Payload CMS
Developer-first headless CMS and application framework.
Description from awesome-selfhosted (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Still maintained? Yes: 505 commits in the last 90 days, latest release v3.92.1 (Oct 2026).
Comparisons in Content Management Systems (CMS): Squarespace alternatives, Webflow alternatives.
At a glance
Payload CMS quick facts
- Health score
- 89/100 GOOD
- Stars
- 45,578
- Last commit
- yesterday (Oct 2026)
- Latest release
- v3.92.1, Oct 2026
- Licence
- MIT
Top alternatives to Payload CMS
In its own words
The project's README opens: "Payload is the first-ever Next.js native CMS that can install directly in your existing /app folder. It's the start of a new era for headless CMS."
Why it ranks here
Health score explained
Payload CMS scores 89/100, #8 of 48 in Content Management Systems (CMS): 505 commits in the last 90 days earn 35.0 of 35 points, the latest release (v3.92.1, 3 days ago) earns 25.0 of 25, 45,578 stars add 18.6 of 20, an active, unarchived repository keeps 10 and no advertised Docker image leaves the final 10 unclaimed. That places it in the good band (70 and above). The biggest shortfall is Docker support, worth 10.0 more points.
Recomputed nightly from the GitHub API. How the score is calculated.
- Commit activity 35.0 / 35
505 commits in 90 days (30+ scores full marks)
- Release recency 25.0 / 25
v3.92.1 released 3 days ago
- Stars 18.6 / 20
46k stars on GitHub (logarithmic)
- Not archived 10.0 / 10
Repository is active
- Docker support biggest shortfall 0.0 / 10
No Docker support advertised
Commit activity
- 505
- Last 90 days
- 1,875
- Last 12 months
- yesterday
- Last push
Ranked #8 of 48 tools in Content Management Systems (CMS) by health , between REDAXO (#7) and Strapi (#9) .
Details
| Licence | MIT |
| Platforms | Nodejs |
| Latest release | v3.92.1 · 3 days ago |
| Stars | 45,578 |
| Open issues | 553 |
| Docker | Not advertised |
| Repository | payloadcms/payload ↗ |
Payload CMS vs its top 5 alternatives
Active tools that share a category with Payload CMS (Content Management Systems (CMS)), scored on the same five terms.
| Tool | Health | Stars | Licence | Last commit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payload CMS (this tool) | 89 | 46k | MIT | yesterday |
| Strapi | 89 | 73k | MIT | today |
| october | 86 | 11k | ⊘ Proprietary | 2 days ago |
| CraftCMS | 84 | 3.6k | ⊘ Proprietary | today |
| WinterCMS | 83 | 1.5k | MIT | today |
| SilverStripe | 81 | 726 | BSD-3-Clause | today |
Payload CMS: common questions
Is Payload CMS still maintained?
Payload CMS had 505 commits in the last 90 days and its last push was yesterday; the latest tagged release, v3.92.1, is from 3 days ago. Repoly recomputes this nightly.