# CMS platforms we build on

> The content management systems SmartaStudio builds on — Sanity, Storyblok, WordPress, Headless WordPress and Contentful — and how we choose between them.

URL: https://www.smartastudio.com/stack/cms

_Where your content lives — and who can actually run it._

The CMS decides who can update the site, how content is structured, and how easily it feeds everything else you run. We build on a small, opinionated set — chosen by the job in front of us, not by habit.

Every build starts with a question: where should content live, and can the team actually run it? For structured, product-like content we reach for Sanity; for visual editing and locale autonomy, Storyblok; for teams standardised on it, Contentful. And WordPress — fully custom, no page builders — still earns its place for content-led sites, headless or traditional. We are vendor-agnostic by design: the set below is what we actually evaluate, recommend and ship.

## What a CMS is — and what actually matters to you

A content management system is where your website's words, images and structure live, and where your team goes to change them. On the surface every CMS does the same job. In practice the differences decide how quickly your team can publish, how the content scales across channels, and how much developer time it costs you every year.

The questions that matter are rarely about features. They are: can the people who own the content actually run it without us? Will the model still make sense when the site is three times bigger? And does the CMS help performance and SEO, or quietly work against them? Those answers point to very different platforms.

## The two kinds of CMS, and how they differ

Almost every CMS is one of two shapes. Getting this choice right is more important than the specific brand — it shapes performance, flexibility and cost for years.

### Traditional (coupled)

- Content and the front end are one system — e.g. classic WordPress.
- Fast to stand up; a familiar all-in-one admin.
- The theme layer and plugins can drag on performance and security.
- Best for content-led marketing sites with a single web front end.

### Headless (decoupled)

- Content lives in an API; the front end is built separately in a framework like Next.js.
- Faster, more secure, and future-proof — one content source feeds site, app and more.
- Needs a considered content model and a developer to build the front end.
- Best for performance-critical sites, design systems and multi-channel content.

## How we decide with you

We do not lead with a brand. We work through a short set of questions and let the answers choose the platform.

- **Who owns the content?** — A hands-on marketing team that wants to build pages visually points one way; a content team that wants a tailored, guard-railed editor points another.
- **How structured is it?** — Product-like, reusable content rewards a structured headless model. A handful of straightforward pages does not need one.
- **Where does it need to go?** — If the same content must feed a site, an app and other channels, headless earns its keep. One web front end may not need it.
- **What is the performance bar?** — When Core Web Vitals and SEO are non-negotiable, a decoupled front end gives us the most headroom.

## Our chosen CMS

- [Sanity](https://www.smartastudio.com/stack/cms/sanity) — A structured-content platform you shape like code.
- [Storyblok](https://www.smartastudio.com/stack/cms/storyblok) — Headless content with genuine visual editing.
- [WordPress](https://www.smartastudio.com/stack/cms/wordpress) — Fully custom WordPress — no page builders, no bloat.
- [Headless WordPress](https://www.smartastudio.com/stack/cms/headless-wordpress) — Keep the CMS your team knows, replace the front end.
- [Contentful](https://www.smartastudio.com/stack/cms/contentful) — The enterprise incumbent — and where we sit on it.