Frequently Asked Questions

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General

What is Strapi?

Strapi is an open-source, Node.js based, Headless CMS that saves developers a lot of development time while giving them the freedom to use their favorite tools and frameworks.

Strapi also enables content editors to streamline content delivery (text, images, video, etc) across any devices.

What is a Headless CMS?

A headless CMS is a back-end only content management system (CMS) built from the ground up as a content repository that makes content accessible via an API for display on any device.

Headless CMS are also particularly suitable for websites designed using the Jamstack model where JavaScript, APIs, and Markup work together to make web development easier and user experiences better.

What is an API?

API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface, which is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. In case you want to connect a React application with Strapi, we say that React is the client and Strapi the system. Indeed, React will communicate to Strapi, by making HTTP requests. Strapi will then give a response back to your client.

If your Strapi application contains restaurants and you want to list them in your React application, all you need to do is to make an HTTP request to Strapi which will take care to give you a response containing your restaurants.

The API Endpoints documentation will give you all the keys in hand to interact with your Strapi API.

What are the most popular Strapi use cases?

Traditional use cases include static websites, mobile apps, e-commerce, editorial and corporate websites. However, you can use Strapi to build any type of content-oriented applications including delivery to portable IoT devices or internal tools.

How do I start a Strapi project on my computer?

Dive in your terminal and run yarn create strapi-app my-project --quickstart or npx create-strapi-app my-project --quickstart using npx. Follow our documentation for more information.

Can I try Strapi without installing it?

*Yes**, you can get access to a hosted Strapi project containing existing content types and data for you to play with by requesting a demo.

Fill the form, we will take care of everything.

How do I deploy my Strapi project?

Strapi is self-hosted. It's up to you to decide where to deploy and host your Strapi project. We have a list of deployment guides for Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, DigitalOcean, Google App Engine and Heroku. You can also use our 1-click deploy buttons and Docker installation.

Can I create or update content types in production?

No. Due to how Node.js works, in order for changes to take effect, that would require Node to restart the server. This could potentially cause downtime of your production service and likewise these changes should be tracked in some kind of source control.

At this time and in the future there is no plan to allow model creating or updating while in a production environment, and there is currently no plans to move model settings into the database. There is no known nor recommended workarounds for this.

What's the definition of a project?

A project is a Strapi instance sharing the same Content Types structure and hosted on localhost or under the same domain. If a Strapi project is deployed in several environments or scaled on several instances on localhost or under the same domain, it is considered as only one project.

Can I be informed of new features to come?

Yes! We are using Product Board for our official Roadmap and feature requests. Feel free to browse them.

You can also subscribe to our Product updated newsletter.

How long does it take to learn Strapi?

It usually takes developers less than 5 minutes to get up and running with Strapi. You can easily follow our Quick start to get started.

As a developer, it will take a few hours to get familiar with the source code, admin panel, and more advanced concepts to customize or integrate Strapi with other tools.

As a content editor you are using an admin panel which has a simple interface, so you can easily get used to it in less than an hour.

You're not alone though, Strapi has an engaged and welcoming community that writes tutorials and helps each other out. Enroll in the academy and learn the fundamentals of Strapi in 3h.

Is there a documentation for developers?
Is there a documentation for content editors?

Yes! You can find the User guide here.

Do you have a list of tutorials?

Yes! You can browse official and community tutorials by following this link.

Who is behind Strapi?

Strapi is actively sponsored and maintained by Strapi, Inc the company behind the Strapi open-source project. Visit the company page to learn more about the company and the team.

Without forgetting our awesome community which brings us enormously every day.

Is Strapi Open Source?

Yes! Strapi is published under a standard MIT license. We're developing Strapi in the open, maintaining a public product roadmap, and using a Request for Changes repository to create consensus among the core team and community.

Can I contribute to Strapi?

Yes! Feel free to contribute to our Github repository. You'll be able to contribute under the Contributor License Agreement (CLA).

How is Strapi different from traditional CMS such as Wordpress?

Traditional CMS such as WordPress or Drupal are monolithic systems that include the backend UI, plugins, front-end templates, CSS, a web server, and a database. They tend to be slower, heavier, and require a lot of custom development to become responsive to various display devices. In recent years, traditional CMSs have evolved to overcome these challenges and are often calling themselves Headless although most of them are in fact Decoupled.

