[HN Gopher] Show HN: Cosmic - Headless CMS and API toolkit v2.0
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       Show HN: Cosmic - Headless CMS and API toolkit v2.0
        
       Hello HN,  I'm Tony, the CEO of Cosmic (YC W19). We just released
       Cosmic 2.0. This release is the result of two years of dedicated
       work by our team which we are proud to share with you.  Our new
       website: https://www.cosmicjs.com  Documentation:
       https://www.cosmicjs.com/docs.  Sign up for the new Cosmic
       dashboard (https://app.cosmicjs.com/signup). Free plans available.
       Cosmic is an API-first (headless) CMS that offers a web dashboard
       to create content and API tools to deliver content to any website
       or app. Our customers use Cosmic to avoid the pain of building and
       maintaining their own content management infrastructure. (We
       originally launched on HN in 2019
       https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19330262)  Problem: I started
       building Cosmic back in 2014. As a full stack web developer working
       at a web design and development agency, I found it tedious to build
       each project with the same open-source tech stack (WordPress),
       performing the same plugin installation, configuration set up,
       hosting, etc. Plus, I found that we would run into the same issues
       after a website was finished: clients would blow up their website
       by installing a rouge plugin, constant battles with bot armies, and
       other limitations with developing on a monolithic CMS website.
       Solution: I thought, "wouldn't it be great to have a single easy-
       to-use dashboard interface to manage content, and dedicated API
       endpoints to deliver content to any website or app, regardless of
       tech stack or device? The result would be a website that is
       lighter, faster, and more secure." Then began developing the
       solution I wanted.  Cosmic was born, and it satisfied my needs. I
       then let others try it. They would build stuff using Cosmic, break
       stuff, I would fix it, they would break something else, rinse and
       repeat. Eventually I met others who were willing to work on the
       problem with me...  Cosmic 2.0  Fast forward to today, after years
       of building, talking to customers, getting lots of feedback, and
       from that learning, building a brand new version of Cosmic that, we
       as a team, are really proud of. Rebuilt from the ground up, Cosmic
       2.0 aims to satisfy the same needs that I had years ago: provide an
       intuitive dashboard to create content and powerful tools to deliver
       content to any website or app. Some notable improvements and new
       features include:  1. Overall faster, more responsive dashboard
       experience.  2. New JavaScript SDK
       https://www.npmjs.com/package/@cosmicjs/sdk  3. Darkmode theme
       option.  4. Stricter Object type modeling and more types including
       video, audio, color picker, emoji, and more.  5. Content folders
       for better content organization.  6. Global search dashboard
       command palette (Command + k).  Along with a new dashboard, we've
       got a brand new website, rebuilt from the ground up using: -
       Next.js - TypeScript - Tailwind CSS - Content managed by Cosmic (of
       course! We are dog-fooding our own CMS)  Let us know if you have
       any questions in the comments below!
        
       Author : tonyspiro
       Score  : 18 points
       Date   : 2023-05-23 16:55 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
       | xnx wrote:
       | The name similarity to competitor Prismic is ... interesting.
       | Almost like making a CRM called Sellforce.
        
         | tonyspiro wrote:
         | Nice try, we've been around since 2014. I had no idea about
         | them, or even knew if they were around, when I named it.
        
       | p2hari wrote:
       | Congrats on launching. The pricing is bit tricky. Like it moves
       | from Free to $299 pretty quickly. And then there are lot of tiers
       | with very subtle distinctions for teams at that size.
       | 
       | I help lot of founders/startups to build and scale products and
       | operations. I am always on look out for such api first headless
       | CMS or backend services like appwrite, firebase and supabase. I
       | think you will have to relook into the pricing here as the climb
       | is very steep
        
         | tonyspiro wrote:
         | Thank you. Will keep this in mind.
        
       | aosaigh wrote:
       | Congratulations on launching, it looks like a very polished
       | product. I'll be interested to see where the conversation goes on
       | this here on HN. Having recently worked closely on a Contentful +
       | Gatsby website, I'm more convinced then ever that headless CMSs
       | are overkill in all but the largest companies. Contentful was
       | eye-wateringly expensive for a laughably limited feature-set and
       | the complexity was soul destroying. Hopefully things are better
       | in Cosmic-land.
        
         | tonyspiro wrote:
         | Thank you. Take it for a spin and let me know if you have any
         | questions.
        
       | naet wrote:
       | Seems really expensive for just a headless CMS. $300 a month for
       | the "starter" small team pack. Then the extra premium features
       | like $99 monthly just to have access to webhooks and another $99
       | to track revision history (when other CMSes include both in all
       | plans for free) feels like a lot to ask.
       | 
       | Is there something that you think sets Cosmic apart from other
       | headless CMSes? I have used many headless (or headless capable)
       | CMS platforms and many aren't all that different aside from
       | pricing and UI.
        
         | tonyspiro wrote:
         | A CMS is something teams spend a lot of time in. And it's worth
         | it to pay a little more for a great user experience. We spent a
         | lot of time focusing on the user experience.
         | 
         | There are a lot of free or cheaper CMS options out there with a
         | not great user experience.
        
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       (page generated 2023-05-23 23:02 UTC)