Strapi vs. Apostrophe: An In-Depth Comparison

Payload and ApostropheCMS stand out as two of the most popular open-source content management systems available today. In this Payload vs ApostropheCMS guide, we will walk through the key differences that set them apart.

The CMS landscape has grown rapidly in recent years, especially within the JavaScript ecosystem. The Jamstack community alone features nearly 60 open-source options. With so many choices, selecting the right CMS can be daunting. That is where side-by-side comparisons like this one can save you time and effort!

Read on to find out why ApostropheCMS is more than just another Payload alternative.

Introducing Payload and ApostropheCMS

First, let’s begin by exploring what Payload and ApostropheCMS are, and whether these two solutions are actually comparable.

Payload is an open-source, full-stack, TypeScript-based headless CMS built on top of Next.js. It is recognized as the first-ever Next.js-native CMS. That is because it can be installed directly into an existing Next.js application. 

PayloadCMS offers a fully extensible API for headless content management, along with a modern admin panel that simplifies content editing for non-technical users. It aims to be the ideal backend content management solution for websites, eCommerce platforms, SaaS products, native apps, and more.

ApostropheCMS is a website builder built on top of a powerful open-source CMS. It is a modular, full-stack JavaScript content management solution developed using modern web technologies. On the backend, it runs on Node.js, while on the frontend it supports any framework. 

ApostropheCMS can function as either a fully headless CMS or a traditional CMS with integrated site-building tools—much like WordPress. Specifically, it provides an intuitive UI for content management, in-context editing, and a visual page-building experience.

In short, Payload and ApostropheCMS are companies that build advanced CMS platforms with open-source foundations. Now, let’s dive into what sets these two CMS products apart!

Which Offers the Most Features?

TL;DR: Payload and ApostropheCMS have a very similar feature set. The main difference, currently, is that PayloadCMS does not feature visual in-context editing capabilities.

Take a closer look at the key features of the two CMS platforms:

• Headless API: Both content management solutions support headless capabilities for creating, reading, updating, and deleting content through APIs. ApostropheCMS exposes content via RESTful endpoints when configured as a headless CMS. Payload supports both REST and GraphQL, and even allows local API execution directly in Next.js.
• Webhook support: Both solutions allow you to define webhooks to trigger HTTP requests when specific events occur.
• Custom fields: PayloadCMS and ApostropheCMS both support the creation of custom fields, so that you can add new field types to default content types and components.
• User role management: Both platforms offer customizable user roles. Payload does not come with predefined roles out of the box but supports RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) in the code through its Access Control feature. ApostropheCMS provides four default user groups (guest, contributor, editor, and admin) and includes official plugins for defining and managing unlimited custom roles directly in the admin UI.
• Visual content management experience: Both tools aim to provide a comprehensive content management experience. ApostropheCMS comes with a feature-rich user interface with built-in in-context editing. In contrast, Payload is intentionally minimal and white-label, asking developers to tailor the experience to their specific needs in the code.
• Plugins: The two CMS platforms support plugins. Their open-source nature makes it easy for developers to build and share extensions to enhance default functionality.
• Localization support: In both cases, content editors can manage content in multiple languages. This applies to both the managed content and the labels within the admin interface.
• AI features: Both tools support AI integrations such as intelligent writing assistants and image generation. ApostropheCMS includes AI tools in its Pro plan. Payload's AI tools are enterprise-only and include optimization for RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) use cases, giving teams full control over content chunking and vector embedding generation.
• Website building capabilities: ApostropheCMS serves as both a headless CMS and a website builder, with built-in visual tools for designing websites and managing content directly within the platform. Payload currently does not have equivalent capabilities, though a visual WYSIWYG editor for enterprise users is in development.

What Is Their Technology Stack?

TL;DR: PayloadCMS is tightly optimized for use with Next.js, while ApostropheCMS gives greater flexibility in terms of frontend frameworks.

Payload is built with TypeScript, and the latest version (Payload 3+) is Next.js-native. In detail, it must be installed within a Next.js 15 application—either newly created or integrated into an existing one. In other words, you cannot run Payload outside of a Next.js project. 

This tight coupling with Next.js means that the PayloadCMS stack is closely aligned with React for frontend development. Plus, the CMS is also tightly tied to Vercel for deployment.

Now, keep in mind that Payload is a headless CMS. So, once installed in a Next.js project, it exposes headless content management APIs that can be consumed by any application—regardless of the framework or language. 

In contrast, ApostropheCMS offers more flexibility. It is built in JavaScript, runs on Node.js for the backend, and uses Vue.js for its admin interface and visual page builder in traditional rendering mode. However, it can also be easily extended to work with JSX-based React components through Vite. Similarly, it integrates well with modern libraries like HTMX.

What truly sets ApostropheCMS apart is its full support for Astro, a popular framework that enables rendering with virtually any frontend technology, including React, Vue, Svelte, Preact, SolidJS, AlpineJS, and more. This makes the CMS genuinely frontend-agnostic.

Like Payload, ApostropheCMS can also be configured as a fully headless CMS, exposing APIs that can be consumed by any frontend or external application. 

