Hygraph vs Umbraco
Hygraph is a closed-source headless CMS that runs on the vendor's cloud. Umbraco is an open-source traditional CMS that you can host yourself or run on the vendor's cloud. The table below sets them side by side on 28 features. They get a different status on 17.
- Hygraph Headless · Closed source · 13 of 28 built in
- Umbraco Traditional · Open source · 18 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Hygraph on 29 Sept 2026, Umbraco 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 Hygraph, formerly GraphCMS. Serves content over a GraphQL API and can pull in data from remote REST and GraphQL sources. | Open-source .NET CMS that renders sites with Razor or serves content headless. Self-hosted or run on Umbraco Cloud. |
| Edition compared The product and release each column describes. | Hygraph SaaS, Hobby, Growth and Enterprise plans SaaS, continuously updated | Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release. Version 17.7.0, released 17 Sept 2026 |
| Vendor | Hygraph (formerly GraphCMS) hygraph.com | Umbraco A/S umbraco.com |
| Licence | Closed source Proprietary | Open source MIT |
| Hosting | No self-hosting Vendor cloud Shared regions on every plan. Dedicated clusters on Enterprise. | Self-hosting Vendor cloud Forms and Deploy are paid add-ons when self-hosted. Umbraco Cloud includes both. |
| Built with | Hosted SaaS with a GraphQL Content API | C#, ASP.NET Core on .NET 10, TypeScript backoffice |
| Database | Managed by Hygraph | SQL Server, SQLite |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Hobby free. Growth from $199 per month. Enterprise on request. | Free to start Free to self-host. Umbraco Cloud Starter €45, Standard €280, Professional €730 per month. Enterprise 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 Management SDK applies schema changes from code. No declarative schema files. 2 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Deploy saves document types as .uda files in Git. Paid on-premises, included on Umbraco Cloud. 45 |
| 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 Document types are built in the backoffice. |
| Reusable blocks Editors compose pages from reusable, typed components or blocks, and can reorder them. | Built in Components in modular fields: 10 on Hobby, 20 on Growth. 1 | Built in Block List and Block Grid editors. 6 |
| 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: 2 on Hobby, 3 on Growth, up to 80 on Enterprise. 1 | Built in Culture variants per property. |
| Image transformations The CMS resizes, crops or converts images on request, through URL parameters or generated sizes, with no external service. | Built in Resize, crop and format conversion by URL or GraphQL argument. 4 | Built in ImageSharp crops and resizes images from query string parameters. 9 |
| APIs and delivery | ||
| REST API A documented REST or JSON HTTP API returns content. | Not available Content API is GraphQL only. 3 | Built in Content Delivery API. 7 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Built in 3 | Not available No official GraphQL. Community package Nikcio.UHeadless adds one. 20 |
| Webhooks The CMS can call an external URL when content is created, changed or published. | Built in 5 on Hobby, 10 on Growth. 15 | Built in 8 |
| Renders the website The CMS itself renders and serves the public pages through themes or templates. Headless-only products answer no. | Not available | Built in Razor templates. |
| Editorial workflow | ||
| Drafts Editors save changes as a draft and publish them later. The live version stays untouched until then. | Built in DRAFT and PUBLISHED stages on every plan. 1 | Built in |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Paid tier Scheduled publishing on Enterprise. 17 | Built in 10 |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Paid tier 14 days on Growth, up to 365 on Enterprise. None on Hobby. 1 | Built in Rollback compares and restores earlier versions. 11 |
| Preview Editors can see unpublished content rendered as it will appear on the site before publishing. | Built in 1 | Built in |
| 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 via the Hygraph Preview SDK opens the field in Studio. 6 | Not available |
| Approval workflows Content moves through review stages you configure, such as draft, review and approved, with permissions per stage. | Paid tier Custom Workflows, up to 10, on Enterprise. 113 | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Workflow add-on. Its free version is capped at five approval groups. Full use is paid. 1221 |
| Content releases Editors group changes across several entries and publish them together as one release. | Paid tier Releases on Enterprise. 7 | Plugin or add-on Release Sets in a licensed Umbraco Workflow. 13 |
| 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 Collaborator View shows who else is in an entry. 9 | Not available |
| Access and governance | ||
| Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set. | Paid tier Up to 30 custom roles on Enterprise. Hobby has 2 standard roles, Growth 4. 1 | Built in User groups with granular permissions. |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Not available Permissions scope by model, locale, stage, environment and condition. 8 | Limited Per-property read and write limits per user group, enforced in the UI only. 14 |
