--- title: "Leiho vs TinaCMS: headless CMS comparison" description: "Open-source, Git-backed CMS for Markdown/MDX/JSON content with visual editing beside a live site. 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/tinacms lang: en updated: 2026-11-04 --- Compare # Leiho vs TinaCMS Open-source, Git-backed CMS for Markdown/MDX/JSON content with visual editing beside a live site. Leiho takes another route: your content stays in WordPress, and editors click the real page of your own front end to change it. | | Leiho | TinaCMS | | --- | --- | --- | | Hosting | Your own WordPress, on any PHP host. Your front end stays wherever it is. | Both: TinaCloud (hosted backend) or self-hosted backend on a Node.js serverless host. | | Open source | Yes, GPL-2.0-or-later (plugin and bridge). | Apache-2.0; TinaCloud is a paid service with a free tier. | | Pricing | Free. No seats, no usage limits. | Free plan: yes (2 users). Entry paid plan: Team, $29/month billed monthly or $290/year (~$24/month), 3 users included. | | Visual editing | Yes: editors click text and images on the real front end, inside wp-admin, and it updates as they type. | Yes: the site and the editor run side by side and the page updates live as you type (React, via the useTina hook). | | Content model | Leiho Collections (schema builder or leiho.schema.json), or your existing ACF fields. | Code (schema in tina/config). | | AI | Writing with your brand context on every text field, through WordPress’s own AI connectors (WordPress 7.0+). | None notable (pricing lists AI features as 'coming soon'). | | MCP server | Yes, through the official WordPress MCP Adapter: agents read content and write drafts only. | No official MCP server found (not confirmed). | | 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. | Not confirmed. | | 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. | Content is Markdown, MDX or JSON in Git, published by your front end. SEO fields are fields you add. No built-in JSON-LD, llms.txt or Markdown endpoint in the docs. | Checked on 5 November 2026 from each vendor’s site. Prices and plans change: follow the sources below. - Content lives as files in your Git repository, versioned with the code. - No database to run for content storage. - Visual, live-updating editing for React-based sites. - 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 TinaCMS if… Developer teams with Markdown/MDX-based React sites who want Git-stored content plus a visual editor. ### 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 TinaCMS to Leiho? There is no automatic importer from TinaCMS. 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: [tina.io/pricing](https://tina.io/pricing) · [tina.io/docs/contextual-editing/overview](https://tina.io/docs/contextual-editing/overview) · [tina.io/docs/self-hosted/overview](https://tina.io/docs/self-hosted/overview) · [github.com/tinacms/tinacms](https://github.com/tinacms/tinacms). 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 Strapi**](https://leiho.dev/compare/strapi) - [**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 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)