--- title: Payload CMS Reviews meta\_title: 'Payload CMS Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta\_description: Filter 59 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Payload CMS works for a business like yours. aggregate\_rating: rating\_value: 4.9 review\_count: 59 scale: '5' date\_modified: '2026-08-07' parent\_category: name: Content Management url: https://www.g2.com/categories/content-management --- # Payload CMS Reviews & Product Details Payload is a free and open-source Headless CMS built with React and TypeScript. It's the happy medium between application framework and CMS, boosting your development process, while staying out of your way as your apps get more complex. * * * Seller [Payload](https://www.g2.com/sellers/payload) Discussions [Payload CMS Community](https://www.g2.com/products/payload-cms/discuss) Languages Supported Arabic, Czech, German, English, Persian, French, Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Burmese, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Chinese (Simplified) Solution Type Best-of-Breed Overview by Dan Ribbens Show More ## Pricing Pricing provided by Payload CMS. ### Self-Hosted Free ### Payload Cloud Standard $35.00 Per Month [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/payload-cms/pricing) ## Top-Rated Alternatives [ ![Sanity](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Sanity") Sanity 4.7/5(926) ](https://www.g2.com/products/sanity/reviews) [ ![Strapi](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Strapi") Strapi 4.5/5(205) ](https://www.g2.com/products/strapi/reviews) [ ![Contentful](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Contentful") Contentful 4.3/5(327) ](https://www.g2.com/products/contentful/reviews) [ View All Alternatives ](https://www.g2.com/products/payload-cms/competitors/alternatives) ## User Insights Average based on 59 real user reviews. Implementation Time 2 months Perceived Cost $$$$$ Typical contract price $0k - $0k [Sign in to view](/login) Per Month [Log in to unlock pricing and user insights](/login) ![Louis M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Louis M.") LM Louis M. Software Developer Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 2/27/2025 "Payload: The Next-Gen CMS You've Been Waiting For" 5/5 What do you like best about Payload CMS? The documentation was clear and effective, there were many examples that could be found on their own GitHub, and they have a very active discord community that are always willing to help when you run into problems. Extremely fast turn around time from blank slate to production. The ease of use, one command and you're up and running. Having Typescript across the project helps to not shoot yourself in the foot. It's a very modern and sleek workflow, and can solve many of the required tasks out of the box. Their hosting solution was very easy to use and at an affordable/fair price. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Payload CMS? Nothing at this time, they have a great roadmap of future implementations that solve all niche issues as well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Payload CMS solving and how is that benefiting you? We needed a quick solution that would allow a content admin to control content for a multi-faceted marketing site. The flexibility to create new pages and re-use content across the site. It allowed us to develop a custom solution tailored very closely to the customers needs with ease. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Parker O.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Parker O.") PO Parker O. Software Developer Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 4/22/2025 "Code-first and flexible, giving devs full control without sacrificing editor experience." 5/5 What do you like best about Payload CMS? Payload CMS has excellent, developer-friendly documentation that makes it easy to get started and build fast. With the release of Payload 3.0, it now runs on Next.js, which significantly boosts development speed and pairs perfectly with Vercel for smooth, quick deployments. The system is highly extensible, making it simple to create reusable, templated projects that can be shared across multiple applications. Additionally, the community is very active and supportive in areas like the Payload Discord and GitHub, making it easy to find answers or get help when needed. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Payload CMS? My experience with Payload has been great overall. If I had to nitpick, it would be the reliance on community-made plugins. While they're helpful, you have to keep in mind that if the original author might not be actively maintaining them—especially during major version updates—you may end up having to patch the plugin yourself or rework your solution entirely. It’s not a dealbreaker, but it’s something to consider when planning long-term projects. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Payload CMS solving and how is that benefiting you? Payload CMS solves the problem of inflexible content systems by giving developers full control through a code-first, TypeScript-native approach. It speeds up development, simplifies deployment with tools like Next.js and Vercel, and still delivers a solid editor experience. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Dena M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Dena M.") DM Dena M. Digital Marketing Manager Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 9/26/2024 "Customizable, Continually Improving and Easy for Non-Developers to Use" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Payload CMS? Our web developers have been able to tailor Payload to suit our specifc needs, without exception. Anything we ask, they are able to make Payload do just that - not an experience we've had with our previous platform. Our website is tremendously easy to edit and add pages to, without the help of web developers, which has significantly lessened the time and resources spent on maintaining our site. We were also able to integrate our Digital Asset Management software into Payload, which has streamlined processes signficantly further. