Building a blog with Next.js gives you incredible performance and flexibility, but choosing the right CMS can make or break your content workflow. Here are the 7 best options, ranked by integration quality, pricing, and overall performance.
1. Lightweight.so (Cheapest and best option)
Lightweight takes the top spot for a good reason. It’s purpose-built for modern frameworks like Nextjs, offering a clean, distraction-free writing experience. This is a simple but powerful platform, offering all you really need for creating an enterprise quality blog. The platform excels at what matters the most; fast content delivery, simple integration, and a developer friendly approach that doesn’t overwhelm you with unnecessary features.
Key features:
Price: $9 per month (Cheaper than all other options)
Fully customizable
Notion-like blog editor
Fast content delivery
2. Contentful
Contentful remains a powerhouse in the headless CMS space. Its robust API, flexible content modeling, and enterprise-grade features make it ideal for teams that need scalability. The Next.js integration is seamless, with excellent documentation and built-in image optimization that plays perfectly with Next.js's Image component.
Key features:
Price: Free tier available, paid plan start at $300 per month
Multi-language support built-in
Enterprise level sccalability
3. Sanity
Sanity offers real-time collaboration and a highly customizable editing experience through its Studio. This platform stands out with its incredible flexibility in structuring content and the powerful GROQ query language, giving you precise control over data fetching. The open-source Studio can be customized to match your exact workflow needs, and the generous free tier makes it accessible for solo developers while scaling up to enterprise requirements.
Key features:
Price: Starts at $99 per month
Real-time collaboration
Strapi
Strapi gives you complete control over your content infrastructure as an open-source, self-hosted solution. This platform is perfect for developers who want full ownership of their data and infrastructure without vendor lock-in. The beautiful admin panel makes content management intuitive, while the TypeScript-friendly architecture integrates naturally with Next.js. You can extend functionality through a rich plugin ecosystem and customize every aspect of your CMS.
Key features:
Price: Starts at $99 per month
100% open source
self-hosted or cloud option
good admin panel
5. Prismic
Prismic shines with its slice-based content modeling that maps beautifully to component-based frameworks like Next.js. This platform is designed around the Slice Machine concept, letting you build reusable content sections that correspond directly to your React components. It's particularly powerful for marketing sites and blogs that need rich, structured content with built-in A/B testing capabilities, making it a favorite for teams focused on conversion optimization.
Key features:
Price: $15 per user (for teams)
Slice-based content modelling
Component driven development
6. Keystatic
Keystatic is gaining traction for its innovative git-based approach and local-first editing experience. This platform stores content as markdown directly in your repository, giving you version control and the ability to edit content right inside your Next.js project. It's perfect for developers who want simplicity without sacrificing power, eliminating the need for external databases while maintaining a great editing experience through its intuitive interface.
Key features:
Price: Free and open source
Local-first editing experience
7. Ghost
Ghost is a traditional yet modern blogging platform that works surprisingly well as a headless CMS for Next.js. This platform offers a polished, focused writing experience with built-in SEO tools and native newsletter functionality. While it's more opinionated than pure headless solutions, that focus makes it incredibly efficient for straightforward blogging needs, especially if you want member subscriptions and email newsletters built right in.
Key features:
Price: starts at $11 per month
Built in newsletter functionality
Focused writing editor
Each of these platforms brings something unique to the table. Your choice ultimately depends on your specific needs