Choosing a developer for your Strapi headless CMS: what to look for
By Yassine Seghrouchni, founderUpdated 5 min read
The short answer
Strapi is an open source headless CMS that you can host yourself and fully customise. It's mainly a good fit if you want control over your data, your content model and your integrations. Choose a developer who designs the content model with your content team, takes care of hosting and updates, and explains honestly what running it yourself involves, even if a standard CMS suits you better.
About this guide: written by Your Tech Club, with no ranking and no names of other agencies. How we do it ourselves is set out separately under How Your Tech Club works.
What to look for in a Strapi developer
Strapi gives you a lot of freedom. Whether that stays an advantage depends on how it's set up and who runs it afterwards. These eight points help you check that up front.
First, the question of whether Strapi fits
With Strapi you decide the content types, the permissions and where the CMS runs. That freedom also means someone has to manage the installation.
For a small site with few changes, a hosted standard CMS may be simpler. A good developer weighs that up with you.
Ask in the meetingWhy does Strapi suit us, and when would you choose something else?The content model is designed with your content team
The content model determines how your content team works: which fields there are, which blocks you can combine and what can be reused. A model designed purely from the technical side feels like a form to editors.
Ask how the developer involves your content team.
Ask in the meetingHow do you design the content model, and who from our side is involved?Roles and workflows match your organisation
Who can create, edit and publish what? Strapi has roles and permissions, but they need to be set up to match how your organisation works.
Also ask how previewing works: do editors see a page before it goes live?
Ask in the meetingHow do we control who can publish what, and how do editors see a page before it goes live?Hosting, backups and updates are taken care of
You can host Strapi yourself or run it on Strapi Cloud. If you host it yourself, someone needs to take care of backups, security updates, monitoring and new versions.
Ask who does that, where your data is stored and what happens if something goes wrong.
Ask in the meetingWhere does the CMS run, who makes backups and who applies updates?The connection to your website and other channels is right
A headless CMS delivers content through an API to your website, app or other channels. The quality of that connection determines how fast the site is and how reliably publishing works.
Ask how the front end is set up and how content would reach a second channel if you want that later.
Ask in the meetingHow does content get from the CMS onto the website, and what if we want a second channel later?Custom work only where it's needed
Strapi can be extended with your own plugins and logic. That's useful, but every piece of custom work has to come along with each update.
Ask what's possible as standard, what the developer wants to build and how it's documented.
Ask in the meetingWhat do you build as custom work, and how does it keep working with a new version of Strapi?Your existing content moves with you
If you are moving from another CMS, your content has to come along: copy, images, URLs and metadata.
Ask how the migration is approached, what has to be done by hand and how old URLs are redirected.
Ask in the meetingHow do you migrate our existing content, and what do we need to do ourselves?The installation is yours
Because Strapi is open source, the entire installation can be yours: the code, the configuration and the database.
Agree that up front, so you can carry on later yourself or with another partner.
Ask in the meetingDo we get access to the code, the database and the hosting?
Questions to ask in the first meeting
Take this list to your first meetings. A partner that suits you gives a concrete answer to every question, even if that answer is that something can't be done.
- Why Strapi for us, and when would you choose something else?
- How do you design the content model with our content team?
- How do we handle roles, permissions and publishing?
- How does previewing work for editors?
- Where does the CMS run, and where is our data stored?
- Who makes backups and applies updates?
- What do you build as custom work, and how does it keep working with updates?
- How do you migrate our existing content and URLs?
- Do we get access to the code, the database and the hosting?
- Which of your Strapi environments can we look at?
When Strapi is a good choice
Strapi is a logical choice if one or more of these situations applies to you:
- You want to decide for yourself where your content and data are stored.
- Your content model is specific and doesn't fit fixed templates.
- The same content needs to go to several channels, such as a website and an app.
- You need integrations or workflows that a standard CMS doesn't offer.
Strapi makes less sense if you have a small site that rarely changes and nobody wants to manage the installation. Then a hosted CMS is simpler.
How Your Tech Club works with Strapi
This part is about us. The points above apply to any partner, including us: feel free to hold us to them.
We build headless CMS environments on Strapi, with the content model, permissions and integrations tailored to how your content team works. One example is the blog we built on Strapi for RUMAG.
Strategy, design and development sit in one team, so the CMS and the website are designed together. We take care of hosting, updates and support if you want us to, and the installation and the code are yours.
- ISO 9001 and ISO 27001, certified by Kiwa
- 500 projects delivered
- 4.8 from 127 reviews
- 90% returning clients
- Office on Duivendrechtsekade in Amsterdam
- Founded by Joey van Vliet and Yassine Seghrouchni
Frequently asked questions
What is Strapi?
Strapi is an open source headless CMS built on Node.js. You manage content in it, and that content goes through an API to your website, app or other channels. You can host it yourself or run it on Strapi Cloud.
What is a headless CMS?
A CMS in which managing content is separate from displaying it. The content goes through an API to a front end, for example a website in Next.js. That gives freedom in design and lets you use the same content in several places.
What does a Strapi implementation cost?
That depends on the content model, the number of integrations, the migration and the front end. Also factor in ongoing costs for hosting, updates and support, or a subscription if you choose Strapi Cloud.
Self-hosted Strapi or Strapi Cloud?
If you host it yourself, you have full control over where your data is stored and how the environment is set up, but someone has to manage it. Strapi Cloud takes over part of that management. Choose based on your requirements for data, management and cost.
Can my content team work with Strapi themselves?
Yes, if the content model is designed around how your content team works. Ask to see the admin before it's finished, and test it with your own editors.
How does a move from WordPress to Strapi work?
The content is exported from WordPress, converted to the new content model and imported into Strapi. Images, URLs and metadata come along, and old URLs are redirected. Some content may need to be checked by hand.
How do you keep a Strapi installation secure?
By applying security updates promptly, limiting access by role, making backups and monitoring the environment. Agree who does that.
