Hexo vs Strapi
| Tagline | Fast, simple, and powerful Node.js blog framework | Leading open-source headless CMS with flexible API and content type builder |
| Category | Blogging & CMS | Blogging & CMS |
| Replaces | WordPress.com, Medium, Squarespace | Contentful, WordPress.com |
| GitHub stars | 39k | 72k |
| Language | JavaScript | Nodejs |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Self-host difficulty | 2/5 Easy | 3/5 Moderate |
| Deploy options | Manual Docker | Docker Docker Compose Manual |
| Managed hosting | ||
| Last updated | 1 month ago | 5 days ago |
| View repo | View repo |
Where each falls short
The honest trade-offs — what you give up with each, versus the proprietary tools they replace.
Hexo
- No built-in admin UI; requires CLI or third-party plugins for content editing
- Plugin ecosystem quality is uneven; some plugins are unmaintained
- Less active core development compared to Hugo or Eleventy
Strapi
- No built-in front-end rendering; requires a separate frontend framework
- Media asset transformation (image resizing, CDN) requires third-party providers
- Workflow and editorial approval features are less mature than Contentful
- Self-hosted upgrades between major versions can require manual migration steps
Bottom line
Choose Hexo if you want the lower-effort setup; choose Strapi for the larger community and ecosystem. Strapi has seen more recent development. Open each guide below for deploy steps and the full feature gap.
Strapi
Leading open-source headless CMS with flexible API and content type builder