A Contentful alternative for Astro sites

Markstage vs Contentful for Astro sites: content as files in your own git repository, edited on the real design, self-hosted for free. Checked 3 Nov 2026.

Facts about Contentful checked on 2026-11-03, from its own website. Markstage is not affiliated with it.

Markstage
Visual editor

A visual editor for Astro: writers edit on the site’s real design; content stays Markdown and JSON in git.

Edits on the real page
Yes The site's own components and CSS; text and rich text typed on the page, other fields in a side panel. Components mark their fields with a helper ⁴

Content in git
Yes ³

Self-host
Yes One docker run with the server image, Docker Compose, or systemd and nginx ⁹ ⁸

Price to start
Free to self-host ³

Licence
Elastic License 2.0 Source-available, free to self-host ²⁰
Contentful
Hosted CMS

A hosted content platform that Astro reads through its SDK.

Edits on the real page
Not confirmed ⁷⁷

Content in git
No Hosted, read by SDK ⁷⁸

Self-host
No ⁷⁸

Price to start
Not confirmed Its pricing page refused our checks (HTTP 429) ⁷⁷

Licence
Closed, hosted service ⁷⁸

From the full comparison; each number links to its source.

Contentful is a hosted headless CMS used by large companies to publish content to many platforms. Astro reads it through the Contentful SDK. Markstage is the opposite shape: content as files in your git repository, edited on the site's real design, on your own server.

Who each one is for

Contentful suits organisations that publish the same content to many sites and apps, with a large integration marketplace and enterprise contracts.

Markstage suits a team running an Astro site who wants writers on the real design, every change as a git commit, and no hosted database or seat fees. Markstage is pre-release.

Side by side

	Markstage	Contentful
Editing	On the real page	? (not checked on Contentful's own pages)
Where content lives	Markdown and JSON in your git repository	Contentful's hosted service, read by its SDK
Astro	`@markstage/astro`; the live site stays static	A guide in Astro's docs using the Contentful SDK, with zero client-side JavaScript
Price	Free to self-host	? Its pricing page answered every check with "too many requests" (HTTP 429)
Licence	Elastic License 2.0 (source-available)	Closed, hosted service

We could not load Contentful's pricing page on 3 November 2026, so we do not quote its prices or plan limits here. Please check contentful.com/pricing directly.

Where Contentful is stronger

Many channels from one content API.
Hosted at scale, with nothing to run.
An ecosystem of apps, integrations and partners.

Moving from Contentful to Markstage

Contentful entries have to become Markdown or JSON files. Read them through Contentful's API, convert rich text to Markdown, and run Markstage's import API: a dry run first, then the import as drafts, idempotent on each source id, with media fetched through the same safety checks as uploads.

Frequently asked questions

Does Contentful work with Astro?

Yes. Astro's docs have a Contentful guide that uses the Contentful SDK.

Is there a Contentful alternative that keeps content in git?

Yes. Markstage keeps every page and post as a Markdown or JSON file in your git repository, and each save is a commit by the person who made it.

When should I stay on Contentful?

When the same content feeds many sites and apps, or when you need a hosted service with enterprise support.

Sources

Checked on 2026-11-03: Astro: Contentful guide · Contentful pricing (would not load for us). Markstage facts: the full comparison.

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