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We are the Dato CMS to Basehub migration experts


Challenges with Dato CMS

DatoCMS gives all the vibes of Prismic, but is somehow less flexible. It can feel like a glorified drag-and-drop schema builder. The moment you want to do anything mildly custom, the walls start closing in. And yes, the pricing stings. It scales fast, which is great for Dato, not so great for anyone trying to run a startup without selling a kidney.

The ecosystem is small, the extensions are thin, and deeper customisation often turns into “well, I guess we’re building that ourselves.” There’s no real visual editor, no guardrails for inactive billing, and once your project grows, you quickly realise drag-and-drop doesn’t magically give you validation or extensibility. If you need something genuinely custom or long-term scalable, there are better choices. Just contact us before you start one of the most expensive journeys.

Key pain points

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Limited customisation options

DatoCMS hits a ceiling fast if you need deeply custom logic. The drag-and-drop model is convenient, but it doesn’t give you the freedom a code-first setup would.

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Pricing based on traffic

Costs scale with usage, which can get painful quickly for growing sites. Traffic spikes = surprise bills.

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Steeper learning curve

While the UI is simple, the API-driven side demands more technical understanding. Non-developers may struggle once things get complex.

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Need for additional plugins

Out-of-the-box features only go so far. More advanced workflows often require plugins or custom development to bridge gaps.

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Limited feature set scalability

Great for small–mid projects, but larger, more demanding setups can outgrow what DatoCMS offers out of the box.

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Potential integration issues

Certain frameworks and tools need careful configuration, and edge cases appear more often than you’d expect in more mature CMS ecosystems.

Benefits of Basehub

BaseHub CMS is generating buzz among developers for its fast, collaborative, and AI-powered environment. We really like the Notion style editor. Feels great to drop a / and you type in what you want. E.g heading, or bullet points etc.

It's pretty good for creating and organizing content. Even for teams that are new to CMS platforms. Features like easy nested repeater fields, real-time branching for team workflows, and seamless GraphQL integration impress both solo makers and growing agencies. The platform’s Typesafe approach and AI-assisted writing tools help speed up the publishing process, while modern UI design keeps the learning curve gentle for newcomers.

If you can handle the initial information overload when you first spin up an environment it's an incredible tool for collaboration and rapid site scaffolding.

They also have a pretty good freemium pricing model (nodody has as good as Sanity) and strong documentation help projects get off the ground quickly, especially for Next.js and React use cases. Frequent updates and community engagement is high, and the core team that built it, are from a really nice design focused agency. So can't knock it that much.

Key advantages

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Intuitive Notion-style editor

If you can use Notion, you can get content into BaseHub without begging a developer for help. It is light, fast and easy to navigate

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Effortless nested repeater fields

You can nest and stack content structures. It’s one of the few tools where complex schemas don’t instantly become a crime scene.

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Real-time content branching

Branching lets teams experiment, test ideas, and push updates without breaking production. Preview changes instantly, merge when ready, panic never.

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Ready-to-use GraphQL integration

BaseHub ships with clean, auto-generated GraphQL APIs, so developers don’t waste hours wiring resolvers or schema stitching. Query, fetch, and ship.

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Typesafe SDK support

You get fully typed responses out of the box, which means fewer runtime surprises and a smoother dev experience. Your IDE becomes your safety net.

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Collaborative team workflows

Teams can work together without stepping on each other’s toes, with clean approval flows and role-based editing. It’s built for fast-moving content teams.

Get in touch

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