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TachyonCMS and Strapi
Strapi's Community edition and TachyonCMS are both open-source headless CMSs under MIT. Strapi has an admin panel, media, drafts and translations today. TachyonCMS has a REST API and access rules, and not much else yet.
Checked on against TachyonCMS v0.1.0 and Strapi's own docs. Each Strapi row links to the page it came from.
| Topic | TachyonCMS v0.1.0 | Strapi |
|---|---|---|
| Built with | Rust, shipped as one binary. | Node.js, on an Active or Maintenance LTS release (v22, v24 and v26 today). Source: Strapi, built with |
| Database | PostgreSQL, and only PostgreSQL. | PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB or SQLite. Source: Strapi, database |
| Content types | Defined over the API, or as JSON files you export, diff and apply with the tachyon command. | Built in the admin panel's Content-type Builder, which runs in development only. Source: Strapi, content types |
| APIs | REST, with filters, sorting, cursor paging and populated links. No GraphQL yet. | REST by default, and GraphQL through Strapi's built-in GraphQL plugin. Source: Strapi, apis |
| Drafts | Not yet. Drafts, versions and scheduled publishing are next on the roadmap, after rich text. | Draft & Publish, free, switched on per content type. Source: Strapi, drafts |
| Content history | Not yet. | On the Growth plan (14 days kept) and Enterprise (you choose). Source: Strapi, content history |
| Translations | Not yet. Localization is planned, with no date. | Internationalization, free, with content kept per locale. Source: Strapi, translations |
| Media | Not yet. Media is on the roadmap, after drafts. | A free Media Library for every uploaded asset. Source: Strapi, media |
| Roles | Four built-in roles plus your own, and access rules per collection, global and field that go into the SQL query. | Author, Editor and Super Admin in the admin panel, custom roles, and conditions such as "the administrator must be the creator". Source: Strapi, roles |
| Extending | No plugins yet. WebAssembly plugins are planned, with no date. | Plugins and providers, found through the Marketplace in the admin panel. Source: Strapi, extending |
| Licence and price | MIT, and free. There's no paid tier. | The Community edition is MIT and free. Growth is $45 a month with three users; Enterprise is quoted. Source: Strapi, licence and price |
| Hosted for you | No. You run it, beside your own Postgres. | Strapi Cloud, from $35 a project a month. Source: Strapi, hosted for you |
Where TachyonCMS isn't there yet
- There's no admin panel. Content types, users and documents are managed over HTTP or with the
tachyoncommand. - No media library, no drafts and no translations.
- No GraphQL. It's planned, with OpenAPI, and has no date.
- No plugins and no marketplace.
- No hosted option. You run the binary or the Docker image, and the database.
- It's pre-alpha, so keep it off the public internet for now.
Who should pick which
Pick Strapi if you want an open-source headless CMS with an admin panel your editors can use this week. Media, drafts, translations and a plugin marketplace come free, and Strapi Cloud will host it if you’d rather not. If your team already lives in Node.js, it’ll feel like home.
Pick TachyonCMS if what you care about most is one Rust binary on Postgres and access rules down to a single field that land in the database query itself. Today, that’s a developer’s tool. Pick it if you can build against an API now and wait for the admin.
Plenty of people will try both. That’s fine by me.
Where this comes from
The TachyonCMS side comes from the v0.1.0 README and its code. If a row's out of date, tell me in an issue and I'll fix it.