Open-Source Headless CMS on Next,js & TypeScript
Content Platform you own. Expanded on Payload CMS. Batteries Included.
"Ideal CMS" is a content backend with enterprise features competitors hide from you - proper Visual Editing, AI Content Agent, SEO tools, A/B testing, SSO and more; self-hosted with no lock-in.
Official Partners
Built by the team behind these
Everything your your content CMS does your stack plugins and features we open-sources for you your ai
Built for teams who want to own CMS
Every role gets a first-class tool, on one platform.
For marketing & content teams - launch without a dev.
- Click-to-edit visual editing FR PLUGIN Change any element in context, in seconds
- Live preview Check pages before you publish
- Page builder with templates FR PLUGIN Compose pages from reusable blocks
- AI SEO FR PLUGIN Improvement suggestions, SERP preview, one-click content-aware meta
- A/B testing & analytics FR PLUGIN Run variants and read results inside CMS
For product teams - model content as reusable data.
- Structured content model Typed collections and fields, with granular access
- API-first Every piece of content available wherever you need it
- Content that feeds the product FR PLUGIN Publish-time vectorization for AI search
- Programmable workflows Event-based automation, scheduling, and more
- AI translation FR PLUGIN Launch new markets with less investment and friction
- AI product analysis FR PLUGIN Connect CMS to AI agents to extract reports and insights
For developers - own the stack, extend anything.
- Next.js + TypeScript + Payload The stack you've already built with
- Custom code & plugins Extend and change every screen, using built-in components
- Self-host anywhere Your database, your infrastructure
- MCP server and skills Connect Claude, Codex, Cursor, or other agent to CMS
- SSO FR PLUGIN Connect your own identity provider
AI built in - with your keys, without markup.
AI content agent
Create and edit content. Talk to your content to get insights.
MCP server
Connect your agents to CMS with limited actions and access to data.
Semantic search & vectorization
Published content becomes intelligence your product can query.
Any model provider, with your keys
No token markup, ever.
Context-aware SEO and AI translation
Meta, SERP preview, and in depth SEO analysis - right inside the CMS.
The CMS you don't have to migrate from in two years.
Where the ROI actually comes from
| Platform | You forced to Enterprise plan |
|---|---|
| Sanity | 25K documents, 5 roles, 250K requests |
| Storyblok | 20 seats, 10 locales, 10K assets, A/B testing |
| Contentful | 3 locales, 3 roles, 20 users |
| Framer | 700 pages, 40 collections, 40K CMS items |
| Ideal CMS | Nothing |
Coming from WordPress, Contentful, Webflow, Framer or Sanity?
We move you one-to-one - no rebuild from scratch, no lost content, no lock-in on the other side.
Components, structure, content
Migrated as they are, not rebuilt from a blank page.
Your SEO holds
Existing URLs, rankings intact, redirects in place.
Then the parts you were missing
A/B, personalization, AI SEO, analytics.
Our Engineer-led Track record
Our Clients Say
FocusReactive has been an exceptional partner, delivering all our requirements ahead of schedule. Their team feels like an extension of ours, understanding our strategy and anticipating our needs. They helped us build two modern, SEO-friendly marketing websites that our marketing team can easily manage without relying on developers. The team is incredibly talented, responsive, and always takes pride in their work. Thanks to FocusReactive, we've been able to scale our marketing efforts more effectively. We couldn’t have asked for a better partner.
"FocusReactive's work boosted the website traffic, conversion rates, and audience engagement, meeting expectations. The team communicated effectively and utilized productivity tools to move the project forward seamlessly. Above all, we commended the team's flexibility and expertise."
"FocusReactive helped us launch a high-performing website with 20% faster load times and 40% less manual work thanks to seamless integrations. DatoCMS also allowed our team to update content 50% faster, all delivered with clear communication and reliable project management."
“FocusReactive helped us design and build a modern, high-performing website that delivers strong UX and conversion capabilities while enabling full independence for our marketing team. The new platform, built on the Storyblok CMS, is faster and more scalable, allowing us to create and manage content without relying on developers. The team delivered on time with proactive communication, weekly updates, and continuous improvements. They were highly responsive, technically strong, and great to work with, making the entire collaboration smooth and effective.”
FAQs about Ideal CMS
Open-source core, and most plugins are free under MIT — a few require a licence. Beyond that you pay only for hosting, from $20 to ~$500/mo depending on scale. No per-seat pricing, no per-locale charges, no request limits.
Open source under MIT, on npm today: A/B testing, analytics, SEO, presets, comments, AI translation and scheduled publishing. Visual Editing and Content Releases are the licensed ones. Either way you get the source in your repo — a licence covers the plugin, not your access to the code.
Payload is the foundation. Ideal CMS adds a content editing and management layer with advanced capabilities like Visual Editing, A/B testing, AI Agent and AI SEO, to name a few.
Yes. Every open-source plugin is published to npm independently and works in any Payload 3 project — install it, wire it into your config, done. You don't need the Ideal CMS starter to use them.
Yes — Next.js, TypeScript and React. Any developer picks it up, and AI coding tools work natively.
Docs live in the repo next to the code, and they're written for both humans and agents — CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, .cursor/rules and a set of Claude Code skills covering schema design, blocks, caching and performance. Your developers read the same guidance your AI tools do, and neither goes stale in a separate docs site.
Yes — 13 migrations delivered, one-to-one, SEO preserved, fixed estimates. We also have in-house developed migration tools that ensure project success. We are an official Payload partner. See our CMS migration services.
It works through the same permissions and review flow as your team — it writes drafts, respects role-based access, and every change is versioned, so nothing reaches production without the approval you'd require of a human editor. Agents connect through the MCP server with a scoped set of actions rather than direct database access.
It's your repo — you can build it directly in the codebase yourself, or we build it for you. No vendor roadmap queue.
Get demo, see how you can own content platform.
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- Personalized demo project
- Detailed walk though