# dotCMS vs Strapi

> Strapi scores 67.7 (B) to dotCMS's 57.7 (C) for content management. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-strapi
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-strapi.md (~4,150 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Strapi scores 67.7 (B) on agent readiness against dotCMS's 57.7 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do content management.

- dotCMS: grade C, 57.7/100, rank #784 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/dotcms.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/dotcms.json
- Strapi: grade B, 67.7/100, rank #309 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/strapi.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/strapi.json
- Best headless CMS and website publishing for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/cms/index.md
- All 136 cms comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cms/index.md

## Which one, for what

### dotCMS (C)

Good for: Enterprises already on dotCMS who want an agent to manage content and pages.

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- No incidents deducted, where Strapi loses 4 points for them

Watch for: Pre-1.0 package, with the dev docs still pointing at the beta tag

### Strapi (B)

Good for: Teams that want to own their CMS and let an agent draft, localise and publish entries under a narrow token.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 82 against 47
- Schema & documentation, 80 against 65
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 35
- Maintenance & community, 87 against 75
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 54

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: Content History keeps no version for REST, GraphQL or MCP writes, and exists only on Growth and Enterprise plans


## Why the edge

### Reliability: Strapi +35

- dotCMS (47): Read with the local-software lines, since the MCP server is a stdio package the owner runs against their own instance. Official npm package with Node 20 or later and Bun stated (20). The monorepo has CI and the MCP app has vitest tests and smoke tests; whether they pass on main wasn't read (12 of 25). Open issues weren't read because the GitHub API refused us for its rate limit (10 of 25). 0.1.0 and 0.1.1 without release notes for the package (5 of 15). Pre-1.0, and the dev docs still call it beta (0). 20+12+10+5+0 = 47.
- Strapi (82): Read with the local-software lines, since the graded surface is the Community Edition its owner hosts. Strapi Cloud's status page isn't scored here. Official npm packages, with Node.js 20 to 26 stated in `engines` at v5.60.0 (20). A Tests workflow runs unit, API, CLI and end-to-end suites. Per the 7 October check, not re-read on 1 November (GitHub's pages refuse our reader), the latest push run on develop passed on 7 October 2026, and on main the 30 September run passed and the 7 October run failed (20 of 25). Per the same check, 217 open issues, 45 labelled severity high and one critical, with 283 closed against 208 opened since 9 July (15 of 25). Semver releases with notes per version and each v5 breaking change documented on its own page, but OpenAPI generation is declared outside semver. No commit from 5.51.2 to 5.60.0 is marked breaking (12 of 15). 5.x is the stable line and SECURITY.md marks it LTS (15).

### Transparency & trust: Strapi +18

- dotCMS (54): dotCMS core is under the Business Source License 1.1, source-available rather than OSI, with an additional use grant under $5 million; the MCP package is GPL-3.0 on npm (20 of 30). The privacy policy of 8 September 2026 covers website visitors only; no cloud data-handling terms were found (10 of 30). A deprecations page, an LTS lifecycle and dated changelogs (16 of 20). Telemetry and sub-processors weren't established (5 of 20). 20+10+16+5 = 51.
- Strapi (72): MIT for the Community Edition, with ee/ directories under a separate Enterprise Edition licence that the LICENSE file explains (26 of 30). A self-hosted install keeps content on its owner's servers. For Strapi Cloud the terms delete customer content at termination but keep backups for unstated "standard periods", a DPA dated 21 November 2024 is part of the cloud terms, and the privacy policy is dated 1 March 2023. The Cloud Policies still describe a Free plan that the pricing page and docs no longer list (20 of 30). SECURITY.md dates each major's support, with v4 ended in October 2025 and security fixes until April 2026, and v5 breaking changes are documented one by one. No stated notice period for API changes (14 of 20). Telemetry is on by default and documented with an opt-out command and flag. The MCP usage events added in May 2026 aren't named on that page (15 of 20).

