What is a headless CMS for Jekyll?

A headless CMS for Jekyll is a decoupled content management layer that handles content creation and editing separately from Jekyll's static site generation. It can integrate through a Git-based workflow, where content is stored as Markdown files directly in your repository, or through an API-first approach, where Jekyll fetches structured content via REST or GraphQL during the build step. Both models allow non-technical editors to manage content without interacting with the command line, Git, or raw Markdown files.

What is the best headless CMS for Jekyll in 2026?

There is no single best option — the right headless CMS for Jekyll depends on your team composition, budget, and content strategy. CloudCannon delivers the deepest native Jekyll integration with visual on-page editing and a built-in build pipeline, making it ideal for agencies and marketing teams. Sveltia CMS is the strongest free, open-source Git-based choice with modern UX and strong i18n support. For enterprise teams managing structured content across multiple frontends, Contentful or Sanity offer the most robust API-first capabilities.

Is there a free headless CMS for Jekyll?

Yes — several free and open-source CMS platforms work well with Jekyll. Sveltia CMS is the most actively developed option, offering a modern interface, fast GraphQL-based content fetching, and drop-in compatibility with existing Decap CMS configurations. Decap CMS, Pages CMS, and JekyllPad are also free to use. The main trade-off with free options is the absence of commercial support, guaranteed SLAs, and enterprise features like SSO or role-based access control.

Should I use a Git-based or API-first CMS with Jekyll?

A Git-based CMS is the natural architectural fit for most Jekyll projects. Content lives as Markdown and YAML files in your repository, giving you zero vendor lock-in, full version history through Git, and straightforward CI/CD integration with platforms like GitHub Actions, Netlify, or Cloudflare Pages. An API-first CMS becomes the better choice when your organization needs structured content models reusable across multiple frontends — for example, serving the same content to a Jekyll marketing site and a React application — or when large editorial teams require advanced publishing workflows, granular permissions, and real-time collaboration features that file-based systems cannot provide.

Can non-technical editors use a headless CMS with Jekyll?

Yes — enabling non-technical content editing is one of the primary reasons to adopt a headless CMS for Jekyll. CloudCannon provides a visual editor where editors click directly on page elements to make changes, with no exposure to Markdown syntax or front matter. Sveltia CMS and Decap CMS offer form-based admin panels that abstract away file structures, allowing editors to create and update content through familiar input fields. API-first platforms like Storyblok also feature visual editing, though their Jekyll integration requires more custom development work compared to Git-native solutions.

How do I migrate from Netlify CMS or Decap CMS to a modern alternative?

Sveltia CMS is designed as a direct drop-in replacement for Netlify CMS and Decap CMS. In many cases, migration requires changing only a single script reference in your admin HTML file — your existing configuration file works without modification. Sveltia CMS delivers significantly better performance by using GitHub's GraphQL API to fetch all content in a single request instead of making individual REST calls for each entry. Additional improvements include a redesigned interface, first-class internationalization with built-in DeepL integration, mobile-friendly editing, WCAG 2.2 accessibility compliance, and bulk asset management.

Which headless CMS for Jekyll supports enterprise requirements like SSO and SOC 2?

Contentful offers the most comprehensive enterprise feature set, including SAML SSO, custom roles and permissions, audit logs, PCI DSS compliance, and EU data residency support on its Premium plan. CloudCannon provides SSO, custom permission groups, and priority engineering support on its Team and Enterprise tiers. Sanity offers custom enterprise agreements with advanced security configurations. Most free, open-source Git-based CMS options — including Sveltia CMS and Decap CMS — do not include built-in enterprise access controls, though repository-level permissions through GitHub or GitLab can partially address this gap.

How much does a headless CMS for Jekyll cost?

Pricing spans a wide range depending on the platform type and tier. Sveltia CMS, Decap CMS, Pages CMS, and JekyllPad are completely free and open source. CloudCannon starts at $55/month on the Standard plan, with the Team plan at $350/month including custom permission groups and increased build quotas. Contentful offers a free tier limited to 25 content models and 50 GB bandwidth, with the Basic plan at $300/month; enterprise pricing is custom. Sanity provides a generous free tier with pay-as-you-go API usage pricing that scales with actual consumption. The true total cost of ownership should factor in integration development time, hosting, and ongoing maintenance — not just the CMS license fee.

Does using a headless CMS slow down Jekyll build times?

Git-based CMS options add zero overhead to Jekyll builds because content already exists as Markdown files in the repository — the CMS only provides an editing interface, not a runtime dependency. API-first CMS platforms introduce network latency during the build step as Jekyll fetches content via API calls, but this impact is typically measured in seconds rather than minutes for most sites. Teams can mitigate API-related latency through caching strategies, Jekyll data files that persist between builds, and webhook-triggered incremental builds that only regenerate changed content.

