A Front Matter CMS alternative for Astro teams

Front Matter CMS runs in VS Code for developers. Markstage gives your whole team a web editor on your Astro site's real design. Checked 3 Nov 2026.

Facts about Front Matter CMS 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
Front Matter CMS
Git-based editor

A CMS inside VS Code, over the files on your own computer.

Edits on the real page
Partly Site preview inside VS Code ⁵¹

Content in git
Yes Your local files ⁵¹

Self-host
Does not apply Runs in your editor ⁵¹

Price to start
Free ⁵¹

Licence
MIT ⁵²

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

Front Matter CMS brings a CMS into Visual Studio Code: content dashboards, a media dashboard, SEO checks and a site preview, all in your code editor. It is excellent for a developer who writes. Markstage is for a team where most writers never open a code editor.

Who each one is for

Front Matter CMS suits developers and technical writers who live in VS Code (or a fork of it) and commit their own changes.

Markstage suits teams of writers, translators, SEO managers and reviewers who sign in through a browser and edit on the site's real design. Markstage is pre-release.

Side by side

	Markstage	Front Matter CMS
Where you edit	A web editor, on the real page	Inside Visual Studio Code
Preview	The page itself is the editor	Site preview inside VS Code
Who can use it	Anyone you invite, with a role	Whoever has the repository and VS Code
Saving	Each save is a commit by the signed-in person	You commit yourself
SEO checks	Yes	Yes
Roles, staging, forms inbox	Included	– (one person's editor)
Price	Free to self-host	Free
Licence	Elastic License 2.0 (source-available)	MIT

Where Front Matter CMS is stronger

Nothing to host. It is an editor extension; it works offline.
For developers, it keeps you in the tool you already use, with custom scripts and hooks.
Any static site generator.

Using both

They work on the same files. A developer can keep Front Matter CMS in VS Code while writers use Markstage in the browser: add the content folders as collections in markstage.config.mjs. Markstage's surgical saves rewrite only what changed, so diffs stay small for both.

Frequently asked questions

Is Front Matter CMS free?

Yes. Its site says it is free, supported by sponsors.

Does Front Matter CMS work with Astro?

Yes. Astro's docs have a Front Matter CMS guide.

Can non-technical people use Front Matter CMS?

It runs inside Visual Studio Code, so each person needs VS Code and the repository. Markstage runs in a browser with a sign-in, so writers need neither.

Sources

Checked on 2026-11-03: Front Matter CMS · Front Matter on GitHub · Astro: Front Matter CMS guide. Markstage facts: the full comparison.

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