Case Study
View Case StudyTray.ai
Migrating hundreds of thousands of pages, re-platforming and extending for the leading composable AI integration platform
From ButterCMS to Uniform
We are the ButterCMS to Uniform migration experts
Challenges with ButterCMS
Key pain points
Where ButterCMS starts to show cracks is when projects grow beyond its comfort zone. The content modeling is adequate for straightforward use cases, but it lacks the depth and flexibility of platforms like Sanity or Contentful. Components are only available for pages, not collections or blog posts, which creates frustrating inconsistencies when you're trying to build a cohesive content architecture. The 1,000 content field limit, even on expensive plans, can become a real ceiling for ambitious projects.
The platform's smaller ecosystem is a double-edged sword. While anyone who knows JavaScript can work with the API, you won't find the same depth of community resources, plugins, or third-party integrations that larger platforms offer. Media management is also noticeably behind, with no bulk upload capability and limited asset organisation tools. For agencies managing multiple client sites, these paper cuts add up quickly.
There have also been transparency concerns. In 2024, a DNS incident affected thousands of sites using ButterCMS, but their status page showed no downtime. That kind of communication gap is a red flag for any team relying on a third-party CMS in production. The pricing, while competitive on the surface, can feel steep for smaller teams once you move past the limited free tier, and the jump between plans isn't always proportional to what you get.
Limited content modeling flexibility
Components are only available for pages, not collections or blog posts. This creates awkward workarounds when you need consistent structured content across different content types.
Content field limits on all plans
Even the most expensive plans cap you at 1,000 content fields. For complex, multi-locale projects this ceiling arrives faster than you'd expect.
No bulk media upload
The media library only supports single-file uploads with limited organisation tools. Managing assets across a large site becomes tedious quickly.
Small ecosystem and community
Compared to Contentful or Sanity, the community is tiny. Fewer plugins, fewer tutorials, and fewer developers with direct experience means more problem-solving on your own.
Transparency concerns around incidents
In 2024, a DNS incident reportedly affected sites using ButterCMS, but limited public acknowledgement on their status page raised concerns about transparency. The details are difficult to verify independently.
Pricing jumps between tiers
The free tier is very limited, and paid plans start at $71 per month. For small projects or startups, the cost can be hard to justify when alternatives offer more generous free tiers.
Benefits of Uniform
Key advantages
Uniform positions itself as a “composable DXP,” which is enterprise-speak for “it does a bit of everything on top of your actual CMS.” To be fair, the visual workspace is genuinely useful. Marketers get drag-and-drop control, personalization, and A/B testing without pinging developers every five minutes. And if you’re already juggling multiple systems (CMS, commerce, DAM), the orchestration layer can tidy up the chaos.
That said… we’ll be honest, we don’t really build with DXPs like this anymore. Whenever a headless tool starts shouting “DXP” from the homepage, it usually means heavyweight architecture, unnecessary complexity, and a bill only Fortune 500 companies would smile at. If you’re considering it anyway, feel free to get in touch. We’ll happily walk you through better, modern alternatives before you sink a quarter’s budget into something you probably don’t need.
Visual experience composition
Uniform’s visual builder lets marketers piece together pages without pinging developers every 5 minutes. It’s basically a drag-and-drop layer on top of your headless stack.
Multi-source content federation
Uniform pulls content from multiple CMSs, DAMs, and commerce tools into one interface, so you don’t need 10 tabs open to build a single page
Real-time collaboration tools
Teams can edit, plan, and experiment together without overwriting each other’s work. It’s built for big organisations where ten people touching the same page is a weekly occurrence.
Enterprise-grade scalability
Uniform is built to handle traffic spikes and heavy personalisation workloads. It’s overkill for small sites but a safe bet for enterprises terrified of a Black Friday outage.
Omnichannel content management
You can pipe the same content across web, apps, and any other channel marketing dreams up. Useful for brands juggling multiple experiences without wanting to rebuild the same page three times.
Built-in A/B testing
Uniform ships with native testing and targeting, so teams can experiment without gluing together half a dozen tools. It’s marketer-friendly and fast.
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