DatoCMS vs Storyblok
DatoCMS is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. Storyblok is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 8.
- DatoCMS Headless · Closed source · 16 of 28 built in
- Storyblok Headless · Closed source · 15 of 28 built in
Sources checked: DatoCMS on 29 Sept 2026, Storyblok on 29 Sept 2026. Plans and releases can change after those dates.
WAYF is an official Payload partner and top contributor. Every platform in the table is classified by the same published definitions, and each answer lists the vendor page it came from.
Feature comparison
Built inPaid tierPlugin or add-onLimitedNot available
| Platform |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||
| What it is | Hosted headless CMS run by DatoCMS. It delivers content over a GraphQL API, with a REST API for content management. | Hosted headless CMS with a Visual Editor where editors compose pages from developer-defined blocks. Run by Storyblok GmbH. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | DatoCMS SaaS, Free, Professional and Enterprise plans SaaS, continuously updated | Storyblok SaaS, Starter to Elite plans SaaS, continuously updated |
| Vendor | DatoCMS datocms.com | Storyblok GmbH storyblok.com |
| Licence | Closed source Proprietary | Closed source Proprietary |
| Hosting | No self-hosting Vendor cloud | No self-hosting Vendor cloud Spaces run in Storyblok's EU, US, Canada or Australia regions. |
| Built with | Hosted SaaS with GraphQL delivery and REST management APIs, TypeScript client | SaaS, JavaScript SDKs and CLI |
| Database | Managed by DatoCMS | Managed by Storyblok |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Free plan. Professional €149 per month billed annually, or €199 monthly. Enterprise on request. | Free to start Starter free. Growth $99, Growth Plus $349 per space per month. Premium and Elite on request. |
| Content modelling | ||
| Content model in code You define content types in files in your repository, review them like any other code and apply them from there. Imperative migration scripts alone count as limited. | Limited Migration scripts run by the DatoCMS CLI, auto-generated from environment diffs. 12 | Built in The CLI pulls and pushes JSON component schemas. Typed @storyblok/schema is in preview. 234 |
| Content model in the UI Admins can create and change content types and fields in the admin interface without writing code. | Built in 1 | Built in 1 |
| Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them. | Built in Block library used in modular content and Structured Text fields. 1 | Built in Nestable blocks inside stories. 1 |
| Localization Editors translate content per locale inside the CMS, by field or by entry, without a separate site for each language. | Built in Field-level locales, 5 included and up to 10 with paid add-ons. 1 | Built in Starter includes 2 locales. Growth adds locales at $20 each per month. 1 |
| Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service. | Built in Images API with imgix URL parameters. 3 | Built in Image Optimization Service on all plans. 1 |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Built in REST Content Management API reads records. Delivery is GraphQL. 111 | Built in Content Delivery API and Management API. 1 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Built in 1 | Paid tier GraphQL Content Delivery API on Premium and Elite. 1 |
| Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published. | Built in 1 | Built in 3 webhooks on Starter, 5 on Growth, 15 on Premium. 1 |
| Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no. | Not available | Not available |
| Editorial workflow | ||
| Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then. | Built in 1 | Built in |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Built in 1 | Paid tier Single story scheduling from Growth. Growth allows 2 scheduled stories, Premium 100. 1 |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Limited History kept 3 days on Free, 60 days on Professional. 1 | Limited Starter keeps 1 day of versions. Growth 30 days, Premium 180, Elite unlimited. 1 |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in 17 | Built in 1 |
| Visual editing Editors can click on the rendered page and edit content in place or in a side panel next to it. | Built in Click-to-edit overlays on the site in draft mode. 17 | Built in Visual Editor on all plans. 1 |
| Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage. | Paid tier Editorial workflows with stage permissions on Enterprise. 16 | Paid tier Custom workflows and stages on Premium and Elite. Lower plans get fixed default stages. 1 |
| Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release. | Limited Publishing a record can also publish its linked records. No standalone releases. 1 | Paid tier 20 releases on Premium, unlimited on Elite. 1 |
| Real-time co-editing Two or more editors can work on the same entry at once and see each other's changes live. | Not available Presence and live updates, but a record locks while one editor edits it. 4 | Not available Comments and content locking. No simultaneous editing of one story. 110 |
| Access and governance | ||
| Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set. | Built in Projects include Admin and Editor roles and can create additional roles. The Free plan is limited to 2 editor seats. 15 | Paid tier 10 custom roles on Premium, unlimited on Elite. 15 |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Not available Rules apply per model, creator, locale and workflow stage. Locale rules need Enterprise. 5 | Paid tier Field permissions come with custom roles on Premium and Elite. 15 |
| Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider. | Paid tier Enterprise, with SCIM provisioning. 1 | Paid tier Premium and Elite. 1 |
| Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log. | Paid tier Enterprise. 1 | Limited Activity log on all plans. Starter keeps 1 day, Growth 30 days, Elite unlimited. 1 |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Built in Separate projects per site. 3 on Free, extra projects €39 a month on Professional. 1 | Built in One account can own many spaces, each on its own plan. 6 |
| Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface. | Built in Plugin SDK for field editors, sidebars and custom pages. 1 | Built in Field plugins on all plans. Tool and space plugins on Premium and Elite. 17 |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Built in DatoCMS Marketplace. 19 | Built in Storyblok App Directory. 8 |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Not available | Not available |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Not available | Not available |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Plugin or add-on Official AI Translations plugin with your own OpenAI, Gemini, Claude or DeepL key. 89 | Built in AI content generation and translation on all plans, metered by AI credits. 1 |
| Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content. | Built in Remote MCP server at mcp.datocms.com. 10 | Built in Hosted server over the Management API. 9 |
DatoCMS sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. DatoCMS SaaS, Free, Professional and Enterprise plans.
