CMS choices for Astro: headless, hybrid, or markdown?

Start with content needs

Choose your CMS based on editorial workflow, localization requirements, media handling, and who maintains content day‑to‑day. Astro’s static‑first build plays nicely with both simple Markdown and enterprise headless platforms.

Options at a glance

• Markdown + Git: simple, fast, ideal for small teams comfortable with PRs
• Headless CMS (Sanity, Contentful, etc.): structured content, roles, workflows
• Hybrid (MDX + Headless): rich dev‑authored pages alongside editor‑managed content

Decision guide

• Team size and roles: do non‑technical editors publish daily?
• Content structure: do you need reusable blocks and reference fields?
• Localisation: will you manage multiple locales or regions?
• Media: do you need DAM features or just basic images?
• Preview: instant preview and review flows?

Integration patterns with Astro

• Generate static pages from CMS at build; revalidate on change via webhooks
• Use MDX for developer‑controlled pages and components
• Ship images through a proper pipeline (transforms, formats, CDN caching)

Common pitfalls

• Over‑modeling early; start simple and evolve
• Skipping preview; editors need to see composed pages before publishing
• Missing migration plan; define IDs, slugs, and redirects from day one

Conclusion

Pick the simplest system that meets workflow and governance needs. With Astro, you can keep sites static‑fast while giving editors a great experience.

Need help mapping your content model and CMS choice? We can propose a low‑risk plan.

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