Compare
Zeku vs Front Matter CMS.
Checked , from each project's own site and repository.
Zeku is a writing app for your Astro site, not a full-blown CMS. It handles posts and pages within your content collections, reading frontmatter and markdown, leaving the rest to whatever you already build your site with. There's no web admin portal, no user roles, and no page builder.
Front Matter CMS and Zeku both work on the files on your own computer, with no server and no account. Front Matter is an extension inside VS Code, so you write in your code editor. Zeku is an app of its own, made for writing.
Side by side
| Front Matter CMS | Zeku | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you write | Inside VS Code | In a desktop app for Windows, Mac or Linux |
| Setup | Install the extension, then describe your content types and fields in frontmatter.json | Open your project's folder |
| Your Astro schema | Not read: fields go in frontmatter.json | Read from content.config.ts and the schema astro sync writes |
| Writing | VS Code's editor, with panels for frontmatter, media and a content dashboard | Live-preview Markdown, with callouts, tables, math and Mermaid drawn as you type |
| Seeing the page | A site preview inside VS Code | Your real page, from your own astro dev, beside the editor |
| Before publishing | SEO checks | Fields your build would reject are marked, links to missing pages are underlined, and an SEO check runs per page or collection |
| Publishing | VS Code's source control | Commits and pushes with your own git |
| Price | Free and open source | $19 once for a founding license until October 31, then $39, with a 14-day trial |
When Front Matter CMS fits better
- You already spend your day in VS Code and like writing there.
- You want custom scripts and automation next to your content, in the same editor as your code.
- It has to be free and open source.
When Zeku fits better
- You want a calm place to write, away from your code editor.
- You want the editor to use the schema you already have, without a second file describing every field.
- You want to see your writing rendered as you type, and the real page beside it.
Using both
Both edit the same Markdown files, so you can keep Front Matter for quick fixes while you code and write longer pieces in Zeku.
Weighing more than these two? Every Astro CMS option, compared.