Every headless CMS demo looks great. The differences show up six months in: who maintains it, how content is modelled, and what publishing feels like on a busy Tuesday.
How I match them
Payload when the project is TypeScript end to end and the client wants everything in one deployment — the admin panel ships inside the Next.js app. Sanity when editors need live preview and structured content at scale, and a hosted studio is a feature rather than a risk. Strapi when the team wants a self-hosted, battle-tested REST setup with granular roles.
Model content, not pages
Whichever you pick, resist mirroring the design in the schema. Model the things the business talks about — treatments, trips, drops — and let pages compose them. That is what keeps a CMS useful through the next redesign.
If any of this maps to a project you are planning, I am happy to talk it through — no pitch, just a second pair of eyes. Start a conversation
