Kontent.ai vs Payload

Adobe Experience Manager

Strapi

Contentful

Directus

Sanity

Contentstack

Compare Kontent.ai and Payload based on features, pricing, verified reviews, integrations & more on GetApp. Find out which software is best for your business in 2026.

Contentstack is a headless CMS software designed to help businesses deliver personalized content experiences to audiences via multiple channels including mobile or web devices, augmented or virtual reality platforms, and more using a JSON architecture and content delivery network (CDN)-backed APIs.

Contentful, the leading content platform for digital-first business. It enables greater speed and scale than traditional CMS solutions. Contentful unifies content in a single hub, structures it for use in any digital channel, and integrates seamlessly with hundreds of other tools through open APIs.

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.

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


Access Controls/Permissions

Activity Dashboard

Activity Tracking

AI Copilot

Alerts/Notifications

Analytics

Approval Process Control

Archiving & Retention

Asset Lifecycle Management

Audio File Management

Audit Trail

Calendar Management

Categorization/Grouping

Chatbot

Collaboration Tools

Commenting/Notes

Compliance Management

Configurable Workflow

Content Delivery

Content Library

Content Management

Content Publishing Options

Customizable Templates

De-Coupled Front & Back Ends

Digital Asset Management

Document Classification

Document Management

Document Review

Document Storage

Drag & Drop

Drag & Drop Editor

File Management

Filtering

For Developers

For Marketers

Full Text Search

Generative AI

Historical Reporting

Image Editing

Indexing

Information Governance

Metadata Management

Mobile Access

Multi-Channel Distribution

Multi-Channel Management

Multi-Channel Marketing

Multi-Language

Preview Functionality

Reporting & Statistics

Reporting/Analytics

Rich Text Editor

Role-Based Permissions

Rule Based Publishing

Scheduling

SDKs

Search/Filter

Secure Data Storage

Secure Login

SEO Management

Single Sign On

Social Media Integration

Tagging

Task Management

Template Management

Text Editing

Third-Party Integrations

Two-Factor Authentication

User Management

Version Control

Video Support

Website Management

Website Publishing Options

Workflow Management

Kontent.ai

Web-based

Lead Developer

Best support I have ever had, super competitive team, instant replies. Feedback is very welcomed.

application owner

It's a stable CMS and our website is fast on the front-end, thanks to our static rendered pages. As we have chosen for MACH architecture, Kontent.ai is the perfect CMS system.

Software Engineer

Overall it has been a good experience, the platform is stable, customer support is very helpful, it's definitely a modern headless CMS, well crafted.

Marketing Director

From the moment we started talking to Kontent.ai we were thrilled with the support and assistance.

SEO 

This software is extremely user friendly for base users, but also has the ability to expand its features for a user that may want to do more with their content than just text and images.

Communications Manager

I have had problems uploading videos and photos to the site. I have also had problems inserting bullet points when necessary in my content.

In really complex scenarios admin UI is starting to be a little confusing. Admin UI is available only in the English language, which is sometimes a problem for our Czech clients.

Website Content Specialist

Their sales and customer support teams have been highly responsive to our issues and are overall a pleasure to work with.

Senior Frontend Developer

After initial set up, its is very developer friendly and gives you a lot of freedom to build what you want.

Director of Technology

Easy integration with a variety of back-ends using their SDK - we have used the Javascript SDK to integrate into Node.js projects very effortlessly. The API is feature rich, for example.

Solution Architect

Great support from the Kentico Kontent team is encouraging the team to put the platform as a genuine alternative to the traditional CMS route.

Head of Technology Solutions

What I like the most about Kentico is Ease of use and support it provides.

Director of Content

With Kontent.ai, we have greater control over our content workflows and processes, and we have streamlined many of them.

Key Partners Account

Example: Publishing/Unpublishing an item does not immediately reflect on the icons (need to refresh to visualise the correct status), which can be confusing sometimes.

Engineer BDS FSC Field Support

The GraphQL and REST APIs work effortlessly with the modern software stack. The Kontent team managed to create a simple but powerful user interface with a flat learning curve.

Translator

I can't think of anything I dislike about the product.

Kontent.ai screenshot: Create great content faster. AI assistance can bear the heavy workload of generating texts, summaries, translations, and variants. This enables human creators to deliver more strategic value and do their best work.


Kontent.ai screenshot: Total visibility into all operations. Mission Control supports efficient content production from start to finish. By tracking team progress and pace in one place, it’s easier to catch issues early and keep everything on track.

Kontent.ai screenshot: Governance built into every action. Governance is non-negotiable for delivering consistent content. User roles, permissions, and workflow management help organizations meet stringent compliance standards and mitigate risk.


Kontent.ai screenshot: On-the-fly content edits. Adjust content when you need to, without relying on developers. Fix typos, update key information, or issue corrections and deploy those changes everywhere in seconds.

Kontent.ai screenshot: Collaboration in one place. Close frustrating feedback loops, while making your message stronger. Easily action feedback by leveraging suggestions, auto-replace, versioning, tasks, and more. Easy, familiar, all in one place. 

Large Enterprises

Mid Size Business

Small Business

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.

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.

Sanity is a unified content platform with an open-source CMS designed for modern organizations of all sizes, specifically designers, developers, and collaborative teams. The platform’s editing environment, Sanity Studio—built with React.js—provides rapid configuration and free form customization for content workflows. This flexible environment allows teams to complete editing while working with reusable, structured content.

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

Customizable Forms

Web Forms

Payload

Linux

Windows

Co-Founder

It's been an easy & seamless process and gaining support as an agency partner has been great. We look forward to a bright future with Payload.

Developer

Payload has many great features and amazing and fast support. The advantage is that the project is open source and some people are creating amazing ideas.

Engineer

Super intuitive to get started with, built on top of common Node packages such as Express, it was very easy to get started with and do advanced integrations with the platform.

Payload offers the best developer and content manager experience of all the headless CMSs we've tried. It's open source, and the Payload team are very supportive and easy to reach.

Fullstack developer

Payload is everything I was looking for in a CMS for the last couple years. It is such a pleasure to use a tool developed with so much care in user and developer experience.

Senior Software Developer

Building out a dynamic website that a client can update themselves is a painless task with PayloadCMS, and I plan to continue building awesome projects with it.

Director

The Payload team and the community are amazing. My agency now uses PayloadCMS exclusively.

CEO 

Payload is all we can want in terms of balance between developer experience and editor experience. The backend is extremely easily extendable, the administration panel UI is clean and easy to use.

PayloadCMS is the perfect addition to the modern ecosystem of Node with full typescript support, serverless hosting, intuitive code practices and an easy to use interface.

I would have expected more examples in the documentation, some things are missing or incorrect. Payload also doesn't use concepts that some may be used to.

Some convenient functionalities are still missing, e.g. bulk upload, display where media elements are used across the system, locking documents for other users while being edited/live collaboration.

At the moment the CMS is only limited to MongoDB databases but we know the team at Payload is hard working on a Postgres adapter that will ceil the deal for us.

Frontend Developer

You can create everything in code and you do not need any kind of GUI to create a Schema. Also everything is in Typescript so it makes the developement process really easy and fast.

I think the biggest disadvantage to PayloadCMS is its young age.

Sr. Full-Stack Software Developer

It has been a pleasant experience to use Payload as my backend option. Only one place to configure my DB, API, and CMS in a simple way.

On top of all that, it is open source and both the team behind it and the community around it are totally wholesome.

Kontent.ai vs Payload Comparison (2026)

Kontent.ai

Payload

Overview

Video & Screenshots

Pricing

User reviews

Key features

Integrations

Alternatives