Choose a free headless CMS by matching editor seats, delivery usage, content volume, and languages to your actual website. genko.me is a candidate for a small bilingual blog, microCMS is another option to compare, and Sanity or Strapi may suit teams prioritizing a custom model or self-hosting. Separate an ongoing free plan from a limited trial or a usage-based free allowance before estimating what production will cost.
This article is written by the team behind genko.me. We checked the official sources on October 20, 2026, and include our own product in the comparison. Check current terms before signing up because plan conditions can change.
Free headless CMS plans compared
This table contains selected conditions verified on official pricing pages. An unlimited allowance in one column does not remove other usage limits or fair-use conditions.
Service and plan | Free offering | Selected verified allowances | Important condition |
|---|---|---|---|
microCMS Hobby | ¥0/month | 3 members, 5 APIs, 10,000 content items, 20 GB monthly transfer | API access stops when the transfer cap is exceeded |
Contentful Free | $0 | 10 users, 2 locales, 100,000 monthly API calls, 50 GB monthly CDN bandwidth | Hard caps rather than paid overages on Free |
Sanity Free | $0 | 20 seats, 10,000 documents, 2 datasets, unlimited locales | Free datasets are public only |
Storyblok Starter | Free | 1 included seat, 2 locales, 100,000 monthly API requests, 100 GB monthly traffic | One extra seat costs money; positioned for testing and personal projects |
Strapi Community | Free MIT-licensed software | Entries and API calls described as unlimited usage | Hosting and maintenance remain your responsibility |
Hygraph Hobby | $0 | 3 seats, 1,000 entries, 2 locales, 500,000 monthly API calls | Positioned for personal projects and evaluation |
genko.me Free | Free | 3 members, 5 GB combined content and media, main language plus 1 additional language | 300 delivery requests per minute per key; fair-use conditions apply |
Sources: microCMS, Contentful, Sanity, Storyblok, Strapi, Hygraph, and genko.me.
Strapi Cloud and Kuroco use different cost models
Strapi's software license and its cloud hosting are separate purchases. The Cloud pricing page listed Starter at $35 per project per month before applicable taxes, with no free hosting plan shown when checked. Running the free software still requires an infrastructure and maintenance budget.
Kuroco's pricing page advertises a ¥1,100 monthly free usage allowance. It offers usage-based billing and fixed-price arrangements, so it should not be treated as the same kind of offering as a fixed free subscription. Estimate consumption and discuss the applicable arrangement if you need predictable billing.
Five things to check before choosing a free CMS
Editor seats and permissions
Count everyone who writes, reviews, or maintains the integration. The headline seat count is only a starting point. Check how viewers are counted and whether the roles your workflow needs are included.
Invite the actual participants during evaluation. A CMS can allow enough accounts while still leaving a team unable to separate the actions they need to separate. Discover that before migrating content or establishing a publication routine.
API requests, transfer, and rate limits
Monthly request quotas, bandwidth allowances, and per-minute limits measure different things. Unlimited API calls do not imply unlimited image or JSON transfer. Also check what happens at a cap: interruption and paid overages have different operational consequences.
Page views are not automatically equal to CMS requests. Static generation fetches during builds, while server rendering and application caching produce different request patterns. Model the architecture you intend to run rather than estimating from traffic alone.
Content count and storage
A large collection of short announcements can use less space than a small photo-heavy publication. Check whether text, images, attachments, and translations share an allowance. Inspect per-file limits if writers upload large source assets.
Estimate growth from representative articles. Counting the empty content model tells you little about how much storage a year of illustrated posts will consume. Keep an eye on duplicated media and the size of files before upload.
Languages and translated publication
Check whether a locale allowance counts the main language or only additional languages. Then test the workflow: translating a draft, publishing one language later, and requesting an article whose translation is not public yet.
The number of supported languages does not define those behaviors. See the multilingual headless CMS guide for translation models and missing-language handling.
Editing and export
Put a real article through the editor, including headings, images, tables, and code where relevant. Have the people who will publish content perform the evaluation, rather than leaving it entirely to the integration developer.
