Best Headless CMS to Choose in 2025: Directus vs Strapi vs Payload vs Sanity

What You’ll Learn From This Headless CMS Comparison

• Avoidance the hidden traps of picking the wrong CMS early.
• Judging platforms by the 7 important criteria 
• Comparasiion best headless cms like Directus, Strapi, Payload, and Sanity in a friendly way.
• Understanding headless CMS advantages and trade-offs.
• Clarification the real cost and timeline of adopting each CMS.

Directus CMS

Directus isn’t a “fill-in-these-fields” CMS. It wraps your existing SQL database and instantly exposes it through a modern admin UI plus real-time REST/GraphQL APIs. In practice, it’s a smart adapter: raw tables on one side, product and ops teams on the other, talking fluently.

Directus CMS suitable for businesses of any size, including small businesses. This means you can stand up a credible control panel fast, run operations without building admin screens from scratch, and still own your data end-to-end. It’s 100% open source and positioning itself as the database-first headless CMS, a serious contender on any list of CMS platforms in 2025.

Directus CMS Advantages

• Database-first CMS: Works directly with all major SQL DBs. If you already have a DB schema, Directus can generate an admin dashboard website instantly.
• GraphQL & REST APIs auto-generated: Every schema you define automatically generates REST and GraphQL endpoints.
• Open source: Free core, BSL (Business Source License), growing GitHub community.
• Advanced extension system: Hooks, Flow Operations, Extension SDK (App and API) and integrations let you have clean and safe upgrades and reusability across projects
• Great for structured data: Analytics apps, IoT dashboards, B2B SaaS where relational data is the backbone.
• Small-team friendly: Fast setup and a clear path from MVP to production.
• Self-hosting control: Deploy anywhere (AWS, DigitalOcean, Heroku, Vercel).

Directus Weaknesses

• Less opinionated: For some founders, “freedom” means “more decisions.” You must design your DB carefully.
• Smaller ecosystem: Compared to Strapi, fewer plug-and-play templates and marketplace add-ons.
• UI feels developer-oriented: Clean, but non-technical teams may need onboarding.
• Hosting is often on you. Cloud is available but most teams self-host. Requires DevOps muscle (backups, scaling, security).
• Docs are not as polished as some competitors.
• The Directus admin panel is a Vue 3 application. Therefore, creating advanced custom UI requires Vue.js knowledge. The platform's philosophy strongly encourages this customization to be done exclusively through its official Extension System, while discouraging any direct modification of the core application code to ensure stability and upgradeability.
• Initial dev effort to set up and start using Directus is low, but to customize it deeply you need to learn Directus-specific extension API and patterns, and there is no core app control.
• Learning the SDK: You must learn the Directus-specific extension API and patterns.
• Sandboxed: You are confined to the capabilities and hooks provided by the SDK, which might not allow for extremely deep core modifications.
• Requires a SQL database only (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, etc.).

What Founders Say About Directus

Why do founders pick it?

Founders like Directus because it helps them ship fast without surrendering control of their data. Common praise: you can model your own DB and instantly get a polished admin for non-technical teammates; Flows and no-code dashboards speed up MVPs; role-based permissions are granular; and it can serve as a full backend for SaaS.

What gives them pause?

Caveats they flag: the BSL-style license (free under a financial cap, converts to GPL after a few years) makes some teams wary; major version shifts (e.g., the move from the old PHP stack) created migration pain for earlier adopters; performance on Directus Cloud can vary; and the extension ecosystem is still growing. Directus is a great fit for lean teams that want DB-first control and a ready admin, but if you’re scaling past the revenue threshold or need long-horizon stability, review licensing and upgrade paths early.

Sources: indiehackers.com; reddit.com; news.ycombinator.com

Decision making

Choose Directus if you value a clean separation between core and custom code, want a stable upgrade path, and prefer working within a structured, modular system (Extension SDK) rather than modifying the core application itself.