Can I use the same headless CMS for Jekyll and other frontends simultaneously?

Git-based CMS platforms like CloudCannon and Sveltia CMS are tightly coupled to your Jekyll repository, making them less suitable for powering multiple frontends from a single content source. If your content strategy requires serving the same content to a Jekyll site, a mobile application, and a JavaScript-based frontend simultaneously, an API-first CMS like Contentful, Sanity, or Storyblok is the better architectural choice. These platforms store content independently and deliver it through APIs to any consumer, allowing teams to manage content once and distribute it across all channels without duplication.

Best Headless CMS for Jekyll in 2026

Jekyll

Anatolii Hryshchenko

Hugo Engineer

Last updatedFebruary 2, 2026

Choosing a headless CMS for Jekyll is a strategic decision that shapes team velocity, vendor dependency, and total cost of ownership. Jekyll remains a strong choice for documentation sites, GitHub Pages deployments, compliance-sensitive environments, and marketing microsites — contexts where static output and Git-based version control deliver clear advantages. This guide evaluates the leading options through the lens of technical managers: which architecture and vendor align with your team composition, content complexity, and growth trajectory. The core architectural question — Git-based or API-first CMS — shapes everything downstream.

Top Headless CMS for Jekyll

7th place

The Headless CMS with a Visual Editor

GraphQL

4000Stars

—DBs

NextjsLang

Best For

Marketing teams • Component-based sites • Multi-language sites

View Details

How We Evaluated

Platforms were assessed against criteria designed for technical decision-makers: Jekyll-specific integration depth (native vs. plugin vs. custom), content editor UX for non-technical team members, Markdown and front matter compatibility, pricing predictability at scale, vendor stability, enterprise readiness (SSO/RBAC, audit logging, SOC 2, GDPR), and build pipeline integration with GitHub Actions, Netlify, and Cloudflare Pages.

Git-Based vs API-First: A Strategic Decision

Git-based CMS platforms store content as Markdown files in your repository. Every edit produces a Git commit, meaning zero vendor lock-in — if the CMS disappears, your content stays in your repo. Infrastructure stays simple: your CI/CD pipeline handles everything. The trade-off is that Git-based systems are tied to file-based content, making them less suitable for multi-channel delivery or complex relational content models.

API-first platforms store content in a proprietary database, delivering it via REST or GraphQL. This enables structured content modeling, multi-channel delivery, and sophisticated editorial workflows. For Jekyll, integration means fetching content at build time via custom plugins — functional but requiring custom development. API-first justifies its complexity when your organization serves the same content across multiple frontends or when large editorial teams need advanced collaboration. For most Jekyll-only projects, Git-based CMS is the natural fit.

Top Headless CMS Options for Jekyll

CloudCannon

CloudCannon is the closest thing to a purpose-built CMS for Jekyll. It offers a built-in Jekyll build pipeline with two-way Git sync — developers push to Git while content editors use visual, content, or source editing interfaces, all staying synchronized. The visual editor lets non-technical users click directly on page elements to edit them. CloudCannon supports GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket with branching workflows for content review and merging.

Pricing runs $55/month (Standard, 3 users) to $350/month (Team, 15 users), with enterprise plans adding SSO/SAML and dedicated support. Additional users cost $10/month. The trade-off: CloudCannon is SSG-focused. If your organization may move beyond static sites toward a fully decoupled multi-frontend architecture, it could become a constraint.

Sveltia CMS

Sveltia CMS is a complete ground-up rewrite replacing Decap CMS, built with Svelte 5 and Vite. It works as a drop-in replacement for existing Decap configurations — migration often requires changing a single script tag. Key improvements include a bundle under 500 KB (vs. 1.5 MB for Decap), GitHub's GraphQL API for faster content loading, first-class i18n support, and over 280 resolved Decap CMS bugs.

Free and open source, with version 1.0 GA expected in early 2026 and already powering hundreds of production sites. The trade-off: primarily maintained by a single developer, no commercial enterprise support, and editorial workflow is deferred to the 2.0 release. For budget-conscious teams or those migrating from Decap CMS, Sveltia CMS offers the strongest value proposition in this category.

Decap CMS

Decap CMS (formerly Netlify CMS) remains widely deployed, storing content as Markdown committed to Git. Free and open source with well-documented Jekyll integration. However, development has stagnated: the UI feels dated and numerous bugs remain unresolved. For existing users, evaluate Sveltia CMS as a migration path. For new projects, Decap CMS is difficult to recommend over its actively maintained successor.

