Keystone
by KeystoneJS · Open source headless CMS that builds a GraphQL API from your schema
BenchRank score
Screenshots of Keystone
Homepage
Overview
Keystone is an open source headless CMS and back-end framework for Node.js. You describe lists and fields in code and it generates a GraphQL API plus an Admin UI that honours your access control rules. It supports custom queries and mutations, event hooks, relational data, session management and automatic database migrations via Prisma.
- Best for
- Node.js developers who want a code-defined GraphQL backend and admin UI for structured content
- Pricing
- No prices are shown; the site says Keystone is open source and "free forever", with tailored enterprise support offered separately on request.
- Runs on
- CLI
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Schema in code generates a GraphQL API and Admin UI
- Open source; deploy to managed hosts or your own infrastructure
- TypeScript, relational data and Prisma database migrations
- Access control, sessions, filtering and pagination out of the box
Trade-offs
- Backend only — the frontend is still yours to build
- No hosted service shown; you run and operate it yourself
- Free support is a community Slack; tailored support is an enterprise add-on
- Node.js and Prisma stack; no other runtimes or databases named
How Keystone markets itself
A structured read of the promise, proof and page design on Keystone’s captured homepage.
Homepage capture
“The superpowered CMS for developers”
- Angle: Developer-first
- Hero: Terminal / CLI
Pricing
Published plans and prices from Keystone’s own pricing page.
How this score is made up
Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.
MCP support
Whether an agent can drive the product through the Model Context Protocol, and how much setup that takes.
API quality
Public API surface: machine-readable spec, official SDKs, documented auth, errors, rate limits and versioning.
Documentation
Publicly reachable docs — coverage, freshness, code samples and machine readability.
Agent friendliness
How readable the site is to an automated client: llms.txt, structured data, server-rendered content, crawler access.
Changelog
A public, dated record of what shipped and when — the clearest signal that a product is still alive.
Marketing site structure
Whether the site answers a buyer's questions: clear positioning, the pages that matter, and accessibility.
Page speed
How fast the site loads for real visitors: Chrome UX Report 75th-percentile LCP, INP and CLS, with a Lighthouse mobile run standing in where a site has too little traffic for field data.
Operational trust
Status page and incident history, security disclosure, compliance and data-processing documentation.
Measured, but not part of the score
Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.
Openness
Source availability, self-hosting, data export and open standards. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — paid SaaS is not worse for being paid SaaS.
Maintenance
Release cadence and repository activity. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — it is only measurable for open repositories.
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Where this comes from
The Keystone pages BenchRank reads when it scores the product — its documentation, release notes, status and security pages, and its repository where there is one.
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Is this your product?
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