Case Study
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Migrating hundreds of thousands of pages, re-platforming and extending for the leading composable AI integration platform
From Hygraph to ButterCMS
We are the Hygraph to ButterCMS migration experts
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Challenges with Hygraph
Key pain points
GraphQL-only is the core trade-off. If your team hasn't worked with GraphQL, expect a ramp-up period, and simple projects can end up feeling more complex than they need to be. The UI slows down once your dataset grows, especially with dozens of fields or multiple locales. Localization works, but past ten languages the interface starts to feel like a spreadsheet that lost a fight.
Integrations take more effort if the rest of your stack is REST. There's no REST endpoint, so you'll write adapters or a BFF layer. Pricing is the other thing to plan for: the Growth plan at $199/month includes 1M API operations, and overages at $0.20 per 10K ops add up on a busy site. Enterprise is the only way to unlock SSO, custom roles, and higher locale counts.
If you're unsure whether Hygraph is the right fit, or you're stuck halfway up the learning curve, reach out. We can help you map the cleanest path forward.
You have to really love GraphQL
GraphQL is one of its strongest point but it can be your downfall as well, if your team hasn’t touched GraphQL before, expect a ramp-up period. It’s powerful but definitely not “plug in and go.”
Large dataset performance issues
Once your project grows, the Hygraph UI can start dragging. Big data collections need extra optimization to stay usable.
Interface sluggishness at scale
Heavy models, long lists, and asset-heavy projects can make the dashboard feel slow, especially for editors.
Localization workflow complexity
Managing multiple locales works, but it’s not as intuitive as it looks on paper. Some teams find themselves clicking around more than expected.
Multi-language interface clutter
Multi-language setups work fine, but as soon as you hit double-digit locales, the UI quickly becomes noisy and harder to manage. It’s usable, just not optimised for scale.
REST API integration challenges
If your systems still rely on REST, be prepared for extra engineering. Hygraph is GraphQL-only, so adapters and rework are part of the deal.
Benefits of ButterCMS
Key advantages
ButterCMS is one of those headless CMS platforms that genuinely nails the onboarding experience. We've seen content teams go from zero to confidently building pages and blog posts within a few hours, which is rare in the headless world. The dashboard is clean, the API explorer is thoughtfully designed, and the starter templates for popular frameworks mean developers aren't starting from scratch every time.
From an agency perspective, the standout quality is how little hand-holding editors need after launch. The interface is intuitive enough that marketers can create pages, manage blog content, and handle SEO metadata without constantly pinging the dev team. The built-in blog engine is a genuine differentiator. Most headless CMS platforms treat blogging as an afterthought, but ButterCMS was originally built around it, and it shows in the quality of the authoring experience.
The API performance is consistently fast, and the SDK support across languages like JavaScript, Python, Ruby, and PHP is solid. Their customer support team is also notably responsive and genuinely receptive to feature requests, which is something we don't often see from CMS vendors. For small-to-mid-sized projects where you need a reliable content API without overcomplicating things, ButterCMS delivers.
We'd particularly recommend it for teams that need a polished blog alongside structured page content, and who value simplicity over infinite extensibility. It's a CMS that knows what it is and does that thing well.
Exceptionally easy onboarding
Content teams can be productive within hours, not days. The dashboard is clean and the learning curve is one of the gentlest we've seen in headless CMS land.
Built-in blog engine
Unlike most headless platforms where you have to model blog content from scratch, ButterCMS ships with a purpose-built blog engine that includes categories, tags, authors, and SEO fields out of the box.
Fast and reliable content API
The read API is consistently quick with global CDN delivery. For content-heavy sites, the performance is solid and predictable.
No seat limits on any plan
Every plan includes unlimited users, which is genuinely unusual in this space. You won't get punished for growing your content team.
Responsive customer support
Their support team is quick to respond and genuinely open to feature requests. We've seen roadmap items added based on customer feedback, which builds real trust.