Directus Development Partner

We build real control rooms with Directus for companies of all sizes. Kernelics is a Directus partner with dozens of successful builds, from MVPs to full enterprise deployments. When you want to hire directus developer for a clean, upgrade-safe setup, we’re your team. Want proof of our work? See the case study at the end of this article.

Strapi CMS

Strapi headless CMS is a widely used, open-source headless CMS built on Node.js and React. It defines your content schema in its own layer and auto-generates REST and GraphQL APIs, so teams can ship structured content to websites, apps, and storefronts without reinventing the backend.

For businesses of any size, especially small teams, that means you can start fast, let non-technical editors manage content through clear roles and approvals, and keep developers productive in a familiar JS stack. When you’re ready to move faster, you can hire strapi developers to support your team.

Strapi CMS Advantages

• Mature ecosystem: Massive GitHub stars, community plugins, tutorials. Safe bet.
• GraphQL & REST APIs auto-generated: Every schema you define automatically generates REST and GraphQL endpoints.
• Role-based access control (RBAC): Non-tech teams can self-manage content with granular permissions.
• Extensible plugin system: Add-ons for SEO, media libraries, workflows, etc.
• Customizable: Hooks, middleware, and APIs give devs freedom to extend.
• Self-hosting control: Deploy anywhere (AWS, DigitalOcean, Heroku, Vercel).
• Enterprise-ready cloud option with SLA, SSO, and scaling.
• Low initial dev effort, growing over time.
• Open Source: Free core, MIT License, growing GitHub community.

Strapi Weaknesses

• Heavier setup: More boilerplate than Sanity or Directus. Expect 2-5 days for a robust MVP setup.
• Dev dependant: Requires deep dev knowledge for advanced customization.
• Schema migrations: Can get messy at scale, harder than schema-as-code CMSs.
• Performance at scale: Needs tuning when handling large volumes of content.
• Customizing the core admin panel can make upgrading to new Strapi versions a painful process, as your customizations may conflict with changes in the core.
• To make a deep customization that isn't possible through the standard configuration or plugin APIs you’d need to “eject” a part of the admin panel (like a component) into your own project's codebase. Once you eject a component, you are responsible for maintaining it. Future updates to Strapi will not automatically update your ejected component, which can create upgrade headaches.

What Founders Say About Strapi

Why do founders pick it?

Founders and devs pick Strapi because it’s open-source, self-hostable, and fast to ship with a usable admin out of the box. People report running multiple client projects on it, calling it a daily driver; others use it in production to feed static site generators and like the overall productivity.

What gives them pause?

The most common caveats from founder-type voices: API responses can be deeply nested, the admin can feel “clicky,” and joining related data sometimes means writing middleware, pushing some teams to Payload/Sanity instead. A few caution that Strapi is overkill for simple blogs, debate the value of Strapi Cloud pricing vs self-hosting, and note rough edges around some v5.x TypeScript builds.

Sources: indiehackers.com; reddit.com; news.ycombinator.com; strapi.io

Decision making

Choose Strapi if you prefer a traditional framework, need a powerful out-of-the-box experience, and are comfortable potentially dealing with upgrade complexities for deep customizations.

Payload CMS

If your team lives in TypeScript, Payload CMS feels like home. It’s schema-as-code, lives in your repo, and ships like the rest of your app. Unlike GUI-driven tools (e.g., Strapi), you describe collections, fields, and rules in TypeScript and let Payload generate the REST/GraphQL you need.

It positions itself as the modern developer’s alternative to legacy CMSs like WordPress or a Strapi alternative for dev-heavy SaaS teams.

Payload functions as a powerful, code-first framework to build your custom CMS, rather than a rigid application you configure. This means full code control over every aspect, from data models and APIs to the admin panel's UI components, all defined in TypeScript directly within your repository.

This approach is highly opinionated in its developer architecture, providing robust guardrails while being completely unopinionated about your final content structure and output. It's truly a developer's toolbox for building bespoke content infrastructure.

