Best CMS for Hugo Websites in 2026 — Compared

The best CMS for a Hugo website depends on your team, not just your site. For solo developers, freelancers building sites for clients, and developers managing their own company or personal site, Sitepins is the top pick: it supports Hugo shortcodes natively, offers a generous free plan, and starts at $12/month when you need more. If you're looking for a completely free, open-source solution, Decap CMS (formerly Netlify CMS) is a solid choice. However, keep in mind that it requires a custom workaround for shortcode support and is not actively maintained. For teams with a larger budget, CloudCannon is a paid option at $55/month.

Key Takeaways

• Sitepins has a generous free plan with no credit card required, making it a strong starting point for solo devs, freelancers, and developers managing a personal or client site before upgrading.
• TinaCMS adds Node.js to your Hugo project, including node_modules, tina/config.ts, and an npm build step. Hugo's primary advantage is zero-Node simplicity; TinaCMS partially undoes that.
• Forestry.io shut down in April 2023, displacing hundreds of Hugo users. Sitepins, Decap CMS, and Sveltia CMS are the best direct replacements.
• Decap CMS was created by Netlify but is no longer actively maintained by them. The community-handed project has hundreds of open GitHub issues, and many users find the UI dated and frustrating to work with. If you are considering Decap, Sveltia CMS is a more actively maintained drop-in replacement with a cleaner interface

What to Look for in a Hugo CMS

Hugo differs from most static site generators in ways that directly affect which CMS you should choose.

No Node.js by default. Hugo is a single binary. Running hugo serve requires no npm, no node_modules, no JavaScript runtime. A CMS that adds a Node.js build step (TinaCMS does this) partially negates that simplicity. Hugo-native CMS tools connect to your repo without touching your build pipeline.

Shortcode support. Hugo shortcodes are the primary way to embed complex content: video embeds, callouts, and custom components inside Markdown. A visual editor that cannot handle shortcodes forces editors to write raw syntax or HTML, which defeats the purpose of having an editor at all. This is the most Hugo-specific selection criterion and the one most CMS tools get wrong.

Git-based architecture. Hugo's content lives in Markdown files. A Git-based CMS writes to those files directly: no database to sync, no API to call at build time. Content changes become a git commit and git push, which triggers your deployment pipeline (Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, Vercel) automatically.

Editor invite without a GitHub account. Your client or content editor probably does not have a GitHub account. A good Hugo CMS handles authentication on their behalf via email invite: the editor signs in and commits happen without any GitHub OAuth setup on their end.

Hugo CMS Comparison Table

✅ = strong support | ⚠️ = works with workaround | ❌ = not supported

Best CMS Options for Hugo, Ranked

Sitepins

Sitepins is a Git-based visual CMS built specifically for static sites. It is listed on the official Hugo tools page and is one of only two tools in this comparison with native shortcode support.

Best for: Three distinct groups find Sitepins the right fit. Solo developers running a Hugo blog, portfolio, or documentation site who need a visual editor for non-technical editors. Freelancers and web developers who build Hugo sites for clients and need to hand off an editor the client can actually use. Developers managing multiple sites, including a company site and a personal blog, who want one CMS that covers all of them without paying per-seat fees at scale.

Hugo integration quality: Sitepins connects to your GitHub repository, maps to your content/ directory, and reads your Hugo archetypes for field structure. Shortcodes are supported natively: editors can insert them from a dropdown rather than typing raw syntax. Media uploads go to your configured static/ or assets/ directory. No build-pipeline changes, no npm install required.

Free plan: Sitepins offers a generous free plan with no credit card required. It covers the core editing workflow and is a practical starting point for a personal site, a client handoff project, or any Hugo site that does not yet need team collaboration features. Most developers get real, usable value from the free tier before ever needing to upgrade.

Paid pricing: Sitepins Pro is $12/month or $199 as a lifetime deal, the only lifetime pricing option in this category. CloudCannon, the nearest visual-editor competitor, starts at $55/month. Sitepins also offers a 60-day free trial on paid plans.

Honest limitation: Sitepins is optimised for content-focused static sites. If your Hugo site has complex data templates, custom output formats, or multi-language configurations that are deeply non-standard, verify compatibility during the trial before committing. For the majority of Hugo blogs, portfolio, and marketing sites, it is a strong fit.

Decap CMS

Decap CMS is an open-source Git-based CMS, formerly known as Netlify CMS. It is free to self-host, connects to GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket via OAuth, and works with Hugo via a simple config.yml placed in your static/admin/ directory.

Best for: Developers who want a completely free CMS setup, are comfortable writing a config.yml to map their Hugo content structure, and can accept the shortcode limitation.

Hugo integration quality: Decap reads your Hugo front matter structure from config.yml. You define which fields editors can edit: title, date, tags, body, and so on. The content body editor is a rich-text/Markdown editor. The shortcode limitation is real: Decap has no native shortcode support. Adding shortcode editing requires registering a custom registerEditorComponent() for each shortcode type. For sites that rely heavily on Hugo shortcodes, this is a meaningful constraint.