| Single sign-on Editors can sign in through SAML or OpenID Connect against a company identity provider. | Paid tier Enterprise. 1 | Built in OpenID Connect providers such as Entra ID, configured in code. 15 |
| Audit log The CMS logs who changed what and when across the whole installation, and admins can review the log. | Paid tier Enterprise, 90-day retention. 1 | Limited Audit trail per item plus a log viewer. No installation-wide audit screen in core. 16 |
| Platform and extensibility | ||
| Multiple sites One installation or account can manage several separate websites or brands with shared users. | Paid tier Multitenancy on Enterprise. 1 | Built in Several root nodes, each with its own domains. |
| Extensible admin UI Developers can add their own components, views or fields to the editing interface. | Built in App Framework for custom fields, sidebars and pages. 12 | Built in Backoffice extensions. |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Built in Hygraph Marketplace. 12 | Built in Umbraco Marketplace. |
| Form builder Editors can build and publish forms and collect submissions without code. | Not available | Plugin or add-on Umbraco Forms, paid licence. Included on Umbraco Cloud. 217 |
| Site member accounts The platform handles sign-up and login for public site users or members, separate from editors. | Not available | Built in Members, separate from backoffice users. |
| AI writing assistant A first-party AI feature in the editing interface generates, rewrites or translates content. | Built in AI Assist on every plan, with a monthly AI token allowance. 110 | Plugin or add-on Free Umbraco.AI packages add prompts and an editor copilot. 18 |
| Official MCP server The vendor publishes a Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can read or write content. | Built in Global endpoint at mcp.hygraph.com and per-project endpoints. Also a Claude connector. 111415 | Built in Umbraco CMS Developer MCP server. 19 |
Hygraph sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Hygraph SaaS, Hobby, Growth and Enterprise plans.
- Hygraph pricing
- Hygraph docs: Management SDK overview
- Hygraph docs: API reference overview
- Hygraph docs: Asset transformations
- Hygraph docs: Webhooks
- Hygraph docs: Click to Edit setup
- Hygraph docs: Content releases
- Hygraph docs: Content permissions
- Hygraph blog: Introducing Collaborator View
- Hygraph blog: AI Assist is now generally available
- Hygraph docs: MCP server
- Hygraph Marketplace: Apps
- Hygraph docs: Content workflows
- Hygraph docs: Set up the MCP server
- Hygraph blog: MCP Connector for Claude (September 2026)
Umbraco sources
Checked 29 Sept 2026. Umbraco CMS 17 LTS, open source. Umbraco 18.2.0 is the latest short-term release..
- Umbraco releases
- Umbraco pricing
- Umbraco 18 release
- Umbraco Deploy licensing
- Umbraco Cloud: UDA files
- Umbraco docs: Block Grid
- Umbraco docs: Content Delivery API
- Umbraco docs: Webhooks
- Umbraco docs: Image Cropper
- Umbraco docs: Scheduled Publishing
- Umbraco docs: Rollback to a previous version
- Umbraco Workflow
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Release Sets
- Umbraco docs: Property Level UI Permissions
- Umbraco docs: External Login Providers
- Umbraco docs: Log Viewer
- Umbraco Forms licensing
- Umbraco.AI on GitHub
- Umbraco MCP on GitHub
- Nikcio.UHeadless on Umbraco Marketplace
- Umbraco Workflow docs: Licensing
Considering more platforms? Compare Hygraph and Umbraco with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Hygraph and Umbraco get a different status on 17 of the 28 features and the same status on 11. Hygraph has 13 built in on its baseline edition, Umbraco has 18. Two matching statuses can still name different paid tiers or limits, so read the notes in the table before treating a row as equal.
- Licence
- Hygraph is closed source (Proprietary). Umbraco is open source (MIT).
- Self-hosting
- Hygraph cannot be self-hosted. Umbraco can be self-hosted.
Built in on Hygraph, a different answer on Umbraco 3
- GraphQL API Hygraph: Built in. Umbraco: Not available.
- Visual editing Hygraph: Built in. Umbraco: Not available.
- AI writing assistant Hygraph: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
Built in on Umbraco, a different answer on Hygraph 8
- REST API Hygraph: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Renders the website Hygraph: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Scheduled publishing Hygraph: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Version history Hygraph: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Custom roles Hygraph: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Single sign-on Hygraph: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Multiple sites Hygraph: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Site member accounts Hygraph: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 6
- Content model in code Hygraph: Limited. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Approval workflows Hygraph: Paid tier. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Content releases Hygraph: Paid tier. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Field-level permissions Hygraph: Not available. Umbraco: Limited.
- Audit log Hygraph: Paid tier. Umbraco: Limited.
- Form builder Hygraph: Not available. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
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