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Payload CMS? In the website buiding stages, it was a bit slow and now that the site is live, still is a little slow when navigating the back end. It's also quite new, which hasn't been an issue thus far, but I don't necessarily have the peace of mind I would like when things are in beta. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Payload CMS solving and how is that benefiting you? It is a supported platform, which our old platform was not. It utilizes the latest in development technology. While the back end can be a little slow sometimes, our public facing website itself is much faster than before. It is tremendously easy and intutive to edit and add pages without the assistance of web developers. It has streamlined our web management, and the time and resources spent on it, significantly. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More 3/28/2025 Current UserValidated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Krishna S.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Krishna S.") KS Krishna S. Software Engineer Information Technology and Services Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 12/23/2024 "One of the best CMS I have ever used as a developer." 5/5 What do you like best about Payload CMS? I loved the default Nextjs additions into payload. It has massive perform improvement and easy to use as a user and too fun to impletent / develop for developers. It has become my goto CMS for major projects. I also appreciate the payload team for discord support channels. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Payload CMS? Everythings seems fine after v3 stable release. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Payload CMS solving and how is that benefiting you? It gives us freedom to make our platform as we wish with lots of customizations. I generally starts with the website template and modifiy with requreiments. It becomes very handy with Nexjts and shadcn/ui. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Charlie H.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Charlie H.") CH Charlie H. Founder & Digital Strategist Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 8/14/2024 "Payload used on multiple projects by web agency" 5/5 What do you like best about Payload CMS? Show + Tell is a UK based Payload Agency... we've used payload as a web agency on multiple projects now as the feedback from IT & Marketing teams client side have been hugely positive. Client have found the content management process fare quick and more flexible to their needs meaning time saved in their day to day role. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Payload CMS? The Enterprise is expensive from smaller companies however the product is great and well worth it for larger Enterprise level clients. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Payload CMS solving and how is that benefiting you? The previous CMS we used was Wordpress for client projects and as it's 20 years old it comes with a lot of bloat, performance & security isssues. Payload solves this. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Sandro W.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Sandro W.") SW Sandro W. CEO Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 8/31/2024 "Our new go-to CMS /backend framework" 5/5 What do you like best about Payload CMS? Endless extendability, modern tech stack, very fast end user experience, open source & no vendor lock in Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Payload CMS? Payload still lacks some features that are available by default on other systems. This is not a dealbreaker however, since you can either build it yourself or find most of them in the open source community Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Payload CMS solving and how is that benefiting you? We mainly build highly customized online platforms, therefore most competitors didn't fit our requirements. You always end up hitting some limitations and features you can't build. We've been using Payload for over a year now, and it never got in our way while developing new features. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerSource: Organic JH Jay H. CEO Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 8/14/2024 "The best headless CMS we've tried" 5/5 What do you like best about Payload CMS? It's open source, and its developer and content manager experience are unmatched amongst other Headless CMSs we've tried. Quick to deploy, great features and an easily reachable and helpful support team. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Payload CMS? It requires a bit of know-how if you're transitioning from a traditional CMS like WordPress, and its dashboard interface can feel a little sparse for new users. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Payload CMS solving and how is that benefiting you? Payload is providing us a modern CMS to offer clients that allows us full control, an extensive feature set, and an opportunity to roll out headless websites on our own terms. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Mark B.