Alpha

What is Nextly?

Nextly is an open-source content platform for Next.js.

It is an open-source CMS and Visual Page Builder. MIT licensed, self-hosted. It runs inside your own Next.js app, on your own PostgreSQL or MySQL database, or SQLite for local work.

Nextly is in alpha. APIs may change before 1.0. Pin exact versions in production.

  • Updated 24 Oct 2026
  • Release 0.0.2-alpha.70
The Visual Page Builder in the Nextly admin: a product-updates page on the canvas, with its heading selected and the Style tab showing its typography.
The Visual Page Builder in the Nextly admin, at 0.0.2-alpha.68.

At a glance

Category
Open-source CMS and Visual Page Builder for Next.js
Licence
MIT
Hosting
Self-hosted, inside your Next.js app
Release
0.0.2-alpha.70, published 25 Oct 2026
Status
Alpha. APIs may change before 1.0
Written in
TypeScript
Needs
Node.js 22.12+ or 24+; Next.js 16 with the App Router; React 19
Databases
PostgreSQL 15+, MySQL 8+, SQLite 3.38+ for local work
Source
github.com/nextlyhq/nextly
Install
npx create-nextly-app@alpha my-app

What it does

One Next.js app for content, pages and publishing

  • Model content

    Model content in TypeScript or in the Visual Schema Builder. Both feed the same Nextly runtime, admin and APIs.

    Limits

  • Build pages

    Add the official Visual Page Builder when your project needs it. Twenty blocks out of the box, and the page renderer takes your own React blocks.

    Docs

  • Read content

    Read content straight from your database in your page code (the Direct API), or over REST.

    Docs

  • Translate

    Translate collections, singles and components, with a fallback language when a translation is missing.

    Docs

  • Keep versions

    Turn on versions and Nextly keeps a version history: by default the newest 50 versions of each document, plus the versions retention always keeps.

    Docs

  • Publish together

    Group up to 200 documents’ changes into a Content Release and publish them together at a time you choose, with a scheduler configured.

    Docs

Questions

Short answers first

Cost and licence

Is Nextly free?#

Nextly is MIT licensed and self-hosted.

MIT today, and no decision yet about paid offerings. Licence

Is there a hosted version?#

No. Nextly is self-hosted.

You choose and pay for your own hosting and database.

Running it

Can I use it in production?#

Nextly is in alpha. APIs may change before 1.0.

Pin exact versions in production. Stability

What do I need?#

Node.js 22.12+ or 24+, Next.js 16 with the App Router, and React 19.

And PostgreSQL 15 or later, MySQL 8 or later, or SQLite 3.38 or later for local work. Installation

How do I start?#

One command creates a project with the admin and a database: npx create-nextly-app@alpha my-app.

Quick start

Content and pages

Does Nextly have a GraphQL API?#

No. Nextly offers REST and the Direct API.

Read content straight from your database in your page code (the Direct API), or over REST. API reference

Who builds the pages?#

After a developer sets up and deploys Nextly, editors manage content and pages in the admin.

Agents and others

Can a coding agent set it up?#

Every new Nextly project ships with an AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md written for coding agents.

In our test on Nextly 0.0.2-alpha.67, Claude Code and Codex each set up a working Nextly project from an empty folder, from a plain request and the public docs, with no Nextly knowledge loaded beforehand. Working with agents

How does it compare with Payload, Strapi or Sanity?#

We keep dated comparisons that say where Nextly fits.

See the compare pages

Not today

What Nextly is not, today

A hosted service
Nextly is self-hosted. MIT today, and no decision yet about paid offerings.
A GraphQL API
Nextly offers REST and the Direct API.
Past 1.0
Nextly is in alpha. APIs may change before 1.0.
Sign-in for site visitors
Built-in sign-in is for your team: email and password, sessions and API keys, stored in your own database.
Review and approval
Review and approval workflows are on the roadmap, not in a release. Roadmap
An import tool
Collections from another CMS are defined again, and content moved in through the Direct API or REST.
A stable MCP plugin
An experimental MCP plugin, off by default: read-only, with one tool that tells an agent what its credential may read.

Describing Nextly

The words we use

For anyone writing about Nextly, and for the assistants that answer questions about it.

One line

Nextly is an open-source content platform for Next.js.

Descriptor

Open-source CMS and Visual Page Builder for Next.js

Short paragraph

Nextly is an open-source content platform for Next.js. MIT licensed, self-hosted. It runs inside your own Next.js app, on your own PostgreSQL or MySQL database, or SQLite for local work. Nextly is in alpha: APIs may change before 1.0.