Payload CMS vs Strapi in 2026: an honest head-to-head

Payload CMS vs Strapi comes up constantly when teams want a self-hosted, open-source CMS they can actually own. Both have matured a lot since 2023, and both have made significant architectural moves heading into 2026 — so a comparison that was accurate two years ago is now largely wrong. Here is where they actually stand.

The fundamental architecture difference

Strapi is a standalone API server. You run it separately from your frontend, point your Next.js app at its REST or GraphQL endpoint, and manage content through a browser-based admin that lives on the Strapi process. The data layer supports SQLite, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. Strapi Cloud is the managed option; self-hosting on a VPS or containerised environment is straightforward but means you own the ops.

Payload started as a code-first CMS that collocates with your Next.js app — not beside it, but inside it. Payload 3.x runs as part of a Next.js project: the admin UI, the REST API, the GraphQL endpoint, and the local API all live in the same process and share the same TypeScript config. You get a /admin route baked into your Next.js app with zero separate deployment. Payload supports PostgreSQL (via Drizzle), MongoDB, and SQLite. There is no Payload-hosted cloud as of mid-2026; you deploy the whole app to Vercel, Railway, Fly, or bare metal.

That single architectural decision drives almost every other difference.

Admin UX and editor experience

Strapi's admin has been rebuilt iteratively since v4 and is polished. Non-technical editors feel at home quickly: a sidebar nav, a media library, collection views with filterable list tables, and a relationship picker that does not require understanding schemas. Strapi added a visual drag-and-drop layout builder (called the Content-Type Builder) years ago, and it remains the fastest way for a developer to prototype schema without touching code — though production schemas should be in code.

Payload's admin is React-based and customisable at a component level, but it looks and feels more developer-facing. The field UI is clean and functional. Complex nested arrays, tabs, and collapsible groups all render correctly. Where Strapi wins on approachability for non-technical editors, Payload wins on customisability: you can swap out any admin component, inject custom views, and write React hooks that run inside the admin panel without a plugin abstraction layer.

For content-heavy teams with junior editors, Strapi's admin is easier to hand off. For product teams where developers manage the CMS too, Payload's admin is more powerful.

APIs: REST, GraphQL, and Payload's local API

Both expose REST and GraphQL endpoints. Strapi's REST API follows predictable URL conventions and has a mature filter query language. GraphQL requires the GraphQL plugin installed — it is not on by default in Strapi v5.

Payload's local API is the real differentiator. Because Payload runs inside your Next.js process, you can call payload.find(), payload.findByID(), and payload.create() directly in React Server Components without an HTTP round trip. No network latency, no token management, no serialisation overhead.

// app/posts/[slug]/page.tsx
import { getPayload } from 'payload'
import config from '@payload-config'

export default async function PostPage({ params }: { params: { slug: string } }) {
  const payload = await getPayload({ config })
  const { docs } = await payload.find({
    collection: 'posts',
    where: { slug: { equals: params.slug } },
    depth: 2,
  })
  const post = docs[0]
  if (!post) notFound()
  return <article>{post.title}</article>
}

This pattern eliminates an entire network hop per request and means you get full TypeScript inference from the same config that defines your schema. Strapi cannot offer this because it runs out-of-process by design.

TypeScript config and migrations

Payload's schema is TypeScript all the way down. Collections, globals, fields, hooks, and access control are all defined in .ts files. TypeGen runs automatically and produces typed return values for every collection. There is no GUI-generated JSON schema sitting in a file you are not supposed to edit by hand — the code is the schema.

Strapi v5 improved its TypeScript story significantly: it generates types from your content types and the types are available in custom code. But the content type builder still generates JSON files under src/api/*/content-types/, and migrations are handled by a separate migration runner that feels bolted on compared to Payload's Drizzle-powered migration system, which generates SQL migration files you can inspect, commit, and run deterministically.

For teams that want schema-as-code with no JSON intermediary, Payload is clearly ahead. For teams that want GUI-driven schema building with optional TypeScript on top, Strapi is more ergonomic.

Plugins and ecosystem

Strapi has a larger plugin marketplace because it has been around longer and has more community adoption. SEO, i18n, sitemap, and media providers are available as first-party or community plugins. The internationalisation plugin is battle-tested.

Payload's plugin ecosystem is smaller but growing fast. Official plugins cover SEO fields, Lexical rich text, form builder, nested docs, and Stripe integration. Because Payload hooks are just functions, writing your own plugin is significantly simpler than the Strapi plugin architecture, which has its own folder conventions and bootstrap lifecycle.

Cost and total ownership

Self-hosting either on a small VPS is roughly the same cost: you pay for compute, database, and storage. Strapi Cloud adds a recurring SaaS fee but eliminates ops. Payload on Vercel with a Neon PostgreSQL database can be genuinely cheap at low traffic — under $20/month for a modest content site.

Which one to pick

Choose Payload if your frontend is Next.js App Router, your team is TypeScript-first, and you want to eliminate the API network hop with the local API. It also wins for projects where schema-as-code and deterministic Drizzle migrations matter.

Choose Strapi if you need a managed cloud option without self-hosting, your editors are non-technical and need the most approachable admin UI, or you need a CMS that sits in front of multiple frontends (not just one Next.js app) and is genuinely framework-agnostic in its deployment.

Neither is wrong. But they have meaningfully different deployment philosophies, and that difference compounds over the life of a project.