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APIs · head to head

Strapi vs Tilt

Strapi logo

Strapi

APIs

Headless CMS with REST and GraphQL APIs

From
$35/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Tilt logo

Tilt

Developer Tools

Local Kubernetes development loop that rebuilds and live-updates containers on save

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Tilt has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Strapi cloud pricing is per project, not per account, so a second project doubles the bill; Tilt docker acquired Tilt in 2022 and the team now splits its time across Compose and Docker Desktop, so feature velocity is modest and the product's long-term priority inside Docker is not guaranteed; treat it as a stable utility, not a growing platform.
  • They diverge on capability: Strapi covers REST API, Tilt covers Live update.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Strapi and Tilt actually diverge.

Attributes where Strapi and Tilt differ
AttributeStrapiTilt
Starting price$35/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsNode.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, DockerLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryAPIsDeveloper Tools
Founded2015Unknown

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Strapi

  • REST API
  • GraphQL API
  • Content management
  • PostgreSQL
  • MySQL
  • MongoDB
  • AWS
  • Webhooks

Only in Tilt

  • Live update
  • Tiltfile as code
  • Unified web UI
  • Selective rebuilds
  • Local and remote clusters
  • Resource dependencies
  • Extensions registry
  • Custom buttons and triggers

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Strapi

  • Running a self hosted headless CMS with a REST or GraphQL APInot Tilt
  • Giving editors a content admin panel over a custom content modelnot Tilt

Tilt

  • A team of ten or more engineers whose application is fifteen microservices on Kubernetes and who currently wait on CI to test a changenot Strapi
  • An organisation onboarding new developers who want a single command that stands up the whole stack from a committed Tiltfilenot Strapi
  • A platform team giving product engineers a consistent local environment against a shared remote development clusternot Strapi
  • A codebase where one repository contains several services and rebuilding all of them on every edit is the main source of lost timenot Strapi

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Strapi

  • Cloud pricing is per project, not per account, so a second project doubles the bill
  • Starter at $35 a month allows 100,000 API requests, and overage is $1.50 per 25,000
  • Extra bandwidth is $30 per 100 GB and extra asset storage $0.60 per GB
  • Backups start at the Pro plan, weekly, and only become daily at Business
  • An uptime SLA is Business only, at $450 a month per project
  • Additional environments cost $60 a month on Pro and $300 a month on Business

Tilt

  • Docker acquired Tilt in 2022 and the team now splits its time across Compose and Docker Desktop, so feature velocity is modest and the product's long-term priority inside Docker is not guaranteed; treat it as a stable utility, not a growing platform.
  • The Tiltfile is Starlark, a Python dialect, so non-trivial setups become real programs that need reviewing and maintaining, and the person who wrote yours becomes a single point of failure.
  • Live update only works when the running container can accept synced files and restart the process; compiled languages, distroless images and read-only filesystems often force you back to a full image rebuild, which removes the main benefit.
  • It assumes Kubernetes. If your development target is plain Docker Compose or serverless functions, Tilt adds a cluster you did not need and a layer of abstraction with no payoff.
  • There is no commercial support contract, no SLA and no paid tier, so when a Kubernetes version upgrade breaks something you are dependent on GitHub issues and a Slack channel rather than a vendor you can escalate to.

Pricing, plan by plan

Strapi

$35/month
  • Starter$35/month
    • 100k API requests
    • 50 GB asset storage
    • 50 GB asset bandwidth
  • Pro$90/month
    • 1M API requests
    • 250 GB asset storage
    • 500 GB asset bandwidth
  • Business$450/month
    • 10M API requests
    • 1000 GB asset storage
    • 1000 GB asset bandwidth

Tilt

Free
  • TiltFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed
    • All features, no paid tier
    • Community support via the Kubernetes Slack #tilt channel

Which should you pick?

Choose Strapi if

  • You need rest api.
  • You work on Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker.
  • You also want graphql api.
Strapi review

Choose Tilt if

  • You need live update.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want tiltfile as code.
Tilt review

Questions people ask

Is Strapi or Tilt better?
Neither clearly leads. Strapi starts at $35/month and Tilt at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Strapi or Tilt?
Tilt has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $35/month for Strapi and Free for Tilt.
Does Strapi or Tilt run on more platforms?
Strapi runs on Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker. Tilt runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Tilt for free?
Yes. Tilt has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Strapi starts at $35/month.
What is Strapi best used for?
Strapi is most often used for running a self hosted headless cms with a rest or graphql api, giving editors a content admin panel over a custom content model. Of those, running a self hosted headless cms with a rest or graphql api and giving editors a content admin panel over a custom content model are not what Tilt is typically brought in for.
What can Strapi do that Tilt cannot?
Strapi covers REST API, GraphQL API, Content management, PostgreSQL. Tilt covers Live update, Tiltfile as code, Unified web UI, Selective rebuilds.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Strapi: How much do API request overages cost?

Additional API requests beyond the plan limit cost $1.50 per 25000 requests. Extra asset storage costs $0.60 per GB, and additional bandwidth costs $30 per 100 GB.

Source
Tilt: Is Tilt free?

Yes, entirely. It is Apache 2.0 open source with no paid tier and no licence fee.

Strapi: Is yearly billing available?

Yes, yearly billing saves up to 17% compared to monthly billing on Strapi Cloud plans.

Source
Tilt: Who owns Tilt now?

Docker, which acquired it in May 2022. It remains open source and the repository is still actively maintained.

Strapi: What is included with the Pro plan?

The Pro plan costs $90 per month per project and includes 1M API requests, 250 GB asset storage, 500 GB bandwidth, multi-environment support, weekly backups, and manual backups.

Source
Tilt: Do I need a remote cluster?

No. It works against a local cluster such as kind, minikube or Docker Desktop, and also against a shared remote development cluster if your services are too heavy to run locally.

Tilt: How is it different from Skaffold?

Both automate the build-deploy loop. Tilt puts more weight on the live-update path and a multi-service dashboard; Skaffold is more configuration-driven and closer to Google's tooling.

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