Pricing: Free and open source. You host the admin panel as a static page in your Hugo static/admin/ folder. OAuth goes through GitHub (Netlify can act as the OAuth backend, or you self-host one).

Honest limitation: The project has had sporadic maintenance activity since Netlify handed it to the community. Sveltia CMS (below) is a more actively maintained drop-in replacement if development pace is a concern.

​

Sveltia CMS

Sveltia CMS is an open-source Git-based CMS designed as a modern, actively maintained drop-in replacement for Decap CMS. It is compatible with any existing Decap CMS config.yml, meaning migration is as simple as changing one script tag.

Best for: Developers who want a free, open-source CMS with better performance and more active maintenance than Decap CMS, and are comfortable with the same config.yml setup workflow.

Hugo integration quality: The integration works the same way as Decap CMS. You configure content structure via config.yml. No Node.js required, no build pipeline changes. Shortcode support has the same limitation: requires a custom registerEditorComponent() for each shortcode type.

Pricing: Free and open source.

Honest limitation: Sveltia CMS is a newer project with a smaller community and less documentation than Decap CMS. If you hit an edge case, you may be filing GitHub issues rather than finding answers on Stack Overflow. Worth evaluating for greenfield projects. For existing Decap CMS setups, switching is straightforward.

TinaCMS

TinaCMS is a Git-based CMS and the official successor to Forestry.io, built by the same team. It offers real-time visual editing with an inline content preview. Its Next.js integration is strongest, but Hugo is also supported.

Best for: Developers who came from Forestry.io and want to stay in the same ecosystem, or teams that need real-time inline visual editing and can accept the Node.js dependency.

Hugo integration quality: TinaCMS works with Hugo, but with a significant caveat. It requires adding node_modules, a tina/config.ts file, and an npm build step to your Hugo project. If you run hugo server for local development, you will now also need npx tinacms dev running in parallel.

This is the honest trade-off that Forestry migration guides rarely mention prominently: Hugo's primary developer appeal is its zero-Node simplicity. TinaCMS partially undoes that. For developers who care about this, it is a deal-breaker. For developers coming from a JavaScript-heavy stack who are comfortable with an extra Node process, it is fine.

Shortcodes: TinaCMS has no native Hugo shortcode support. Its rich text editor uses MDX-like component syntax that does not map cleanly to Hugo shortcodes.

Pricing: Free tier (1 user, 500 assets/month). Team plan $29/month. Business $749/month.

Honest limitation: TinaCMS is the right Forestry successor if you value the real-time visual preview and accept the Node.js dependency. If Hugo's no-Node simplicity was why you chose Hugo in the first place, Sitepins or Decap CMS are the better alternatives.

​

CloudCannon

CloudCannon is a commercial Git-based CMS with support for Hugo, Jekyll, and Eleventy. It offers a visual editor and Git-based content management, with pricing starting at $55/month.

Best for: Teams with a larger budget who need a visual editing experience and are prepared to pay a monthly subscription. Not a practical option for solo developers or freelancers managing personal or client sites on a tight budget.

Hugo integration quality: CloudCannon supports Hugo archetypes, front matter, and content types. Shortcodes can be mapped to visual editing components. The integration is functional for standard Hugo site structures.

Pricing: Starts at $55/month. No free plan. 21-day trial only.

Honest limitation: The price point is the main obstacle. At $55/month there is no lifetime deal and no meaningful free tier, making it hard to justify for most individual developers when comparable functionality is available at significantly lower cost.

​

Pages CMS

Pages CMS is a lightweight open-source Git-based CMS that connects directly to GitHub. No self-hosting is required: the editor runs at pagescms.org with your GitHub OAuth. Configuration is minimal.

Best for: The simplest possible setup, such as a personal blog or simple site where the editor is the developer themselves and the priority is zero configuration overhead.

Hugo integration quality: Pages CMS handles Markdown front matter and body content. It has no shortcode support and no media upload pipeline. For a personal site where you are the only editor, it works. For any collaborative setup or shortcode-heavy content, it is too limited.

Pricing: Free.

Honest limitation: Pages CMS is the most minimal tool in this comparison and is appropriate for minimal use cases only.

Setting Up a CMS on Your Hugo Site

Sitepins: 3 steps

1. Connect your repo. Sign up at sitepins.com, click New Project, then Connect GitHub Repository, and select your Hugo repo.
2. Configure content paths. Set the Content root to content/ and Media root to static/ (or assets/ if you use Hugo Pipes). Sitepins scans your content directory and reads your Hugo archetypes automatically.
3. Invite editors. Go to Settings, then Team, and add editors by email. They receive an invite link and sign in without a GitHub account. Sitepins commits on their behalf.

Done. Your Hugo build pipeline is unchanged. Editors save a post, the commit lands in your repo, and Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, or Vercel rebuilds automatically.

