Headless CMS · decision tool
Strapi alternatives — ranked for your stack
Leaving Strapi? The other headless CMS options ranked at your usage, budget and constraints on documented capabilities — plus when Strapi is still the right call.
Capabilities verified 2026-07-17 against official documentation · fit weights are our estimates (see methodology) · share the URL to share your configuration
As of Jul 2026, for this page's default requirements, Payload and Directus are effectively tied (59% vs 58% capability fit) — no clear winner; the choice is a tradeoff. This is a capability-fit decision, not a price ranking — StackSays does not invent a unified dollar comparison across these tools' incompatible billing units. Change any requirement below and the verdict recomputes.
Your requirements
The verdict updates as you change these. Share the URL to share your answers.
No clear winner
Payload and Directus tie for your requirements
The top options score within a few points — the choice comes down to preference and the tradeoffs below, not a decisive capability gap. Fit weights are our estimates.
Ranked by capability fit
Payload vs Directus — the tradeoffs that decide it
- Wrap existing database: Payload — Content-model-first. Directus — Database-first when you may want a content model.
When to pick Directus instead: when the lines above where it leads matter more to you than the ones where Payload leads. Change the inputs to see the ranking flip.
This is a capability-fit decision, not a price ranking — these tools bill in incompatible units (per-search vs per-RAM cluster vs per-PB scanned) and several publish rates only in their own calculators, so StackSays does not invent a unified dollar comparison. Every score above traces to a documented capability; see Data sources below.
At a glance
| Tool | Deployment | Open source | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanity | Managed only | No | 2026-07-17 |
| Payload | Self-hosted | Yes | 2026-07-17 |
| Contentful | Managed only | No | 2026-07-17 |
| Storyblok | Managed only | No | 2026-07-17 |
| Directus | Self-hosted | Yes | 2026-07-17 |
Data sources
| Tool | Source | Verified |
|---|---|---|
| Sanity | Sanity pricing (official) | 2026-07-17 |
| Payload | Payload (open source, self-host) | 2026-07-17 |
| Contentful | Contentful pricing (official) | 2026-07-17 |
| Storyblok | Storyblok pricing (official) | 2026-07-17 |
| Directus | Directus pricing (official) | 2026-07-17 |
A monitor re-checks these pages for changes; when a vendor moves a price, the date updates and every verdict recomputes.