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Directus vs Payload: catalog facts
Directus	Payload
Freemium Free to get started and self-host, with a paid hosted Directus Cloud option.	Free Free and open source under the MIT license; enterprise features are sold separately.
Web, Self-hosted	Self-hosted
Works on top of an existing SQL database without changing the schema Automatic REST and GraphQL APIs	Installs inside an existing Next.js app folder Full TypeScript backend with an extensible admin panel
Source-available license rather than OSI open source Needs developer setup and a database	Configured in code, so it needs a developer Tied to the Next.js and React ecosystem
Self-hosted, Hosted service	Self-hosted
Closed source	Open source
License: BSL-1.1	License: MIT
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.