Blog-Only CMS vs Full CMS: What Developers Actually Need in 2025

You're building a SaaS landing page, a portfolio site, or a marketing website. You need a blog. The question is: do you need WordPress, Contentful, or Strapi with their 500+ features? Or would a simple, blog-focused CMS do the job better?

I've spent the last six months talking to developers about this exact decision. The answer isn't what most blog posts will tell you.

TL;DR - Quick Decision Framework

Choose a Blog-Only CMS if:

• You need blog posts, categories, and tags (nothing more)
• You want to ship fast (< 1 hour setup)
• Your budget is under $50/month for CMS
• You have a dedicated frontend (Next.js, React, Vue)

Choose a Full CMS if:

• You need custom content types beyond blogs
• You're building a content-heavy platform (e-commerce, directories)
• You have complex workflows (approval chains, scheduling)
• You need built-in image optimization and media management

Still not sure? Keep reading.

What Actually Is a "Full CMS" vs "Blog-Only CMS"?

Full CMS Platforms

Full CMS platforms (Contentful, Strapi, Sanity, WordPress) are designed to manage any type of content:

• Blog posts
• Product catalogs
• User profiles
• Landing pages
• Documentation
• Media libraries
• Custom content types (events, recipes, courses, etc.)

Examples:

• Contentful - Enterprise-grade headless CMS
• Strapi - Open-source headless CMS
• Sanity - Developer-focused CMS with real-time collaboration
• WordPress - The 43% of the internet solution
• Directus - Database-first headless CMS

The value proposition: Flexibility. You can model any content structure you can imagine.

The hidden cost: Complexity. You'll spend hours configuring content types, relationships, and permissions just to publish blog posts.

Blog-Only CMS Platforms

Blog-only CMS platforms are laser-focused on one job: serving blog content via an API.

Core features (and that's it):

• Blog posts (title, content, excerpt, featured image)
• Categories
• Tags
• Search
• Publishing workflow (draft/published)
• REST/GraphQL API

Examples:

• BlogNow - Modern headless blog CMS
• ButterCMS - Blog-focused with some page-building
• Ghost - Open-source blog platform with headless API
• Hashnode Headless - Blog API for developers

The value proposition: Simplicity. Zero configuration. You get an API that returns blog posts. That's it.

The trade-off: Limited to blog content. Need a product catalog? You'll need another tool.

The Real-World Comparison: Setting Up a Blog

Let's compare the actual developer experience of adding a blog to a Next.js landing page.

Scenario: Marketing Site with Blog

You're launching a SaaS product. You have:

• Landing page (Next.js)
• Pricing page
• Docs
• You need to add a /blog section

Option 1: Strapi (Full CMS)

# Setup npx create-strapi-app my-blog --quickstart cd my-blog npm run develop # Wait 3-5 minutes for build # Navigate to http://localhost:1337/admin # Create admin account # Configure "Blog Post" content type: - Add field: title (Text) - Add field: slug (UID) - Add field: content (Rich Text) - Add field: excerpt (Text) - Add field: featured_image (Media) - Add field: published_at (DateTime) - Add field: category (Relation) - Configure permissions (Public role → Blog Post → find, findOne) - Deploy to Heroku/Railway/VPS - Set up PostgreSQL - Configure environment variables - Set up media storage (S3/Cloudinary) # In your Next.js app: npm install axios # Fetch posts: const posts = await axios.get('https://your-strapi.com/api/blog-posts?populate=*') 

Time to first blog post: 2-4 hours (plus deployment headaches)

Monthly cost:

• Strapi Cloud: $75/mo (pro plan)
• Self-hosted: $15-30/mo (server + database + storage)

Option 2: Contentful (Full CMS)

# Setup # 1. Sign up at contentful.com # 2. Create space # 3. Design "Blog Post" content model (click, click, click) # 4. Configure fields (15+ clicks) # 5. Set up API keys # 6. Configure preview/delivery environments # In your Next.js app: npm install contentful const client = contentful.createClient({ space: process.env.CONTENTFUL_SPACE_ID, accessToken: process.env.CONTENTFUL_ACCESS_TOKEN }) const posts = await client.getEntries({ content_type: 'blogPost' }) 

Time to first blog post: 1-2 hours

Monthly cost:

• Free tier: 25,000 records (community tier)
• Paid: $300+/mo (team plan for production)

Option 3: BlogNow (Blog-Only CMS)

# Setup # 1. Sign up at blognow.tech # 2. Create API key (copy it) # 3. Add your domain to CORS allowed list # In your Next.js app: npm install @blognow/sdk const blognow = new BlogNow({ apiKey: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_BLOGNOW_API_KEY }) const posts = await blognow.posts.list({ status: 'published' }) 

Time to first blog post: 10-15 minutes

Monthly cost:

• $9.99/mo (50K requests)
• $19.99/mo (100K requests)

Feature Comparison Table

When to Choose a Full CMS

Scenario 1: E-Commerce with Blog

You're building an online store with:

• Product catalog (SKUs, variants, pricing)
• Blog posts
• Landing pages
• Customer reviews

Recommendation: Full CMS (Strapi or Contentful)

Why: You need complex content relationships. Products have categories, variants, reviews, and related blog posts. A blog-only CMS can't model this.