Note that the two CMS platforms default to MongoDB as the database, with Payload also supporting PostgreSQL and SQLite. Since both are built on JavaScript-based technology stacks, they can be considered equally secure.

What Is Their Target Audience?

TL;DR: Both tools are great for developers using their open-source versions. If you need professional-grade features and scalability, ApostropheCMS is built to support you long term.

Both PayloadCMS and ApostropheCMS are open source and offer strong developer tooling, but their business models and growth strategies are quite different.

Payload is focused on individual developers and small technical teams, particularly building with Next.js. Beyond its open-source offering, it provides infrastructure-based hosting plans:

These paid hosting plans are great for those who want to offload server management. In this business model, dedicated support and customer features like SSO, publishing workflows, AI tools, and static A/B testing are only available through the Custom plan for enterprises.

ApostropheCMS also lets you manage content in its free, open-source version. In addition to that, unlike Payload, it allows users to edit web pages directly in context. Plus, it is not tied to any specific frontend framework.

Just like Payload, ApostropheCMS also provides managed hosting options:

As you can see, these plans cover most common needs—from single-server setups to multi-deploy configurations—catering to small, mid-sized, and large companies that prefer not to manage infrastructure themselves.

In addition to hosting plans, ApostropheCMS also has dedicated plans for users and companies of all sizes that need professional features and scalability. These plans let you unlock advanced capabilities through a licensing fee—whether you self-host your ApostropheCMS project or use one of the aforementioned managed hosting options. And by providing an additional revenue stream, these plans ensure a sustainable future for the ApostropheCMS platform, in which users of professional features are effectively helping to support the development of open source ApostropheCMS.

Explore these feature-based plans on the pricing page:

This model is ideal for growing businesses and enterprises because it gives them access to premium features—like granular permissions and other powerful extensions in Apostrophe Pro, as well as multi-site management in Apostrophe Assembly. These tools support the creation of complex, scalable websites that evolve alongside the company’s growth and changing needs.

The combination of managed hosting options at different price points and plans with premium features makes ApostropheCMS particularly well-suited for web agencies. By pairing a hosting plan with Apostrophe Assembly, agencies can build and scale multiple feature-rich sites from a single instance—without the hassle of managing the hosting infrastructure themselves.

So, while both solutions are solid choices for developers in their free open-source versions, ApostropheCMS is the better option if you need professional-grade features, room to scale, and long-term support.

Which CMS Is Easier to Get Started With?

TL;DR: Payload’s starter kits are more community-focused, while ApostropheCMS starter kits also include options geared toward enterprise use.

Payload can either be installed from scratch using the command line or integrated into an existing Next.js application by adding it as a dependency. In the second case, you have to manually configure it within the Next.js project and set up the database connection.

For cloud hosting, Payload supports a couple of templates to help you get started quickly—either as a blank CMS for building from scratch, or as a content management system supporting a generic website.

For self-hosted setups, PayloadCMS provides starter templates for easier integration with Vercel. Additionally, some community-contributed starter projects are available for more specific use cases.

Similarly, ApostropheCMS has both official and community starter kits to simplify onboarding. Compared to Payload, Apostrophe’s starter kits cover more use cases and help you get started with the different versions of the solution, integrations with specific technologies like Astro, and targeted project types like hospitality, restaurant, or eCommerce platforms. 

Which CMS Is Better for Modeling Content?

TL;DR: ApostropheCMS and Payload count the same number of field data types (23) for content modeling. The main difference is that ApostropheCMS provides slightly richer customization capabilities—particularly when it comes to extending existing field types.

As of this writing, Payload supports 23 field types, grouped into the following categories:

• Data Fields: They are stored in the database and represent actual content data.
• Presentational fields: They are not stored in the database, and are used to organize and enhance the admin panel UI.
• Virtual fields: They display computed or dynamic values that are not stored in the database but can be included in API responses through hooks or other logic.

On top of those, Payload fields are highly customizable in terms of appearance and behavior. The framework is also designed to support deep modification or full replacement of existing fields as needed.

Similarly, ApostropheCMS allows you to define custom fields from scratch—or even extend existing ones. It also supports combining field types to create complex structures. That makes the CMS highly flexible for advanced content modeling.

Just like Payload, ApostropheCMS supports 23 schema field types. While the exact lists differ slightly, they both cover similar content modeling scenarios. Notable shared complex field types include:

• array: Stores lists of content using its own internal field schema.
• relationship: Links to one or more related content entries or pages, enabling modular and relational content structures.

Which CMS Offers More Customization?

TL;DR: The two CMS solutions are fully customizable thanks to their open-source nature. ApostropheCMS stands out with its highly extensible architecture, while Payload takes a more code-first approach.

Being open-source, both ApostropheCMS and Payload give developers complete control over backend logic and the admin interface. Yet, their customization philosophies remarkably.

ApostropheCMS is built with extensibility in mind. It offers a flexible architecture where developers can create custom modules, widgets, and schema fields from scratch—or extend existing features using built-in tools to meet specific needs more efficiently.