Export the result as well. Check whether the body and media can be reused outside the system. A free subscription can still create substantial ongoing costs if every edit or future migration requires manual cleanup.
Shortlist a free CMS by the job it needs to do
Priority | Candidates to evaluate first | What to test |
|---|---|---|
Deliver articles for a small team | microCMS, genko.me | Editing workflow, field setup, and transfer conditions |
Accommodate more people within the free allowance | Contentful, Sanity | Included roles and public-data conditions |
Design a custom editing and translation model | Sanity | Implementation effort and ongoing ownership |
Operate the CMS in your own environment | Strapi Community | Hosting, upgrades, backups, and recovery |
Start with a small content collection | Hygraph | Whether the entry allowance fits expected growth |
Evaluate a personal project on Starter | Storyblok | Included seats and features needed after upgrading |
This is a starting-point recommendation based on the conditions above, not a ranking. Test shortlisted products using the same source article and application requirements. Otherwise, one product may appear easier simply because you tried a less demanding example.
The microCMS and genko.me comparison provides a more focused comparison for that pair.
What is included in genko.me Free?
Free includes up to three members, 5 GB shared between content and media, and one additional language. It does not impose a count limit on APIs or content entries. Image transformations, saved draft previews, scheduled publishing, and export are available. Unlimited entry count does not mean unlimited storage.
Capacity sharing matters when you have more than one workspace. A personal workspace and free teams under the same owner share the applicable storage allowance. Creating another free team does not create an independent extra 5 GB allocation. Viewing revision history is available on Free, while restoring revisions requires a paid plan.
Plus is ¥980 per month for up to ten members and 30 GB. Pro is ¥4,980 per month for up to thirty members and 100 GB. These prices include tax, and both plans allow unlimited additional languages. Check the plan reference and live pricing section.
genko.me is worth evaluating for its article-writing interface and integration into an existing website through an API or typed SDK. Compare a different operating model when your requirements call for it: Strapi Community for self-hosting, for example, or Sanity when designing a highly customized content model is central to the project.
Requirements such as SSO, SCIM, or invoice billing are Business / Enterprise inquiries for genko.me. Do not assume that a Free workspace satisfies them. Establish procurement and access requirements before choosing a product based primarily on storage or entry counts.
A practical evaluation procedure for a small website
Prepare a representative article and its images, and import the same material into each candidate.
Connect the list and detail pages, including an empty-list state.
Test a saved draft preview and verify what changes after publication.
Invite the actual editors and run the normal review workflow.
Recalculate requirements with more articles, images, editors, and languages.
Export content and check whether the body and media remain reusable.
Record the point at which you would upgrade, reduce usage, or reconsider the service. A decision made before a limit is reached is easier to act on than one made during an interruption.
Compare upgrade conditions as well as prices. The next plan must include the permission model, workflow, and contract conditions you need, not merely more bandwidth. Likewise, a self-hosted option should have an identified owner for updates and recovery, rather than an assumption that the software will run unattended.
For implementation, see Next.js and a headless CMS. For announcements on a static site, see static sites and a news CMS. For migration checks, the Newt migration guide provides another practical reference.
FAQ
Can I use a free headless CMS for a production website?
A free allowance alone does not establish that a plan fits production. Review the service terms, intended-use descriptions, operational requirements, and behavior when limits are reached.
Does unlimited API usage mean a site stays free as traffic grows?
Not necessarily. Transfer, storage, and rate limits can apply independently. For example, microCMS Hobby lists unlimited API calls but stops API access when its monthly transfer allowance is exceeded.
Does free Strapi include free hosting?
The Community software license and hosting costs are separate. Include infrastructure and maintenance effort in the comparison.
Can genko.me Free support a bilingual blog?
As of October 2026, it supports a main language plus one additional language. Language-version content also counts toward the shared content capacity.
Sources
Checked October 20, 2026. The comparison includes only selected conditions verified on these pages.