Best choice: Strapi (self-hosted) or Contentful (if budget allows)

Scenario 2: Multi-Brand Content Platform

You manage content for multiple brands:

• 10+ websites
• Shared media library
• Translation workflows
• Complex approval chains

Recommendation: Full CMS (Contentful or Sanity)

Why: You need advanced workflows, role-based permissions, and content reuse across properties.

Best choice: Contentful or Sanity

Scenario 3: Documentation + Blog + Marketing Pages

You're building:

• Product docs (hierarchical structure)
• Blog
• Case studies
• Landing pages

Recommendation: Full CMS (Strapi) or separate tools

Why: Different content types with different needs. Docs need versioning and hierarchy. Blog needs categories and tags.

Best choice: Strapi (unified) or Gitbook (docs) + BlogNow (blog)

When to Choose a Blog-Only CMS

Scenario 1: SaaS Landing Page with Blog

You have:

• Next.js landing page
• Pricing page (hardcoded)
• Docs (separate tool like Gitbook)
• Blog (need to add)

Recommendation: Blog-Only CMS (BlogNow or ButterCMS)

Why: You're not managing complex content. You just need blog posts. A full CMS is overkill.

Best choice: BlogNow

Setup:

// app/blog/page.tsx import { BlogNow } from '@blognow/sdk' const blognow = new BlogNow({ apiKey: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_BLOGNOW_API_KEY }) export default async function BlogPage() { const posts = await blognow.posts.list({ status: 'published' }) return ( <div> {posts.map(post => ( <article key={post.id}> <h2>{post.title}</h2>  <p>{post.excerpt}</p>  </article>  ))} </div>  ) } 

Time saved: 3-4 hours vs setting up Strapi

Cost saved: $65/mo vs Strapi Cloud

Scenario 2: Portfolio Site for Freelancer

You're a developer/designer building your portfolio:

• About page
• Projects (hardcoded)
• Blog (for SEO and thought leadership)

Recommendation: Blog-Only CMS (Ghost or BlogNow)

Why: You're not building Medium. You need a simple blog that works with your Astro/Next.js site.

Best choice: BlogNow (if you want API integration) or Ghost (if you want hosted blog + API)

Scenario 3: Agency Managing Client Blogs

You build websites for clients. Each client needs:

• Blog
• Contact form
• Services pages (static)

Recommendation: Blog-Only CMS (BlogNow)

Why: Clients don't need to learn Contentful's interface. They need to write blog posts. Simple admin = fewer support tickets.

Best choice: BlogNow with separate workspaces per client

The Hidden Costs of "Full" CMS Platforms

1. Configuration Time

Contentful example:

• Design content model: 30 minutes
• Configure fields and validation: 20 minutes
• Set up relationships: 15 minutes
• Configure API permissions: 10 minutes
• Set up preview/delivery environments: 15 minutes

Total: 90 minutes before you write a single line of code.

Blog-only CMS: 5 minutes to get API key and start coding.

2. Maintenance Burden

Strapi (self-hosted):

• Server maintenance
• Database backups
• Security updates
• Plugin compatibility
• Media storage management

Estimated time: 2-4 hours/month

Blog-only CMS (managed): Zero maintenance. It's fully managed.

3. Learning Curve for Content Editors

Contentful:

• Content editors need training on:
  • Content model structure
  • Field types and validation
  • Media library
  • Publishing workflow
  • Preview functionality

Training time: 2-3 hours per editor

Blog-only CMS:

• Editors understand:
  • Title
  • Content
  • Category
  • Publish

Training time: 15 minutes

4. Over-Engineering Risk

I've seen this pattern dozens of times:

1. Developer chooses Contentful for a simple blog
2. Spends 4 hours configuring it
3. Builds custom preview functionality
4. Integrates image optimization
5. Sets up webhooks for cache invalidation
6. Ships blog 2 weeks later than planned

Meanwhile, the blog-only CMS approach:

1. Sign up
2. Install SDK
3. Fetch posts
4. Ships blog same day

The Cost Analysis: 1-Year TCO

Full CMS (Strapi - Self Hosted)

Setup time: 4 hours × $100/hr = $400 Hosting (Railway): $20/mo × 12 = $240 Database (Neon): $15/mo × 12 = $180 Storage (S3): $5/mo × 12 = $60 Maintenance: 3 hrs/mo × 12 × $100/hr = $3,600 --- Total Year 1: $4,480 

Full CMS (Contentful - Managed)

Setup time: 2 hours × $100/hr = $200 Contentful Team Plan: $300/mo × 12 = $3,600 Media hosting: Included Maintenance: 0 hours = $0 --- Total Year 1: $3,800 

Blog-Only CMS (BlogNow)

Setup time: 0.25 hours × $100/hr = $25 BlogNow Starter: $19.99/mo × 12 = $240 Media hosting: Included Maintenance: 0 hours = $0 --- Total Year 1: $265 

Savings: $3,535 - $4,215 compared to full CMS solutions.

