deco CMS vs Kiln
deco CMS
decocms.com
Kiln
kilncms.comSide by side
| Figure | deco CMS | Kiln |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $20/mo | $4.99/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 7 | 9 |
| Spec score · Git-Based CMS | 9.2 (#2) | 8.9 (#4) |
| Documentation | Developer docs cover storefront migration, Blocks CMS editing, Studio apps, MCP tools, deployment and coding-agent Markdown indexes. | The documentation covers installation, hosting modes, editor tools, source mode, access management, configuration, troubleshooting and API schemas. |
| Integrations | Studio lists GitHub, VTEX, Google Analytics, Search Console, Shopify, Sentry, Figma, Linear, PostgreSQL, HubSpot, Notion and Stripe connections. | Kiln works with GitHub repositories and hosts that redeploy on push, including Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, Vercel, and GitHub Pages. |
| License | The Studio repository states a Sustainable Use License that permits internal and client-project self-hosting but requires a commercial license for SaaS or revenue-generating production systems. | The editor, worker and setup tooling are publicly available under the GNU AGPL-3.0 license. |
| Public API | The connection proxy accepts POST MCP requests at an organization-scoped endpoint using OAuth bearer tokens or API keys. | The REST API exposes page listing, editable-field retrieval and sanitized edit commits through GET /api/v1/pages, GET /api/v1/fields and PATCH /api/v1/edits. |
| Publishing workflow | Changes are represented as changesets with shareable previews, content and code stay in the repository, and the page says rollback is one click. | The editor supports previews, drafts, scheduled publication, per-page history and undo commits. |
| Security controls | Studio advertises SSO, role-based permissions, organization isolation, tool-scoped API keys, audit logs and cost controls. | The setup guide says the GitHub App can access only repositories selected during installation, and invited Google-email addresses are the only ones allowed to sign in as editors or members. |
| Support | The Enterprise plan includes SLA support and direct access to engineering, onboarding, training, and dedicated maintenance engineers. | Self-hosted plans include community support on GitHub, while Fully managed includes priority support. |
| What it does | deco operates ecommerce sites and apps using senior engineers, AI agents and proprietary software, charging for generated results. | Kiln lets invited users edit marked content directly on static webpages, then saves each publication as a Git commit. |
Plans
deco CMS
- Open source coreFree
- Studio$20 a month
- Starter$50 a month
- Business$500 a month
- Enterprise$10,000 a month
- CustomPriced on request
- Outcome operationPriced 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
deco CMS
deco CMS is an open-source, self-hostable content management system for commerce teams and enterprise operations managing storefronts across platforms and sites. It pairs a visual editor for business teams with an AI agent for other changes, operating on the customer's stack. Non-technical staff can edit, create, and publish without tickets, while design-system components and tokens can remain locked. It works with Shopify, VTEX, Wake, VNDA, and headless or custom stacks. Teams can make audience variants by country, state, or UTM and run A/B tests at the edge; results can be exported to Google Analytics 4. Changes are organized as changesets with shareable previews, while content and code stay in the repository, and the page describes rollback as one click. The agent follows system prompts, design-system references, and repository skills; TypeScript typing can block invalid data-layer commits. The open-source core is free. Studio costs $20 a month, billed at $20 /user/month, while Enterprise costs $10,000 a month. The Outcome operation plan has no listed price.
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.