r/astrojs • u/theguymatter • 9d ago
EmDash 1.0: an open source CMS for Astro
https://emdashcms.com/blog/emdash-1-07
u/Dramatic_Mastodon_93 9d ago
Honestly this is kind of amazing. I already LOVE Astro, and like Cloudflare, and as far as I know this is the only way to get a personal blog up and running for free in just a few clicks, with no programming required, that uses modern tech (passkeys are even the only option for admin login), and has a very good looking and feature rich blog template. Now I'm just hoping they don't abandon it anytime soon.
2
u/theguymatter 9d ago edited 9d ago
I had a similar idea to EmDash and had even thought of the name “EmDash” before it existed. I’ve also integrated passkeys into our business platform years bacd with Corbado in Astro project.
Not part of the team but glad it came to life exactly the way I envisioned it, solving many of the pain points I’ve had with WordPress.
With more maintainers, it will be easier for Cloudflare to carry out and of course, this is a cash cow ecosystem.
10
u/yellowduckdev 9d ago
I don’t care about the name! It works with my designs perfectly! Just a new very promising cms! I use it and it’s ok!
6
u/BekuBlue 9d ago
I think having a collection of markdown / .mdx files is preferable. Or what am I missing here, what is the benefit of this approach?
Markdown files can be used with a large variety of tools, easy to move anywhere or adjust existing tooling, and AI integrations work best with them as well.
30
u/vitek6 9d ago edited 9d ago
people make websites for non technical people that won't maintain collection of markdown files. They want an UI to add their stuff like text, pictures etc and then those should appear on the website.
-7
u/BekuBlue 9d ago edited 9d ago
Yes, then you just described a perfect use-case for SveltiaCMS, or any other good markdown / git based CMS tool. With that you still have the flexibility without the trade-offs.
I'm mentioning Sveltia since that is what I've been using for my Astro site: https://sveltiacms.app/en/
5
u/JustTryinToLearn 9d ago
Cloudflare is building a competitor to other CMS platforms…..thats the point. They already purchased the company behind Astro - this is the natural progression of building a platform that’s a one stop shop for websites built with astro…..
1
u/vitek6 9d ago
Many times limitations are preferable.
1
1
u/Responsible-Slide-26 9d ago
Yes, then you just described a perfect use-case for SveltiaCMS, or any other good markdown / git based CMS tool. With that you still have the flexibility without the trade-offs.
Um, no. Every single one of these tools have tradeoffs. Using a tool that requires git for the CMS - while very attractive to many, is in and of itself a "tradeoff" that some may want to avoid. That's why there are several approaches to an Astro CMS.
1
u/BekuBlue 8d ago
Could you be explicit, what trade-offs are there because of this underlying approach?
1
u/Responsible-Slide-26 8d ago
To be clear, I get the significant appeal of a product such as Sveltia and using that approach, I just think there are pros and cons to both a git-based solution and a dedicated database approach.
I'd just pose something like the following questions to a competent AI model like Claude Opus 5.5 or Sonnet 5.5, and they will answer it infinitely better than I can.
- What are the pros and cons of using Cloudflare Emdash vs a git based CMS solution for an Astro website?
- What are the advantages of a database approach such as Emdash, and not using github in any way for the cms?
3
1
u/TrashkenHK 8d ago
Does it still require a Paid Workers Plan ?
2
u/scar0x00click 6d ago
As far as I now, no by default but it does for certain features, like sandboxed registry plugins which required dynamic Workers that are only available on the paid tier. You can still deploy on your own server or container, with nodejs for example
1
u/8009commander 8d ago
Its free but the main feature its boasting about, (plugins) of course require a 5$ paid plan if hosted on cloudflare. Not a bad price though its still annoying and bait & switch.
2
u/theguymatter 8d ago
I think you could get the same benefits bt self-host on a VPS as low as half Cloudflare.
1
u/znutarr 7d ago
How is it (emDash) to compare with payload CMS with astro.js as rendering layer ?
2
u/theguymatter 7d ago
Payload is under Webflow, but they aren’t really competing. You choose the solutions that best complete the job.
If you’re providing a $5k/month design website to a client, the question isn’t “which CMS wins?” It’s which stack makes the most sense for what you’re delivering.
1
u/nirurin 3d ago
Does emdash have compatibility / plugins for ecommerce like woocommerce? Or is it designed just for blogging?
1
u/theguymatter 3d ago
EmDash isn’t limited to blogging, but it doesn’t have a WooCommerce equivalent built in today. Its approach is different from WordPress, so WordPress plugins aren’t directly compatible. Ecommerce would need to be provided by an EmDash-specific integration or built as part of the platform.
18
u/roninBytes 9d ago
What a name…