Developer Experience: The Real Differentiator

Type Safety and DX

Full CMS (Contentful) - Manual Types:

// You write this yourself (or use codegen) interface BlogPost { fields: { title: string slug: string content: Document // Contentful's rich text type excerpt: string featuredImage: Asset publishedAt: string category: Entry<Category> } } const posts = await client.getEntries<BlogPost>({ content_type: 'blogPost' }) // Access is verbose: posts.items[0].fields.title posts.items[0].fields.category.fields.name 

Blog-Only CMS (BlogNow) - Built-in Types:

import { BlogNow } from '@blognow/sdk' const blognow = new BlogNow({ apiKey: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_BLOGNOW_API_KEY }) // Fully typed, zero configuration const posts = await blognow.posts.list({ status: 'published' }) // Clean access: posts[0].title posts[0].category.name posts[0].tags.map(t => t.name) 

Error Handling

Full CMS: You build error handling

try { const posts = await client.getEntries({ content_type: 'blogPost' }) } catch (error) { if (error.response.status === 429) { // Handle rate limiting } // Handle other errors } 

Blog-Only CMS: Built-in retry logic

// Automatically retries on failure // Handles rate limits with exponential backoff // Throws typed errors you can catch const posts = await blognow.posts.list() 

Migration Considerations

From WordPress to Headless

Challenge: You have 500 blog posts in WordPress. You want to go headless.

Full CMS approach:

1. Export WordPress content (XML)
2. Parse and transform data
3. Create content model in Contentful/Strapi
4. Import content via API
5. Migrate images
6. Update internal links
7. Set up redirects

Time: 8-16 hours

Blog-Only CMS approach:

1. Export WordPress content (XML)
2. Use migration tool (many blog CMSs provide importers)
3. Map fields (title → title, content → content)
4. Import

Time: 2-4 hours

Why easier? Blog-only CMS already knows what a blog post is. No custom modeling needed.

From Contentful to Blog-Only CMS

When to migrate:

• You realize you're only using it for blogs
• Cost is too high ($300+/mo)
• Complexity is overkill

How:

1. Export Contentful entries via API
2. Transform to new format
3. Import to blog-only CMS
4. Update frontend API calls

Time: 2-4 hours

Risk: Low (if you're only using blog features)

The Middle Ground: Hybrid Approach

You don't have to choose just one CMS. Many successful sites use:

Blog-Only CMS (BlogNow) + Hardcoded Pages

Landing page: Next.js (hardcoded) Pricing: Next.js (hardcoded or Stripe API) Docs: Gitbook or Mintlify Blog: BlogNow 

Benefits:

• Simple stack
• Each tool does one thing well
• Easy to reason about
• Low cost

Blog-Only CMS + Notion for Pages

Landing pages: Notion + Notion API Blog: BlogNow Forms: Formspark 

Benefits:

• Non-technical team can edit landing pages
• Developers get clean blog API
• Low cost

Common Myths Debunked

Myth 1: "Full CMS is more future-proof"

Reality: You Aren't Gonna Need It (YAGNI)

95% of sites that choose Contentful for "future flexibility" never use custom content types beyond blogs.

Better approach: Start simple. If you need custom content types later, migrate then. Migration is easier than you think.

Myth 2: "Blog-only CMS limits growth"

Reality: Most successful content sites are just blogs with categories

Look at:

• Indie Hackers (blog + forum)
• Dev.to (blog + community)
• Medium (just blogs)

None of these need complex content modeling.

Myth 3: "Full CMS has better SEO"

Reality: SEO is about content and metadata, not your CMS

Both full CMS and blog-only CMS give you:

• Custom meta titles/descriptions
• Open Graph tags
• Canonical URLs
• Sitemap generation

Your Next.js/React code handles SEO, not your CMS.

Myth 4: "You need a full CMS for media management"

Reality: Modern blog-only CMS platforms handle media well

BlogNow, Ghost, and ButterCMS all support:

• Image uploads
• CDN delivery
• Basic transformations

Need advanced image editing? Use Cloudinary. Don't buy a full CMS for it.