Payload has officially moved its main framework to Next.js. While the core Payload package remains framework-agnostic, the recommended way to start a new Payload project is now by using their Next.js template. This means:

• The Admin Panel is now a Next.js application.
• The API routes are Next.js API routes.
• The entire project is a single, cohesive Next.js app.

This is a massive advantage if your frontend is also in Next.js, as it simplifies development and deployment (e.g., you can deploy your entire Payload CMS + frontend to Vercel in one go).

Payload CMS Advantages

• Schema-as-code: Everything (collections, fields, access rules) is defined in TypeScript. No “click ops.”
• Modern developer experience (DX): Excellent TypeScript integration with strong IDE auto-completion, linting, and type safety.
• Built-in features: Authentication (local, JWT, OAuth), file uploads, RBAC, granular access control, and even built-in support for payments (Stripe integration).
• GraphQL & REST APIs auto-generated: Every schema you define automatically generates REST and GraphQL endpoints. APIs are designed to integrate with Next.js.
• Extensibility: You can write React components, hooks, custom resolvers, and middleware directly in code.
• Self-host anywhere: Since it’s Next.js-based, you can run Payload on Vercel, AWS, DigitalOcean, or Docker. No lock-in, no hidden limits.
• First-Class Next.js Integration & Monorepo-Friendly: Its deep integration with Next.js (including the admin panel being a Next.js app) allows for a streamlined full-stack development. This makes it ideal for monorepos, where your CMS, frontend, and other app logic can coexist and ship as a single, cohesive application.
• Performance (Local API): The Local API allows for extremely fast server-side data fetching, bypassing HTTP overhead for SSR/SSG. Usually to interact with your content from within your own server logic, you would typically use their JavaScript SDKs to make an HTTP call to your own API. In Payload you can interact with your data directly, as if it were a native database ORM, because your Payload instance is part of your Next.js app
• Payload is database agnostic, meaning you can use any type of database behind Payload's familiar APIs with current support of several Adapters for PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and SQLite

Payload Weaknesses

• High Initial Effort & UI Building Responsibility: Due to its nature as a CMS framework, Payload demands a higher initial development effort. Developers are primarily responsible for building the granular UI components of the admin panel (beyond its functional defaults) to meet specific content editor needs.
• Steeper Learning Curve (The "Payload Way"): Mastering Payload's opinionated development patterns for defining collections, fields, hooks, and especially custom admin components, involves a steeper initial learning curve compared to GUI-driven or more opinionated content-first CMSs.
• Smaller ecosystem: Payload still has a smaller community and a less mature ecosystem than Strapi or Directus There are fewer "Plug-and-Play" Admin Panel features, project Templates/Boilerplates and app starters
• Ops burden: For now cloud solution is only available for existing customers, so you have to self-host handling scaling, monitoring, backups.
• Migrations to manage: You own schema/versioning strategies; complexity grows with models.
• Opinionated Development Style: While flexible, Payload does have an opinionated way of structuring its configuration and types. Developers need to learn "The Payload Way."
• Community Size: While growing, its community is still smaller than Strapi's, meaning fewer immediate answers for niche problems.
• UI Customization Requires React knowledge: Making the admin panel truly bespoke (beyond basic theming) means writing custom React components, which requires React knowledge.

What Founders Say About Payload

Why do founders pick it?

It’s developer-first, Next.js-native, open-source and self-hostable, so you can keep infra costs low while shipping fast. Folks like that Payload doubles as a mini-app framework (auth, permissions, Local API) so one deployment can serve both the admin and your app, which is handy for lean teams and early SaaS builds. Several founders/dev leads praise responsive maintainers, and the code-first schema/extensibility that lets them add custom fields and reuse the admin as a general backend.

What gives them pause?

A few report a learning curve (big codebase, “opinionated” feel), gaps in docs/templates during fast-moving releases, and note that the e-commerce starter relies heavily on Stripe and isn’t ready for complex stores out of the box. Others mention slow compile/build times at scale, and migration pain across major versions.

