Sanity vs Contentful vs Payload vs Directus vs WordPress Headless — CMS Comparison

A head-to-head look at five CMS options for content-driven product teams — editing experience, developer control, and cost shape.

1 min readSalt Index

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Choosing a CMS is less about features checklists and more about who suffers daily: editors or engineers.

Sanity

Structured content as code-friendly documents, real-time collaboration, strong for design systems. Pricing scales with seats and API usage.

Contentful

Enterprise content platform with mature governance. Excellent when many brands and roles need guardrails; can feel heavy for small teams.

Payload

Open-source, TypeScript-native, code-first CMS you host. Maximum control; you own ops.

Directus

Turns SQL databases into a readable admin app + API. Fantastic when content is relational data.

WordPress (headless)

Unmatched plugin ecosystem and editor familiarity. Headless WP works; you inherit WP’s security and hosting folklore.

Who should pick what

  • Design-system content models → Sanity
  • Enterprise governance → Contentful
  • App-shaped CMS in your repo → Payload
  • Database as source of truth → Directus
  • Editorial muscle memory + plugins → WordPress

Salt Index does not crown a universal winner. We ask whether the CMS matches your editing workflow and your deploy story.

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