Lumen vs TinaCMS. Pick the right git-based CMS.
Both keep your content as files in your repo. The big choice is where the editor lives: a desktop app for the dev, or an inline editor running on your deployed site.
Tina is great if you're okay running Tina Cloud. Choose Lumen if you want your editor to keep working when the vendor doesn't. Lumen is a desktop app that handles git for you and never ships code to your site. TinaCMS injects a visual editor into your Astro site so editors can click and type on the rendered page. Pick Tina for on-page editing today; pick Lumen for a clean static build and content that survives the vendor disappearing.
How they stack up.
Row by row, what's actually different between Lumen and Tina.
| Lumen | Tina | |
|---|---|---|
| Where it runs | Desktop app on your Mac. No browser, no localhost. | Inside your Astro site at /admin, or in Tina Cloud. |
| Where content lives | Plain Markdown and JSON in your repo. | Plain Markdown / MDX / JSON in your repo. |
| Schema definition Tina's schema is type-safe but you write it by hand. | Auto-detected from your existing files. | Written in TypeScript in your codebase. |
| Editor experience | Notion-style editor with a live preview pane. | Inline visual editing on the rendered page. |
| Git workflow | Built-in. Stage, commit, pull, push in the app. | Via Tina Cloud, or manual git in your terminal. |
| Inviting an editor | Send a Relay link. They install Lumen and sign in. No GitHub account. | Give them a Tina Cloud seat with GitHub access. |
| Adds to your bundle | Nothing. Lumen is a separate app. | Tina's runtime ships with your site for in-app editing. |
| Price | Free for 1 site. Pro is $179/yr for 10 sites + unlimited Relay invites. | OSS is free. Tina Cloud is $0–$249+/mo per project. |
Who should choose what.
- You're a developer who edits content too.
Lumen is built for the case where the person writing the words is also the one running `astro dev`. No second browser tab, no admin route to deploy.
- You want git to stay invisible.
Sync runs in the background. Your editor doesn't need a GitHub account, and you don't need to teach them what a branch is.
- You don't want a CMS in your bundle.
Tina injects a small runtime so it can do inline editing on the live site. Lumen doesn't. Your built site stays a pure static Astro build.
- Editors want to click on the page itself.
Tina's killer feature is true on-page editing: you see the rendered site, you click a paragraph, you type. Lumen has a preview pane but the editing happens in a structured form.
- You're already using MDX-heavy content.
Tina handles MDX with custom React components inline. Lumen handles MDX, but treats it more like Markdown: fine for prose, less ideal if half your page is JSX.
- You need a hosted editing surface today.
Tina Cloud is mature and gives editors a stable URL to log into. Lumen Relay covers this too, but it's newer.
Quick answers.
Is TinaCMS free?
The core is open source and free. Tina Cloud (the hosted editing service) has a Free tier, with Team at $24/mo, Team Plus at $41/mo, and Business at $249/mo at the time of writing.
Does TinaCMS work with Astro?
Yes. Tina supports Astro via its content API and the @tinacms/cli tooling. You'll wire up Tina routes into your Astro site to enable the editor.
Will Lumen change my Astro project?
It reads and writes the files in src/content/ and public/, and that's it. No config files, no runtime injection, no dependencies added.
Can I switch from Tina to Lumen?
Yes. Both store content as files in your repo, so there's nothing to migrate. Point Lumen at the same project folder and your existing collections show up.