Is Decap CMS free and open source?

Updated

Yes. Decap CMS is MIT-licensed, free, and open source, and the project states it will remain free for everyone. It is an independent open-source project rather than a commercial product with a paid tier. Because it is Git-native and self-hosted, your content lives in your own Git repository instead of a vendor's database, so you keep ownership and control of it.

What "free and open source" means here

  • License: MIT. That permits commercial and personal use, modification, and redistribution under the license terms.
  • Cost: The project describes getting started as "simple and free" and states it is free today and will remain free.
  • Independence: Decap CMS is described as an independent open-source project guided by its values and community, not a hosted SaaS with a subscription.
  • Self-hosted: You run the CMS yourself and connect it to your own repository.

Where your content actually lives

Content is stored in your Git repository, not locked to a provider's database. In practice that means:

  • Full version history comes from Git itself.
  • Branch workflows and deployment checks use the same system your team already uses.
  • You can move or migrate the repository without exporting from a proprietary store.

This is the main practical difference from a hosted CMS: the CMS is the editing layer, and Git is the source of truth.

What you still need to provide

"Free" refers to the software, not to everything around it. A working setup typically requires:

  • A Git provider account (Decap supports all major Git providers).
  • A place to host the site and the CMS, since it is self-hosted.
  • A static site generator or Jamstack stack — Decap is designed for Git-backed static architectures such as Hugo, Next.js, Gatsby, and Jekyll.

Any costs for hosting or Git services come from those providers, not from Decap CMS.

How to confirm the license and terms yourself

  1. Open the Decap CMS documentation from the project site.
  2. Check the repository's license file for the MIT text.
  3. Review the configuration docs to see how collections, fields, and media handling are defined in a single config.yml.

If your requirement is a no-cost, open-source editing layer that keeps content in Git under your control, Decap CMS fits. If you need a fully managed hosted service with no self-hosting, that is a different category of tool.