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Mark B.") MB Mark B. CTO Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 8/15/2024 "Rapid development, easily extendable, and a friendly community" 5/5 What do you like best about Payload CMS? Incredibly simple to extend, can be used for virtually anything, not just websites. Building small, medium, and large applications is a breeze and takes a lot less time than developing them from scratch. The Payload Discord community is incredibly friendly and helpful, and the team actively engage with the community. Payload is also feature rich, with a wealth of community plugins available to drop into your app with minimal configuration. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Payload CMS? It is not always simple to extend existing payload components, or modify them to better suit your use case. Sometimes you have to replace components entirely though this is rare. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Payload CMS solving and how is that benefiting you? It is helping us build websites faster for our customers Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Hrithik U.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Hrithik U.") HU Hrithik U. Chief Executive Officer Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 8/14/2024 "Best amongst headless CMS" 5/5 What do you like best about Payload CMS? Payload must be the easiest to implement and use in today's market. The team is super friendly and offers tons of support and the feature loaded platform is just the right fit for almost everything. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Payload CMS? Looking forward to see even more integrations and marketplaces. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Payload CMS solving and how is that benefiting you? We wanted a Headless CMS that is user-friendly, scalable and easy to implement for our clientele and Payload fits the bill. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Verified User in Design](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Design") AD Verified User in Design Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 8/14/2024 "Efficient and User-Friendly Content Management Tool" 5/5 What do you like best about Payload CMS? I appreciate the intuitive user-interface and the comprehensive features that make it easy for us to setup and for our clients to manage their content. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Payload CMS? N/A. Payload was the perfect solution for us. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Payload CMS solving and how is that benefiting you? A modern and flexible CMS. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerSource: Organic ## Questions about Payload CMS? Ask real users or explore answers from the community Get practical answers, real workflows, and honest pros and cons from the G2 community or share your insights. [ Ask about Payload CMS ](https://www.g2.com/products/payload-cms/discussions/new) GU Guest User What is Payload CMS used for? 0 Upvotes 0 [ Join the conversation ](https://www.g2.com/discussions/payload-cms-what-is-payload-cms-used-for) GU Guest User What is Payload CMS used for? 0 Upvotes 0 [ Join the conversation ](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-payload-cms-used-for) [ View all Discussions ](https://www.g2.com/products/payload-cms/discuss) ## Pricing Options Pricing provided by Payload CMS. ### Self-Hosted Free ### Payload Cloud Standard $35.00 Per Month ### Payload Cloud Pro $199.00 Per Month [ View More Pricing Information ](https://www.g2.com/products/payload-cms/pricing) Payload CMS Comparisons ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_00b8806bcda4bcf6c839d3cb95334676/strapi.png "Product Avatar Image") Strapi 4.5/5(205) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/payload-cms-vs-strapi) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_fbaa727733110fd4adca6d865d7096f0/sanity.png "Product Avatar Image") Sanity 4.7/5(926) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/payload-cms-vs-sanity) ![Product Avatar Image](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/small_square/small_square_5ca26c890d1375cbac272d2793d2361b/directus.png "Product Avatar Image") Directus 4.9/5(52) [ Compare Now ](https://www.g2.com/compare/directus-vs-payload-cms) ##### ##### Payload CMS Features Publishing Automated Publishing Multi-language AR/VR Capability Development Image Management Reuseable Content Unlimited Environments Analytics Personalization Content Performance [ View More Features ](https://www.g2.com/products/payload-cms/features) ##### Categories on G2 [Web Content Management](https://www.g2.com/categories/web-content-management)[E-Commerce Platforms](https://www.g2.com/categories/e-commerce-platforms)[Headless CMS](https://www.g2.com/categories/headless-cms) ##### Explore More [What is the best payroll software for small businesses?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-best-payroll-software-for-small-businesses)[Best software for vendor spend management](https://www.g2.com/discussions/best-software-for-vendor-spend-management-what-tools-actually-keep-it-in-check)[Best data observability software](https://www.g2.com/discussions/best-data-observability-software) [What's the best batch management software for a small manufacturing shop that needs lot tracking and expiration dates?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-s-the-best-batch-management-software-for-a-small-manufacturing-shop-that-needs-lot-tracking-and-expiration-dates)[What is the best QMS for medical device manufacturers?](https://www.g2.com/discussions/what-is-the-best-qms-for-medical-device-manufacturers)[Pros and Cons Details](https://www.g2.com/products/payload-cms/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [Show MoreShow Less](javascript:void(0);)