Best Headless CMS in 2024

Disclaimer

This article is not sponsored. Our team possesses extensive experience in working with various headless CMS platforms, having successfully developed over 100+ projects utilizing different headless CMS solutions. We are dedicated to providing an honest and impartial assessment. Many blogs we’ve encountered endorse various headless CMS options, not necessarily because they are the best, but often due to partnerships with the respective companies or because the blog content is authored by individuals affiliated with those companies. At Weframe Tech, experts in Jamstack and headless commerce, we want to clarify that we are not sponsored by any particular entity in this article. We have chosen to highlight the top three headless CMS platforms based on our firsthand experience. As a developer-first agency, we have extensively utilized a wide range of headless CMS solutions and believe that open-source options are superior. Therefore, we will only cover the headless CMS options that not only match the capabilities of enterprise-level alternatives but also offer better cost-effectiveness and scalability, with no limitations for various use cases

Overview

Headless CMS tools are content management solutions that focus on managing website content independently of its design. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, you can learn more about it in this video.If you’re wondering which one suits your needs better, we’re here to provide you with a comprehensive comparison of the top headless CMS options. This article will outline the pros and cons of each, helping you make an informed decision about which one to select. Let’s delve into the details.

Best Headless CMS 2024?—?The?List

1. Directus CMS

Description: Directus is an node js based open-source headless CMS that empowers you to manage content with ease. It offers a user-friendly interface, complete customization, and flexibility to connect with any frontend framework or technology.

2. Payload CMS

Description: Payload is a developer-friendly headless CMS designed for speed and efficiency. It provides a robust API, real-time collaboration, and a simple yet powerful content modeling system to streamline your content management processes.

3. Strapi CMS

Description: Strapi is a highly extensible and customizable headless CMS. It offers a rich set of features, including user authentication, content types, and plugins, making it a versatile choice for building scalable and content-rich applications.

GitHub Metrics and Funding Updates as of January,?2024

• Strapi’s GitHub repository has garnered 58.3k stars and 7.4k forks.
• Directus’ GitHub repository has accumulated 24.4k stars and 3.4k forks.
• Payload ’ GitHub repository has accumulated 16.7k stars and 939 forks

In terms of funding

• Strapi has secured $45 million in funding.
• Directus has received $8 million in funding.
• Payload has received $5.5 million in funding

Pricing and Specifications Comparison

All three Payload,Strapi, and Directus CMS are free and open source, unless you choose to use their respective cloud hosting services. Additionally, it’s essential to consider the platform requirements for each CMS, which are crucial for a meaningful comparison:

Strapi Requirements Minimum

• CPU: 2+ cores?, Memory: 4GB+, Disk: 32GB+

Directus Requirements Minimum

• CPU: 1+ cores, Memory: 1GB+?,Disk: 2GB+

Payload Requirements Minimum

• CPU: 2+ cores, Memory: 4 GB+?,Disk: 8GB+

Database Comparison

Directus extends its support to a diverse range of six database clients, encompassing Postgres, MySQL, OracleDB, MsSQL, Sqlite3, and CockroachDB. In comparison, Strapi offers compatibility with a more limited selection, including just four database clients: Postgres, MySQL, MariaDB, and SQLite.And payload cms supports Postgres and MongoDB

Use Cases

1 Directus: Directus tops our list for several reasons. Unlike a typical headless CMS that primarily manages website content, Directus transcends into the realm of Backend-as-a-Service and more. It is an open-source backend solution capable of powering diverse projects. Directus serves as a dynamic data engine, making it a robust platform for everything, from creating straightforward websites that handle content to developing complex and large SaaS applications. Additionally, it can be seamlessly integrated into headless commerce setups, as demonstrated in this comprehensive article from Directus 100 Tools, Apps, and Platforms You Can Build With Directus To gain insights into how our team has harnessed Directus to build various use cases, ranging from simple business websites to complex SaaS solutions and app backends, please explore our case study

Payload CMS is another versatile solution that closely resembles Directus in its ability to function as a backend for a wide array of use cases, ranging from content management for websites to supporting app development. It secures the second position on our list. However, Directus CMS offers additional built-in features, such as the ability to write custom code for handling notification management, payment management etc with an extension feature, as well as Flow?—?a GUI-based automation feature. Directus also provides capabilities for handling webhooks and managing CRON jobs, among other functionalities. Moreover, Directus excels in tailoring insights to meet specific project requirements. When it comes to user-friendliness and customization options, Directus stands out, though it does come at a higher cost.

Strapi: Strapi takes the third spot on our list, primarily because it is designed primarily for headless CMS purposes. While it is suitable for creating basic backends for simple use cases, Strapi may not be the ideal choice for complex backend development or intricate use cases. If your requirement is limited to managing content for a straightforward website, Strapi can certainly serve that purpose effectively.

Project structure

Strapi’s architectural design relies heavily on local files, encompassing collections models, life-cycle hooks, and various other components, all meticulously defined within configuration files.

In contrast, Directus stores the majority of its components in the database, except for custom plugins such as hooks, app modifications, and endpoints. Here is an overview of what your Directus project’s initial setup entails

Payload uses config files, which are responsible for almost anything the CMS can do. Examples include defining data models, custom validations, hooks logic, authentication, and more. Payload groups content into collections. Each collection creates a MongoDB collection automatically based on the defined fields

Which one is best? It depends on what you like. We like Directus more because any changes take effect right away, without waiting for the app to restart, unlike Strapi

Admin UI?Overview

Strapi’s admin app uses React, while Directus employs Vue and payload cms use React. To put it simply, Directus excels in this aspect, offering better customization, speed, and overall coherence

Directus CMS Admin UI

Payload CMS admin UI

Benefits of Directus Compared to Strapi and?Payload

1. Database Integration: Directus can seamlessly adapt to your existing database, enabling you to manage tables that were not originally created with the tool (excluding relational fields, as far as we know). In contrast, Strapi and payload cms require you to initiate your project with it to gain control over your database. While not a significant drawback, this is a noteworthy feature of Directus.
2. Robust Role & Permission System: Directus boasts a robust and powerful role and permission system.

