Why Strapi Might Be the Best Alternative to WordPress for Agencies

Hello, wonderful people! Today, we’re diving into why Strapi might just be the best alternative to WordPress for agencies. If you’re familiar with WordPress and its strengths but are seeking an efficient, flexible, and developer-friendly headless CMS for modern web development, you might find that Strapi checks all the boxes.

You can find the video presentation here.

I recently discussed this topic with Bart, a seasoned sales engineer at Strapi, and Rodrigo from Tedex, a digital solutions agency. Our conversation covered the main differences between WordPress and Strapi, recommended migration strategies, and how AI can play a crucial role in simplifying the migration process.

Here are the key points that we covered

1. WordPress Landscape: Bart explains the current state of WordPress, highlighting its large user base and community support but also noting the complexity introduced by numerous plugins and varied development styles. This can lead to confusion and challenges when managing projects.
2. Custom Development vs. Page Builders: The conversation contrasts custom WordPress development, often using tools like Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) for tailored solutions, with simpler page builders like Elementor, which can lead to mixed presentation and data layers.
3. Benefits of Headless CMS: We both emphasize the advantages of using Strapi's headless architecture, which allows developers to decouple data management from presentation layers. This separation makes it easier to manage content across multiple platforms (web, mobile, etc.) and simplifies the update and migration processes.
4. Wordpress Migration Process: I shared insights on migrating from WordPress to Strapi, discussing challenges such as dealing with mixed HTML and data formats in WordPress. I demonstrated using a script to extract and convert WordPress content to a format usable in Strapi, highlighting the need for careful consideration of data structure.
5. Automation and Tools: Rodrigo joins the discussion to introduce automation tools like n8n, which can streamline the migration process by crawling websites and managing data more efficiently. This emphasizes the potential for automation in handling complex migrations.
6. Final Thoughts: Both Bart and Rodrigo emphasize the importance of choosing the right tool for each project based on specific needs and the trade-offs involved. They advocate for Strapi as a flexible and powerful option, especially for agencies looking to deliver custom solutions quickly and efficiently.

The WordPress Landscape and Its Challenges

WordPress has been a dominant player in the CMS world for years, known for its community, hosting options, and plugin library. However, as it grows more complex, especially with page builders like Elementor and Gutenberg, WordPress can become challenging to manage. WordPress ties data and presentation tightly together, making migration, management, and scalability difficult as project complexity increases.

At its core, WordPress was built as a traditional CMS with a monolithic structure, limiting flexibility for multi-channel projects that require a truly “content-first” approach. For agencies managing custom projects that need efficient scalability, WordPress’s limitations can become apparent, especially when clients need to publish content across websites, mobile apps, and other digital platforms.

Why Strapi? Headless Architecture and Flexibility

Strapi stands out as a headless CMS, decoupling backend content management from the frontend. This approach offers freedom for agencies to develop across multiple channels and tailor the user experience with modern frameworks like Next.js, Astro, and Remix. By separating content from presentation, agencies can structure data efficiently and avoid embedding HTML within content, resulting in easier migrations, updates, and future-proof projects.

For agencies managing multiple projects, Strapi’s headless structure also simplifies updates. You can maintain the same backend while redesigning the frontend, enhancing maintainability. Additionally, Strapi offers full flexibility in deployment options, from Strapi Cloud to any infrastructure like AWS, Google Cloud, or DigitalOcean.

Migrating from WordPress to Strapi: Recommended Strategies and Approaches

WordPress migration to Strapi might seem complex, but with the right strategies, you can ensure a smooth transition. We’ll cover approaches from using WordPress’s API for straightforward projects to more advanced techniques involving AI to structure and clean complex data.

1. Understanding the Data Structure in WordPress

Before starting your migration, analyze how your content is structured in WordPress. For example:

• Posts: Blog posts, articles, news updates, etc.
• Pages: Static pages, like About and Contact.
• Custom Post Types: Structured content often created with plugins like ACF.
• Media Files: Images, videos, and other media assets used within posts or pages.

If page builders like Gutenberg, Elementor, or WP Bakery are used, you’ll likely find content is mixed with HTML, complicating the migration.

2. Basic Wordpress Migration Strategy: Using WordPress’s REST API

If your WordPress site is relatively simple, one of the most straightforward ways to transfer data is using the WordPress REST API. WordPress provides JSON endpoints that allow you to pull data directly, including posts, pages, and media.