The Decision Tree

Do you need content types beyond blog posts? ├─ YES → Do you need >5 custom content types? │ ├─ YES → Full CMS (Contentful or Strapi) │ └─ NO → Can you hardcode those pages? │ ├─ YES → Blog-Only CMS │ └─ NO → Full CMS (Strapi) └─ NO → Do you have >$100/mo budget for CMS? ├─ YES → Full CMS if you want flexibility └─ NO → Blog-Only CMS 

Real-World Case Studies

Case Study 1: SaaS Startup ($20M funding)

Initial choice: Contentful ($300/mo)

Usage after 6 months:

• 45 blog posts
• 12 landing pages (could've been Next.js)
• 0 custom content types used

Result: Switched to BlogNow + hardcoded pages
Savings: $3,360/year
Dev time saved: 10 hours (no more Contentful config)

Case Study 2: Marketing Agency (15 clients)

Initial choice: WordPress for all clients

Problems:

• Security updates
• Plugin conflicts
• Slow performance
• Client complaints about UI

Solution: Migrated to BlogNow
Result:

• 80% fewer support tickets
• Faster page loads (API + Next.js SSG)
• Clients love simple editor
• Agency saves 15 hours/month on WordPress maintenance

Case Study 3: Developer Portfolio

Initial choice: Built custom blog with MongoDB

Problems:

• Spent 20 hours building admin panel
• No rich text editor
• Media management is hard
• SEO metadata was afterthought

Solution: Switched to Ghost (blog-only)
Result:

• Deleted 2,000 lines of backend code
• Better editor than custom solution
• Focus on content, not CMS maintenance

The Verdict: What You Should Choose in 2025

Choose Full CMS (Contentful/Strapi) if:

✅ You're building a content platform (not just a blog)
✅ You need >5 custom content types
✅ You have complex workflows (multi-stage approval)
✅ You have budget ($100+/mo)
✅ You have time to configure (4+ hours)
✅ Your team understands content modeling

Best for: E-commerce, multi-brand platforms, complex sites

Choose Blog-Only CMS (BlogNow/Ghost) if:

✅ You just need a blog (the most common case)
✅ You want to ship fast (<1 hour)
✅ Your budget is limited (<$50/mo)
✅ You value simplicity over flexibility
✅ You have a frontend framework (Next.js, React, Vue)
✅ Your content editors don't need training

Best for: SaaS blogs, portfolios, marketing sites, agency client sites

Getting Started with a Blog-Only CMS

If you've decided a blog-only CMS is right for you, here's the fastest path:

Option 1: BlogNow (Managed, Modern)

Best for: Next.js/React/Vue apps, developers who want clean APIs

# 1. Sign up at blognow.tech # 2. Create API key # 3. Install SDK npm install @blognow/sdk # 4. Start fetching posts import { BlogNow } from '@blognow/sdk' const blognow = new BlogNow({ apiKey: process.env.NEXT_PUBLIC_BLOGNOW_API_KEY }) const posts = await blognow.posts.list({ status: 'published' }) 

Pricing: $9.99/mo (50K requests)

Setup time: 10 minutes

Try BlogNow Free for 7 Days →

Option 2: Ghost (Self-Hosted or Managed)

Best for: Writers who want a great editor, self-hosting enthusiasts

Pricing:

• Self-hosted: Free (+ server costs ~$10/mo)
• Managed: $9/mo

Setup time: 30 minutes (managed) or 2 hours (self-hosted)

Option 3: ButterCMS (Managed)

Best for: Teams that want blog + some landing page capability

Pricing: $99/mo (startup plan)

Setup time: 20 minutes

Conclusion: The 80/20 Rule Applies to CMS

80% of developers who choose a full CMS only use 20% of its features.

If you're building a blog, you don't need:

• Custom content types
• Complex relationships
• Advanced media DAM
• Multi-stage workflows
• 47 field types

You need:

• Blog posts
• Categories
• Tags
• A good editor
• An API

Choose the tool that matches your needs today, not your imagined needs in 3 years.

Start simple. You can always migrate later if you need more complexity. But you'll probably never need it.

Take Action

If you're building a blog for your Next.js/React/Vue app:

Try BlogNow free for 7 days. No credit card required.

• ✅ Set up in under 10 minutes
• ✅ Full TypeScript SDK
• ✅ Pre-built AI integration prompts
• ✅ Start at $9.99/mo

Start Free Trial →

If you're still unsure:

Check out our comparison guide or book a demo to discuss your specific needs.

Further Reading

• How to Migrate from WordPress to Headless CMS (upcoming)
• The True Cost of Contentful for Small Teams (upcoming)
• Building a Blog with Next.js 15+ and BlogNow in 10 Minutes

About the Author

Serial entrepreneur and indie hacker building tools developers actually want to use. Currently shipping BlogNow.tech - a blog-only CMS that doesn't waste your time.

Follow my journey on Twitter