An Outstatic alternative for Astro sites

Markstage vs Outstatic: both git-based and free to self-host. Markstage edits on your Astro site's real design and includes roles. Checked 3 Nov 2026.

Facts about Outstatic 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
Outstatic
Git-based editor

A dashboard editor for Markdown and MDX that commits to GitHub.

Edits on the real page
No Dashboard editor ⁵⁴

Content in git
Yes GitHub ⁵⁵

Self-host
Yes ⁵⁵

Price to start
Free self-hosted; Pro $9.99/user/mo ⁵⁵

Licence
FSL-1.1-ALv2 Source-available; becomes Apache 2.0 two years after each release ⁵⁶

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

Outstatic gives Markdown and MDX files a real editing dashboard, with content kept in your GitHub repository. Its Pro plan adds hosted publishing, email and Google sign-in, roles and AI. Markstage is self-hosted only, edits on the page, and includes roles and single sign-on at no cost.

Who each one is for

Outstatic suits developers who want a quick dashboard for Markdown and MDX on GitHub, self-hosted for free or hosted on Pro.

Markstage suits teams whose writers should edit on an Astro site's real design, with roles, staging and site tools included. Markstage is pre-release.

Side by side

	Markstage	Outstatic
Editing	On the real page	A dashboard editor with custom fields
Formats	Markdown, MDX and JSON	Markdown and MDX
Git	A git repository on your own server	GitHub
Sign-in without GitHub	Included: email and password, single sign-on	Pro: email magic link and Google
Commit author	The person who saved	Edits through email or Google sign-in commit as the Outstatic Bot
Roles	Five built in, plus custom roles	Team roles on Pro
Price	Free to self-host	Free self-hosted; Pro $9.99 per user a month
Licence	Elastic License 2.0 (source-available)	FSL-1.1-ALv2 (source-available; each release becomes Apache 2.0 after two years)

Where Outstatic is stronger

MDX. Outstatic has edited MDX for longer. Markstage's MDX support is new: words and simple settings, code kept as written.
A hosted plan. Outstatic Pro runs the dashboard for you.
Setup speed. Its site promises a CMS on your repo in about five minutes.

Moving from Outstatic to Markstage

Your Markdown files are in your repository already. Add their folders as collections in markstage.config.mjs and add the @markstage/astro integration; MDX folders become collections with format: 'mdx'. Invite your editors to Markstage; each save is then committed in their own name.

Frequently asked questions

Is Outstatic free?

Self-hosted, yes. Hosted projects on outstatic.com need Pro to save and publish.

Does Outstatic work with Astro?

Its site lists Astro among the generators it works with. It is not in Astro's own list of CMS guides.

Who appears as the commit author?

With Outstatic, edits made through email or Google sign-in are committed as the Outstatic Bot. With Markstage, the signed-in person is the git author of each save.

Sources

Checked on 2026-11-03: Outstatic · Outstatic pricing · Outstatic licence. Markstage facts: the full comparison.

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