Sources: indiehackers.com; reddit.com; payloadcms.com

Decision making

Choose Payload if you are a React developer who wants absolute control, treats the admin panel as an integral part of your app that needs heavy design and behavioral changes, and you don't mind writing more code upfront.

Sanity CMS

Sanity headless CMS is a cloud-native, real-time, collaboration-first headless CMS. It’s less about managing raw databases and more about content workflows plus strong developer tooling.

The hallmark is its hosted Content Lake: you define schemas in JavaScript/TypeScript, while editors work in a sleek, multiplayer Studio that feels modern and fast. Editorial teams love it; large orgs use it at scale. When teams compare Strapi vs Sanity, the choice often boils down to dev flexibility (Strapi) versus real-time content workflows (Sanity).

Sanity CMS Advantages

• Real-time collaboration: Like Figma/Notion, multiple editors can work in parallel with presence indicators and conflict resolution.
• Schema as code: Define models in JavaScript/TypeScript. Schema-as-code approach integrates cleanly with CI/CD pipelines.
• Portable Text: Sanity’s custom JSON-based rich text format gives developers control over how structured content renders.
• Powerful APIs: Content is exposed via GROQ (Sanity’s query language) and GraphQL.
• Customizable Studio: The Sanity Studio (the admin panel) is a React application, so devs can extend it with React components, custom input types, or plugins.
• i18n & rich editing: Multilingual, structured content handled natively. Localization is model-based, making translation workflows less hacky than in many other CMS platforms.
• Cloud-native scaling: Sanity handles infrastructure, global CDN, image pipelines, and asset optimization out of the box.
• Marketplace & ecosystem: Plugins for things like Shopify and Slack integrate directly.
• Low Initial Dev Effort for Setup: Like Directus and Strapi, getting a basic Sanity Studio up and running to define schemas and enter content is very fast, often taking minutes to hours.
• No Ops Burden: As a fully managed cloud service, Sanity takes care of hosting, scaling, backups, security, and CDN for your Content Lake and Studio. This frees up developer time significantly.
• Sanity's Studio is open-source (MIT License).

Sanity Weaknesses

• Cloud-only: No option to self-host. If your compliance strategy requires on-prem hosting, Sanity may be a blocker.
• Pricing: Free to start, but Sanity CMS pricing scales quickly with Cloud computing, AI assistants, API usage and depends on team size. Unexpected costs can hit fast in content-heavy SaaS.
• Learning curve: GROQ query language is powerful but unfamiliar for teams used to SQL/GraphQL. Studio customization also requires solid React knowledge.
• The backend (the Content Lake and API services) is proprietary SaaS: While you can always export your data, there's no "drop Sanity and keep your Postgres database intact" option like with Directus. This is a form of vendor lock-in.

What Founders & Developers Say About Sanity

Why do founders pick it?

Founder/dev voices on Reddit say Sanity is a strong “just works” choice for content-heavy products: enterprise-grade feel, editors/marketers like the Studio, generous free tier and usage-based scaling, plenty of tutorials, and solid Next.js integrations. Some prefer it over alternatives for client UX and features like React-based block previews; others note it’s fairly framework-agnostic and easy to ship with.

What gives them pause?

The recurring cautions: Sanity’s Content Lake is proprietary, so you’re tied to their SaaS (Studio is open-source but the backend isn’t), which prompts some founders to favor self-hosted options. Several complain about the GROQ learning curve and dataset migration / cloning pain (tooling exists, but some features sit behind higher tiers). A few report that modeling content in code means you’ll need developer time for schema work and bulk data ops.

Sources: reddit.com; sanity.io

Decision making

Choose Sanity if you prioritize real-time content collaboration, a truly modern editorial experience, and a robust cloud-native backend that scales automatically. It's ideal for teams who want to define their content model in code but hand off all infrastructure management and asset optimization to a third-party, focusing their efforts entirely on frontend development and content creation.

You're comfortable with a proprietary Content Lake and a usage-based pricing model in exchange for unparalleled content workflow features and a highly customizable React-based Studio.

Headless CMS Pricing and Timeline