--- title: "What is a Git-based CMS?" description: "A Git-based CMS stores content as files in your repository and writes every change as a commit. How the flow works, how it differs from an API-first headless CMS, when it fits and when it does not." url: "https://bestgitbasedcms.com/guide/what-is-a-git-based-cms" updated: "2026-09-04" source: "bestgitbasedcms.com" --- # What is a Git-based CMS? > A Git-based CMS stores content as files in your repository and writes every change as a commit. How the flow works, how it differs from an API-first headless CMS, when it fits and when it does not. Source: https://bestgitbasedcms.com/guide/what-is-a-git-based-cms. Updated 2026-09-04. Written by Andrew Chemerynskiy. Any page of this site has a Markdown version at its own address plus /index.md. The whole site is at /llms-full.txt, the index at /llms.txt. A Git-based CMS stores your content as files in a Git repository and writes every change back as a commit. Your site builds from those files. There is no content database and no content API between the editor and the page. ## How the commit flow works 1. **The site keeps content in files.** Markdown for pages and posts, YAML or JSON for structured data, images in a media folder. A static site generator or a framework reads them at build time. 2. **The CMS reads the same files through the Git host.** It signs in to GitHub or GitLab as the editor or as an app, lists the collections it knows about, and renders a form, a visual editor or a chat over them. 3. **A save is a commit.** The tool writes the changed file back with a commit message. Some tools commit straight to the main branch. Others open a branch and a pull request per draft, so a reviewer can look before it merges. 4. **The host rebuilds.** Netlify, Vercel, Cloudflare Pages and GitHub Pages watch the repository. A new commit starts a build, and the change is live when the build finishes, usually in one to three minutes. 5. **History is the git log.** Every change has an author, a time and a diff. Rolling back is a revert. ## What that changes - **Nothing to host for the content.** No database, no API server, no backups to schedule. The repository is the source of truth and the host already backs it up. - **Content and code move together.** A redesign that renames a field ships in the same pull request as the content it changes. Branches work for content the way they work for code. - **Developers keep their editor.** Anyone with a clone can edit the files directly. The CMS is a second door, not the only one. - **Publishing has a build step.** A change is not live the second it is saved. For a marketing site that is fine. For a newsroom it is not. - **The repository is the limit.** Thousands of entries and gigabytes of images make clones and builds slow. Git was made for code. ## Git-based vs API-first headless CMS | | Git-based | API-first headless | | --- | --- | --- | | Where content lives | Files in your repository | The vendor's database | | How the site reads it | At build time, from the files | Over an API, at build or request time | | Who owns the data | You, in full, in plain files | You, through export tools and the API | | History | The git log, every change, forever | Versioning per entry, retention per plan | | Editors | Git account or a hosted sign-in, depending on the tool | Email invite, roles and workflows built in | | Scale | Hundreds of entries, a few editors | Millions of entries, many editors, many apps | | Price | Free to about $50 a month | Free tier, then hundreds a month by seats and usage | | Examples | Decap CMS, TinaCMS, Keystatic, CMS Brew | Contentful, Sanity, Storyblok, Strapi | ## About the term "Git-based headless CMS" Both kinds are headless in the strict sense: the CMS has no front end and your site renders the content. People write "Git-based headless CMS" to say "headless, but the content is in my repo, not in your database". Some tools blur the line on purpose. TinaCMS and Keystatic add a typed content layer over the files so a React app can query them like an API. They are still Git-based: the files are the source of truth. ## When to pick one - The site already builds from files: Astro, Hugo, Eleventy, Jekyll, Next.js with Markdown, Nuxt Content, SvelteKit. - A developer owns the repository and is happy to keep a config file or a schema. - One to a handful of editors, and a few dozen to a few hundred entries. - Content is pages, posts, a menu, a team list, a few product entries. Not a catalogue. - You want history, rollback and no monthly bill for a database you do not need. - Clients edit, and the tool you pick handles sign-in and guards for them. See [the first entry in the ranking](https://bestgitbasedcms.com/#cms-brew). ## When not to - Thousands of entries, or content that several apps read over an API. - Many editors at once, with roles, approvals and scheduled publishing across a team. - Changes that must be live in seconds, not after a build. - Image-heavy sites with no plan for media outside the repository. - Personalised or user-generated content. That is application data, not site content. ## What to check before you choose 1. **Git host.** GitHub is universal. GitLab, Bitbucket and Gitea are not. The [FAQ has the table](https://bestgitbasedcms.com/faq#gitlab). 2. **Sign-in.** Does the editor need a Git account, or does the tool invite by email? This decides whether a client can use it. 3. **Review flow.** Straight to main, or a draft someone approves? Every profile lists this in its facts grid. 4. **Framework coupling.** Some tools are framework-neutral. Others live inside Next.js, Nuxt or Jekyll. 5. **What the editor can touch.** Markdown files only, or copy inside components too? 6. **Price and who pays it.** Per site, per user, one-time, or free. The [table on the ranking](https://bestgitbasedcms.com/#glance) lists all 16. ## Where to go next - [The ranking](https://bestgitbasedcms.com/): all 16 tools, ordered, with one verdict and one catch each. - [The profiles](https://bestgitbasedcms.com/tools): one page per tool with pros, cons, prices and alternatives. - [The FAQ](https://bestgitbasedcms.com/faq): the Netlify CMS rename, the Static CMS status, build hooks, cost. - [Decap CMS](https://bestgitbasedcms.com/tools/decap-cms) if you edit Markdown alone. [CMS Brew](https://bestgitbasedcms.com/tools/cms-brew) if clients edit.