Netlify CMS was rebranded to Decap CMS in early 2023. Since then, active development has stalled. The GitHub repository shows sparse commit activity, open issues pile up without responses, and there is no public roadmap. Teams that built on Netlify CMS now find themselves maintaining a tool that is not moving forward.
This post is for developers running Gatsby, Hugo, Eleventy, Astro, or Next.js with markdown content stored in GitHub. If you are looking for a git-based CMS that is still actively maintained, these are the options worth evaluating.
What made Netlify CMS popular
Netlify CMS addressed a specific problem: how to let non-technical editors update content in a git repository without touching the command line. It did this well for its time:
- Edits commit directly to the repository, so content and code share the same history
- No separate database to provision or maintain
- Works with any static site generator
- Fully open source with a permissive license
The problems that led teams to look elsewhere were slow development, a configuration-heavy setup (config.yml could grow into hundreds of lines), weak support for modern image handling, and no real investment in the project after Netlify shifted priorities.
The alternatives
md0 CMS
md0 CMS takes a git-native approach with a focus on minimal setup. You connect a GitHub repository and it reads your content structure automatically. No config.yml, no schema definitions to write. The visual markdown editor handles frontmatter fields, images, and rich formatting without additional configuration.
Setup takes roughly two minutes: connect GitHub, select a repository, and your content is editable. It supports Next.js, Astro, Hugo, Jekyll, and Eleventy out of the box. The free tier covers public repositories.
The main trade-off is that custom field types and advanced collection logic require upgrading to a paid plan.
Tina CMS
Tina CMS is open source and built around a React-based visual editor. It adds a GraphQL content layer on top of your markdown files, which gives you type-safe queries and a structured content API. The visual editing experience is strong, particularly for page builder-style content.
The downside is setup complexity. Tina requires a GraphQL backend (either self-hosted or via Tina Cloud), and the initial configuration is more involved than Netlify CMS was. Teams with dedicated engineering time and complex content models will get the most from it. Self-hosting is free; the hosted Tina Cloud tier adds collaboration features at a cost.
Keystatic
Keystatic is from Thinkmill, the team behind KeystoneJS. It uses a file-based TypeScript configuration that defines your content schemas with full type safety. You describe collections and their fields in a keystatic.config.ts file, and Keystatic generates both the editor UI and the TypeScript types for your content.
It works locally without any external service, which is useful during development. Switch to GitHub mode for team collaboration. Keystatic is a strong choice for developers who want explicit content schemas and IDE autocompletion when accessing content in their application code. It is open source and free.
Forestry (shutdown)
Forestry was a popular git-based CMS that many Netlify CMS users switched to before Netlify CMS's decline. Forestry shut down on April 22, 2023. Teams who used Forestry were migrated to Tina CMS, which is the Forestry team's current product.
Contentlayer (deprecated)
Contentlayer turned markdown files into typed data for Next.js. It was deprecated in 2024. The project is no longer maintained and should not be used for new projects.
Statamic
Statamic is a full CMS built on Laravel and PHP. It has strong content modeling tools and an excellent editor experience. It is not git-first in the same way as the other tools here. Content is stored in flat files and can be committed to git, but the workflow is not designed around pull requests and branch-based editing.
Statamic fits teams already running a PHP/Laravel stack who want a CMS that integrates with that ecosystem. For JavaScript-based static sites, it is not a natural fit.
Comparison table
| Tool | Git-based | Free tier | Setup time | Best for | |---|---|---|---|---| | md0 CMS | Yes | Yes (public repos) | ~2 minutes | Teams wanting zero-config git editing | | Tina CMS | Yes | Yes (self-hosted) | 30-60 minutes | React sites with complex content models | | Keystatic | Yes | Yes (open source) | 15-30 minutes | Type-safe content schemas in TypeScript | | Decap CMS | Yes | Yes (open source) | 20-40 minutes | Legacy projects already using it | | Forestry | Yes | N/A | N/A | Shutdown April 22, 2023 |
How to choose
- If you want no configuration files: md0 CMS reads your existing repository structure and requires no setup files.
- If you need type-safe content schemas with IDE integration: Keystatic generates TypeScript types for your content and works well in monorepo setups.
- If you have a React site and want visual page editing: Tina CMS offers the most advanced visual editing experience, at the cost of added infrastructure.
- If you are already on PHP/Laravel: Statamic is purpose-built for that stack.
Migrating from Netlify CMS or Decap CMS
Your markdown files do not change when you switch tools. The content stays exactly where it is in your repository. The only thing to remove is the Netlify CMS configuration, typically a config.yml file in a public/admin/ or static/admin/ directory, along with the admin HTML file that loads the CMS UI.
After removing those files, you can connect your repository to whichever tool you choose. For md0 CMS, visit cms.md0.io to connect your GitHub repository and start editing in minutes.