44.5k stars · MIT · v3.87.1 (2026-08-06) · Track this in Scout
A full content database with a generated admin screen and API, for content that has real structure rather than being blog posts.
▶Repo detailsthe review · specs · pros & cons · install
What it is
Payload is an open-source content system that runs inside a Next.js application. Your content is stored in PostgreSQL or MongoDB. You describe your collections in TypeScript, and Payload builds the admin screens and the API for you. An API is a way for one program to ask another program for data.
What it is good for. Entries 1, 2 and 3 all keep content as files. That is right for blog posts. It stops being right when content gets structure: a template gallery where each item has a name, a picture, a category and a difficulty; a case study library; a glossary that both an application and a marketing site read from. Files handle ten of those. They do not handle three hundred. Payload is the honest answer for that case, and it is here so you know where the ceiling is, not because most sites need it.
- MIT licence and it is a real MIT licence, with no carved-out directories. That is worth noting after Directus and NocoDB, above.
- Released steadily. Version 3.87.1 came out on 6 August 2026, and the releases before it are only weeks apart.
- It gives you an API without extra work, so an Astro site and an application can read the same content.
- It is a Node.js application. Next to a Python backend, that is a second thing to deploy, watch and update, and it adds a language to the server.
- Plan for roughly 1 to 2 GB of memory. Check Beszel (Ed. 5 #8) before you install anything.
- It assumes Next.js. On an Astro site, Payload becomes a content store that Astro reads from, rather than the site itself. That works, but it is two moving parts, not one.
npx create-payload-app@latest
