Easy CMS next to the others
Eleven questions that decide most CMS choices, answered from each product’s own site. Where we couldn’t confirm something, the table says so.
| Feature | Easy CMS | Payload | Strapi | Directus | WordPress | Sanity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| License | MIT. Every feature is free, roles and SSO included | MIT; an Enterprise plan (through sales) adds SSO and visual editing | MIT Community Edition; paid Growth ($45/month self-hosted) and Enterprise editions | Source-available (Monospace Sustainable Core License); free Core capped at 3 seats, 25 collections and 5 flows; each release becomes GPL after four years | GPL-2.0; free to self-host | Studio is MIT; the Content Lake backend is a proprietary hosted service |
| Where it runs | Inside your Next.js or Nuxt app, or as a standalone server | Inside your Next.js app | A separate Node server | A separate Node server and data studio on your SQL database | A separate PHP app (themes, or headless) | Studio as a React app (it can be embedded in Next.js); content in Sanity's cloud |
| Content model | TypeScript config in your repo | TypeScript config in your repo | Content-type Builder in the admin (in development), saved as schema files in the project | Built in the data studio as real tables; can introspect an existing database; YAML snapshots | Posts and pages; custom post types in PHP or plugins | Schemas in JavaScript or TypeScript |
| Databases | SQLite (file or Turso), Postgres (or PGlite) | MongoDB, Postgres, SQLite | PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQLite | Postgres, MySQL, MariaDB, MS SQL, SQLite, OracleDB, CockroachDB | MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.11+ | Sanity's hosted Content Lake only |
| Language and runtime | Node.js 22.12+, TypeScript | Node.js, TypeScript; Next.js only | Node.js | Node.js | PHP 8.3+ | Studio: React; backend: hosted |
| Hosted cloud | None. Self-host anywhere; one-click deploy to your own Vercel or Netlify | Self-host anywhere; one-click templates for Vercel and Cloudflare | Strapi Cloud from $35/month; no free tier listed | Team plan $499/month (annual); cloud hosting +$99/month | WordPress.com: free plan; paid plans from $4/month (yearly) | Free plan (20 seats, 10k documents); Growth $15 per seat per month |
| APIs | Typed Local API, REST; GraphQL and MCP as experimental plugins | See the official site | REST, GraphQL | REST, GraphQL | REST built in; GraphQL with the WPGraphQL plugin | GROQ, GraphQL |
| Admin in Thai | Complete: every admin string, and every docs page | Yes, near-complete | Partial (about a quarter of the admin) | Partial (community translation) | Partial (about two-thirds translated) | Community plugin |
| Roles, SSO, audit | Roles, field permissions, SSO (Google, Microsoft, GitHub, OIDC), audit log: all MIT | SSO is an Enterprise feature | Live preview, content history: Growth; SSO, review workflows, audit logs: Enterprise | No SSO in the free Core | See the official site | See the pricing page |
| Ecosystem | Small: official plugins (SEO, forms, redirects, nested pages, multi-tenant, shop, GraphQL, MCP), a new community | Large: about 45k GitHub stars; Payload has joined Figma | The largest here: about 73k GitHub stars | About 39k GitHub stars | The largest plugin and theme ecosystem | Mature hosted platform; real-time collaboration and visual editing |
| Maturity | Version 1.0 (October 2026); first released September 2026 | Version 3 since November 2024 | Version 5 since September 2024 | Version 12 since June 2026 | Version 7.1 (August 2026), over two decades old | Studio version 6 since June 2026 |
Easy CMS is young: its first release was in September 2026 and its community is small. Every other product here has been in production longer, with more people answering questions.
Easy CMS vs Payload
Payload is the closest to Easy CMS: MIT, code-first and installed into your Next.js app. It is far more mature, with a large community. Easy CMS also runs in Nuxt or on its own, and keeps team features such as SSO in the free license.
CompareEasy CMS vs Strapi
Strapi is the most popular open-source headless CMS: a separate Node server with its own admin. Its Community Edition is MIT, while live preview, content history, SSO and audit logs are in paid plans. Easy CMS runs inside your app and keeps those features in the free license.
CompareEasy CMS vs Directus
Directus puts a data studio and APIs on top of any SQL database, with the model built in its interface. Its license is source-available, not OSI open source, and the free Core is capped. Easy CMS is MIT with no caps, and its model lives in your repo.
CompareEasy CMS vs WordPress
WordPress runs a large share of the web, with themes and plugins for almost anything, on PHP and MySQL. Used headless, it is a separate PHP app next to your frontend. Easy CMS keeps everything in your TypeScript app, with a typed content model.
CompareEasy CMS vs Sanity
Sanity pairs an MIT-licensed Studio, configured in code, with a hosted content backend you can't self-host. It is strong at real-time collaboration and visual editing, billed by seats and usage. Easy CMS keeps your content in your own database.
CompareSources
Checked against each product’s own site on 17 October 2026. Prices and versions change; follow the links for today’s.
- Payload: pricing and license
- Payload: databases
- Payload: admin languages
- Payload on GitHub
- Strapi: license
- Strapi: self-hosted pricing
- Strapi: cloud pricing
- Strapi: databases
- Strapi: Content-type Builder
- Strapi: admin translations
- Directus: license
- Directus: pricing
- Directus: collections
- Directus: schema snapshots
- Directus on GitHub
- WordPress: releases
- WordPress: requirements
- WordPress.com: pricing
- WordPress: REST API
- WordPress: Thai translation
- Sanity: pricing
- Sanity: Studio
- Sanity: embedding the Studio
- Sanity: self-hosting the Content Lake
- Sanity: Studio languages
Try it in your own app.
One command sets up a Next.js or Nuxt project with the admin, or deploy a starter to your own Vercel or Netlify.
npm create easy-cms@latest