### Schema & documentation: Strapi +15

- dotCMS (65): The search tool exposes the instance's own OpenAPI spec, so the contract is machine-readable, though the tools themselves take JavaScript code (20 of 25). llms.txt and Markdown pages on dev.dotcms.com (10). The README says what each tool is for and gives examples; when not to use them isn't stated (12 of 20). Code strings rather than typed parameters for search and execute (4 of 15). Examples for both tools; error behaviour of the sandbox isn't documented (9 of 15). dotCMS changelogs are dated; the MCP package has no changelog (10 of 15). 20+10+12+4+9+10 = 65.
- Strapi (80): No published OpenAPI file, because endpoints depend on each project's content types. `strapi openapi generate` writes an OpenAPI 3.1.0 file for a project and is marked experimental, and every MCP tool carries JSON Schema 2020-12 input and output schemas built from the content model (20 of 25). llms.txt, llms-full.txt and a Markdown copy of every docs page (10). The 10 media tools say when to use each one and when not to, while generated content tools get a single line such as `Content-manager list for api::article.article` (14 of 20). Schemas are narrowed per field, action and locale and sort values are enums, but dynamic zones are untyped arrays and circular components fall back to an open record (12 of 15). REST pages pair curl examples with responses, and the error format and error classes are documented, without a list of status codes per endpoint (12 of 15). Semver with release notes on GitHub. The REST paths carry no API version (12 of 15).

### Payments & pricing: Strapi +15

- dotCMS (35): Scored with the self-hosted rule, with prices from the cloud plans. No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Cloud prices are on request only (0). Free with every capability under $5 million in revenue under the BSL, with no card (20). Self-hosting needs no dotCMS account, and tokens can be minted by API on one's own instance (15 of 20). 0+0+20+15 = 35.
- Strapi (50): Scored with the self-hosted rule, taking prices from the paid options beside the free edition. No x402, MPP or L402 (0). The Community Edition is free, Growth is $45 a month, and Strapi Cloud lists $35, $90 and $450 a project a month with $1.50 per further 25,000 API requests, all public (20). The Community Edition needs no card and Growth has a 30-day trial without one. Strapi Cloud asks for a card at project creation (20). Install and the first administrator can be scripted (`create-strapi`, `strapi admin:create-user`) with no account at Strapi, but the docs create API and Admin tokens only in the admin panel, so half (10).

### Maintenance & community: Strapi +12

- dotCMS (75): dotCMS core tagged v26.11.06-03 on 6 November 2026; the MCP package's last release was 0.1.1 on 2 September (30). Core tags several times a week (20). GitHub issues and a community forum; response times weren't read because the GitHub API refused us for its rate limit (10 of 25). Not in the official MCP registry; official JavaScript client libraries (8 of 15). The MCP package's dependencies and CI state weren't read (7 of 10). 30+20+10+8+7 = 75.
- Strapi (87): v5.60.0 was tagged on 28 October 2026 (30). 14 tagged versions between 5 August and 28 October, one a week (20). Per the 7 October check, not re-read on 1 November, 283 issues closed against 208 opened since 9 July and the newest pull requests carry labels and a reply the same day, with 217 issues open, 45 labelled severity high (18 of 25). @strapi/client 1.6.2 (4 June 2026) is still the newest tag and the only official client. The official MCP registry lists third-party Strapi servers only, which fits a server built into the product (10 of 15). Dependency bumps land weekly in the clone (5.60.0 moved in-range dependencies past published advisories). CI state per the 7 October check, when the Tests run on main failed (9 of 10).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | dotCMS | Strapi | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 47 | 82 | Strapi +35 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 80 | Strapi +15 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 65 | dotCMS +3 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 63 | 66 | Strapi +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 50 | Strapi +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 87 | Strapi +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 72 | Strapi +18 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **57.7 · C** | **67.7 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | dotCMS | Strapi |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | dotCMS LLC | Strapi, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | BUSL-1.1 | MIT for the Community Edition. Code under ee/ directories is under Strapi's Enterprise Edition licence, and Strapi Cloud is a paid service under its own terms |
| Tools exposed | 7 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-02 | 2026-10-28 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-10-07 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-08 | 2023-03-01 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 43 npm/wk | 73k stars, 259k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (4) |

## How the scores have moved

### dotCMS

No score change since it was listed.

