Headless CMS for Astro: Decap, Sveltia, Tina, or Nothing?

The Question Nobody Asks First

Every conversation about headless CMS starts the same way: “Which CMS should I use for my Astro site?”

That’s the wrong question.

The right question is: “Do I actually need a CMS?”

I know that sounds like a cop-out answer, but hear me out. Because a lot of people install a CMS they don’t need, spend three days configuring authentication, and then go back to editing Markdown in VS Code anyway.

Let’s figure out which camp you’re in.

When You Don’t Need a CMS

You don’t need a CMS if:

You’re the only person editing content. If it’s just you, VS Code is faster than any dashboard. You have git history, you have find-and-replace, you have real editors. A CMS is overhead.

Your content changes rarely. If the last time you updated a docs page was three months ago, you don’t need a dedicated interface. You need a text editor and a push.

You’re comfortable with Git. If git commit feels natural to you, a CMS is a downgrade. You’re trading a powerful tool for a limited UI.

You’re building a portfolio or personal site. These are one-person projects with occasional updates. Just edit the Markdown.

You don’t have non-technical contributors. This is the big one. The only real reason to add a CMS is that someone on your team cannot edit Markdown files.

If none of those apply — you don’t need a CMS. Skip this article. Go write docs.

When You Actually Need One

You probably need a CMS if:

You have non-technical editors. A marketing person, a content writer, a product manager — someone who wants to update content without learning Git or Markdown.

Multiple people edit content regularly. Coordination becomes a problem. A CMS gives you a shared interface, roles, and version history in a form that non-developers can use.

You’re managing a content site at scale. 200+ pages, multiple contributors, ongoing updates — the manual workflow starts breaking down.

You want visual editing. Some CMS options let editors click on text in the live site and edit it in place. That’s a genuinely different experience from Markdown.

You’re handing off the site. If you build a site for a client and they’ll maintain it after launch, they need something more approachable than git push.

If any of those match your situation, keep reading. Otherwise, you’re done here — go enjoy your Markdown.

The Three Real Options

Assuming you do need a CMS, you have three options worth considering. There are more, but these are the ones that actually make sense for Astro in 2025.

Decap CMS — the standard. Git-based, free, widely used. Sveltia CMS — the modern alternative. Faster, cleaner, actively maintained. Tina CMS — visual editing. Live previews, click-to-edit experience.

Let’s look at each honestly.

Decap CMS

What it is: A Git-based CMS. It reads your content from Git, provides a web dashboard for editing, and commits changes back. No database, no API, no vendor. Just Git.

Why people use it: It’s the standard. Well-documented, widely deployed, works with any Git provider. If you’ve heard of a Git-based CMS, you’ve heard of Decap.

What it does well:

• Familiar interface for anyone who’s used a CMS before
• Works with Netlify Identity, GitHub OAuth, or custom auth
• Handles Markdown, YAML, JSON
• Free forever
• Massive community, lots of examples

Where it falls short:

• Development has slowed significantly
• Performance isn’t great — the editor feels sluggish on large sites
• Mobile support is limited
• Some issues have been open for years

Who it’s for: Teams that want the safest, most conventional choice. If you’re building for a client who’s used WordPress, Decap will feel familiar.

Verdict: Still good. Still works. But you’re investing in a tool that isn’t moving forward much.

Sveltia CMS

What it is: A complete rewrite of the Decap concept. Same Git-based approach, but built from scratch with modern performance and UX in mind.

Why people use it: It’s what Decap would be if it were built today. Faster, lighter, cleaner, and actively maintained.

What it does well:

• Under 500 KB — genuinely lightweight
• Fast editor, no lag on large sites
• Native mobile support
• Built-in internationalization
• Compatible with existing Decap configurations
• Actively developed

Where it falls short:

• Smaller community than Decap (but growing)
• Fewer tutorials and examples available
• Some edge cases aren’t documented yet

Who it’s for: Teams that want a modern Git-based CMS and are willing to be early-ish adopters. If you’re starting fresh and don’t have a Decap setup to migrate from, Sveltia is the better choice.

Verdict: The current best-in-class for Git-based CMS. If you’re picking today, pick this.

Tina CMS

What it is: A Git-based CMS with a superpower — visual editing. Editors can click on content in the live site and edit it in place, watching changes appear as they type.

Why people use it: It’s the closest thing to WordPress’s visual editing experience, but on a Git-based architecture.

