Payload vs Strapi
A side-by-side comparison of Payload and Strapi — pricing, license, deployment, and where each tool wins.
Payload
payloadcms.com
Open-source alternative to Contentful.
Strapi
strapi.io
The most advanced open-source Content Management Framework (headless-CMS) to build powerful API with no effort.
| Feature | Payload | Strapi |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Model | Open-source | Open-source |
| License | MIT | CC-BY-SA-3.0 |
| Deployment | Cloud, Self-hosted | Self-hosted, Cloud |
| Category | Contentful alternatives | Content Management Systems (CMS) |
| Self-hosted | ✓Yes | ✓Yes |
| Free tier | ✓Yes | ✓Yes |
Pick Payload if…
- ✓You prefer Payload's feature set or ecosystem fit.
Pick Strapi if…
- ✓Broader tag coverage in our catalog (proxy for feature breadth).