit this content? A great many headless CMS deployments serve documentation and marketing pages maintained entirely by developers — content that could be Markdown files in the repository, reviewed in pull requests, deployed by CI, with no server, no API call metering and no vendor. Every modern framework reads Markdown natively. This is not a product; it is a scope check, and it is the right answer more often than the category admits.
Strapi
The established open headless CMS, with the largest community.
Strapi is the most widely deployed open-source headless CMS: a content-type builder, REST and GraphQL APIs, role-based permissions, internationalisation and a large plugin marketplace. Around 73k stars. It is the safe choice in the sense that most problems you hit have already been asked about somewhere. Licensing is mixed and worth checking against your needs: the core is MIT, but a number of enterprise features — SSO, audit logs, advanced permissions — sit under a separate commercial licence.
Side by side
| Markdown files in Git | Strapi | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty Score | 99 | 86 |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Local-first | Yes | Yes |
| License | N/A — plain files in your own repository | MIT core, with enterprise features under a separate commercial licence |
| Pricing | Free. There is nothing to host. | Community edition free and self-hostable. Enterprise and Cloud tiers are paid. |
Markdown files in Git edges it on the Sovereignty Score, but the right pick depends on the trade-offs below.
Markdown files in Git
Strengths
- +No CMS, no database, no API, no per-record billing — nothing to run
- +Content reviewed in pull requests alongside the code it describes
- +Complete version history for free
- +Every modern framework reads Markdown natively
Trade-offs
- −Non-technical editors cannot realistically contribute
- −No media library or scheduled publishing
- −Structured, relational content becomes awkward quickly
- −Wrong answer the moment a marketing team needs access
Strapi
Strengths
- +Largest community and plugin ecosystem of any open headless CMS
- +Content-type builder that non-developers can use
- +REST and GraphQL out of the box
- +Mature, with years of production deployments
Trade-offs
- −SSO, audit logs and advanced permissions are commercial
- −Major version upgrades have been disruptive historically
- −Heavier to run than Payload
- −Single-vendor governance
Related alternative guides
Facts verified 2026-08-05. Licenses and pricing change — spotted something out of date? That's a correction we want.