Best free headless CMS for Next.js in 2026: five tiers compared
Comparing the best free headless CMS options for Next.js in 2026 — Sanity, Payload, Strapi, Contentful, and Storyblok free tier limits and trade-offs.
Tag
Next.js
Practical articles on the Next.js App Router — ISR, PPR, RSC, bundle optimisation, and shipping production-grade sites.
48 posts
7 min read
Sanity vs Strapi in 2026: an honest side-by-side comparison
Sanity vs Strapi 2026: GROQ content lake vs self-hosted SQL, editor UX, image pipelines, pricing, and lock-in trade-offs compared honestly.
Payload CMS vs Strapi in 2026: an honest head-to-head
Payload CMS vs Strapi compared on hosting, admin UX, API model, TypeScript config, migrations, and total cost for 2026 projects.
How I set up Sanity Studio with live preview in Next.js App Router using Presentation
Step-by-step guide to wiring Sanity Presentation plugin for live preview in Next.js App Router, with overlay clicks, GROQ live queries, and draft mode.
How I set up Sanity document-level permissions with role-based access control
Step-by-step guide to wiring Sanity CMS role-based access control with document-level permissions in a Next.js project. Covers custom roles, GROQ filters, and Studio UI.
How I migrated a large Next.js project from Tailwind CSS v3 to v4
A practical walkthrough of the Tailwind CSS v4 migration in Next.js: CSS-based config, dropped utilities, PostCSS changes, and rough edges I hit in production.
React 19 new hooks in Next.js App Router: what actually changed for me
How useFormStatus, useActionState, and use() from React 19 changed the way I build forms and async UI in Next.js App Router. Concrete before/after code.
Next.js + Sanity CMS for marketing teams: what editors actually get
Wondering if Next.js and Sanity CMS gives marketing teams real editorial control? Here is what the editor experience looks like in practice.
How to write a project brief that actually helps you hire a Next.js developer
Hiring a Next.js developer without a solid brief wastes time and money. Here is what a good agency brief contains and the mistakes to avoid first.
Sanity CMS + Next.js website cost in 2026: a straight breakdown
What does a Sanity CMS Next.js website cost to build in 2026? Real budget ranges by project type, plus hosting, retainer, and what drives cost up.
Next.js vs Astro for content sites and blogs: an honest comparison
Next.js vs Astro for content-heavy sites — rendering models, Sanity CMS integration, bundle size, ISR, and when to pick each for a real project.
How I use Framer Motion with Next.js App Router without layout shift
Step-by-step guide to AnimatePresence page transitions in Next.js App Router, cutting CLS to 0 and lazy-loading Framer Motion to save bundle size.
How I sync Sanity CMS to Algolia search in a Next.js app
Step-by-step: webhook-driven Sanity-to-Algolia sync, InstantSearch React UI, and handling stale index edge cases in Next.js. Practical and production-tested.
Next.js SEO: adding JSON-LD structured data with schema.org schemas
A practical guide to adding JSON-LD structured data to Next.js App Router pages using BlogPosting, BreadcrumbList, FAQPage, and Person schemas.
How I wire Sanity CMS multilingual content to Next.js with next-intl
Step-by-step guide to connecting Sanity document internationalisation to next-intl in the App Router, with schema design, GROQ patterns, and slug pitfalls.
How I build a custom Sanity document actions publishing workflow
Step-by-step guide to building custom Sanity document actions: approval gates, Slack notifications on publish, and scheduled releases via the Releases API.
How I write advanced GROQ queries with joins, coalesce, and array flattening in Sanity
Deep dive into advanced GROQ queries in Sanity: inline joins, coalesce, conditional projections, and array flattening with real payload sizes measured.
Next.js partial prerendering PPR in production: what actually works
An honest look at Next.js partial prerendering PPR in production — what it solves, where it breaks, and which page patterns benefit most.
How I use @next/bundle-analyzer to find and fix Next.js bundle size bloat
A step-by-step walkthrough of Next.js bundle size analysis and reduction: finding large imports, fixing vendor chunks, and trimming icon libraries.
How I rotate Sanity draft mode secrets at the edge without redeploying Next.js
Step-by-step: Sanity draft mode preview in Next.js App Router with Vercel Edge Config for zero-downtime secret rotation. No content leaks.
Payload CMS vs Sanity for Next.js in 2026: an honest comparison
Payload CMS vs Sanity for Next.js projects in 2026. Hosting, GROQ vs local API, TypeScript DX, pricing, and lock-in compared honestly.
How I cut Next.js bundle size by analysing and reducing chunk bloat
A practical walkthrough of Next.js bundle size analysis using @next/bundle-analyzer, with before/after numbers from a real project.
How I set up Sanity draft mode preview with Next.js App Router and Vercel Edge Config
Step-by-step: route handlers, cookie strategy, and Vercel Edge Config secret rotation for Sanity draft mode preview in Next.js. No leaks.
How I wire Mux video into a Next.js + Sanity CMS upload workflow
Step-by-step guide to Mux video in Next.js and Sanity CMS: plugin setup, direct uploads, signed playback URLs, and poster images for fast LCP.
Sanity vs WordPress headless CMS: when headless actually beats traditional
Sanity vs WordPress headless CMS compared on editor UX, performance, dev experience, and real migration numbers. Honest about where WordPress still wins.
How I set up core web vitals monitoring with Vercel Analytics and Next.js
A practical guide to wiring up Vercel Analytics and Speed Insights for real-user Core Web Vitals monitoring in Next.js, with a workflow for catching regressions fast.
How I build Sanity Portable Text custom components in Next.js
Learn how to build Sanity Portable Text custom components in Next.js — code blocks, callouts, embedded forms, and captioned images with full TypeScript types.
Signs your WordPress site needs a headless CMS rebuild
Slow pages, locked content, and plugin chaos are warning signs your WordPress site has hit its ceiling. Here's how to know when a headless rebuild makes sense.
Best headless CMS for Next.js in 2026: Sanity vs Contentful vs Payload vs Storyblok
Sanity vs Contentful vs Payload vs Storyblok for Next.js in 2026 — honest trade-offs on GROQ, App Router support, pricing, and editor UX, with a clear pick by team type.
How I set up Sanity TypeGen for fully typed GROQ queries in TypeScript
A step-by-step guide to Sanity TypeGen: CLI config, generating TypeScript types from GROQ queries, CI integration, and handling schema evolution gotchas.
Next.js App Router tutorial guide 2026: from Pages Router to production
A practical Next.js App Router tutorial guide for 2026. Covers layouts, route groups, Server Components, data fetching, and the metadata API.
Sanity CMS + Next.js App Router: a practical getting started guide
A step-by-step sanity cms nextjs tutorial for developers setting up schemas, GROQ queries, and Sanity Studio with the App Router for the first time.
How I wire Sanity webhooks to Next.js ISR revalidation with HMAC verification
Step-by-step guide to connecting Sanity webhooks to Next.js route handlers for on-demand ISR revalidation, with HMAC signing and error handling.
Sanity CMS vs Contentful for Next.js projects: an honest comparison
Sanity CMS or Contentful for your next Next.js build? Honest comparison — pricing, GROQ vs GraphQL, editor DX, lock-in, and which one wins where.
How I reduced Sanity webhook fanout by batching revalidation tags in a single route handler
A pattern for consolidating dozens of per-document Next.js revalidations into one tagged endpoint, cutting webhook noise and deploy times by 70%.
How I Eliminated Sanity Image Hot-Spot Reflows by Pre-Calculating Focal Crops
How I pre-calculate Sanity image hot-spot crops at build time to eliminate layout shift and guarantee stable LCP under 2.5s on editorial pages.
How I replaced Sanity's default slug generator with a custom validation hook to catch duplicate slugs before publish
A pattern for enforcing unique slugs across Sanity document types using a custom validation function and GROQ query, preventing duplicate URL conflicts at schema level.
How I Handle Sanity Content Versioning Without Breaking Client Pages
A production pattern for rolling schema changes in Sanity without throwing runtime errors or requiring a full site rebuild.
How I Handle Conditional GROQ Projections to Cut Query Payload by 60%
A pattern for projecting only the fields your Next.js components actually render, using GROQ coalesce and select operators to prune unused blocks.
How I Model Sanity References to Avoid N+1 Queries in Next.js RSC
A pattern for structuring Sanity references and GROQ projections that eliminates query waterfalls in server components, cutting fetch latency by 200–400 ms.
How I keep Sanity image pipelines under 50 kB using LQIP hashes and blur overlays
Cut LQIP overhead on Sanity + Next.js sites from 48 kB to under 5 kB. The production pattern, with the exact GROQ and Image component code.
How I Structure Sanity Schemas to Avoid Query Waterfalls in Next.js
Denormalising references and embedding common fields in Sanity schemas cuts server component render time by 40–60%. Here's the pattern I ship.
How I Ship Sub-200ms TTFB on Sanity-Powered Pages with PPR and Edge
Combining Next.js Partial Prerendering, edge runtime, and selective Sanity queries to hit sub-200ms TTFB on content-heavy pages without stale data.
How I Shaved 140 kB Off a Next.js Bundle by Lazy-Loading Sanity Portable Text
Portable Text blocks can bloat client bundles. Here's how I defer serializers with dynamic imports and RSC boundaries to keep marketing pages under 80 kB.
How I Handle Sanity Draft Mode Without Sacrificing Edge Performance
A production pattern for Sanity draft previews in Next.js that keeps published pages on the edge while editors see real-time changes.
How to Fix LCP on Image-Heavy Pages (Next.js Patterns That Work)
LCP is usually one big image. Here’s how to identify the true LCP element, reduce TTFB, ship the right image bytes, and consistently hit <2.5s on real devices.
Why Core Web Vitals Matter (and How I Improve Them)
Core Web Vitals affect rankings, conversions, and perceived quality. Here’s what each metric means, target thresholds, how to measure, and the fixes that move the needle.
Why I Use Next.js + Sanity for Content Sites
A practical breakdown of when Next.js + Sanity is the right stack, what it buys you for SEO and velocity, and the trade-offs to watch.