Directus vs Payload

Comparing two open source alternatives to Contentful. Use the comparison below to decide which one fits your needs.

Directus

MSCL-1.0

Source-available headless CMS and backend that turns any SQL database into REST and GraphQL APIs with a no-code admin Studio.

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Payload

MIT

Open-source, TypeScript-first headless CMS and app framework that runs natively in Next.js with a code-defined backend and admin UI.

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Side-by-side comparison

	Directus	Payload
License	MSCL-1.0	MIT
Self-hostable	Yes	Yes
GitHub Stars	38,631	45,476
Forks	4,981	4,335
Open Issues	351	1,384
Last Commit	Oct 23, 2026	Oct 25, 2026
First Released	Dec 12, 2012	Jan 5, 2021
Categories	Headless CMS	Headless CMS
Tags	#headless cms #self hosted #API #developer-tools #cms	#headless cms #self hosted #open-source #developer-tools #API

GitHub stars over time

Directus

Payload45,476

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