Strapi vs Wagtail: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Strapi and Wagtail

Strapi and Wagtail are both content management systems (CMS), but they have distinct differences in their features and capabilities. Here are some key differences between the two:

1. Architecture: Strapi is built on a headless CMS architecture, where the front-end and back-end are decoupled. It provides a RESTful API that can be consumed by any front-end framework or application. On the other hand, Wagtail is a monolithic CMS, where the front-end is tightly integrated with the back-end. It is more suitable for traditional website development.

2. Content Editing Interface: Strapi provides a user-friendly, web-based admin dashboard for content editing. It offers a customizable interface with drag-and-drop capabilities, making it easy to manage and organize content. In contrast, Wagtail offers a more traditional content editing interface. It has a hierarchical page structure and focuses more on structured content editing.

3. Flexibility: Strapi offers a high level of flexibility in terms of content modeling and data structure. It allows users to create custom content types and define their own fields and relationships. Wagtail, on the other hand, has a predefined content structure with limited flexibility. It provides a set of predefined page types and fields that users can work with.

4. Security: Strapi has built-in authentication and access control features, allowing users to define roles and permissions for content editing and API access. It also supports various authentication methods such as JWT, OAuth, and more. Wagtail also provides authentication and access control features but may require additional configuration and customization.

5. Ecosystem and Extensions: Strapi has a growing ecosystem of plugins and extensions that can extend its functionality. It provides a marketplace where users can discover and install plugins for features like image optimization, SEO, and more. Wagtail also has a range of third-party packages and extensions available, but the ecosystem is relatively smaller compared to Strapi.

6. Developer Experience: Strapi is built with a modern and developer-friendly stack, making it easier for developers to customize and extend its functionality. It has extensive documentation, a vibrant community, and provides a CLI to scaffold projects and generate code. Wagtail is also developer-friendly but may require more familiarity with Python and Django, the frameworks it is built on.

In summary, Strapi and Wagtail differ in terms of architecture, content editing interface, flexibility, security features, available ecosystem of plugins, and developer experience. The choice between the two depends on the specific needs and preferences of the project.