CMS Brew vs TinaCMS, compared honestly.
Tina makes a React site editable in place, over a schema you define. CMS Brew maps the repository automatically and puts the client in a chat, with review-before-publish included.
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The short answer
Choose TinaCMS if a content team edits your React site daily and wants in-place visual editing worth maintaining a schema for. Choose CMS Brew if you hand finished sites to clients who edit rarely: there is no schema or data layer to adopt, clients describe changes in chat instead of learning an editor, and per-field review is included rather than gated to a paid TinaCloud tier.
Why developers go looking for a TinaCMS alternative
TinaCMS is the best-known way to make a React site editable in place, and for a content team that edits every day, a visual editor is a fine fit. Handing a finished site to a client is a different situation: you define every editable field in a Tina schema, the client still has to learn the editing UI, and the editorial workflow that makes client edits reviewable sits in the paid TinaCloud tiers.
You write the schema
Tina content models live in tina/config: every collection, field, and block, defined and maintained by you, per site. CMS Brew maps the editable content from the repository automatically. There is nothing to define.
Clients still learn an editor
Visual editing is still fields, blocks, and a sidebar. A client who edits twice a year relearns it every time. Chat needs no training: they say what they want changed and see it in a live preview.
Review is where the safety lives
Being able to approve a client edit before it publishes is the whole point of a safe handoff. In Tina, editorial workflow is a paid TinaCloud feature built on branches and pull requests. In CMS Brew, per-field guards and the review queue are the product, included.
Side by side
CMS Brew vs TinaCMS
| CMS Brew | TinaCMS | |
|---|---|---|
| What the client sees | A chat. They describe the change in plain words and watch a live preview. | A visual editor with fields, blocks, and a sidebar, entered from the site. |
| Content modeling | Automatic. The repository is mapped when you connect it. | You define collections, fields, and blocks in the Tina schema. |
| Review before publish | Per-field guards decide what publishes freely and what waits for you. Included. | Editorial workflow via branches and pull requests, on paid TinaCloud plans. |
| Out-of-scope requests | Refused in the editor and escalated to you with the client's original words. | Not a concept. Anything outside the schema reaches you some other way. |
| Framework fit | Any repo that rebuilds from Git: Next.js, Astro, SvelteKit, Hugo, and more. | Strongest on React sites; visual editing is React-first. |
| Footprint in your site | Nothing added: no SDK, no script, no data layer. Edits arrive as commits. | Tina's client, data layer, and GraphQL API become part of the site. |
| Price | $39/mo for 5 sites, unlimited editors, 7-day free trial. | Open-source core; TinaCloud has a free starter tier, review workflow costs extra. |
The honest trade-off
Where Tina wins: a content team that edits daily may prefer clicking on the page to describing a change, and Tina's open-source core is free to self-host. CMS Brew is built for the other case: the delivered client site, edited rarely, where nobody should have to relearn a UI and nothing should go live without a place for you in the loop.
Stick with TinaCMS if
- Your editors work in the site every day and genuinely prefer clicking on the page to describing a change.
- The site is React and you want the visual, in-place editing Tina is best at.
- You have already invested in the Tina schema and data layer, and they are earning their keep.
- You want to self-host everything, including the editing backend.
How it works
Three steps, then it's live.
- 01Connect
Point it at the site you built
CMS Brew turns it into a simple list of things your client can edit. No rebuild, no plugin.
- 02Edit
Clients edit in plain words
Your client opens a chat and says what to change: a phone number, a headline, a photo. They see it live before it ships.
- 03Publish
Safe changes go live
Safe edits publish in one click. Bigger requests, like a new page or code, come straight to you.
How to switch from TinaCMS to CMS Brew
- 1
Connect the repository
Sign in and connect the site's GitHub repository. Content stays where Tina kept it, in your repo, so there is nothing to export. CMS Brew maps the editable text and images automatically; it does not read or need tina/config.
- 2
Set your guards
Review the mapped fields and set a guard level per category: Open publishes freely, Warn asks the client to confirm, Review holds the change for you. This replaces the editorial workflow you would otherwise buy in TinaCloud.
- 3
Invite the client
Send the client an invite. They sign in with Google or an emailed 6-digit code and edit by chat; there is no editing UI to teach.
- 4
Remove Tina when ready
Run both during the transition; both end in Git commits. When you are done, remove the Tina client, data layer, and admin route from the site, and the site gets lighter, not heavier.
FAQ
What people ask before switching.
Stop being the person who updates the phone number.
Give your client the keys to the content. Keep the keys to the code.
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