Decap CMS: 5 steps

1. Create admin files. Add static/admin/index.html and static/admin/config.yml to your Hugo project.
2. Write index.html:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8" />
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />
  <title>Content Manager</title>
</head>
<body>
  <script src="https://unpkg.com/decap-cms@^3.0.0/dist/decap-cms.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

1. Write config.yml:

backend:
  name: github
  repo: your-username/your-hugo-repo
  branch: main

media_folder: static/images
public_folder: /images

collections:
  - name: blog
    label: Blog Posts
    folder: content/posts
    create: true
    slug: "{{slug}}"
    fields:
      - { label: Title, name: title, widget: string }
      - { label: Date, name: date, widget: datetime }
      - { label: Draft, name: draft, widget: boolean, default: false }
      - { label: Tags, name: tags, widget: list }
      - { label: Body, name: body, widget: markdown }

1. Configure OAuth. Use Netlify's Identity service or a self-hosted OAuth backend. If deploying on Netlify, enable Identity in your site settings.
2. Deploy and test. Push your changes, navigate to yourdomain.com/admin/, and authenticate with GitHub.

TinaCMS: 4 steps (with honest caveat)

Before you start: TinaCMS requires Node.js in your Hugo project. If you have avoided Node.js intentionally, consider Sitepins or Decap CMS instead.

1. Install TinaCMS. In your Hugo project root, run npx @tinacms/cli@latest init. This creates tina/config.ts and node_modules/.
2. Configure tina/config.ts. Define your content collections matching your Hugo content/ structure.
3. Run the dev server. Run npx tinacms dev -c "hugo server" to run TinaCMS and Hugo together.
4. Connect to TinaCloud. Sign up at tina.io and connect your GitHub repo for production use. The free tier covers 1 user and 500 content assets/month.

Coming from Forestry.io?

Forestry.io shut down in April 2023. If you are still running a Hugo site built for Forestry, here are your options ranked by migration effort.

TinaCMS (lowest disruption, some caveats). Built by the same team as Forestry. TinaCMS provides a migration guide, and content structure maps fairly directly. The trade-off: Node.js is now required in your Hugo project. The visual editing experience is improved over Forestry, but build complexity is higher.

Sitepins (clean start, best long-term). There is no migration script. You reconnect your repo and reconfigure content paths. For most Hugo sites, this takes under an hour. You gain native shortcode support and a pricing model that is sustainable for a solo project.

Decap CMS / Sveltia CMS (maximum control, most setup). These are closest to Forestry's original model: a simple config.yml drives the editor. No migration automation, but the configuration pattern is similar. Best for developers who want full open-source control over the CMS layer.

​

FAQ

What is the best free CMS for Hugo?

Sitepins, Decap CMS, and Sveltia CMS all have free options. Sitepins offers a generous free plan with no credit card required and is the only free option in this comparison with native shortcode support and a visual editor designed for non-technical editors. Decap CMS and Sveltia CMS are fully open-source and free to self-host, but require a config.yml configuration and GitHub OAuth setup, and neither has native shortcode support. If shortcodes are not a concern and you are comfortable with the configuration workflow, Sveltia CMS is the more actively maintained of the two.

How do I add a visual editor to Hugo without Node.js?

Use a Git-based CMS that does not require a Node.js build step: Sitepins, CloudCannon, Decap CMS, or Sveltia CMS. All four connect to your GitHub repository and write Markdown files directly without adding node_modules or an npm build step to your Hugo project. TinaCMS is the exception: it requires Node.js and is the only major Hugo CMS that does.

What replaced Forestry.io for Hugo sites?

The most common replacements are TinaCMS (same team, most direct successor, adds Node.js dependency), Sitepins (native shortcode support), Decap CMS (free, same config.yml pattern, less active maintenance), and Sveltia CMS (free, drop-in Decap replacement, more actively maintained). The best Forestry replacement depends on whether you want zero-Node simplicity (Sitepins, Decap, Sveltia) or real-time visual editing and can accept the Node.js trade-off (TinaCMS).

Can editors update a Hugo site without knowing Git or Markdown?

Yes, with the right CMS. Sitepins, CloudCannon, and TinaCMS all provide visual editors where editors interact with forms for title, date, content body, and image uploads, and never see raw Markdown or Git commands. Decap CMS and Sveltia CMS have a Markdown editor with some visual formatting tools, but they expose more of the underlying format. For non-technical editors who need a fully visual experience, Sitepins or CloudCannon are the strongest options.

What is the best CMS for handing off a Hugo site to a client?

Sitepins is the most practical option for client handoffs. The developer connects the GitHub repo and configures content paths, then invites the client by email. The client receives a link, signs in, and edits content through a visual interface without needing a GitHub account, without seeing Markdown, and without touching the build pipeline. The free plan covers basic client handoffs, and the $12/month Pro plan adds team collaboration features for clients with multiple editors.

Bottom Line

For solo developers, freelancers building client sites, and developers managing a personal or company Hugo site:

• Sitepins: generous free plan, native shortcode support, official Hugo listing. Start here. Upgrade to $12/month when you need team features.
• Decap CMS / Sveltia CMS: if you want fully open-source and are comfortable with config.yml setup.
• TinaCMS: only if real-time visual preview is essential and you accept the Node.js trade-off.
• CloudCannon: a paid option at $55/month if the above do not fit your needs.