What it does well:

• Real-time visual editing
• Content still lives in Git
• Works in local mode during development (no login required)
• TinaCloud provides the hosted backend for production
• Great for content teams that want the “click and edit” experience

Where it falls short:

• Visual editing requires React-based pages — doesn’t work with all Astro setups
• TinaCloud is a hosted service (with a free tier, but eventually paid)
• More setup than Decap or Sveltia
• Self-hosting is possible but adds complexity

Who it’s for: Teams where non-technical editors want to see their changes in context. If a content writer needs to see how the headline looks in the hero section, Tina is the answer.

Verdict: Best visual editing experience. More setup. Worth it if visual editing is a hard requirement.

The Comparison

Feature	Decap	Sveltia	Tina
Git-based	Yes	Yes	Yes
Free	Yes	Yes	Free tier, then paid
Visual editing	No	No	Yes
Speed	Slow	Fast	Fast
Mobile	Limited	Good	Good
Maintained	Slowing	Actively	Actively
Setup complexity	Medium	Medium	Higher
Works without Netlify	Yes (with OAuth)	Yes (with OAuth)	Yes (with TinaCloud)
Content stays in your repo	Yes	Yes	Yes

The One You Probably Want

If you’re building a docs site, a blog, or anything content-heavy with a small team — Sveltia.

It’s what Decap should have become. Faster, cleaner, better maintained. And because it’s designed to be compatible with Decap configs, migrating later is not a big deal.

If visual editing is a requirement — Tina.

The click-and-edit experience is genuinely different, and for teams where editors need to see their changes in context, it’s worth the setup cost.

If you’re deploying to Netlify and want the simplest possible setup — Decap.

Netlify Identity makes Decap’s auth trivial. If you’re already on Netlify, the path is paved.

The One You Probably Don’t Want

If you’re an individual developer maintaining your own docs site, and you’re comfortable with Git, and you don’t have contributors — you don’t want a CMS.

Seriously. Every hour you spend configuring Decap is an hour you’re not writing content. Your Markdown files are fine. Your VS Code is fine. Your git push is fine.

The CMS industry has convinced developers that every site needs an admin panel. That’s not true. Admin panels exist to solve a specific problem — non-technical editors — and if you don’t have that problem, you don’t need the solution.

What About the Others?

There are more CMS options — Sanity, Storyblok, Contentful, CloudCannon, Keystatic, Payload, Prismic. Here’s the short version:

Sanity, Storyblok, Contentful, Prismic — API-based CMSes. Content lives on their servers, not in Git. More features, but you’re paying monthly and locked into their platform. Good if you have a large content team and want to manage content outside Git.

CloudCannon — hosted Git-based CMS with visual editing. Polished, but paid (no free tier). Good for agencies managing multiple client sites.

Keystatic — Astro-native Git CMS. Very new, very promising. Content lives in your repo. No SaaS cost.

Payload — TypeScript-native, self-hosted, requires a running Node.js server. Not relevant for static Astro sites.

For most Astro users, the practical choice is between Decap, Sveltia, and Tina. The rest are either too niche, too expensive, or too incompatible with static deployment.

How to Actually Decide

Here’s a simple flowchart:

Do you have non-technical editors who need to update content?

• No → Don’t use a CMS.
• Yes → Continue.

Do they need to see changes in context (visual editing)?

• Yes → Tina CMS.
• No → Continue.

Are you deploying to Netlify?

• Yes → Decap (simplest auth path).
• No → Sveltia.

That’s it. That’s the whole decision tree.

The Setup Reality

Here’s what nobody tells you about CMS setup: it takes longer than you think.

Even a “simple” Decap integration involves:

• Creating the admin route
• Writing the config file
• Setting up authentication (Netlify Identity or OAuth)
• Mapping your content schema
• Handling media storage
• Testing the full workflow
• Configuring production auth

It’s not hard, but it’s not trivial either. Budget a full day for a first-time setup, or hire someone who’s done it before.

If that sounds like too much, you don’t need a CMS. That’s a valid answer.

The Bottom Line

A headless CMS is a tool for a specific problem: non-technical people need to edit content. If you have that problem, solve it. If you don’t, don’t invent one.

When you do need one, the modern choice is Sveltia. Visual editing teams go with Tina. Netlify-only teams go with Decap. Everyone else keeps their Markdown files and gets on with their day.

The most powerful CMS feature is often just… not having one.

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Astro Docus works with any of these CMS options — the content structure is ready for integration. If you want help setting up a headless CMS for your Astro site, it’s available as a service.

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