How to Build a Multi-Tenant Application with a CMS
AdvancedQuick Answer
TL;DR
To build a multi-tenant application with a CMS, use a headless CMS that supports data isolation between tenants through separate datasets, spaces, or content partitioning. Each tenant gets their own content silo with independent schemas, users, and permissions while sharing the same application code and infrastructure. Sanity's dataset feature, Contentful's spaces, or a self-hosted Strapi with per-tenant databases are the primary approaches.
Key Takeaways
- Multi-tenancy requires strict data isolation—each tenant's content must be completely separate
- Headless CMS platforms with dataset or space features provide built-in tenant isolation
- Key architecture decisions: shared database with row-level isolation vs. separate databases per tenant
- Tenant provisioning (creating new tenants programmatically) must be automated for scale
- Consider per-tenant customization: can tenants modify their content schemas or only their content?