On the contrary, Payload encourages a build-your-own approach using the React hooks and utilities provided by the library. Its documentation often points developers toward building components manually for unique use cases, rather than extending pre-built ones as in ApostropheCMS.

Which CMS Is More Extensible?

TL;DR: Payload has a larger plugin ecosystem, but its architecture is inherently less extensible than ApostropheCMS.

The Payload community has contributed to developing over 110 plugins—7 maintained officially, with the rest fully handled by the community. Note that there is no centralized marketplace for plugins, and you must search on GitHub for the “#payload-plugin” hashtag.

ApostropheCMS offers around 50 extensions, primarily maintained by the official team. Some are exclusive to Apostrophe Pro or Assembly, including Advanced Permissions for detailed user management, Automatic Translation for AI-powered content and SEO metadata translations.

As mentioned earlier, ApostropheCMS also allows developers to easily extend data types, components, page templates, and modules for deeper customization.

Which One Scales More Easily?

TL;DR: ApostropheCMS and Payload are highly scalable both vertically—on a single instance—and horizontally—across multiple tenants.

ApostropheCMS is built for scalability. It scales vertically via its modern Node.js foundation, and more importantly, it excels in horizontal scalability through Assembly’s multi-tenant architecture. This enables organizations like Kimpton, iCIMS, and Michelin to manage dozens of websites worldwide from a single ApostropheCMS instance.

PayloadCMS also offers high vertical scalability through its Next.js foundation. For horizontal scaling, it supports multi-tenancy from a single codebase—even in the open-source version of the product. Still, enterprise-grade support for this setup is available on the Custom plan.

Which One Supports Internationalization Better?

TL;DR: The two CMS platforms have localization at their core, but ApostropheCMS offers more advanced features and a simpler workflow for both content translation and admin UI localization.

Localization has always been a core value in both ApostropheCMS and Payload. Unlike many other open-source CMS platforms, both solutions provide native multilingual support out of the box, with no need for external plugins or complex custom configurations.

In Payload, editors have all the necessary tools to manage multilingual content with precision. They can create and organize content in multiple languages, which can then be served to users based on their language preferences. There is no limit to the number of locales users can define.

ApostropheCMS is widely regarded as one of the top CMS platforms for multilingual content management. Specifically, on top of the same localization capabilities provided by Payload, it supports:

• Locale configuration: Allows developers to configure multiple localized versions of an existing ApostropheCMS website with simple configurations.
• Dynamic content localization: Enables editors to translate pages and content directly in the admin UI.
• AI-powered automatic translation: Available in Pro and Assembly tiers, this feature speeds up translation through AI, with options for manual refinement.
• Import/Export translation: Supports bulk exporting and importing translation workflows using JSON files.

Both CMS platforms offer admin interfaces in multiple languages, with support for further customization and translation. In Payload, customizing the admin UI requires editing TypeScript files. Instead, ApostropheCMS handles most of the process through plain JSON files. That way, even human translators with no coding experience can handle the task.

Which Offers Better Customer and Developer Support?

TL;DR: Payload has a larger community, but private support is only available in the Custom plan for enterprises. In contrast, ApostropheCMS offers dedicated support for all paid plans.

As noted earlier, PayloadCMS has a larger community than ApostropheCMS. That makes it easier to find guides, tutorials, and videos, and to get community-driven support for self-hosted setups. Anyway, both platforms come with detailed, well-maintained documentation sites.

When it comes to business support, their approaches differ remarkably. Payload only provides direct support through custom enterprise plans. In other words, users on other paid tiers must rely on community help.

Conversely, ApostropheCMS has options for private technical support and customer success assistance with all paid plans. Enterprises also have access to dedicated implementation and integration support.

The ApostropheCMS support team works closely with clients to go beyond troubleshooting and actively help you achieve your goals and bring your digital experiences to life.

What Does the Future Look Like for These Platforms?

TL;DR: Both CMS solutions have public roadmaps and a similar level of community-driven transparency.

ApostropheCMS and Payload actively maintain public roadmaps, providing clear insight into their future development. This allows developers and businesses choosing the CMS to plan ahead with confidence, knowing what features and improvements are on the horizon.

Payload’s roadmap is hosted directly on GitHub, whereas ApostropheCMS's roadmap can be found on the official website. 

In both cases, community contributions and feedback are welcome and appreciated. However, the development of core features is guided by the expert teams behind each platform, guaranteeing consistency, quality, and alignment with long-term goals.

Payload vs ApostropheCMS: Final Result

Let’s summarize the results to declare the winner:

Conclusion

In this comparison article, we explored the main differences between Payload and ApostropheCMS. 

Both are powerful open-source CMS platforms, with Payload excelling as a headless solution— particularly in Next.js setups. At the same time, ApostropheCMS ensures greater flexibility across most of the areas we analyzed.

When deciding between the two, you must take into consideration your specific needs. Payload is ideal for projects built around a Next.js stack, whereas ApostropheCMS is the better fit for users and agencies seeking a more tech-agnostic platform with robust website-building tools and a clear path to address professional use cases. Book a demo today!