Strapi Development Company

What do Strapi development services include?

A Strapi project is mostly decisions about content, then code around them. A Strapi development company designs the content model your editors will work in every day, writes the server logic Strapi does not generate, decides who can read and change what, and connects the API to every front end that consumes it. At Miracuves a Strapi engagement covers:

• Content modelling in the Content-Type Builder - collection types, single types, reusable components and dynamic zones for flexible page sections
• Custom controllers, services, policies and middlewares in JavaScript or TypeScript
• Custom plugins for the admin panel and the server, from one custom field to a full editorial tool
• Roles and permissions for editors, plus API tokens and public-role rules for REST and GraphQL
• Internationalization with per-locale entries, and a media library on S3-compatible storage behind a CDN
• Deployment, backups and version upgrades, in Docker on your cloud or on Strapi Cloud

How does headless Strapi work with Next.js and mobile apps?

Strapi stores and serves content; it renders no pages. Your website and apps request entries from its REST or GraphQL API and display them their own way. With Next.js the usual pattern is static or cached pages that regenerate when an editor publishes: Strapi fires its entry.publish webhook, and a revalidation route in Next.js refreshes only the affected pages. Previews read the draft status, so editors check a change before it goes live.

Mobile apps built with React Native, Flutter or native code call the same endpoints. A price, a banner or a help article then changes on the website and in the app at the same moment, with no app store release.

Should you self-host Strapi or use Strapi Cloud?

Both run the same Strapi, so the question is who operates it. Self-hosting the free Community Edition on AWS, DigitalOcean or your own servers gives you control over region, database, network rules and cost, and suits teams with data-residency rules or an existing DevOps practice. You also carry patching, backups and scaling.

Strapi Cloud is Strapi's managed hosting: push-to-deploy, a CDN, backups and monitoring are run for you, on plans priced per project with limits on API requests and storage. It suits smaller teams that would rather not run Node.js servers. Features such as SSO, content history and review workflows sit in Strapi's paid plans on either route, so we check which ones your editors need before choosing.

What does upgrading from Strapi v4 to Strapi 5 involve?

Strapi 5 is the current major version, and Strapi's documentation gave v4 support until April 2026, so v4 projects now run on a line that no longer receives fixes. The upgrade has two halves. Strapi's upgrade tool (npx @strapi/upgrade major) updates dependencies and runs codemods on your code, and built-in migration scripts update the database the first time Strapi 5 starts.

What codemods cannot finish is custom code. Entity Service calls must move to the Document Service API, integrations keyed on numeric ids must use documentId, front ends must read the flattened response without data.attributes, and every third-party plugin needs a Strapi 5 release or a replacement. We audit these first, rehearse the upgrade on a copy of production and give a fixed quote before touching it.

Strapi, Contentful or WordPress - which should you pick?

Pick Strapi when you want a headless CMS you own: open-source code, your own database, custom plugins and no per-seat bill on the Community Edition. Pick Contentful when a large editorial team across many brands and locales needs a managed service with no servers to run, and the subscription is acceptable. Pick WordPress when the site is mostly pages and posts, marketers want themes and a page builder, and nobody needs a content API.

Drupal fits large multi-site estates with complex editorial permissions and an existing PHP team. When two options tie, we recommend the one your team can maintain after handoff.

How do you keep a Strapi API fast under traffic?

Slow Strapi APIs are usually slow for the same reasons: deep populate queries that pull every relation, missing database indexes and nothing cached in front. Strapi does not cache API responses by itself, so we plan caching per endpoint: a CDN holds published content, a REST cache plugin or Redis sits in front of hot endpoints, and Strapi's publish and update webhooks purge only what changed.

• Populate only the fields and relations each screen needs
• Set the GraphQL depthLimit and maxLimit - Strapi leaves query depth unlimited by default
• Serve images from S3-compatible storage behind a CDN, using the responsive formats Strapi generates
• Load-test in production mode (strapi start) before the front end goes live

Should you hire a Strapi developer or a Strapi development company?

A freelance Strapi developer suits a contained task: one custom field, a plugin fix, an extra content type in a project someone already runs well. Hire a company when the work spans content design, back-end code, the front end and hosting, or when the CMS has to outlive any one person. At Miracuves a Strapi engagement brings a Strapi engineer, a front-end developer, QA and a project manager working to one plan, and ends with a handoff pack: schemas, API documentation, an environment guide and a runbook.

Either way, ask to see the content model before any code. A developer who starts from components and permissions rather than from page layouts is the one to hire.