--- title: "Leiho vs Strapi: headless CMS comparison" description: "Open-source Node.js headless CMS with an admin panel, REST and GraphQL APIs, and an optional managed cloud. Leiho takes another route: your content stays in WordPress, and editors click the real page of your own front end to change it." url: https://leiho.dev/compare/strapi lang: en updated: 2026-11-04 --- Compare # Leiho vs Strapi Open-source Node.js headless CMS with an admin panel, REST and GraphQL APIs, and an optional managed cloud. Leiho takes another route: your content stays in WordPress, and editors click the real page of your own front end to change it. | | Leiho | Strapi | | --- | --- | --- | | Hosting | Your own WordPress, on any PHP host. Your front end stays wherever it is. | Both: self-hosted (Community, Growth, Enterprise licenses) or Strapi Cloud (managed). | | Open source | Yes, GPL-2.0-or-later (plugin and bridge). | Community Edition is MIT; Growth/Enterprise features and Strapi Cloud are paid. | | Pricing | Free. No seats, no usage limits. | Free: yes (self-hosted Community, unlimited users). Entry paid: self-hosted Growth $45/month (3 users, +$15/user); Strapi Cloud Starter $35/month per project (no free cloud plan). | | Visual editing | Yes: editors click text and images on the real front end, inside wp-admin, and it updates as they type. | Partial: Preview shows the front end in the admin; Live Preview (Growth/Enterprise) adds side-by-side view and experimental double-click-to-edit. | | Content model | Leiho Collections (schema builder or leiho.schema.json), or your existing ACF fields. | Both (Content-Type Builder UI, which writes schema files into the project code). | | AI | Writing with your brand context on every text field, through WordPress’s own AI connectors (WordPress 7.0+). | Strapi AI (Growth plan, credits): AI content-type builder assistant and auto-generated alt text/captions in the Media Library. | | MCP server | Yes, through the official WordPress MCP Adapter: agents read content and write drafts only. | Yes, built-in MCP server at /mcp on your instance. | | Localization | Built in, field by field: one entry holds every language, fields are translatable or shared, and AI or agents (MCP) translate what is missing. | Yes, built-in Internationalization feature. | | SEO and AI search | Built in: each collection maps its fields to schema.org, description and FAQ. Leiho serves JSON-LD, llms.txt and every page as Markdown, in every language. | SEO plugin (meta, Open Graph, preview) now maintained by the community for v5. JSON-LD is built by the front end. No first-party llms.txt or Markdown output. | Checked on 5 November 2026 from each vendor’s site. Prices and plans change: follow the sources below. - Purpose-built headless API (REST and GraphQL) with no theme layer to work around. - Node.js/TypeScript stack, convenient for JavaScript-only teams. - Managed hosting option from the vendor (Strapi Cloud). - Editors edit the real front end, inside wp-admin: they click a heading on the page and type. - Free and GPL for every site: no seats, plans or usage limits to watch. - Editors keep WordPress: their login, roles, media library and plugins. - Publishing follows your deployment, from a build hook to GitHub Actions or a self-hosted Coolify. ### Choose Strapi if… JavaScript teams that want an open-source, self-hostable headless CMS with a familiar admin panel and optional managed hosting. ### Choose Leiho if… Your team or your clients already know WordPress, you want them to edit the real page of a Next.js, Astro, Nuxt or SvelteKit site, and you’d rather not pay per seat or move content to a vendor’s cloud. ## Can I move from Strapi to Leiho? There is no automatic importer from Strapi. Leiho entries are WordPress posts, so content can be brought in with WordPress import tools or a script using Leiho’s PHP API. Your front-end components usually stay the same: only the data source and the annotations change. ## Do I need WordPress? Yes. Leiho is a WordPress plugin: WordPress stores the content and runs the back office. Any PHP host works, and your front end stays separate. Sources: [strapi.io/pricing-cloud](https://strapi.io/pricing-cloud) · [strapi.io/pricing-self-hosted](https://strapi.io/pricing-self-hosted) · [docs.strapi.io/cms/features/preview](https://docs.strapi.io/cms/features/preview) · [docs.strapi.io/cms/features/strapi-mcp-server](https://docs.strapi.io/cms/features/strapi-mcp-server) · [docs.strapi.io/cms/ai/for-content-managers](https://docs.strapi.io/cms/ai/for-content-managers) · [strapi.io/blog/strapi-seo-plugins](https://strapi.io/blog/strapi-seo-plugins). Something out of date? [Tell us](https://github.com/pixelersagency/leiho/issues/new?title=Comparison%20update). Other comparisons - [**Leiho vs Sanity**](https://leiho.dev/compare/sanity) - [**Leiho vs Contentful**](https://leiho.dev/compare/contentful) - [**Leiho vs Storyblok**](https://leiho.dev/compare/storyblok) - [**Leiho vs Payload CMS**](https://leiho.dev/compare/payload-cms) - [**Leiho vs Directus**](https://leiho.dev/compare/directus) - [**Leiho vs Prismic**](https://leiho.dev/compare/prismic) - [**Leiho vs TinaCMS**](https://leiho.dev/compare/tinacms) - [**Leiho vs Builder.io**](https://leiho.dev/compare/builder-io) - [**Leiho vs Hygraph**](https://leiho.dev/compare/hygraph) - [**Leiho vs DatoCMS**](https://leiho.dev/compare/datocms) - [**Leiho vs Decap CMS**](https://leiho.dev/compare/decap-cms) - [**Leiho vs Keystatic**](https://leiho.dev/compare/keystatic) - [**Leiho vs Webflow (CMS)**](https://leiho.dev/compare/webflow) - [**Leiho vs Headless WordPress (ACF + WPGraphQL)**](https://leiho.dev/compare/wordpress-headless) ## Edit the real site. Free and open source. Try it on a real WordPress, in your browser. - [Try it in your browser](https://leiho.dev/try) - [View on GitHub](https://github.com/pixelersagency/leiho)