TinaCMS

TinaCMS combines Git-based storage with real-time visual editing and a GraphQL content layer. Pricing starts free, with Team at $29/month and Business at $299/month (including SSO). The critical trade-off for Jekyll: TinaCMS is tightly integrated with React/Next.js. Jekyll integration requires custom build scripts to pull from TinaCMS's GraphQL layer. Teams seeking low-friction Jekyll content management will find CloudCannon or Sveltia CMS more practical.

Contentful

Contentful is an enterprise-grade API-first CMS with structured content modeling, robust permissions, and strong compliance credentials (SOC 2, GDPR). Jekyll integration means custom plugins fetching content via REST/GraphQL at build time. A free Community tier exists, with paid plans from $300/month and enterprise pricing typically starting around $60,000/year.

Trade-offs for Jekyll projects: pricing scales steeply, the content model creates vendor lock-in, and there is no maintained first-class Jekyll plugin. Contentful is the right choice when your Jekyll site is one of multiple frontends consuming shared content, or when specific enterprise compliance certifications are mandatory.

Sanity

Sanity provides a customizable open-source Studio, real-time collaboration, and the GROQ query language. Jekyll integration follows the API-at-build-time pattern with custom scripts. The free tier is generous; Growth runs $15/user/month with usage-based quotas. Trade-off: Jekyll integration requires custom development, and usage-based pricing can be unpredictable without careful API consumption modeling. Sanity excels when you need maximum content modeling flexibility and have engineering bandwidth for custom integration.

Storyblok

Storyblok is built around a component-based visual editor delivering content as JSON via CDN. Jekyll integration is documented but not first-class. Pricing starts free (Starter), with Growth at €99/month and Growth Plus at €349/month. Trade-off: Storyblok's visual component editor is best realized with JavaScript frameworks. For visual editing within the Jekyll ecosystem, CloudCannon is a more natural fit.

Notable Mentions

JekyllPad — Purpose-built for Jekyll and GitHub Pages with a client-side WYSIWYG editor committing directly to your repo. Free tier with 5 posts/month. Pages CMS — Open-source GitHub-based CMS with a Notion-like editor, working with Jekyll out of the box. Hygraph — GraphQL-native headless CMS with a community Jekyll plugin (jeql). Strapi — Leading open-source self-hosted headless CMS with a Jekyll blog template and REST/GraphQL APIs.

Comparison Table

Feature	CloudCannon	Sveltia CMS	Decap CMS	TinaCMS	Contentful	Sanity	Storyblok
Architecture	Git-based	Git-based	Git-based	Git-based	API-first	API-first	API-first
Jekyll integration	Native	Native (config)	Native (config)	Custom	Custom	Custom	Custom
Visual editing	Click-to-edit	No	No	React-focused	Studio add-on	Sanity Studio	Component-based
Pricing	From $55/mo	Free / OSS	Free / OSS	Free–$299/mo	From $300/mo	$15/user/mo	From €99/mo
Self-hosting	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Studio only	No
SSO/RBAC	Enterprise	No	No	Business plan	Premium	Enterprise	Premium
Open source	No	Yes (MIT)	Yes (MIT)	Yes (Apache 2.0)	No	Studio only	No
Best for	Jekyll teams, agencies	Budget, Decap migration	Legacy installs	React/Next.js teams	Enterprise multi-channel	Custom modeling	Component editing

Decision Framework for Technical Managers

The right CMS depends on organizational context. Small dev team, Jekyll-only: CloudCannon or Sveltia CMS — CloudCannon for polished visual editing, Sveltia CMS if budget is the primary constraint. Non-technical editors need visual UI: CloudCannon (Jekyll-native) or Storyblok (component-based across frameworks). Multi-channel content strategy: Contentful or Sanity justify their integration complexity. Budget-conscious / open source: Sveltia CMS or Decap CMS eliminate licensing costs. Enterprise compliance (SOC 2, SSO): Contentful or CloudCannon Enterprise. Migrating from Netlify/Decap CMS: Sveltia CMS offers a drop-in replacement path.

Conclusion

There is no single "best" headless CMS for Jekyll — the right choice depends on team composition, content complexity, and growth trajectory. For the majority of Jekyll projects, a Git-based CMS preserves Jekyll's core strengths of simplicity, portability, and developer control. API-first platforms earn their place when content reuse or enterprise-scale editorial workflows demand it. Test your shortlisted CMS with your actual Jekyll project and your actual content team before committing — a proof-of-concept sprint is worth more than any comparison matrix.

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