From Tina CMS to Storyblok

We are the Tina CMS to Storyblok migration experts

Challenges with Tina CMS

Key pain points

Tina's biggest limitation is that it's fundamentally tied to the React ecosystem. If you want visual editing, you need a React-based framework like Next.js. Basic content editing works with Astro, Hugo, SvelteKit, and others, but the flagship visual experience is React-only. There's been talk of Vue support for years, but nothing has materialised. This is a hard blocker for agencies like us that work across different tech stacks. The platform has also had a notable history: SSW acquired the project in May 2024, and a security breach in late 2024 involved compromised AWS keys via the CI/CD pipeline. These events, combined with the relatively small community, are worth weighing when evaluating Tina for long-term enterprise projects.

On the practical side, developers report frustrating instability in the dev environment. The admin interface can break without any changes to your codebase because it depends on externally loaded assets that update independently. Error handling is weak — forms fail to save silently, and the GraphQL layer doesn't surface errors cleanly. Self-hosting removes the TinaCloud dependency but comes with its own gaps: no search functionality, no Git LFS support, and reference fields can timeout on large collections.

The editing experience, while impressive in demos, can feel fragile in production. Multiple developers have reported losing work in the editor, and features like branch-based editing are locked behind paid tiers. For agencies managing multiple client projects, the React-only constraint and relatively small community (compared to Sanity, Strapi, or Contentful) mean fewer resources, fewer integrations, and more time spent solving problems yourself.

React-only framework support in Tina CMS

Visual editing limited to React

TinaCMS supports many frameworks including Astro, Hugo, Jekyll, SvelteKit, and Nuxt for basic content editing. However, the visual/inline editing experience, which is Tina's main selling point, only works with React-based frameworks like Next.js.

Unstable development environment

The dev server can break unpredictably because it loads external assets that change independently of your codebase. This makes local development feel unreliable and hard to debug.

Poor error handling and silent failures

Forms can fail to save without any visual indicator, and GraphQL errors aren't surfaced clearly. Losing work without warning is a real risk, especially for content editors.

Branch editing requires paid tier

Multi-branch support isn't available out of the box — it's locked behind the paid editorial workflow feature. You can't test content changes in deploy previews without paying up.

Self-hosting gaps

The self-hosted backend lacks search functionality, Git LFS support, and pagination on reference fields. Large collections can cause network timeouts.

Small ecosystem

Compared to established players like Sanity or Contentful, Tina has a smaller community and fewer plugins. Since the SSW acquisition in May 2024, the project has been actively maintained with regular releases, but the ecosystem is still catching up.

Benefits of Storyblok

Key advantages

If you’ve ever tried explaining “headless” to a content team and watched their eyes glaze over, Storyblok is your peace offering. On the surface, it appears to be great. For instance, its visual editor makes you feel like you are finally living in 2025. But start digging, and you’ll find some gremlins in the codebase and the pricing page. Their APIs are still missing some basic functionalities like fetching child or sibling pages.

Still, if Storyblok is your choice, we can make it work. Our team knows how to set it up cleanly, dodge the common blockers, and keep your build from turning into another “looked nice, aged badly” project.

Visual editing capabilities

Yes, you read that right, you can do real-time, on-page editing. Make a change, see it instantly, no staging limbo, which means you can stop “guess and publish.”

Component-based approach

You can build a component once and use it everywhere. You can also update a button or banner in one place, and the entire site fixes itself.

Efficient content structuring

Your content stays clean, organised, reusable, and not scattered across 40 pages. Developers work with structured data, editors drag-and-drop pieces like Lego. Everyone gets to stay sane.

Robust multi-language support

One CMS, many languages, zero chaos. Localise content without duplicate pages, messy exports, or spreadsheet archaeology.

Collaborative environment

Writers, designers, and editors can all jump in at the same time without breaking each other’s work. Add comments and approvals. View version histories for teamwork without the headache.

Highly customisable

If your design system can imagine it, you can use Storyblok to model it. There are custom fields, workflows, and logics that can bend to your stack rather than the other way around.