Payload vs Strapi

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

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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Strapi

MIT

Open-source headless CMS on Node.js and TypeScript: visual content-type builder, auto-generated REST and GraphQL APIs, RBAC, i18n and plugins.

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Side-by-side comparison

	Payload	Strapi
License	MIT	MIT
Self-hostable	Yes	Yes
GitHub Stars	45,476	73,378
Forks	4,335	9,904
Open Issues	1,384	643
Last Commit	Oct 25, 2026	Oct 23, 2026
First Released	Jan 5, 2021	Sep 30, 2015
Categories	Headless CMS	Headless CMS
Tags	#headless cms #self hosted #open-source #developer-tools #API	#cms #headless cms #nodejs #GraphQL #rest

GitHub stars over time

Payload

Strapi73,378

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