Strong SDK and framework coverage
Official SDKs for JavaScript, Python, Ruby, PHP, and more, plus starter projects for React, Next.js, Vue, Angular, and other frameworks that actually work out of the box.
Common questions
Hygraph to ButterCMS migration FAQs
Answers to the most common questions about Hygraph to ButterCMS migration
Is Hygraph easy for non-technical editors to use?
It's decent but not great. Hygraph's editor UI is clean and approachable for basic content updates, but the moment your content model gets complex (nested components, multiple locales, lots of reference fields), editors start feeling overwhelmed. The interface slows down with large datasets, and the GraphQL-native approach means the editorial experience is shaped by developer decisions more than in other headless CMS platforms. We've set up Hygraph for teams where editors managed well after proper onboarding, but it requires more hand-holding than something like Sanity's Studio, which was designed with editorial experience as a first-class priority.
How does Hygraph compare to other headless CMS options?
Hygraph's standout feature is Content Federation, which lets you pull data from external APIs into a unified GraphQL layer. That's genuinely useful if you're aggregating content from multiple sources. Compared to Contentful, Hygraph is cheaper at the lower tiers and more developer-friendly if your team already knows GraphQL. Compared to Sanity, Hygraph offers less flexibility in content modelling and lacks real-time collaboration in the editor. The free tier is generous for small projects. For larger builds, we usually recommend Sanity because the customisation ceiling is much higher and you're not locked into GraphQL as your only query language.
What does Hygraph cost as you scale?
Hygraph's Hobby plan is free with 3 seats, 1,000 content entries, 500K API operations, and 2 locales. The Growth plan is $199/month with 10 seats, 10,000 entries, 1M API operations, and 3 locales. Overages on Growth are $0.20 per 10,000 API operations. Enterprise is custom pricing and typically unlocks 200+ seats, 1M+ entries, 50M+ API operations, up to 80 locales, plus SSO and dedicated infrastructure. The catch is the same as it has always been, high-traffic sites burn through included operations fast, and Content Federation queries count against your limits too. Model your expected API usage before committing.
What's the hardest part of migrating from Hygraph?
Content extraction is actually straightforward since everything comes out through GraphQL queries. The harder part is rebuilding whatever Content Federation layer you've set up, because that logic lives inside Hygraph and doesn't export. If you've wired up three or four external APIs through federation, you'll need to replicate those integrations in your application layer. The other pain point is schema translation. Hygraph's content model maps to GraphQL types, and converting those to another CMS's schema (especially one that uses GROQ or REST) takes careful planning. We typically budget 4-8 weeks for a Hygraph migration depending on content volume and federation complexity.
How do we migrate content out of ButterCMS?
ButterCMS has a clean REST API, so pulling your content is straightforward. Blog posts, pages, and collections all export as JSON through their API endpoints. The main complexity is restructuring component-based page content for your target CMS, since ButterCMS components only work on pages and don't map 1:1 to other platforms. Media assets need to be downloaded from their CDN and re-uploaded. For a typical blog-heavy site with 200 to 500 posts, we complete the migration in 2 to 4 weeks.
Why do teams leave ButterCMS?
Content modeling flexibility is the top reason. Once projects grow past simple blogs and marketing pages, the 1,000 content field limit becomes a real ceiling. Components being restricted to pages (not collections or blog posts) forces awkward workarounds. Teams also feel the ecosystem gap, with fewer plugins, integrations, and community resources compared to larger platforms. The 2024 DNS incident that wasn't reflected on their status page raised trust concerns for teams running production sites.
What does ButterCMS cost compared to alternatives?
ButterCMS paid plans start at $71/month after a limited free tier. Every plan includes unlimited users, which is genuinely competitive. But the pricing jumps between tiers aren't proportional to what you get, and the content field limits apply even on expensive plans. By comparison, Sanity's free tier includes 3 users with 500K API requests, and you only pay more as your usage scales. For teams outgrowing ButterCMS, the cost of migration typically pays for itself within 6 months through better tooling and fewer workarounds.
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