Steps for API-Based Migration: 1. Fetch Data from WordPress: Use the WordPress REST API to retrieve JSON data from your site. 2. Clean and Transform the Data: Remove embedded HTML, shortcodes, and builder-specific formatting. For example: - Convert HTML to Markdown: Use libraries like turndown to convert HTML into markdown. - Extract Images: Identify and download media assets to upload into Strapi’s media library. - Reformat Structure: Convert custom fields into Strapi’s component structure for better organization. 3. Map Data to Strapi Collections: Format the cleaned data to match your Strapi collections. Then, use Strapi’s API to create entries for each content item.

This approach is best suited for straightforward WordPress sites with minimal custom fields or page builder use.

3. Leveraging AI for Complex Migrations

For more complex sites with extensive customization, Rodrigo introduced an advanced approach using automation and AI to streamline migration. This method can drastically simplify migration by automating data scraping, cleaning, and structuring for Strapi.

Using n8n and LLMs for Automated Content Structuring

With n8n (an open-source automation tool) and Large Language Models (LLMs), you can set up a fully automated workflow to migrate data. Here’s how it works:

• Set Up a Web Scraper: Use a scraper to crawl your WordPress site and retrieve content. This bypasses WordPress’s API, directly scraping the site for visible content.
• Structure Data Using AI: Feed the scraped content into an LLM to reformat and clean it. The AI model can:
  • Convert HTML to Markdown or JSON.
  • Extract and categorize images, text, and links.
  • Separate data from the presentation layer by structuring content sections based on AI-driven parsing.
• Import into Strapi via API: Once the AI organizes the data, n8n sends this content to Strapi’s API. This step creates the relevant content types in Strapi (e.g., pages, posts, media) with the appropriate field structure.

Using AI for data structuring offers flexibility and speed, especially for larger, more complex migrations where multiple content formats are in use.

4. Hybrid Approach: Manual Extraction and LLM-Assisted Formatting

For medium-sized sites where only certain sections are complex, consider a hybrid approach. This method combines manual extraction for key sections with AI-assisted automation for the rest, giving you full control over essential content.

Steps in a Hybrid Approach:

• Manually Extract Data for Critical Pages: If only specific parts (like blogs or portfolios) need restructuring, extract and reformat these manually.
• Use AI for Format Conversion: Upload selected content sections to an LLM for conversion, such as HTML to Markdown.
• Use Plugins like WP All Export: WordPress plugins like WP All Export allow you to export content in CSV or XML, which can be processed further.

Redirect Management and SEO Considerations

When migrating, especially for SEO-driven WordPress sites, maintaining URL structures is essential to avoid disrupting rankings.

• Automate Redirect Mapping: Use tools like Screaming Frog to generate a full sitemap and automate 301 redirects in Strapi or on your server.
• Monitor SEO Performance: Use Google Analytics and Search Console to track traffic and address any SEO issues after migration. Be sure to update your XML sitemaps and resubmit them to Google.

Considerations for Agencies: Templates and Hosting Flexibility

Strapi’s template system allows agencies to create reusable configurations for common project types, like blogs, e-commerce sites, or portfolios. This means you can quickly spin up new projects with predefined content types and settings, tailored to the needs of different clients.

Strapi’s flexibility with deployment options, whether on Strapi Cloud, AWS, or DigitalOcean, also enables agencies to offer customized hosting solutions for each project. This freedom to customize hosting is a unique advantage over WordPress, where hosting options are more limited and less flexible.

Key Benefits: Flexibility, Performance, and Maintainability

Strapi provides significant advantages for custom projects, including:

• Headless Architecture: Decouple frontend and backend, making it easier to manage content across multiple channels.
• Performance Boost: Modern frameworks like Next.js and Astro enhance performance and allow Strapi’s content API to power fast, responsive frontends.
• Customizable Editor Experience: Content editors enjoy a streamlined experience, with draft and publish features that separate editing from live content.
• Plugin Control: Strapi Plugins are developer-installed, preventing “plugin bloat” and ensuring projects stay streamlined and stable.

Final Thoughts

WordPress and Strapi each have their place in the CMS ecosystem. WordPress is often ideal for simpler projects with visual builders, while Strapi shines for custom projects requiring flexibility, scalability, and multi-channel publishing. By adopting Strapi, agencies can build digital experiences beyond traditional websites and create scalable, future-proof solutions.

If you’re ready to explore Strapi as a powerful alternative to WordPress, give it a try and see how it could transform your agency’s workflow. Happy building!