Directus vs Payload

Centralpoint

Kontent.ai

Adobe Experience Manager

Centralpoint by Oxcyon is a digital experience platform & content management solution for enterprises. The cloud-based tool allows users to control knowledge, data, documents, forms, emails, learning, compliance, & more whilst also providing features for managing employees, clients & partners.

The industry’s first AI-powered CMS that helps the world’s leading organizations achieve an unparalleled return on their content.


Built on an AI-based foundation, Adobe Experience Manager is a comprehensive suite of composable content services that empowers teams to deliver the right content to customers when and where they need it, all at scale. Adobe Experience Manager includes content and asset management, digital forms and guides, and a learning management system.

Directus is an open-source headless content management system (CMS) that helps businesses store content in custom SQL databases and access them through an API. Using the Directus App, supervisors can sort items into several categories and customize the platform according to brand requirements.

Access Controls/Permissions

Activity Dashboard

Audio File Management

Authentication

Categorization/Grouping

Collaboration Tools

Configurable Workflow

Content Management

Content Publishing Options

Customer Database

Customizable Branding

Customizable Forms

Data Connectors

Data Import/Export

Data Management

De-Coupled Front & Back Ends

Deployment Management

Digital Asset Management

Document Classification

Document Management

Drag & Drop

Electronic Forms

File Management

Filtering

For Developers

For Marketers

Full Text Search

Image Editing

Integrations Management

KPI Monitoring

Mobile Access

Multi-Channel Marketing

Multi-Language

Personalization

Project Workflow

Role-Based Permissions

SDKs

Search/Filter

Secure Data Storage

SEO Management

Single Page View

Single Sign On

Text Editing

Two-Factor Authentication

Version Control

Video Support

Visual Modeling

Website Management

Workflow Management

Open Source

Directus

Web-based

Windows

Linux

Chromebook

Strapi

prismic.io

WordPress

Contentstack

Community Cloud

Standard Cloud

Enterprise

Software Engineer

The main differentiator for us was their implementation of a multi tenancy solution.  

Overall it's a good product, some issues are solved by the new versions.

Creative Director

It's even more customizable than many paid competitors around that we tried.

Extremely pleased and surprised that this a open-source software.

Full Stack Developer

The latest version is written on NodeJS but uses a snake case compared to camelcase which is a JavaScript standard.

Director Product and Technology

From a product and/or IT lead perspective, it brings you so much power for so many use cases - without a huge price tag or complexity.

There might be one version again, but focus is definitely with NodeJS. If you want to host it yourself and are not able to run Node or Docker, you might run into problems.

Developer

Directus provided us a tool to easily prepare CMS for any website we prepare.

Co-Founder, CTO

Truly open source gives commercial products a run for their money, super helpful community, rapid development, easy customization

I'll start with the flexibility, you can create and edit every table in real-time and in an easy-to-use GUI.

Software Architect

No Spatial Data Types (searching by distance is not possible)

Full Stack Developper

The interface is so user friendly and has a solid and highly customizable backend for all the needs.

The GraphQL has been a great addition to the latest technology, and additionally, the community support is one the best I have had experienced. As I said, you will love it!

I never experienced any smoother experience setting up any content management system (including the old guys like WordPress or Drupal).

Potential con for some people: The PHP version got more or less deprecated.

full-stack web developer

more docs for deploying to other platforms

Student

Not all v8 interfaces are available in v9

I also started using it's javascript sdk client and it's simply awesome!

Lost about a day when it would've taken half-an-hour with some good documentation.

Easy to setup, no code configuration was a big time saver. Once I figured out what was necessary for deployment, it was a breeze.

Founder

I am learning more Directus for now, it is simply sexy and ease to use for my new projects in the future.

The maintainers are super active on their Discord community and are super friendly.

It is free, if you are able to host it yourself!

it's nodejs based  highly customized and a great product at all

It's easy to set up and I got it running in less than 15 minutes.

It's really easy to setup and encourages to learn new technologies

Project Management

Setup

Version Release

Customer Support

User Interface

Pricing

Community Support

React Development

Small Business

Large Enterprises

Freelancers

Mid-size Business

Monospace Inc

Strapi is the #1 open-source headless CMS. It's JavaScript-based, fully customizable and self-hosted.  

Strapi helps developers to build projects faster by providing a customizable API out of the box and giving them the freedom to use their favorite stack.

Agility CMS

Headless content management system helping teams deliver content across websites, apps, and channels with enterprise-grade security.

An open-source, TypeScript headless CMS built to catapult your efficiency as a developer. From your config, Payload generates extensible REST, GraphQL, and Node APIs as well as a powerful React admin panel.

A/B Testing

Approval Process Control

Asset Lifecycle Management

Content Library

Customizable Templates

Historical Reporting

Multi-Channel Distribution

Multi-Channel Management

Preview Functionality

Rich Text Editor

Rule Based Publishing

Scheduling

Tagging

Template Management

Third-Party Integrations

User Management

Web Forms

Payload

Basic

You can turn Payload into anything, either a rapid prototyping framework, or a content management hub

Head of Technology

Payload enables you to build complex data structures, promote content reuse and serves as an extensible foundation for any web project.

Software Developer

very easy to set up and get started- great user access and grant management with third-party SSO integration- easily define similar document structures with the ability to completely customize the visual presentation

Also the response times within the Community are very fast if you have questions and the founders are always there for a chat and take recommondations thoughtfully

Product Owner

Sometimes it's kinda difficult to customize the design, but that's not really a big deal since it's used as a backoffice anyway.

The lack of enough community support for the product is the major drawback I found on the product.

CEO 

The backend is extremely easily extendable, the administration panel UI is clean and easy to use.

IT Specialist

Overall, the cms is great and easy to use for website backends, but also as apis or internal tooling.

Software developer

I love an easy-to-use API, SDKs, and comprehensive documentation.

Senior Software Engineer

The support team worked with me to resolve them, though.

Payload is the most user friendly and developer oriented cms I’ve used so far.

Directus vs Payload Comparison (2026)

Directus

Payload

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives