Strapi

Strapi runs on Node.js 20 or newer, with the project's package metadata allowing versions up to Node 26, and it needs npm, yarn or pnpm. A new project is scaffolded with npx create-strapi@latest my-project, which sets up authentication, permissions, file upload and the Content-Type Builder. SQLite is enough for local development, but PostgreSQL, MySQL or MariaDB is what the docs recommend for production.

SQLite, PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB are all supported, with the connection configured in the project's database config file. SQLite is the default for a quick local setup, while PostgreSQL and MySQL are the usual choices for production because of concurrent writes and backups.

Yes. A REST API is generated for every content type, with query parameters for filtering, pagination and population of relations. GraphQL is available through the GraphQL plugin, which exposes queries and mutations for the same content types. API tokens control machine access, and the users and permissions plugin handles end-user accounts with JWT authentication.

The Community edition is MIT licensed and free forever, with no limits on content types, entries, API calls, locales, roles or components. It includes REST and GraphQL APIs, role-based access control, the media library, internationalization, draft and publish, webhooks, API tokens, custom fields and the plugin marketplace. Strapi AI, Live Preview, Releases and Content History need the Growth plan, while SSO, Review Workflows and Audit Logs are Enterprise features.

The Strapi CLI ships export, import and transfer commands. Export writes a compressed archive containing schemas, configuration, entities, links and uploaded assets, import restores it into another project, and transfer pushes data directly from one running instance to another, for example from local development to a production server.