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Moteur and DatoCMS

DatoCMS is a polished hosted CMS. Moteur is one whose files you keep.

Both are hosted, both have a calm editor, both price by project, and they even share a rich-text format. DatoCMS keeps the content in its cloud. Moteur keeps it in a Git repository you can clone. Checked on DatoCMS’s pages.

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Side by side

Eighteen points that matter for a client site. DatoCMS wins some of them. Each DatoCMS fact links to the page it comes from.

MoteurDatoCMS
Where the content livesPlain JSON files in the project’s own Git repositoryDatoCMS’s cloud1
In GitYes: each project is its own repository, a commit per saveNo2
Who runs itMoteur Cloud. Or host the open-source engine yourself, without the StudioHosted only3
Open sourceEngine: MIT. The Studio and Moteur Cloud: not open sourceNot open source3
Free plan1 person, 1,000 entries, 2,000 API requests a month300 records, 5 languages, 3 days of history3
First paid planPersonal, $9 a month: 2 people, 10,000 entriesProfessional, €149 a month billed yearly (€199 monthly)3
How it’s pricedA plan per project, with extra people, requests, credits or storage in packsPer project, with usage add-ons3
Review before publishingDrafts and reviews on every plan. A reviewer or admin approvesDrafts on every plan. Approval stages on Enterprise3
Working togetherOn Moteur Cloud: see who’s in which field, leave notes on fields, and no save overwrites another’sShows who’s there, and locks the record while someone edits4
LanguagesAny number of languages, field by field, on every plan5 languages, field by field. More at €19 each a month5
RolesAdmin, developer, writer, reviewer, translator and billing, on every plan. No custom rolesCustom roles on every plan3
HistoryEvery save is a Git commit, kept as long as the repository3 days on Free, 60 on Professional3
ImagesTransforms by URL, eight crop ratios and a focal point you setTransforms through Imgix, with a focal point1
FormsBuilt in, with a spam folderNot built in3
APIREST, with an OpenAPI document per site. No GraphQLGraphQL to read, a REST-style API to write6
WebhooksSigned, and retried for two hours if your server is downYes, on every plan, with custom payloads3
AI agents (MCP)Official and hosted: agents draft, and a person approves before anything goes liveOfficial and hosted (beta): asks before each write script, no review stage7
Writing help (AI)Off until an admin turns it on. Credits on every plan, from 10 a monthTranslation and image tagging, with your own AI provider’s key8

Sources

  1. datocms.com/docs/asset-api/images
  2. datocms.com/docs/import-and-export/export-data
  3. datocms.com/pricing
  4. datocms.com/docs/general-concepts/collaboration-features
  5. datocms.com/docs/general-concepts/localization
  6. datocms.com/docs/content-delivery-api
  7. datocms.com/docs/mcp-server
  8. datocms.com/features/ai

Checked 26 October 2026. From DatoCMS’s own pages. If something there has changed, tell us and we’ll fix it here.

Time travel

What did it say last season?

A client wants last autumn’s prices back. Slide back and see which plans still remember.

  • DatoCMS · FreeKeeps 3 daysGone
  • DatoCMS · ProfessionalKeeps 60 daysCan restore
  • Moteur · every planKeeps everythingCan restore

History windows from DatoCMS’s pricing page. Its Enterprise plan is by quote. Moteur’s history is the project’s Git log, on every plan.

Which one fits

Who’d you pick?

Seven situations from agency life. Guess, then see where we’d honestly send you. Sometimes it’s a draw.

  1. Théo · Builder

    The front end is all GraphQL, and the team likes it that way.

    DatoCMSDatoCMS reads in GraphQL. Moteur speaks REST.

  2. Louise · Admin

    The client wants custom roles on a free plan.

    DatoCMSDatoCMS has them on every plan. Moteur’s eight roles are fixed.

  3. Sophie · Writer

    A bakery’s site: forty pages, two people, a small budget.

    MoteurA paid plan sized for one small site. DatoCMS’s first paid plan is €149 a month.

  4. Céleste · Reviewer

    The client asks what the menu said last October.

    MoteurEvery save is a commit, kept for good.

  5. Claude · AI agent

    An agent drafts the spring catalogue.

    MoteurDrafts wait for a person. DatoCMS’s MCP asks before each script, then writes.

  6. Marguerite · Writer

    Long articles with headings, lists, quotes and links, stored as structured JSON.

    TieSame format on both sides: Moteur’s rich text is DAST, the structured-text format DatoCMS designed.

  7. Céleste · Reviewer

    Two writers open the same article at 4:55 pm on a Friday.

    TieBoth show who’s there. DatoCMS locks the record. Moteur lets both work, and stops a save from overwriting the other’s.

Our honest count: Moteur 3, DatoCMS 2, ties 2.

Moving day

Moving from DatoCMS

No one-click importer yet. Here’s how it’s done today, with the tools that exist, and what’s coming.

  1. Works today

    Pack up DatoCMS

    DatoCMS’s Project Exporter plugin, or its Content Management API, gives you every record and file. Structured Text fields are already DAST, the format Moteur’s rich text uses.

  2. Works today

    Shape the models

    Write each model as JSON and create it from the command line. Or let an agent do it through MCP. It reads a sample of the export and proposes the models. You look them over in the Studio.

    moteur models create --file models/article.json
moteur models create --file models/author.json

  3. Works today

    Bring the content

    A short script turns the export into one import bundle: models, files and entries. The command line brings it all in, or nothing if one thing fails. Or connect one agent to both MCP servers: it reads from DatoCMS’s and writes drafts to Moteur’s. Those drafts wait for a person, like any agent’s work.

    # the export reshaped into one bundle: models, files, entries
moteur imports run site.json --dry-run   # check it all, keep nothing
moteur imports run site.json

  4. Works today

    Review, then switch

    Everything arrives as a draft. A reviewer reads, approves, and it goes live. Then point the site at the project’s channel: one REST API, with its own OpenAPI document.

  5. Coming

    An importer for DatoCMS

    We’re writing an importer that reads a DatoCMS project export and does steps 2 and 3 in one go. This page will say when it ships. Until then, the steps above work.

Questions people ask

A reader asksDoes Moteur read DatoCMS’s rich text?

MoteurYes. Moteur stores rich text as DAST, the format DatoCMS designed and published for its Structured Text fields. Paragraphs, headings, lists, quotes, code, links and marks come across as they are. Embedded blocks and links to other records need their ids mapped to Moteur’s.

A reader asksEuros or dollars?

MoteurDatoCMS prices in euros, Moteur in US dollars. The table quotes each as it’s sold.

A reader asksDoes DatoCMS have image transforms?

MoteurYes, through Imgix, with a focal point. Moteur resizes and crops to eight ratios around a focal point too.

Keep reading

Try it on one site.

A free project costs nothing, and its files are yours from the first save.

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