🆚 Directus vs. Payload CMS

Compare technologies based on real-world usage data *

Type

Content management system
Content management system

About

Directus is an open-source headless CMS and data platform that lets developers build APIs from custom SQL data models while providing non-technical users with a friendly admin interface to manage structured content.

It automatically generates REST and GraphQL endpoints from the database schema, supports multiple SQL databases, and offers role-based access control, field-level permissions, versioning, workflows, asset management, real-time previews, and custom dashboards.

Payload is an open-source application framework and headless CMS built with Next.js that supports both self-hosting and cloud deployment.

It features automatic REST and GraphQL APIs from code-defined schemas, supports MongoDB and Postgres databases, and provides versioning and drafts, field-level localization, over 20 field types, granular access control, live preview, and a block-based layout builder.

Headquarters

New York, United States
San Francisco, California, United States

Website

Pricing

Self-Hosted
Free version ✔️For organizations with < $5M in total annual income, open source
Production LicenseCustom
Cloud
Starter
(1 user, 5K DB entries)
$180/year
Professional
(5 users, 75K DB entries)
$1,188/year
Business
(10 users, 250K DB entries)
$1,188/year
EnterpriseCustom
Free ✔️Self-hosted, open source

Categories

CMS › Rank #116
CMS › Rank #78

Popularity

Determined by the number of sites using each technology.

The Payload CMS platform is 2.2 times more popular than Directus.
Total websites

Market share

CMS

Popularity by country

Determined by the number of sites detected from each country.

Payload CMS is more popular in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, while Directus is more popular in France, Russia, and Spain.
United States
Germany
United Kingdom
France
Australia
Netherlands
Canada
Sweden
Russia
India

Awards

Popularity by domain category

Determined by the number of sites in each category.

Payload CMS is more popular among sites focused on business, software and hardware, and entertainment, while Directus is more commonly used on Internet services, marketing and merchandising, and real estate sites.
Business
Internet Services
Marketing/Merchandising
Software/Hardware
Entertainment
Real Estate
Education/Reference
Online Shopping
Sports
Health

Top sites

Top-ranked sites that use these technologies.

Name
Rank
#8,547
#28,828
View more ➝
Name
Rank
#1,027
#38,499
View more ➝

See also

* According to recent studies, many of online reviews are fake.
When making your decision, it is better to rely on data that cannot be falsified.
Our service evaluates the popularity of technologies by the number of websites using them.

Statistics were last calculated on .
For details, see our methodology and disclaimer.