Storyblok vs Umbraco
Storyblok 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 14.
- Storyblok Headless · Closed source · 15 of 28 built in
- Umbraco Traditional · Open source · 18 of 28 built in
Sources checked: Storyblok 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 with a Visual Editor where editors compose pages from developer-defined blocks. Run by Storyblok GmbH. | 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. | Storyblok SaaS, Starter to Elite 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 | Storyblok GmbH storyblok.com | Umbraco A/S umbraco.com |
| Licence | Closed source Proprietary | Open source MIT |
| Hosting | No self-hosting Vendor cloud Spaces run in Storyblok's EU, US, Canada or Australia regions. | Self-hosting Vendor cloud Forms and Deploy are paid add-ons when self-hosted. Umbraco Cloud includes both. |
| Built with | SaaS, JavaScript SDKs and CLI | C#, ASP.NET Core on .NET 10, TypeScript backoffice |
| Database | Managed by Storyblok | SQL Server, SQLite |
| Pricing Public list prices only. Hosting and implementation are extra everywhere. | Free to start Starter free. Growth $99, Growth Plus $349 per space per month. Premium and Elite 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. | Built in The CLI pulls and pushes JSON component schemas. Typed @storyblok/schema is in preview. 234 | 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 Nestable blocks inside stories. 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 Starter includes 2 locales. Growth adds locales at $20 each per month. 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 Image Optimization Service on all plans. 1 | 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. | Built in Content Delivery API and Management API. 1 | Built in Content Delivery API. 7 |
| GraphQL API The vendor or an official module provides a GraphQL API for content. | Paid tier GraphQL Content Delivery API on Premium and Elite. 1 | 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 3 webhooks on Starter, 5 on Growth, 15 on Premium. 1 | 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 | Built in |
| Scheduled publishing An editor can set a future date and time for content to publish or unpublish. | Paid tier Single story scheduling from Growth. Growth allows 2 scheduled stories, Premium 100. 1 | Built in 10 |
| Version history The CMS keeps earlier versions of an entry, and editors can compare or restore them. | Limited Starter keeps 1 day of versions. Growth 30 days, Premium 180, Elite unlimited. 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 Visual Editor on all plans. 1 | 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 and stages on Premium and Elite. Lower plans get fixed default stages. 1 | 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 20 releases on Premium, unlimited on Elite. 1 | 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 Comments and content locking. No simultaneous editing of one story. 110 | Not available |
| Access and governance | ||
| Custom roles Admins define their own roles with granular permissions instead of picking from a fixed set. | Paid tier 10 custom roles on Premium, unlimited on Elite. 15 | Built in User groups with granular permissions. |
| Field-level permissions Admins can restrict access to single fields, on top of content types and entries. | Paid tier Field permissions come with custom roles on Premium and Elite. 15 | 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 Premium and Elite. 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. | Limited Activity log on all plans. Starter keeps 1 day, Growth 30 days, Elite unlimited. 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. | Built in One account can own many spaces, each on its own plan. 6 | 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 Field plugins on all plans. Tool and space plugins on Premium and Elite. 17 | Built in Backoffice extensions. |
| Plugin marketplace The vendor runs an official directory or marketplace of installable extensions. | Built in Storyblok App Directory. 8 | 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 content generation and translation on all plans, metered by AI credits. 1 | 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 Hosted server over the Management API. 9 | Built in Umbraco CMS Developer MCP server. 19 |
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
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 Storyblok and Umbraco with the rest of your shortlist in the CMS comparison tool.
Where they differ
Storyblok and Umbraco get a different status on 14 of the 28 features and the same status on 14. Storyblok has 15 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
- Storyblok is closed source (Proprietary). Umbraco is open source (MIT).
- Self-hosting
- Storyblok cannot be self-hosted. Umbraco can be self-hosted.
Built in on Storyblok, a different answer on Umbraco 3
- Content model in code Storyblok: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Visual editing Storyblok: Built in. Umbraco: Not available.
- AI writing assistant Storyblok: Built in. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
Built in on Umbraco, a different answer on Storyblok 6
- Renders the website Storyblok: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
- Scheduled publishing Storyblok: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Version history Storyblok: Limited. Umbraco: Built in.
- Custom roles Storyblok: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Single sign-on Storyblok: Paid tier. Umbraco: Built in.
- Site member accounts Storyblok: Not available. Umbraco: Built in.
Built in on neither, with different answers 5
- GraphQL API Storyblok: Paid tier. Umbraco: Not available.
- Approval workflows Storyblok: Paid tier. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Content releases Storyblok: Paid tier. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
- Field-level permissions Storyblok: Paid tier. Umbraco: Limited.
- Form builder Storyblok: Not available. Umbraco: Plugin or add-on.
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