- DatoCMS pricing
- DatoCMS docs: Write and test migration scripts
- DatoCMS docs: Images API
- DatoCMS docs: Record-level collaboration, presence and locking
- DatoCMS docs: Project collaborators, roles and permissions
- DatoCMS docs: Workflows
- DatoCMS docs: Visual Editing
- DatoCMS docs: Translating content with AI
- DatoCMS Marketplace: AI Translations plugin
- DatoCMS docs: MCP Server
- DatoCMS Content Management API: Record
Storyblok sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Storyblok SaaS, Starter to Elite plans.
- Storyblok pricing and plan comparison
- Storyblok CLI documentation
- Sneak peek: type-safe schemas with @storyblok/schema (July 2026)
- Storyblok CLI: components push
- Storyblok roles manual
- Storyblok spaces concept
- Storyblok plugins introduction
- Storyblok App Directory
- Storyblok MCP server documentation
- Storyblok tutorial: building real-time collaboration with Tiptap and Yjs
Considering more platforms? Compare DatoCMS and Storyblok with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
DatoCMS and Storyblok get a different status on 8 of the 28 features and the same status on 20. DatoCMS has 16 built in on its baseline edition, Storyblok has 15. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
Built in on DatoCMS, a different answer on Storyblok 3
- GraphQL API DatoCMS: Built in. Storyblok: Paid tier.
- Scheduled publishing DatoCMS: Built in. Storyblok: Paid tier.
- Custom roles DatoCMS: Built in. Storyblok: Paid tier.
Built in on Storyblok, a different answer on DatoCMS 2
- Content model in code DatoCMS: Limited. Storyblok: Built in.
- AI writing assistant DatoCMS: Plugin or add-on. Storyblok: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 3
- Content releases DatoCMS: Limited. Storyblok: Paid tier.
- Field-level permissions DatoCMS: Not available. Storyblok: Paid tier.
- Audit log DatoCMS: Paid tier. Storyblok: Limited.
More comparisons
Full write-ups with worked examples and costs: DatoCMS vs Payload and Storyblok vs Payload.
DatoCMS against other platforms
- Adobe Experience Manager vs DatoCMS
- Contentful vs DatoCMS
- Contentstack vs DatoCMS
- CoreMedia Content Cloud vs DatoCMS
- Craft CMS vs DatoCMS
- DatoCMS vs Decap CMS
- DatoCMS vs Directus
- DatoCMS vs Drupal
- DatoCMS vs EmDash
- DatoCMS vs FirstSpirit
- DatoCMS vs Framer
- DatoCMS vs Ghost
- DatoCMS vs HubSpot CMS
- DatoCMS vs Hygraph
- DatoCMS vs Instatic
- DatoCMS vs Joomla
- DatoCMS vs Keystone
- DatoCMS vs Kirby
- DatoCMS vs Liferay DXP
- DatoCMS vs Optimizely CMS
- DatoCMS vs Payload
- DatoCMS vs Prismic
- DatoCMS vs Progress Sitefinity
- DatoCMS vs Sanity
- DatoCMS vs Sitecore
- DatoCMS vs Squarespace
- DatoCMS vs Statamic
- DatoCMS vs Strapi
- DatoCMS vs TYPO3
- DatoCMS vs Umbraco
- DatoCMS vs Wagtail
- DatoCMS vs Webflow
- DatoCMS vs Wix
- DatoCMS vs WordPress
- DatoCMS vs Xperience by Kentico
Storyblok against other platforms
- Adobe Experience Manager vs Storyblok
- Contentful vs Storyblok
- Contentstack vs Storyblok
- CoreMedia Content Cloud vs Storyblok
- Craft CMS vs Storyblok
- Decap CMS vs Storyblok
- Directus vs Storyblok
- Drupal vs Storyblok
- EmDash vs Storyblok
- FirstSpirit vs Storyblok
- Framer vs Storyblok
- Ghost vs Storyblok
- HubSpot CMS vs Storyblok
- Hygraph vs Storyblok
- Instatic vs Storyblok
- Joomla vs Storyblok
- Keystone vs Storyblok
- Kirby vs Storyblok
- Liferay DXP vs Storyblok
- Optimizely CMS vs Storyblok
- Storyblok vs Payload
- Prismic vs Storyblok
- Progress Sitefinity vs Storyblok
- Sanity vs Storyblok
- Sitecore vs Storyblok
- Squarespace vs Storyblok
- Statamic vs Storyblok
- Storyblok vs Strapi
- Storyblok vs TYPO3
- Storyblok vs Umbraco
- Storyblok vs Wagtail
- Storyblok vs Webflow
- Storyblok vs Wix
- Storyblok vs WordPress
- Xperience by Kentico vs Storyblok
Open the CMS comparison tool to put up to six platforms in one table.
We're booking content platform
engagements for 2026.
Twenty-five minutes to walk through the work and decide if we're the right team for it. Scoping and a fixed price come after.