### Strapi

- +2.0 on 1 November 2026: correction
- -0.2 on 28 October 2026: correction
- +0.2 on 28 October 2026: new evidence

## Verdicts

**dotCMS.** dotCMS's MCP server keeps the tool list to seven by letting the agent search the instance's OpenAPI spec and run API calls in a sandbox that never sees the token. It is a pre-1.0 package that needs a write token, and cloud prices are on request.

**Strapi.** The built-in MCP server shows an agent only the tools, fields and locales its Admin token permits, and content tools create drafts by default. Rollback is the limit. Content History is paid-only and records admin panel edits only, so API and MCP writes leave no version to restore, and the MCP server can't upload files.

## Before you call either

### dotCMS

1. Search the spec with `search` before writing an `execute` call, and return only the fields you need
2. Use a token for a dedicated user and role, not an administrator's
3. Confirm with the user before execute calls that publish, archive or delete content
4. Keep results small with pick and first, since output is capped at about 25,000 characters
5. Use download_assets for theme folders so files land on disk instead of in context

### Strapi

1. Pass `status=draft` on every REST POST and PUT. Without it the Content API publishes the entry at once
2. Use an Admin token for `/mcp` and admin routes and an API token for `/api`. Each kind is rejected on the other's routes
3. Upload files with multipart POST to `/api/upload` first, then reference the returned file id in the entry. MCP tools can't upload
4. Call `media_delete_assets` and `media_delete_folder` without `dryRun` first to preview, and take asset ids only from `media_list_assets`
5. Keep your own copy of an entry before updating it. API and MCP writes create no Content History version

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, dotCMS or Strapi?

Strapi scores 67.7 (B) on agent readiness against dotCMS's 57.7 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Do dotCMS and Strapi need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call dotCMS and Strapi without installing anything?

dotCMS runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. No hosted endpoint is listed for Strapi.

### Are dotCMS and Strapi open source?

No open-source release is listed for dotCMS. Strapi is open source (MIT for the Community Edition. Code under ee/ directories is under Strapi's Enterprise Edition licence, and Strapi Cloud is a paid service under its own terms).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-strapi.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-strapi.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "dotcms", "b": "strapi"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare dotcms strapi`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/dotcms.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/strapi.json

## Other comparisons with dotCMS or Strapi

- [BCMS vs dotCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bcms-vs-dotcms.md)
- [BCMS vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bcms-vs-strapi.md)
- [ButterCMS vs dotCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-dotcms.md)
- [ButterCMS vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/buttercms-vs-strapi.md)
- [Contentstack vs dotCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentstack-vs-dotcms.md)
- [Contentstack vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/contentstack-vs-strapi.md)
- [Cosmic vs dotCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cosmic-vs-dotcms.md)
- [Cosmic vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cosmic-vs-strapi.md)
- [DatoCMS vs dotCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datocms-vs-dotcms.md)
- [DatoCMS vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datocms-vs-strapi.md)
- [Directus vs dotCMS](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-dotcms.md)
- [Directus vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/directus-vs-strapi.md)
- [dotCMS vs Ghost](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-ghost.md)
- [dotCMS vs Hygraph](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-hygraph.md)
- [dotCMS vs Kontent.ai](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-kontent-ai.md)
- [dotCMS vs Payload](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-payload.md)
- [dotCMS vs Prismic](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-prismic.md)
- [dotCMS vs Sanity](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-sanity.md)
- [dotCMS vs Storyblok](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-storyblok.md)
- [dotCMS vs Webflow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-webflow.md)
- [dotCMS vs WordPress](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/dotcms-vs-wordpress.md)
- [Ghost vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ghost-vs-strapi.md)
- [Hygraph vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/hygraph-vs-strapi.md)
- [Kontent.ai vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/kontent-ai-vs-strapi.md)
- [Payload vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payload-vs-strapi.md)
- [Prismic vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/prismic-vs-strapi.md)
- [Sanity vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sanity-vs-strapi.md)
- [Storyblok vs Strapi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/storyblok-vs-strapi.md)
- [Strapi vs Webflow](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/strapi-vs-webflow.md)
- [Strapi vs WordPress](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/strapi-vs-wordpress.md)

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp