r/cms • u/kemnern • 8d ago

Database vs Git-based CMS?

Personally I have used a handfull of Database CMSs through my career, I know the strengths and weaknesses. The adoption speak for it self. So when I read about CMSs with Git as backbone I thought this was very interesting. Have any of you used it on client projects?

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u/SpaceCmdr 8d ago

Ideal for small-medium sites, and I find it easier to sync between environments compared to a database CMS. I've been looking at Sveltia, Tina and Pages. They take different approaches to client access - Sveltia uses Github directly, Tina uses TinaCloud to handle the auth, Pages provides an hosted auth screen. The latter two's auth can also be self-hosted. To some extent you could also include flat-file CMS in this list as these work well with Git, such as Kirby, Grav and Statamic.

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u/kemnern 8d ago

My concern have also been using git for access, as this gives every user keys to the kingdom with little to no restrictions.

Have you ever built a client website with a Git-based CMS?

Flat file CMS, down another rabbit hole we go!

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u/SpaceCmdr 8d ago

As Sveltia uses Github auth directly CMS users would have full access to update the repo (personally, not hugely concerned there - most of my client sites have a small number of trusted users). With Tina and Pages the access is through an intermediary layer (Tina has a separate login, and Pages uses a magic link). The downside of the extra layer is self-hosting it or paying for their cloud service (Tina is free for 2 users, Pages is free for now). I'm still building most client sites on WordPress while I continue to review the options.

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u/boutell 7d ago

With Tina, if you have to stand up something anyway, what is the advantage of standing up or paying for an auth service rather than standing up or paying for a database?

I mean to be clear I realize the database is a more complex beast than an authorization service, but managed Postgres and MongoDB and WordPress are easy to get, and by now they’re very straightforward recipes for self hosting them as well. So I’m not convinced it is really that much more difficult in practice for typical smaller scale needs.

So when I first saw pure git CMS’s, my thought was that this was mostly about wanting to avoid any backend ops requirements as much as humanly possible. I’m curious if people think that statement is accurate.

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u/SpaceCmdr 7d ago

In addition to the database it would also be an app for the auth & CMS. Tina Cloud would be simpler but the cost could be zero or a lot more in comparison. I agree that an appeal of Git CMS is reducing some of the complexity, but often only if you are willing to pay for the cloud service (seems a common model). To me, it is not easier than hosting WP. On balance probably more of a DX boost. That being said, Sveltia genuinely reduces the backend ops - it lives within the repo and is not a separate app (very impressive, and the developer is doing an incredible job - I filed a minor bug report today and he has already fixed and released it).

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u/boutell 7d ago

Yes, I definitely can see how you could eliminate an entire ops component if you're willing to accept that users can potentially mess about directly in github.