Directus presents a user-friendly and robust permissions management interface within its admin app. Notably, Directus offers the flexibility to create an unlimited number of roles, whereas Strapi’s free version imposes an inexplicable limit of 3 roles. The rationale behind this restriction remains unclear and seems unnecessary.

While Strapi does provide a permissions management interface for roles, Directus takes it to the next level by allowing extensive customization of access conditions and per-field access.

directus roles and permission ui

Payload CMS makes it simple to define and manage access control. By declaring roles, you can set permissions and restrict what your users can interact with.

Directus’ Geospatial Advantage: PostGIS?Support

Directus embraces geographic object support via PostGIS, an extension for PostgreSQL that enhances SQL with the ability to handle geographic object queries. This feature is highly significant in PostgreSQL but curiously absent in Strapi and payload cms. The reason for this omission remains unclear. However, Directus not only offers support for it but also implements it with grace. Don’t hesitate to explore its functionality

Directus’ user interface offers enhanced customization capabilities.

With Directus, you have the flexibility to tailor your admin dashboard to a greater extent compared to Strapi, making it particularly user-friendly for non-technical users. Here are some of the standout features:

1. Field Name Aliases: You can assign an alias to any field within your collections. For instance, if you have a relationship field named “product_inventory,” you can instantly rename it to “Inventory Status” for improved clarity.
2. Conditional Display: Field presentations can be dynamically styled based on specific conditions. For example, you can configure it to display a red dot when a product is out of stock and a green dot when it’s in stock.
3. Collections Grouping: Collections can be organized into categories of your choosing. For instance, you can create a collapsible “Sales” group to conveniently group all sales-related collections.
4. Collection Page Layout Adjustment: Customize the layout of your collection pages as per your preferences. You have the freedom to select from various views (table, cards, map, calendar), and you can show or hide fields as needed, including deep relational fields. This is a significant advantage.

In summary, Directus empowers users with an even higher level of customization in their admin dashboard, making it an excellent choice for a wide range of users, including those who may not possess extensive technical expertise.

Why isn’t Directus and payload not widely recognized?

If you search for terms like “CMS for developers,” “Next CMS,” or “best headless CMS,” you’ll likely find Strapi appearing on the first page ahead of Directus or payload CMS. The contrast in popularity is quite evident.”

Strapi undeniably surpasses Directus and Payload CMS in terms of popularity.

But why is that the case?

To be honest, we’re not entirely certain. Even though Directus has been in existence for longer than Strapi, having its roots in the PHP version prior to v9, Strapi seems to have taken the lead in a big way. This success can perhaps be attributed to their marketing department. We, too, found ourselves swayed when we had to choose between the two tools.

Strapi was presented as the future, an improved alternative to WordPress. Their website had a modern, appealing design compared to Directus, and we distinctly remember a demo project where you could construct an entire frontend using Strapi with Next.js. It got us genuinely excited. However, after using it, we realized that the code under the hood was flawed and buggy.

In our perspective, Directus embodies good code with relatively limited marketing, while Strapi excels in marketing but may fall short in terms of code quality.

How to choose the right Headless CMS from the many options available?

Choosing the right Headless CMS from numerous options involves considering scalability, cost, security, customization, and alignment with your needs. To make an informed decision, you can:

Consult with an expert for their insights.

Join community channels like Slack and Discord to gather user discussions.

Examine the platform’s roadmap on GitHub and gauge community activity in solving issues.

Review online feedback and ratings from users

Final conclusion,

If so-called “best” Headless CMS options like Sanity and Contentful etc, which are currently market leaders in enterprise Headless CMS, come at around $12,000 per year for Sanity and approximately $22,000 for large enterprises using Contentful and other headless cms are between 12,000$ to 25,000$, you might consider open-source alternatives. In this discussion, we have covered the top three open-source Headless CMS options in detail. These alternatives offer similar functionality to enterprise software but provide greater control over code, infrastructure, Cost, Security, Community, Transparency customization, and many more.

However, it’s worth noting that some open-source Headless CMS solutions, such as Strapi, Directus, and Payload, may have licensing fees. For example, with Directus, if a company generates more than $5 million in revenue, although it is open source, you may be required to pay for a license. The basic plan for Directus entails a monthly payment of $700 for up to 2 million API calls, along with additional fees, a structure that is mirrored in Payload and Strapi CMS

Let’s Connect

If you find yourself torn between the two options, Strapi, and directus we highly suggest you read this article Strapi VS Directus.

Avoid getting swayed by These Enterprise Headless CMS platforms formidable marketing tactics.

In the fiercely competitive realm of JAMstack and headless Commerce, maintaining a competitive edge is paramount. JAMstack stands out as a technological breakthrough, offering companies a future-proof, high-performance, scalable, and distinctive digital experience. While the initial investment for the transition may be significant, it’s a venture well worth pursuing. Rely on our team for open-source JAMstack and headless commerce development services to ready your sales platform for enhanced conversions, both in the immediate future and the long term

If you have further questions or require additional information, our team is available to assist, and we can provide case studies with real-world figures to guide your decisions book a meeting now.