Contentstack vs Kiln
Contentstack
contentstack.com
Kiln
kilncms.comSide by side
| Figure | Contentstack | Kiln |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $29/mo | $4.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 9 |
| Spec score · Cms No Code | 9.4 (#1) | 8.9 (#6) |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Integrations | The marketplace covers analytics, commerce, DAM, marketing, PIM, personalization, search, translation and video, with examples including Algolia, Cloudinary, BigCommerce, Shopify, Zapier and Smartling. | Kiln works with GitHub repositories and hosts that redeploy on push, including Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, Vercel, and GitHub Pages. |
| Paid from | 299 | 4.99 |
| System requirements | The web application requires a supported recent browser with JavaScript, cookies, HTTPS and at least 5 Mbps recommended bandwidth; supported examples include Chrome 118+ on macOS and Chrome 121+ on Windows 10/11. | Kiln Cloud setup requires a GitHub repository of plain HTML and Node.js 20 or newer, with a host that redeploys on pushes. |
| What it does | Contentstack is a cloud-native, API-first headless content management platform for delivering structured content to websites, mobile applications and other channels. | Kiln lets invited users edit marked content directly on static webpages, then saves each publication as a Git commit. |
Plans
Contentstack
- FreeFree
- Growth$299 a month
- Build$29 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
Kiln
- Self-hostedFree
- Kiln Cloud$4.99 a month
- Fully managed$14.99 a month
- Open sourceFree
- Self-hostedFree
- Kiln Cloud$4.99 a month
- Fully managed$14.99 a month
- Concierge setup$399, paid once
- Concierge setup & tagging$399, paid once
In their own words
Contentstack
Contentstack has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.
Kiln
Kiln is an open-source, click-to-edit CMS for static sites. Invited editors change content directly on a site, with edits saved as Git commits in a repository owned by the site owner. Supported content includes text, images, documents, blocks, galleries, events, and calendar items. The publishing workflow includes drafts, scheduled publishing, named versions, history, and restoration. Owners sign in with GitHub, while invited editors and members can use Google sign-in and be scoped to particular pages or sections. Reviewer seats can comment only; suggest mode lets owners approve or decline proposed changes field by field. Kiln works with GitHub repositories and hosts that redeploy on push, including Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, Vercel, and GitHub Pages. A REST API and kiln-mcp support scoped, sanitized edits by scripts and agents; optional AI assistance uses an API key supplied by the user. Site content remains plain HTML in the customer's repository, even after leaving Kiln. Self-hosted costs nothing; Kiln Cloud is $4.99 a month, and Fully managed is $14.99 a month.