If you want to learn more about Headless CMS, have a look at this extensive guide.

Why should I use a self-hosted CMS?

By choosing a self-hosted solution you don't give up on data privacy or lock yourself in. Data security and privacy is an increasingly important topic right now and for the future. This is why it is very important that you can keep full control over your data as well as your costs.

Can I customize Strapi?

Yes! The admin panel is easily customizable as well as the API. You can also extend your project with custom plugins in few seconds.

Where can I find plugins and providers?

We have an awesome-strapi Github repository that lists useful resources that can be used in your Strapi project. Feel free to browse the Plugin & Providers section.

I have a question/issue. Where should I ask?

Please join our official forum if you have any questions or if you want to start a discussion. If you want to learn more about Headless CMS, have a look at this extensive guide.

Enterprise Edition

How many environments or instances are provided for a project?

You can create as many environments as needed for your Strapi projects. You can also create several instances of Strapi (with the same content modeling) for horizontal scaling.

Which plan should I use?

The plan you choose will depend on your needs. We advise you to make your choice by looking at our comparison table on our pricing page.

Can I try a plan for free?

Yes! You can try our Bronze and Silver plans for free. Have a look at our pricing page to get started.

Are Strapi Enterprise Edition plans only available as subscriptions or is it possible to buy a lifetime license?

While we generally don't sell lifetime licenses, we can be flexible and offer lifetime licenses to companies that want them under certain conditions. Contact us for more information.

What companies are using Strapi in production?

Thousands of companies such as Delivery Hero, Societe Generale and IBM are using Strapi in production today. Check out our showcase to see more examples.

How is the Enterprise version distributed?

The Enterprise Edition is distributed through a private npm registry. So you just need to install additional node modules to get all Enterprise Edition features.

Can I have a discount as a Student/Professor/Non-profit organization/OSS project?

Yes! Feel free to request a free bronze plan if you match these criteria.

Miscellaneous

Is Strapi only for developers or non-technical people as well ?

Usually, developers are the ones downloading, setting up Strapi, creating the content architecture and connecting. Once that's done, authors and content editors get onboarded to the platform to write and distribute content.

Is Strapi recruiting?

Absolutely! Feel free to browse our open positions.

Can I write for Strapi?

Yes! We do have a Write for the community program which aims at gathering writers, video makers to create educational content for the community.

More information here.

Where is Strapi based?

Strapi is based in Paris. However we have some Strapiers all over the world like United States, Spain, Zambia. We are remote-first so people from different countries can apply to Strapi.

Can I talk with people using Strapi?

Yes! We have an official Dicord server for you to come chat with us and the community.

Can I organize a Strapi meetup?

Yes! You can follow the instructions on this Github repository to get started!

Can I see some projects made with Strapi?

Yes! Feel free to browse our official showcase and user stories.

Do you have a React component library for Strapi plugins?

Yes! Buffet.js is the React component library made with styled-component which is used in Strapi.

Ecosystem

Why Headless CMS?

Beyond benefits like a faster, more secure performance at a lower cost, the biggest reason why anyone should be thinking about headless CMS is flexibility.

Headless CMS represent the future of content delivery. Learn more about Headless CMS with our 2021 Headless guide.

What is the Jamstack?

Jamstack is an architecture designed to make the web faster, more secure, and easier to scale.

It builds on many of the tools and workflows which developers love, and which bring maximum productivity.

Have a look at this article to learn more.

Why Jamstack?

With Jamstack, the entire front end is prebuilt into highly optimized static pages and assets during a build process.

This process of pre-rending results in sites which can be served directly from a CDN, reducing the cost, complexity and risk, of dynamic servers as critical infrastructure.

What is a Static Site Generator?

A static site can be defined as a website that is sourced from purely static HTML files, it takes the source files and generates an entire website or a static site.

The process is simplified, removing the need to heavily depend on databases or other external data sources.

Have a look at this article to learn more about different static site generators.

Can I use Strapi with a programming language, javascript framework, static site generator?

Yes, you can absolutely use Strapi for managing the content of your Ruby, Python, React, Nuxt.js, Gatsby, Gridsome (and more...) project. See our integration documentation for integrating you favorite stack with Strapi.

Where can I find plugins and providers?

We have an awesome-strapi Github repository that list useful resources that can be used in your Strapi project. Feel free to browse the Plugin & Providers section.